Primacy versus recency in persuasion as a function of the timing of arguments and measures.

In an after-only design 4 independent variables were manipulated to test Miller and Campbell's theory of primacy vs. recency in persuasion: time between communications (none, 2 days, 1 week, or 2 weeks), time between the 2nd communication and the measures of opinion and retention (none, 2 days, or 1 week), order of communications (pro-con or con-pro), and order of measures (opinion-recall or recall-opinion). There were 2 dependent variables: opinion (measured on a rating scale) and retention (measured through recall). Confirming Miller and Campbell, the longer the time interval between 2 communications the greater the recency effect in both opinion and recall immediately after the 2nd communication; and the longer the time elapsed from the 2nd communication until measurement the less the recency effect. Contrary to Miller and Campbell's prediction, delayed measurement did not tend to produce primacy in the case of the groups in which the 2nd communication followed immediately upon the 1st. The theoretically predicted shape of the recency function over time was only roughly supported. A correlational analysis of the relation between opinion and retention called into question the assumption that opinion is a direct function of retention of message content. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion.

In Exp I, 183 undergraduates read a persuasive message from a likable or unlikable communicator who presented 6 or 2 arguments on 1 of 2 topics. High involvement (HI) Ss anticipated discussing the message topic at a future experimental session, whereas low-involvement (LI) Ss anticipated discussing a different topic. For HI Ss, opinion change was significantly greater given 6 arguments but was unaffected by communicator likability. For LI Ss, opinion change was significantly greater given a likable communicator but was unaffected by the argument's manipulation. In Exp II with 80 similar Ss, HI Ss showed slightly greater opinion change when exposed to 5 arguments from an unlikable (vs 1 argument from a likable) communicator, whereas LI Ss exhibited significantly greater persuasion in response to 1 argument from a likable (vs 5 arguments from an unlikable) communicator. Findings support the idea that HI leads message recipients to employ a systematic information processing strategy in which message-based cognitions mediate persuasion, whereas LI leads recipients to use a heuristic processing strategy in which simple decision rules mediate persuasion. Support was also obtained for the hypothesis that content- vs source-mediated opinion change would result in greater persistence. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactance as a function of actual versus projected autonomy.

Tested the impression management interpretation of psychological reactance. Contrary to the traditional effectance motivation interpretation, the impression management interpretation asserts that people are less concerned with the actual loss of a specific behavioral freedom than they are with maintaining the outward appearance of being free. 122 undergraduates read a communication that threatened their freedom to hold a particular attitude. Prior to the threat, some Ss were able either publicly or privately to exercise their freedom. Other Ss were not given the opportunity to exercise their freedom prior to its being threatened. Ss expressed their postcommunication attitude in a public or private manner. Consistent with the impression management hypothesis, attitude change did not occur when postcommunication attitudes were private. Further, public postcommunication attitudes were primarily used to convey the impression that the participant was autonomous; reactancelike attitude change occurred only when participants had not publicly exercised their freedom before it was threatened. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of vulnerability to and severity of a health risk on processing and acceptance of fear-arousing communications: A meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis of studies of the persuasive impact of fear appeals evaluated the contribution of our stage model of the processing of fear-arousing communications relative to other fear appeal theories. In contrast to other theories, our stage model (a) specifies the cognitive processes underlying persuasion through fear-arousing communications, (b) proposes that threat-induced defensive processing does not interfere with the effectiveness of fear-arousing communications but actually contributes to it, and (c) predicts that vulnerability and severity manipulations have differential effects on measures of attitude as compared with intention and behavior. To evaluate these predictions, the authors expanded on previous meta-analyses by assessing the independent as well as joint effects of vulnerability to and severity of a risk, both on information processing and on measures of persuasion (attitude, intention, behavior). Overall, findings were consistent with the stage model. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of exogenous changes in heart rate on facilitation of thought and resistance to persuasion.

Conducted 2 experiments to examine the effects of accelerated heart rate (HR) on information processing and resistance to persuasion. Exp I addressed the effects on cognitive performance of manipulating HR exogenously for brief periods. 14 healthy outpatient volunteers wearing implanted demand-type cardiac pacemakers performed reading comprehension and sentence generation tasks while HR was either accelerated or not. Results show that performance was better when HR was accelerated than when it was not. Exp II addressed the effects on counterargumentation and resistance to persuasion of manipulating HR using the cardiac-pacing technique employed in Exp I. 22 Ss read highly involving counterattitudinal communications while their HR was either ostensibly or actually accelerated. Accelerated HR resulted in the generation of more total thoughts and counterarguments than did basal HR; resistance to persuasion was related significantly to the number of counterarguments generated. The methodology provides a means by which social psychologists can study the effects on social processes of actual but unperceived changes in physiological processes. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Argument strength, delay of argument, and anxiety in the "conditioning" and "selective learning" of attitudes.

