Familiarity and the order of presentation of persuasive communications.

One of the areas that Hovland (1957) and his associates did not explore with regard to order of presentation of a topic and its influence on opinion change was prior familiarity with the topic; this study does. The results indicated that a primary effect (a situation where the argument given first is more effective in changing opinion) is related to increasing familiarity, and that a recency effect (effectiveness of the second argument to affect opinion change) was found with minimal familiarity. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GD73L. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of forewarning in persuasive communications.

Previous studies have shown that a forewarning will nullify the effect of a persuasive communication. This study investigated whether the same information presented after the persuasive communication will have the same effect. 3 groups of experimental Ss were exposed to a communication advocating an extreme point of view; a control group read a neutral communication on a different topic. 2 of the experimental groups were informed of the propagandistic nature of the comunication; one group was forewarned, the other group was "warned" after they had read the communication. The 3rd experimental group was given no information about the intent of the communication. The results indicated conclusively that the temporal placement of this information is crucial in determining the effect of a persuasive communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Three theoretical interpretations of order effects in persuasive communications.

The "set," "reinforcement," and "sensory variation" hypotheses are reviewed in terms of their ability to predict the results of order effects in the persuasive situation where opposed arguments on the same topic are utilized. The set hypothesis is most successful when the communicative materials presented are unfamiliar to the S. The sensory variation hypothesis is most successful when the topics of the cummunications are concerned with familiar social issues. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of the pretest on order effects in persuasive communications.

136 college students were assigned to 12 experimental groups arranged to examine the effects of taking an opinion pretest questionnaire and of delay of responses to a final posttest questionnaire. In other words order effects in opinion change were studied with opposed arguments used as the communications. The topic of the communication was Nikita Khrushchev. The results indicated a clear primary effect for groups not first exposed to a pretest. Primacy effects were also evident in groups where the delay between pretest and posttest was greatest. All other groups failed to yield directional effects of any kind. The relation of these results to the "set" hypothesis is then discussed. A 3-month follow up failed to yield a sufficient enough return of original Ss to draw other than highly tentative conclusions about the duration of order effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct and indirect persuasive effects of dissonance-producing messages.

"Several hypotheses regarding the effectiveness of persuasive messages were derived from Festinger's 'Theory of Cognitive Dissonance.' It was predicted that messages would be effective in changing opinions on the explicit issues to the extent that they argued in dissonance-reducing directions; and on related, unmentioned issues, to the extent that they argued in a dissonance-increasing direction. It was further predicted that the dissonance-reducing changes would show a slower rate of temporal decay after the communication… . Both predictions… were confirmed." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of familiarity with a controversial issue on acceptance of successive persuasive communications.

The relationship between primacy and recency of communication and familiarity with the topic were explored. Attitudes were measured of high school students towards an article on a controversial subject written from both a pro and a con standpoint. Attempts to establish primacy and recency effects failed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On resistance to persuasive communications.

3 separate experiments were done at different universities to test the hypothesis that a persuasive communication that argues strongly against an opinion to which the audience is committed will be more effective if the audience is somewhat distracted from the communication so that they cannot adequately counterargue while listening. 2 films were prepared, each containing the same communication arguing strongly against fraternities. One was a normal film of the speaker making a speech. The other film, with the same track, had an utterly irrelevant and highly distracting visual presentation. Fraternity men were more influenced by the distracting presentation of the persuasive communication than by the ordinary version. There was no difference between the 2 for nonfraternity men. In general, the hypothesis concerning the effect of distraction was supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Systematic and nonsystematic processing of majority and minority persuasive communications.

The ability of majorities and minorities to induce privately accepted attitude change by systematic or nonsystematic processing was investigated in four studies. In two of these studies, subjects simultaneously exposed to a majority with which they disagreed and a minority with which they agreed showed considerable issue-relevant processing of the majority message and long-term, generalized private acceptance of the majority position. A third experiment demonstrated that this change was in response to the majority position and was not a reaction against the minority view. Subjects provided with consensus information about the majority and minority (without a persuasive communication) also demonstrated significant attitude change, but this change did not generalize and was not maintained or mediated by subjects' thoughts about the issue. Subjects exposed to a minority with which they mildly disagreed showed slight movement toward the minority position. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of need-oriented communications on attitude change.

"Several hypotheses concerning attitude change… derived from a cognitive theory of attitude structure were tested experimentally… . changes in attitude were demonstrated. An index based upon need strength and change in perceived instrumentality for the need engaged in the communication was found to be only slightly related to change in attitude for the… groups. Similar indexes based on other needs and over all needs measured were found not to be related to shifts in attitude." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissonance, awareness, and motivation.

The problems were whether dissonance can be aroused between 2 cognitions without awareness of 1 of them and whether change in consummatory strength of a motive can be an avenue of dissonance reduction. 40 high school Ss were hypnotized to a depth adequate for assuring amnesia for suggestions. ? ate sauce that was very thirst arousing (HT), and ?, sauce that aroused little thirst (LT). Placed under hypnosis again, the 20 experimental Ss were told that, on awaking, they would feel water bloated, while the control Ss were told they would feel fatigued. Ss were awakened and offered water. HT experimental Ss drank less water than LT experimental Ss, the reverse of the control group effect (interaction p     

Communicator credibility and communication discrepancy as determinants of opinion change.

