Antonis Gardikiotis

Group Consensus in Social Influence: Type of Consensus Information as a Moderator of Majority and Minority Influence

Three experiments investigated the effect of consensus information on majority and minority influence. Experiment 1 examined the effect of consensus expressed by descriptive adjectives (large vs. small) on social influence. A large source resulted in more influence than a small source, irrespective of source status (majority vs. minority). Experiment 2 showed that large sources affected attitudes heuristically, whereas only a small minority instigated systematic processing of the message. Experiment 3 manipulated the type of consensus information, either in terms of descriptive adjectives (large, small) or percentages (82%, 18%, 52%, 48%). When consensus was expressed in terms of descriptive adjectives, the findings of Experiments 1 and 2 were replicated (large sources were more influential than small sources), but when consensus was expressed in terms of percentages, the majority was more influential than the minority, irrespective of group consensus.

‘Rock music for myself and justice to the world!’: Musical identity, values, and music preferences

The present study examined the relationship between music preferences, values, and musical identities in a sample of 606 Greek college students. Students indicated the importance of music in defining and evaluating themselves and their values on an abbreviated version of the Schwartz Value Survey (Schwartz, 1992). A typology of music preferences was revealed, with five factors: sophisticated and complex (e.g., jazz); native-Greek traditional (e.g., ‘rebetika’); sentimental and sensational (e.g., pop); established rebellious (e.g., rock); and non-mainstream dissonant (e.g., punk). Hierarchical regression analyses showed that values and perceived importance of music to self-definition (i.e., musical identities) contribute differentially in predicting the music preference structures, for example self-transcendence predicted established rebellious and conservation predicted sentimental and sensational; also musical identity was positively related to established rebellious and negatively to sentimental and sensational. These findings are discussed and interpreted within a psychological, as well as an interdisciplinary, theoretical framework.

Group Distinctiveness, Political Identification, and the Third-Person Effect: Perceptions of a Political Campaign in the 2004 Greek National Election

The present study examined the effects of political identification and group distinctiveness on perceptions of media influence during an election campaign. Participants estimated the effect of political communication on self and on voters of two large, nondistinctive political parties and two small, distinctive political parties. Nondistinctive party members showed an ingroup bias (i.e., greater perceived media influence on the outgroup) irrespective of strength of identification compared to the nondistinctive outgroups, whereas they did not show any bias (high identifiers) or even reverse bias (low identifiers) toward the distinctive outgroups. Distinctive party members showed an ingroup bias (irrespective of strength of identification) against the nondistinctive outgroups and an ingroup bias (high identifiers) or no bias (low identifiers) toward the distinctive outgroups. Ingroup assimilation (i.e., lack of difference in perceived influence between self and ingroup) was evident for distinctive party members, but not for nondistinctive party members. Results highlight the importance of group distinctiveness and identification in third-person perceptions.

Web Third-person effect in structural aspects of the information on media websites

Sample from media websites, 9150 respondents, Greece.Factors that predict the Web Third-person effect (WTPE) were found.Age has statistically significant effects on WTPE. In this study, the characteristics of what users observe when visiting a media website as wells as the prediction of the impact on oneself, friends and others are researched. The influence that this information has over their opinion verifies the existence of Web Third-person effect (WTPE). With the use of an online survey (N=9150) in all media websites it was proved that the variables that have a greater impact either on others or our friends than ourselves are: The number of users being concurrently online on the same media website, the exact number of users having read each article on a media website as well as the number of users having shared a news article on facebook, twitter, or other social networks. Moreover, age is a significant factor that explains the findings and is important to the effect. Additionally, factors that affect the influence of the user generated messages on others than on oneself were found. Furthermore, the more credible the news is perceived to be and when there is not a particular mediated message the WTPE is absent confirming the existing theory.

Web Third-Person Effect Hypothesis: Do likes and Shares Affect Users’ Perceptions?

This paper studies the web third-person effect (WTPE) hypothesis in the context of news websites and social media. Specifically, the study examines the role of social media metrics (i.e., shares and likes of news articles) in shaping users’ opinion about the websites. Users’ news sharing intention in social media is also investigated. Based on a structured online questionnaire (N = 7,404), the results confirm that WTPE can be found in social media metrics without the presence of specific message content. It should be noted that the effect was found at three perceptual levels, self, friends, and other users. Regarding intention for news sharing, text was indicated as the most important reason among Internet users. Finally, the work demonstrates significant correlations between WTPE and article characteristics that influence people’s attitudes to share news online.

Toward a Communication Model of Intergroup Interdependence

ABSTRACT This article seeks to expand the theoretical base of intergroup communication by proposing a new model of interdependence. As a backdrop toward this end, historical and contemporary uses of the concept of interdependence are briefly reviewed across a range of different disciplines and research fields. Defining interdependence in terms of the embedded nature of groups, the foundations of a new communicative model of intergroup interdependence are introduced. Four propositions articulate how intergroup independence is associated with a variety of communicative outcomes. These outcomes include those relating to language attitudes, communication accommodations, and linguistic biases, together with the moderating conditions shaping the extent of these behavioral consequences. Finally, a diverse array of research questions that could fruitfully guide the future development of the model are suggested.

Intersections of Intergroup Communication Research

ABSTRACT In this prologue to a special issue on intergroup communication, we highlight areas of intersection across its field. To start, we provide a brief history of the field, simultaneously highlighting 6 central principles guiding the work in this area. We then review 4 key themes—areas of intersection uniting the contributions in this special issue: (a) a sustained interest in canonical intergroup theories and topics; (b) the notion that there are various conceptualizations of intergroup communication, both linguistic and nonlinguistic; (c) scholars’ strong interest in intercultural communication processes; and (d) the cross-disciplinary nature of intergroup communication scholarship. Thereafter, we present a 2-path model of inter- and intragroup communication that integrates interpersonal, media, and intergroup communication and overviews other contributions to this special issue.