Attitude learning through persuasive communication was studied in 2 experimental situations regarded as being analogous to instrumental conditioning and selective learning, respectively. The communications, which the originally neutral Ss read aloud, included a statement of the opinion to be learned followed by some supporting information (the argument) which did not repeat the opinion statement. Experiment I (2 X 2 factorial, N = 363) results were: speed (1/latency) of agreement with a statement of the opinion was an increasing function of argument strength and drive (MA scale), with argument strength and anxiety combining additively to determine speed of agreement. In Experiment II, 2 separate and unrelated opinions were persuaded for each S (N = 48), and Ss were then required to choose between the 2 opinions in a simultaneous presentation situation. The Ss learned to choose the opinion which was persuaded with the shorter delay of argument (time between opinion statement and argument), and this tendency was inversely related to drive. The results were predicted by a theory of persuasion based on analogies with learning research and Hullian learning theory. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Uncertainty orientation and persuasion: Individual differences in the effects of personal relevance on social judgments.

In two studies we investigated the effects of personal relevance on attitude change as a function of one's uncertainty orientation. We predicted that, unlike uncertainty-oriented persons, high personal relevance would make certainty-oriented persons less careful or systematic in their processing of message arguments and more dependent on heuristics, or persuasion cues, than would low personal relevance. Results from both studies, within and across 2-week time periods, supported predictions. In Study 1, high personal relevance led to higher persuasiveness of two-sided communications and lower persuasiveness of one-sided communications than low personal relevance for uncertainty-oriented persons, but the reverse occurred for certainty-oriented persons. In Study 2, high personal relevance led to higher persuasive impact of strong arguments and lower impact for source expertise than did low personal relevance for uncertainty-oriented persons, but, again, the reverse occurred for certainty-oriented persons. We discuss implications for current theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicator attractiveness and opinion change.

Presented a tape recorded persuasive communication to 120 college and high school students while a photograph of a man identified as the speaker was projected onto a screen. 3 groups of ss listened to the communication in the presence of either (a) a photograph of an attractive communicator, (b) a photograph of an unattractive communicator, or (c) no photograph at all. 2 additional groups of ss did not listen to the communications, but filled out the postcommunication questionnaire only in the presence of (a) the photograph of the attractive speaker, or (b) the photograph of the unattractive speaker. Attractive male communicators were more persuasive that unattractive male or unpictured communicators. This effect was independent of differences in perceived expertness or trustworthiness of the communicator. Explanations in terms of distraction, contiguous pleasure, and liking are discussed. (french summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Regulatory Fit and Persuasion: Transfer From "Feeling Right."

The authors propose that when a message recipient "feels right" from regulatory fit (E. T. Higgins, 2000), this subjective experience transfers to the persuasion context and serves as information for relevant evaluations, including perceived message persuasiveness and opinions of the topic. Fit was induced either by strategic framing of message arguments in a way that fit/did not fit with the recipient's regulatory state or by a source unrelated to the message itself. Across 4 studies, regulatory fit enhanced perceived persuasiveness and opinion ratings. These effects were eliminated when the correct source of feeling right was made salient before message exposure, supporting the misattribution account. These effects reversed when message-related thoughts were negative, supporting the claim that fit provides information about the "rightness" of one's (positive or negative) evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communication modality as a determinant of persuasion: The role of communicator salience.

Reports 2 studies, using a total of 304 university students, in which a likable or unlikable communicator delivered a persuasive message via writing, audiotape, or videotape. In both studies the likable communicator was more persuasive in video- and audiotape than in writing, but the unlikable communicator was more persuasive in writing. Thus, communicator likability was a significant determinant of persuasion only in the broadcast modalities. Other findings suggest that Ss process more communicator cues when exposed to video- and audiotape messages than when exposed to written ones and that communicator-based (rather than message-based) cognitions predicted opinion change primarily in video and audiotape conditions rather than in written ones. It is concluded that video- and audiotapes enhance communicator-related information, so that communicator characteristics exert a disproportionate effect on persuasion when messages are broadcast. Findings are also discussed in relation to "vividness" phenomena. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivated resistance and openness to persuasion in the presence or absence of prior information.

Investigated the relation between need for cognitive closure and persuasion in 3 experiments. In Exp 1, Ss high on an individual-differences measure of need for closure were more resistant to persuasion by their low need-for-closure counterparts than vice versa. In Exp 2, Ss in a noisy environment, assumed to instill a relatively high need for closure, were more resistant to persuasion than Ss in a quiet environment, but only in presence of an initial informational base for an opinion. In its absence, Ss in the noisy (vs quiet) environment were less resistant to persuasion. The interaction between need for closure and informational base was replicated in the 3rd experiment reverting to the individual-differences measure of need for closure. The discussion considered implications of these findings for further persuasion phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Uneven progress: Social psychology and the study of attitudes.

