Processing of persuasive in-group messages.

Two studies investigated the processes mediating the persuasive impact of messages representing in-group opinions. In the 1st study, Ss read either a strong or a weak message attributed to either an in-group member or to another group. Ss were more persuaded by a strong message from the in-group than a weak one, suggesting content-focused processing of the in-group message. Ss were equally unpersuaded by either a strong or a weak message from the other group, and showed little sign of message processing. In the 2nd study, Ss listened to in-group or other-group messages about issues that varied in their relevance to in-group membership. When the issue was relevant to the in-group, Ss were persuaded by a strong message from the in-group, unpersuaded by a weak message from the in-group, and equally unimpressed by strong and weak messages from the other group. When the issue was irrelevant to the in-group, Ss accepted the position advocated by the in-group regardless of message quality, and again ignored messages from the other group. These results suggest that increased message processing, and not merely the impact of source persuasion cues, can underlie in-group-mediated attitude change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of need for cognition on message evaluation, recall, and persuasion.

Studied the relation among need for cognition (NFC), message processing, and persuasion. 57 pairs of undergraduates holding approximately the same attitude toward instituting senior comprehensive exams but differing widely in their scores on a NFC scale participated in Exp I. Ss read a set of either strong or weak arguments supporting the recommendation that senior comprehensive exams be instituted. Results reveal that argument quality had a greater impact on the message evaluations and source impressions provided by Ss high than by those low in NFC and that Ss high in NFC reported expending more cognitive effort and recalled more message arguments regardless of argument quality. The findings from Exp I were replicated in Exp II (110 female undergraduates) with a different topic (i.e., raising student tuition) and cover story. The inclusion of a postcommunication attitude measure revealed that the attitudes of Ss high in NFC were more affected by argument quality than those of Ss low in NFC. These studies document a reliable difference among individuals in their tendency to derive information from and elaborate on externally provided message arguments. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood effects on attitude judgments: Independent effects of mood before and after message elaboration.

Investigated the independent effects of induced mood on the encoding of persuasive messages and on the assessment of attitude judgments. In Exp 1, positive or negative mood was induced either before the encoding of a counterattitudinal message or before the assessment of attitude judgments. When mood was induced before message presentation, Ss in a bad mood were more persuaded by strong than by weak arguments, whereas Ss in a good mood were equally persuaded by strong and by weak arguments. When Ss encoded the message in a neutral mood, however, the advantage of strong over weak arguments was more pronounced when Ss were in a good rather than in a bad mood at the time of attitude assessment. In Exp 2, Ss exposed to a counterattitudinal message composed of either strong or weak arguments formed either a global evaluation or a detailed representation of the message. Positive, negative, or neutral mood was then induced. Ss in a good mood were most likely and Ss in a negative mood least likely to base their reported attitudes on global evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distributive justice development and social class: A replication.

28 kindergartners and 28 3rd graders, equally divided between lower- and middle-class and between boys and girls, were given the Distributive Justice Scale, a vocabulary test, and sociometric peer ratings. Results show that regardless of grade, the lower-class Ss lagged behind the middle-class Ss in distributive justice development even when verbal ability was controlled. Findings replicate those of a previous study drawn from the same population (R. Enright et al; see record 1981-07767-001). Both studies show statistically equivalent scores. The peer ratings showed that in both kindergarten and 3rd grade, lower-class Ss were most often named as having negative socioeconomic traits. Implications for social class distributive justice are discussed. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive tuning set, source credibility, and the temporal persistence of attitude change.

Tested the prediction that a transmitter cognitive tuning set confers more persistence of attitude change than a receiver set. 550 undergraduates read an essay with its source defined as high or low credibility and were told to prepare to report on it (transmit) or listen to a similar essay (receive). Persistence of attitude change was measured at 2, 5, or 9 wks. Consonant findings were obtained only when the persuasive message came from a source of low credibility. When the source was of high credibility, findings were reversed and the receiver set conferred more persistence. Exp II (104 Ss) examined the interpretation that, relative to the transmitter set, the receiver set leads to a stronger association between the conclusion of the message and its source and that it is this differential associative strength that mediated the obtained interaction between cognitive tuning sets and source credibility in Exp I. Exp II confirmed that message–source links were stronger with a receiver set than with a transmitter set. Additional data indicated that the transmitter set enhanced Ss' focus on the message and may have highlighted the inconsistency between the cogent message and the low-credibility source. Combined findings suggest that 2 cognitive processes mediated the obtained persistence results, one process based on the strength of the association between the source and message and the other based on the transmitter set sometimes enhancing involvement with a message. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responding to membership in a disadvantaged group: From acceptance to collective protest.

The question addressed is, when do disadvantaged-group members accept their situation, take individual action, or attempt to instigate collective action? Ss attempted to move from a low-status group into an advantaged, high-status group and were asked to respond to their subsequent rejection. Ss who believed that the high-status group was open to members of their group endorsed acceptance and individual actions. When access to the high-status group was restricted, even to the point of being almost closed (tokenism), Ss still preferred individual action. Disruptive forms of collective action were only favored by Ss who were told that the high-status group was completely closed to members of their group. Ss who believed they were near to gaining entry into the high-status group favored individual protest, while Ss distant from entry were more likely to accept their position. The theoretical and societal implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences between open- and closed-minded subjects on learning-set and oddity problems.

