A mind of her own: Effects of need for closure and gender on reactions to nonconformity

Research on opinion deviance suggests that conformity and agreement with the established majority is generally valued in groups. The present study examines how motivations for cognitive closure may influence reactions to conforming and deviating members based on accessible gender role expectations. Caucasian males and females participated in a group discussion with confederates who either conformed or deviated from the majority opinion. Results showed that group members motivated to reach cognitive closure negatively evaluated female opinion deviants relative to conformists. However contrary to previous research findings they did nor derogate male deviants. Motivation to avoid closure led to different evaluative patterns by male and female evaluators. In addition to importantly modifying results obtained by Kruglanski and T Webster (1991) regarding closure motivation and conformity versus deviance, the current results are also informative regarding gender role expectations and intra-group interactions. Limitations and implications of these results are also discussed.