Progress in understanding attitudes is discussed in relation to 4 critical areas of research that have particularly long histories. In 2 of these areas attitude serves as an independent variable, and in 2 it serves as a dependent variable. Thus, the effects of attitudes on behavior are examined in research on the attitude–behavior relation, and their effects on information processing are examined in research on attitudinal selectivity. Research on persuasion investigates the effects of communications on attitudes, and research on attitudinal advocacy investigates the effects of behaviors on attitudes. Each of these areas is characterized by uneven progress, as social psychologists' own research shook their early faith in simple principles, and pessimism temporarily reigned. The subsequent emergence of more sophisticated theories in these areas has resulted in considerably more successful prediction of attitudinal phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interplay of affect and cognition in attitude formation and change.

Two experiments examined the hypothesis that the sequence of affect and cognition in an attitude's formation is an important determinant of its subsequent resistance to affective and cognitive means of persuasion. Affect-based and cognition-based attitudes were induced and subsequently challenged by either affective or cognitive means of persuasion. As predicted, affect-based attitudes exhibited more change under affective means of persuasion than under cognitive means of persuasion. Cognition-based attitudes, on the other hand, exhibited equal change under both forms of persuasion. The interaction between attitude type and means of persuasion emerged both when affect was manipulated subliminally (Exp 1) and when affect was manipulated supraliminally (Exp 2). In the 2nd experiment, affect-based attitudes were expressed with greater confidence than their cognition-based counterparts. Findings underscore the theoretical as well as practical importance of distinguishing between affect- and cognition-based attitudes and the need for influence attempts to make contact with an attitude's origin. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thought confidence as a determinant of persuasion: The self-validation hypothesis.

Previous research in the domain of attitude change has described 2 primary dimensions of thinking that impact persuasion processes and outcomes: the extent (amount) of thinking and the direction (valence) of issue-relevant thought. The authors examined the possibility that another, more meta-cognitive aspect of thinking is also important--the degree of confidence people have in their own thoughts. Four studies test the notion that thought confidence affects the extent of persuasion. When positive thoughts dominate in response to a message, increasing confidence in those thoughts increases persuasion, but when negative thoughts dominate, increasing confidence decreases persuasion. In addition, using self-reported and manipulated thought confidence in separate studies, the authors provide evidence that the magnitude of the attitude-thought relationship depends on the confidence people have in their thoughts. Finally, the authors also show that these self-validation effects are most likely in situations that foster high amounts of information processing activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The power of self-persuasion.

In contrast with traditional, direct techniques of persuasion (advertising, political rhetoric, etc.), self-persuasion is indirect and entails placing people in situations where they are motivated to persuade themselves to change their own attitudes or behavior. We find that where important attitudes, behavior, or lifestyle changes are concerned, self-persuasion strategies produce more powerful and more long-lasting effects than do direct techniques of persuasion. This is primarily due to the fact that in direct persuasion, members of an audience are constantly aware of the fact that someone is trying (or has tried) to influence them. In a self-persuasion situation, people are convinced that the motivation for change comes from within. In the present address, the author reviews a range of his research on self-persuasion and underscores its relevance to current societal problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prévention, détection et traitement de l'information persuasive en situation de peur.

Evidence from psychological research has shown the importance of fear on attitude and/or behaviour change. Study 1 showed that fear appeal messages that produce high levels of fear are more effective with health prevention responses than with detection responses, and that this effect is reverse with messages that produce low levels of fear. Study 2 showed that for high fear arousal, interventions such as objective processing (vs. imagery processing) enhance persuasion by reducing the need to avoid the message. Low fear arousal increases persuasion for detection responses. Interventions such as objective processing (vs. imagery processing) interferes with persuasion by reducing persuasion. These variables must be taken into account if one wants to set up an effective fear-persuasive communication campaign. (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)     

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)     

Persuasion and praise as techniques for modifying verbal behavior in a "real-life" group setting.

Investigated the effectiveness of using antecedent persuasive stimulation and response-contingent praise, within a small discussion group context, to modify the rate of verbal participation of Ss in an independent, classroom situation. Ss were 96 male college students who were divided into 12 treatment subgroups and 4 control subgroups of 6 Ss each. 3 treatment conditions were employed: (1) maximum persuasion, (2) maximum praise, and (3) neutral (i.e., minimum persuasion and praise). The treated Ss showed more criterion verbal participation than did the control Ss (.01 level). No differences were found among the 3 treatment conditions. Behavior changes in the treated Ss were attributed to the effects of nonspecific factors in the treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)