The theory of cognitive dissonance suggests that opinion change is a function of a specific complex interaction between the credibility of the communicator and the discrepancy of the communication from the initial attitude of the recipient. In a laboratory experiment, Ss who read a communication that was attributed to a highly credible source showed greater opinion change when the opinion of the source was presented as being increasingly discrepant from their own. In sharp contrast to this was the behavior of Ss who were exposed to the same communication—attributed to a source having only moderate credibility. In this condition, increasing the discrepancy increased the degree of opinion change only to a point; as discrepancy became more extreme, however, the degree of opinion change decreased. The results support predictions from the theory and suggest a reconciliation of previously contradictory findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discussion as a function of attitudes and content of a persuasive communication.

5 statistical indices of group discussion behavior were applied to discussion protocols of 6 small groups of high school students, differing in degree of ethnocentrism. The measures which described group reaction to controversial communication were: verbal outuput, participation, rate of response, spontaneity, and recruitment. "Consistent differences among the three degrees of ethnocentrism represented in the discussion groups were reflected in the five indices. Those Ss favorably disposed toward the communication content showed a greater degree of discussion activity and spontaneity than did Ss who were antagonistic or neutral toward the communication." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpretation of persuasive messages as a function of prior immunization.

2 experiments were conducted in which passive immunization was achieved by providing Ss with counterarguments against presuasive messages to which they were later exposed. In both studies, this procedure produced a significant tendency to displace the perceived content of the "change" message toward the stand advocated in the immunization message. These results were tentatively attributed to the Ss' attempts to minimize the discrepancy between the opposing statements, both of which appeared to emanate from prestigeful sources. Judgments were not affected by active immunization, a procedure in which Ss attempted to refute (in writing) weakened versions of the change message to which they were later exposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of role playing on opinion change.

"The experiment was designed to determine whether or not overt verbalization, induced by role playing, facilitates opinion change… . The main findings, together with various methodological checks, support the hypothesis that overt verbalization induced by role playing tends to augment the effectiveness of a persuasive communication." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of persuasive interaction to change of opinion in dyadic groups when the original opinions of participants are expressed privately and publicly.

This constitutes a replication of a former study by Cervin (see 33: 5903) attempting to determine the relationship between emotionality and persuasibility. The only aspect of the design altered was that herein Ss committed themselves publicly to opinions. Ss of both high or low emotionality were placed in pairs. They initially declared their opinion on a number of topics, discussed the question, then redeclared their opinion. The more highly emotional Ss tended to change their opinions more frequently than the lows when their opinions were made public. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GD31C. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer-facilitated eating disorder prevention: A randomized effectiveness trial of cognitive dissonance and media advocacy.

The authors investigated the effectiveness of 2 interventions in reducing eating disorder risk factors under naturalistic conditions in sororities. On the basis of previous research, the campus sororities chose to implement a semimandatory, 2-session eating disorder prevention program to all new sorority members (N = 90) during sorority orientation. To facilitate evaluation, sororities agreed to random assignment of new members to either a cognitive dissonance or a media advocacy intervention. Undergraduate peer facilitators ran the groups. Although both interventions had an effect, cognitive dissonance generally was superior at 8-month follow-up. Results further support the utility of cognitive dissonance in reducing eating disorder risk factors and suggest that nondoctoral-level leaders can deliver the program. Results also indicate that a semimandatory format does not reduce effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive Dissonance in Groups: The Consequences of Disagreement.

As L. Festinger (1957) argued, the social group is a source of cognitive dissonance as well as a vehicle for reducing it. That is, disagreement from others in a group generates dissonance, and subsequent movement toward group consensus reduces this negative tension. The authors conducted 3 studies to demonstrate group-induced dissonance. In the first, students in a group with others who ostensibly disagreed with them experienced greater dissonance discomfort than those in a group with others who agreed. Study 2 demonstrated that standard moderators of dissonance in past research-lack of choice and opportunity to self-affirm, similarly reduced dissonance discomfort generated by group disagreement. In Study 3, the dissonance induced by group disagreement was reduced through a variety of interpersonal strategies to achieve consensus, including persuading others, changing one's own position, and joining an attitudinally congenial group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group.

"An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that persons who undergo an unpleasant initiation to become members of a group increase their liking for the group; that is, they find the group more attractive than do persons who become members without going through a severe initiation. This hypothesis was derived from Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance." 3 conditions were employed: reading of "embarrassing material" before a group, mildly embarrassing material to be read, no reading. "The results clearly verified the hypothesis." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persistence of induced opinion change and retention of the inducing message contents.

Induced opinion change shows a strong positive relationship to recall of the contents of the persuasive message 1 week after receipt of the communication but tends, over time, to become functionally autonomous of recall of at least some aspects of the contents of the inducing message. Induced opinion change was found to decay rectilinearly over a 6-week period, while recall of contents showed a negatively accelerated decay trend. Opinion change and recall of the message topic were positively related 1 week after the communication, but negatively related 6 weeks later. Recall of the side taken and of the specific arguments used were positively related to opinion change both 1 week and 6 weeks after the communication. Recall of source was complexly related to opinion change. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)