Editing Vested interest (communication theory) (section)

===Assumed consensus===
Crano conducted another study to prove that vested interest may affect people's belief that a majority of a population will support their attitude on an issue. This bias is known as [[False consensus effect|false-consensus]] or assumed-consensus effect. Under the guise of a public opinion survey, Crano<ref name="Crano83">{{cite journal | last1 = Crano | first1 = W. D. | year = 1983 | title = Assumed consensus of attitudes: the effect of vested interest | journal = Journal of Applied Social Psychology | volume = 9 | pages = 597–608 | doi = 10.1177/0146167283094009 | s2cid = 144974566 }}</ref> created high and low vested interest groups by identifying whether upper- or lower-classmen would pay a surcharge to subsidize lost funding from the government. The class who was selected to pay the surcharge had a high degree of vested interest while the student body not required to pay exhibited a lower degree of vested interest. The study then determined the participants estimate of what percentage of the student body would support their beliefs regardless of impact. Crano found that vested interest influenced assumed consensus and students believed that a majority of the university's population would support their plight even though only half would be affected.<ref name="Crano"/>