The experience and emergence of attitudinal consensus in conversations

Koudenburg, Namkje; Kutlaca, Maja; Kuppens, Toon

Abstract

Reaching consensus is important for human individual, social and societal functioning. The reverse process of polarization has been associated with individual uncertainty, social conflict and societal distrust, tension, or even schisms. In conversations, the experience of consensus is shaped by both content and aspects of the form of conversation, which indicate whether people are on the same wavelength. In two conversation studies (N = 268) we aimed (1) to examine where the conversational experience of consensus originates and (2) to test which conversational behaviours enhance attitude convergence between conversation partners. The results show that, although actual attitudinal differences were only predictive in Study 2, both conversational content (e.g., disagreement) and form (e.g., experience of flow) consistently predicted the experience of consensus. Convergence of attitudes was harder to predict: most conversational factors were unrelated to attitudinal convergence and conversational flow either increased or decreased attitudinal convergence depending on the particular context.

Citation

Koudenburg, N., Kutlaca, M., & Kuppens, T. (2024). The experience and emergence of attitudinal consensus in conversations. European Journal of Social Psychology, 54(1), 66-80. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2992

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 15, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Sep 3, 2023
• Publication Date: 2024-02
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 8, 2024
• Journal: European Journal of Social Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0046-2772
• Electronic ISSN: 1099-0992
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 54
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 66-80
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2992
• Keywords: Social Psychology
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2116379