Open and closed-minded college students, selected by Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale, were tested in discrimination and reversal learning-set (RLS) problems, and in oddities learning. Open Ss were found to be better at oddities learning, and closed Ss attained better performance in RLS problems. The theoretical interpretation was that closed Ss depend passively on authority, whereas open Ss seek an underlying principle. In RLS problems the E is acting as a capricious authority. The closed S willingly follows E, whereas the open S seeks a general principle where there is none, and does not perform efficiently. The oddity problem requires S to find a principle which will predict E's reinforcements, and open Ss are well fitted for such a task. Closed Ss follow E's reinforcements passively and do not quickly find the principle. Alternative interpretations invoking general anxiety and general intelligence are discussed but rejected. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of source magnification of cognitive effort on attitudes: An information-processing view.

In Exp I 120 undergraduates viewed a videotape of 1 or 3 speakers presenting 1 or 3 arguments in favor of a counterattitudinal position. The 3-source/3-argument message produced significantly more persuasion than any of the other conditions, which did not differ from each other. It is suggested that each time a speaker appears, the recipient "gears up" to process the message and that if either speaker or argument is repeated, further thinking about the arguments is minimal. Exp II (30 Ss) excluded an alternative to this processing interpretation by showing that Ss exposed to the multiple-source/multiple-argument message did not infer that the pool of proproposal arguments was larger than that inferred by other Ss. In Exp III (100 Ss), Ss exposed to 3 compelling arguments purportedly produced by 3 different persons generated more positive thoughts and were more persuaded than Ss who read the same high quality arguments presumably generated by 1 person. However, Ss exposed to 3 weak arguments purportedly produced by 3 different persons generated more negative thoughts and were less persuaded than Ss who read the same low quality arguments attributed to 1 source. Overall, results indicate that increasing the number of sources of a message increases thinking about the message content. This increased thinking can result in either increased or decreased persuasion, depending on the cogency of the message arguments. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The child's conception of intending act and consequence.

Investigated the distinction between intending an act and intending a consequence of the act using 25 children at each of 3 age levels: 5, 7, and 9 yrs. Ss acted as either the agent, inexperienced observer, or experienced observer in a simple choose and match game. Results indicate that Ss in all 3 roles were almost equally successful in judging intentionality and that they were able to assess the intentions of others as well as they could assess their own. (French abstract) (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenic deficit and its relation to social motivation.

A study investigating the effects of praise and encouragement on the performance of schizophrenics was carried out with 48 normal and 48 hospitalized schizophrenics, the latter being drawn equally from open and closed wards. All Ss performed a simple motor task, those in the experimental groups receiving verbal praise and encouragement from E after each trial and those in the control groups no evaluative comments. The results indicated that all experimental groups performed better than their controls but that the amount of improvement did not differ among the diagnostic groups. In absolute performance level, normals were significantly superior to the schizophrenics but the 2 schizophrenics groups did not differ significantly from each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-schemas, possible selves, and competent performance.

College students were classified as either schematic for being a good problem solver (i.e., they believed they were very good in this area, and this ability was very important to their self-evaluation) or aschematic for this ability (i.e., they believed they had moderate ability in this area, and this ability was of moderate to low importance to their self-evaluation). In Study 1, schematic and aschematic Ss performed equally well in an initial problem-solving test; however, aschematic Ss did not enjoy the task and had negative possible selves related to logical ability active in working memory. In Study 2, aschematic Ss maintained competent performance on a problem-solving test only when given failure feedback on an earlier test. The results point to the importance of the self-concept in the development and maintenance of competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

For whom does the bell toll?: The true tragedy of the Atlanta youth murders.

Interviewed 427 parents (or pairs of parents) from Atlanta, Cleveland, and Tuscaloosa between February and May of 1981 to assess the effects of the murders of Black youths in Atlanta on Ss. Ss were almost equally divided by race and city. Black parents of Atlanta and Tuscaloosa, where the threat seemed more real, reacted by attempting to protect their children. By a ratio of 5 to 1, Black Ss were more willing to believe that the murderer was White and that the killings were racially motivated. Black Ss were twice as likely as Whites to feel that the effects of the murders were further racially divisive. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of client affective self-disclosure and counselor experience on counselor verbal behavior and perceptions.

60 untrained, trained, and professional counselors (average age 20 yrs, 26 yrs, and 38 yrs, respectively) responded to an audio presentation of client affective self-disclosures consisting of either high or low intimacy content. Quality and type of response were measured. Ss then completed a reaction form to assess their clinical impressions of the client. No intimacy effects were found. In contrast, consistent differences for experience occurred. Results indicate that untrained Ss made lower quality responses than either trained or professional Ss with no differences between professionals and counselors-in-training. In terms of response type, untrained Ss relied on direct guidance and silence; trained Ss preferred reflection, and professionals utilized silence, open question, and reflection. When silence as an initial response was removed from consideration, the preferred mode of responding for untrained and trained Ss was strengthened. In contrast, professionals utilized 2 responses (reflection and open question) equally. Finally, the counselor reaction data indicated that untrained Ss had less liking for the client as a person and viewed the client as less motivated to change than trained or professional Ss. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Female modesty in aspiration level.

