Abstract
Although inoculation messages have been shown to be effective for inducing resistance to counter-attitudinal attacks, researchers have devoted relatively little attention toward studying the way in which inoculation theory principles might support challenges to psychological phenomena other than attitudes (e.g., self-efficacy). Prior to completing a physical (i.e., balance) task, undergraduates (N = 127, Mage = 19.20, SD = 2.16) were randomly assigned to receive either a control or inoculation message, and reported their confidence in their ability regarding the upcoming task. During the task, a confederate provided standardized negative feedback to all participants regarding their performance, and following the completion of the task, participants again reported their self-efficacy along with measures assessing in-task processes. Findings supported the viability of efficacy inoculation; controlling for pre-task self-efficacy, task performance, and relevant psycho-social variables (e.g., resilience, self-confidence robustness), participants in the inoculation condition reported greater confidence in their ability (i.e., task self-efficacy) than those in the control condition at post-task. Relative to those in the inoculation condition, participants in the control condition also experienced greater concentration disruption and self-presentation concerns during the task.
Highlights
Psychologists, marketers, and communication theorists often utilize persuasion techniques to stimulate desired decision-making and behavioral processes, or to encourage attitude formation [1]
A preliminary MANOVA exploring potential differences on background variables revealed a nonsignificant multivariate effect for experimental condition (F(4, 122) = .97, p = .42, η2p = .03, λ = .97), indicating that individuals in the message conditions did not display underlying differences on these background variables
With an emphasis on the potential for self-efficacy beliefs to diminish in the face of adverse environmental and experiential influences, we sought to determine whether it was possible to inoculate against the damaging effects of these ‘attacks’
Summary
Psychologists, marketers, and communication theorists often utilize persuasion techniques to stimulate desired decision-making and behavioral processes, or to encourage attitude formation [1]. Health-enhancing/-protective attitudes, for instance (e.g., “fast food is bad”), are regularly subject to persuasory challenges (e.g., seeing a high profile athlete endorse a fast food restaurant), potentially causing us to re-evaluate our beliefs and adopt a less desirable position (e.g., “maybe fast food isn’t so bad after all”). In light of this notion of attitude fragility, empirical attention has been directed toward identifying strategies that are effective in PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0124886. Beattie et al [32] presented evidence for the structural properties, convergent validity, and internal consistency of measures derived from this instrument
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