The credibility of a group source of a persuasive communication was varied by varying the degree of consensus among the group source. 116 Ss were exposed to persuasive arguments advocated by “nine-tenths of the experts” (high consensus) and “one-tenth of the experts” (low consensus). High consensus resulted in greater opinion formation than did low consensus (p < .05). The advantages of the consensus technique for the quantitative variation of source credibility were discussed.
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