The majority opinion is not acceptable to those who already have conflicting views



If you know that being in majority is comfortable, and knowing that your view is in majority, you may often be confident that 'everyone is thinking this way, so I am correct.'

However, on the contrary, those who are informed that their view is not consistent with the majority are not reconsidered as 'everyone may say that I may be wrong', and in many cases according to my view It became clear in the experiment that I became confident.

It seems that there is a psychology that feels proudly of 'one who is not swept away by the majority' and 'one who notices that many people are not aware.'

Details are as below.

People Reject Popular Opinions If They Already Hold Opposing Views, Study Finds

“Majority” has power, and it is not a place such as political, ideological, or academic conflict, for example, “the best-selling product” or “10 There are many people who have experience that 'a majority view' such as 9 out of 10 buyers value this product. '

Those who do not yet have a view on a subject often agree with the 'majority' opinion if the subject is a trivial matter that does not require reflection, and the theme deserves consideration It has been known for some time that in some cases it is possible to listen to “minorities” if this is a problem. You don't want to lose a minute when buying detergent, so you choose the best-selling product, but when you decide who to vote for in the election, you also hear the opinion of the minority, and so on.


photo by Yahya Natanzi

The previous studies focused on examining the reaction when people were informed of the 'majority opinion' before forming their 'own opinion', but those who already had their own opinion But how do you react when you are informed if your view is a majority or a minority?

According to the research of Professor Richard Petty of Ohio State University's Department of Psychology, those who already have their own views are less likely to be informed that the view is a minority and change their minds, but rather correctness of their own views It has become clear that there is a tendency to strengthen confidence in The research will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Pablo Briñol (formerly a postdoc at Ohio State University) and Javier Horcago from the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain, and the paper will be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . “I may feel proud to be able to overturn the views that many people have accepted,” says Petty.

For example, when I saw a review of a product that I liked on the Internet, saying, '9 out of 10 people are dissatisfied with this product', 'The goodness of this product is only for me I don't know, 'I can understand the goodness is great,' and I'm getting more and more interested in the product. Or, when I know that my favorite people are disliked by many people, 'It is only me who knows the goodness of that person', so that the psychology that loves the person works more and more, thus 'I dislike it. We may be born a state where we are enthusiastically liked by those who like us.



Professor Petty and others conducted a series of experiments for university students in Spain. One of the experiments is to introduce an international company unfamiliar to students as 'possibly capable of working as an intern in the future,' and to have that company be evaluated. Students hear either “strong arguments” (eg, high employee satisfaction due to flexibility of work schedules) or “weak arguments” (eg, logos are cool) that appreciate the company Many of the subjects who performed company evaluations and were targeted for 'strong reasoning' received high evaluations, and many subjects who received 'weak reasoning' received low evaluations. I was able to bring 'a positive view' and 'a negative view' to a company while making me believe.



And in half of the students who came to have a 'positive view' or a 'negative view', '86% of the subjects gave a positive result for this company and 14% gave a negative result', The other half reported that '86% is negative and 14% is positive', and I checked whether there was any change in the opinion after I knew whether I was the majority or the minority, the majority's The result was that they were not accepted by subjects who already had contradictory views, and that they became confident in their own views by knowing that they were minorities.

Among the students who already had 'negative views', those who were informed 'only 14% of students with negative views' were those who were informed that '86% were negative', He seems to have increased confidence in his view. Professor Petty says, 'If I was able to notice the shortcomings of this company that many overlooked, I might feel that I have an evaluation ability.'



In other words, people who already think and have their own opinion do not change their views, even if they are informed that they are majority or minority. When combined with the fact that it is easy to agree with the opinion of the majority when they are informed of the opinion of the majority, the psychology will help in persuading people.

For example, when selling a product, if you appeal that 'this product is great here' and then tell them that 'so many people are buying this product' or vice versa, 'this is great' It should be judged whether the appeal point 'is strong or weak'.

If it is a convincing appeal point, you may appeal first, but if it is an unconvincing appeal point, it is better to explain what products it is after saying 'It is so popular' first. It is

Even if you convey the popularity of products after you have been given the idea of not wanting to buy first, the psychology that proudly thinks that you will not buy the products that many people have bought is also working and willingness to buy more and more If you do not think that you want to 'buy' or 'do not want to buy' before explaining what the product is, you will be informed of the majority view before you have your own view And because it is easy to agree with that view.



It is also dangerous to be taken into the opinion of the majority without thinking about anything, but if your opinion does not agree with the majority, the stubbornness that does not listen to the opinion of people who are drunk with being minority I want to be careful not to be in a bad condition.

in Science, Posted by darkhorse_log