An experiment was conducted to clarify the nature of the influence active
in most prior marketing research on the social influence process. Experimental
subjects were exposed to evaluations of coffee which were attributed
to either a similar or dissimilar source. These evaluations were
high in uniformity, low in uniformity or of unknown uniformity. Subjects
then tasted and evaluated the coffee. The subjects' evaluations were
made either under a visible (identifiable) condition or an anonymous
condition. The data supported a hypothesis of informational social influence.