Assumed Consensus of Attitudes

Abstract

People tend to overestimate the extent of existing support for their attitudes. This study sought to determine whether this assumption of consensus would be influenced by the hedonic relevance of the attitude in question. Accordingly, 144 undergraduates equally divided with respect to class status (freshmen and sophomores versus juniors and seniors) were told that their university administrators were studying a tuition surcharge plan that would affect either underclassmen, upperclassmen, or all students. Respondents were asked to evaluate the plan and to estimate the proportion of other students who shared their attitude. Subjects who thought they would be affected by the plan estimated that considerably more students (of all classes) would share their attitude than did respondents who would not be affected. This vested interest-assumed consensus relationship was independent of attitudinal extremity. Implications of these results for the further study of attitude-behavior consistency and judgmental bias were discussed.