Used responses on the College Student Questionnaire to analyze the educational and occupational aspirations of 290 male and 259 female college freshmen by sex and ability level. The sample was divided into "traditional" Ss who would have qualified for admission to the City University of New York prior to the open admissions policy, and "open admissions" Ss. No significant differences in educational or occupational aspirations were found between traditional and open admissions Ss. Significant sex differences existed in educational aspirations, with females desiring fewer years of higher education. Females also tended to aspire to careers traditionally acceptable for women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test-taking sets and the performance of schizophrenics on laboratory tests.

Administered an abbreviated MMPI, a word association test, and a reaction time test under 2 test conditions (neutral and mental illness) to 3 schizophrenic groups-28 acute and 28 chronic Ss from open wards, and 28 chronic Ss from closed wards. Chronic Ss from open wards were the only group to perform differentially on the tests under the 2 conditions, presenting themselves as "healthier" on the MMPI and giving more common responses on the word association test in the mental illness than in the neutral condition. It is concluded that schizophrenic patients likely to be included in research may perform differently on tests given under different conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Members' reactions to apparent group approval of a counternorm communication.

"In a study of the use of one-way communications to change group-anchored attitudes, members of a college group listened to a recorded speech contrary to their norms. An audience that was heard to applaud the main points in the speech was described for some Ss (the members' applause Ss) as composed of members of the college group; for others (the outside applause Ss) it was composed of anonymous outsiders… . The members' applause Ss exhibited more immediate opinion change in the direction advocated by the speech than did the other Ss. The members' applause Ss also showed a greater tendency to misinterpret the speaker's point of view, judging it to be more similar to the college norms than did the outsider's applause Ss." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helplessness and resourcefulness in coping with epilepsy.

Examined the hypothesis that emotional sequelae of epilepsy are a joint function of the epilepsy severity level and Ss' perceived repertoire of self-control skills (i.e., their learned resourcefulness). 50 19–50 yr old epileptic patients were divided into 3 groups according to the occurrence frequency of generalized tonic-clonic seizures: high, medium, and low frequencies. Ss were further divided into high-resourceful (HR) and low-resourceful (LR) groups according to their scores on the Self-Control Schedule. Ss were administered a battery of tests that included the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory. In a structured interview Ss' emotional adjustment level was evaluated as well as their beliefs in their ability to control their health and seizures. In the medium and low categories of seizure frequency, HR Ss were significantly less depressed and anxious and coped better with their disability than LR Ss. However, in the high-frequency range of seizures, HR and LR Ss equally showed low levels of emotional adjustment. Regardless of the severity level of the epilepsy, HR Ss maintained a stronger belief in their control over their health and their seizures. Seizure frequency had no effect on these beliefs. Data support the notion that individual differences in learned resourcefulness influence the coping level of epileptics, in particular in the less severe cases of epilepsy. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrieval of attitude-relevant information from memory: Effects on susceptibility to persuasion and on intrinsic motivation.

Examined the distinction between (a) classical views of attitudes as stable dispositions based on beliefs and prior experiences accessed from memory and (b) the self-perception analysis of attitudes as relatively transitory responses dependent on current contextual cues. The access of 159 undergraduates to relevant information in memory was assessed by the number of issue-related beliefs and prior experiences they could retrieve. In Exp I, Ss read a counter-attitudinal message. As expected, Ss with little access to beliefs and prior experiences, in comparison to those with greater access, changed their opinions to be more consistent with the message position. In Exp II, Ss agreed to advocate a pro-attitudinal position for a reward or no reward. As expected, Ss with access to little relevant information in memory inferred their attitudes from their decision to proselytize: Rewarded Ss explained their decision less in terms of their own belief in the position than did Ss who had greater access to information in favor of the position, who tended to attribute their decision to a belief in the topic, regardless of the presence or absence of the reward. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between a measure of transitory anxiety and spontaneous autonomic activity.

The effects of stress (threat of shock) on GSR nonspecific responses were evaluated for Ss who differed in transitory anxiety as measured by the Affect Adjective Check List (AACL). 52 Ss were equally divided among 4 groups: Hi AACL Stress, Lo AACL Stress, Hi AACL Nonstress, and Lo AACL Nonstress. 1st, all Ss rested; then both Stress groups were threatened with shock, while both Nonstress groups continued resting; finally, all Ss rested again. During the 2nd period GSR nonspecifics increased for both stress groups; however, during the final period, after the cessation of stress, GSR nonspecifics decreased more for the Lo AACL Ss than for the Hi AACL Ss. It was concluded that the AACL may be related to "autonomic recovery rate." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)