Effects of prior information and initial attitude on susceptibility to emotional appeals

Abstract

In order to examine variables that mediate susceptibility to emotional appeals, 80 Ss received a positive or negative appeal concerning a little-known country. In addition, one-half of the Ss also received neutral information about the attitude object prior to the appeal. Results of a 2 by 2 by 2 analysis of variance (Positive Appeal vs Negative Appeal by Prior Information vs No Prior Information by Favorable Initial Attitude vs Unfavorable Initial Attitude) showed two significant interactions. First, negative appeals effected more change among Ss with initially favorable attitudes (p <.01), and second, the presence of prior information increased the effectiveness of negative but decreased the effectiveness of positive appeals (p <.05). The findings suggest that positive and negative appeals may identify separate processes of change, but that communicator credibility should be examined in further studies.