knew each other well and that they communicated and interacted on a
regular basis. In the weak interconnectedness condition, the three ostensible participants entered the room one after the other. For quite some
time, they sat next to each other without talking. A conversation
between the participants started off rather slowly. From their conversation , it became clear that the participants did not know each other well,
and that they did not share many interests or characteristics. The situation was designed to create the impression that these three individuals
did not form an interactive or interconnected group.
Superficial similarity was manipulated via clothing. In the high similarity condition, all three ostensible participants wore red colored shirts
with the imprint “Group A,” whereas in the low similarity condition,
participants were dressed in very different clothes without reference
to a common group. Fig. 3 shows snapshots of the video material