AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF UNIDIMESIONALITY OF OPINIONS AND THE EFFECT OF HOMOPHILY

Abstract

The goal of the present paper is to experimentally test the unidimensionality of opinions and the effect of homophily on unidimensionality in terms of speed of convergence. The phenomenon of unidimensionality of opinions implies the convergence of opinions in a multidimensional set of issues into one dimension under the assumption that subjects weight the opinions of other subjects symmetrically. But individuals may assign different weights to the opinions of others. One of the reasons is the homophilous relation between the subjects when they interact more with those who share similar characteristics. In the experiment, two types of group are tested: subjects in the control groups exchange with the signals without no information about their groupmates, subjects in the treatment groups exchange with the signals knowing the gender of their groupmates. As a result of the experiment, the opinions on two independent issues of subjects become closer to each other and made an alignment. This result is consistent with the theoretical prediction. Regarding the homophily, subjects who observed characteristics of their groupmates tended to converge in a higher degree than subjects who didn’t observe any characteristics...