The purpose of this study was three fold: 1) to determine if false consensus
effects would be found for estimates of sexual behaviors, 2) to determine the directional
accuracy of consensus estimates for subscribers and nonsubscribers and 3) to determine if
the degree of accuracy of those estimates was influenced by self-esteem, sexual esteem,
collective self-esteem, and religiosity. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of
821 university students to gather consensus estimates for twelve sexual behavior items.
False consensus effects were found for all twelve behavioral items and further analysis
was done to determine the directional accuracy of the estimates as well as to determine
what motivational factors might influence the degree of accuracy of the consensus
estimates. The specific motivational factors examined were self-esteem, sexual esteem,
collective self-esteem, and religiosity. These four factors were measured using the
following scales: 1) the Self-Esteem Scale (SES) (Rosenberg, 1965), 2) the Sexuality
Scale (SS) (Snell & Papini, 1989; Wiederman & Allgeier, 1993), 3) the Collective Self-Esteem Scale Revised (CSES-R) (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992) and 4) the Scale of
Attitude Towards Christianity (Francis & Stubbs, 1987; Francis, 1989).
Results of the study indicated that although significant false consensus effects
were found for all twelve behavioral items, the directional accuracy of subscriber's
estimates of consensus was not consistently or predictably different from the directional
accuracy of nonsubscriber's estimates of consensus. A motivation theory for false
consensus effects as measured by the self-esteem scale, sexuality scale, collective self-esteem
scale, and religiosity scale used in this study was not supported. / Graduation date: 1995
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35011 |
| Date | 05 May 1995 |
| Creators | Pedersen, Peggy Jo |
| Contributors | Smith, Margaret M. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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