THE RELATION BETWEEN GROUP MEMBERS' SELF- CONFIDENCE AND THEIR REACTIONS TO GROUP PRESSURES TO UNIFORMITY.

No matter how valid any group theory may be, however, it cannot explain fully all group phenomena without taking into account those influences whose sources lie within the individual members and which interact with forces that can properly be called group forces. The present study is designed to explore the interaction between these two types of forces. It demonstrates how certain expectations and perceptions brought to the group by the individual affect the person's behavior in the group and modify tendencies that would have been predicted on the basis of the nature of the group alone. At the same time an attempt is made to conceptualize these factors and to integrate them with the theoretical system outlined above. One of the concepts that is central to the group theory is that of dependence, defined as the extent to which members of a group rely on one another as reference points in establishing social reality. One would expect that a great degree of uncertainty on the part of a person concerning a given opinion will be associated with a greater need for its verification with greater dependence; with increasing belief in its validity this dependence need will increase. Confidence in the validity of such an opinion has its source in past verification through appropriate referents.