Document Type
Research Paper
Abstract
Introductory psychology students discussed social and political issues over ICQ chat software for approximately 25 minutes. Prior to the discussion, participants completed dominance, self-esteem, and shyness measures and an attitude pretest. Clustering generally increased as a result of discussion, with groups becoming more similar over time. Consolidation tended to increase for issues with good initial diversity, but this increase was not statistically significant. Participants who were high in dominance were more likely to initiate conversations, and those high in self-esteem contributed more to conversations. In addition, frequent initiators and those high in dominance and self-esteem and low in shyness were less likely to change their attitudes on some issues. This study supports dynamic social impact theory and suggests personality variables that may be related to the self-organization of opinion.
Publication Date
2001
Journal Title
Conference Proceedings: Undergraduate Social Science Research Conference
Volume
5
Issue
1
First Page
1
Last Page
6
Copyright
©2001 by the University of Northern Iowa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Publisher
University of Northern Iowa
City
Cedar Falls, IA
Recommended Citation
Binder, Dana; Russell, Emily; Sievers, Allison; and Harton, Helen C.
(2001)
"Clustering, Consolidation, and Personality in Electronic Discussion: A Test of Dynamic Social Impact Theory,"
Conference Proceedings: Undergraduate Social Science Research Conference: Vol. 5:
Iss.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/csbsproceedings/vol5/iss1/4
