Abstract
Participants within groups of three were pre-tested on a set of issues, discussed a subset of the issues, and were then post-tested on all the issues. Discussion led to significant group consensus on issues that were discussed by participants. Consensus was also observed for issues that were not discussed by the group, but were related to the discussed issues. Groups did not move toward consensus on non-discussed issues that were unrelated to the discussed issues. We discuss implications of our results for theories of cognitive consistency, and for the formation of culture within large and small groups.