Influencing those who influence us: the role of expertise in the emergence of minority influence

Although individuals are often influenced by experts, individuals themselves can be experts—and, in such instances, it is important to understand who influences their attitudes. That is, to whom do experts turn to for guidance when considering their own preferences? The present research proposes tha...

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Main Authors: Clarkson, J, Dugan, RG, Crolic, C
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020
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author Clarkson, J
Dugan, RG
Crolic, C
author_facet Clarkson, J
Dugan, RG
Crolic, C
author_sort Clarkson, J
collection OXFORD
description Although individuals are often influenced by experts, individuals themselves can be experts—and, in such instances, it is important to understand who influences their attitudes. That is, to whom do experts turn to for guidance when considering their own preferences? The present research proposes that, while novices are more influenced by majority endorsements, experts are more influenced by minority endorsements. This hypothesis is based on the premise that novices and experts perceive the reasons for their preferences to be similar to majority and minority groups, respectively (i.e., basis similarity). Specifically, experts perceive minority opinion to be based on innovation, whereas novices perceive majority opinion to be based on convention. Of importance, this effect is strongest in domains where the criteria for evaluation are subjective and non-normative opinion is difficult to invalidate. Four experiments support this framework and, in doing so, offer novel insight into the impact of expertise on the emergence of minority influence.
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spelling oxford-uuid:81c31c81-c353-4c82-bcf8-14a400930ec22022-03-28T08:34:00ZInfluencing those who influence us: the role of expertise in the emergence of minority influenceJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:81c31c81-c353-4c82-bcf8-14a400930ec2EnglishSymplectic ElementsElsevier2020Clarkson, JDugan, RGCrolic, CAlthough individuals are often influenced by experts, individuals themselves can be experts—and, in such instances, it is important to understand who influences their attitudes. That is, to whom do experts turn to for guidance when considering their own preferences? The present research proposes that, while novices are more influenced by majority endorsements, experts are more influenced by minority endorsements. This hypothesis is based on the premise that novices and experts perceive the reasons for their preferences to be similar to majority and minority groups, respectively (i.e., basis similarity). Specifically, experts perceive minority opinion to be based on innovation, whereas novices perceive majority opinion to be based on convention. Of importance, this effect is strongest in domains where the criteria for evaluation are subjective and non-normative opinion is difficult to invalidate. Four experiments support this framework and, in doing so, offer novel insight into the impact of expertise on the emergence of minority influence.
spellingShingle Clarkson, J
Dugan, RG
Crolic, C
Influencing those who influence us: the role of expertise in the emergence of minority influence
title Influencing those who influence us: the role of expertise in the emergence of minority influence
title_full Influencing those who influence us: the role of expertise in the emergence of minority influence
title_fullStr Influencing those who influence us: the role of expertise in the emergence of minority influence
title_full_unstemmed Influencing those who influence us: the role of expertise in the emergence of minority influence
title_short Influencing those who influence us: the role of expertise in the emergence of minority influence
title_sort influencing those who influence us the role of expertise in the emergence of minority influence
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