Evidence that Unconscious Thinking Influences Persuasion Based on Argument Quality

Abstract

Growing evidence demonstrates that individuals can think about complex information unconsciously while conscious processes cannot due to distraction. Further, unconscious processes can consider information that is difficult for conscious processes to access, such as rapidly presented information. The hypothesis that individuals can think about rapidly presented persuasive information and form attitudes based on that information to a greater extent when they think unconsciously versus consciously or when both conscious and unconscious thinking are limited was tested. All experimental participants listened to a quickly presented persuasive message containing either strong or weak arguments, and then reported their message attitudes (1) immediately, (2) after 3 min of conscious thought, or (3) after 3 min of distraction (unconscious thought). As predicted, only participants in the unconscious-thought conditions reported more favorable attitudes in response to strong versus weak arguments. These results suppo...