Abstract
The current research examined whether for a message that is based on the paradoxical thinking principles—i.e., providing extreme, exaggerated, or even absurd views, that are congruent with the held views of the message recipients—to be effective, it needs to hit a ‘sweet spot’ and lead to a contrast effect. That is, it moderates the view of the message's recipients. In the framework of attitudes toward African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel by Israeli Jews, we found that compared to more moderate messages, an extreme, but not too extreme, message was effective in leading to unfreezing for high morally convicted recipients. The very extreme message similarly led to high levels of surprise and identity threat as the extreme message that was found to be effective. However, it was so extreme and absurd that it was rejected automatically. This was manifested in high levels of disagreement compared to all other messages, rendering it less effective compared to the extreme, paradoxical thinking, message. We discuss these findings’ practical and theoretical implications for the paradoxical thinking conceptual framework as an attitude change intervention, and for social judgment theory.
Highlights
The current research examined whether for a message that is based on the paradoxical thinking principles—i.e., providing extreme, exaggerated, or even absurd views, that are congruent with the held views of the message recipients—to be effective, it needs to hit a ‘sweet spot’ and lead to a contrast effect
Tying the concepts of latitudes of acceptance and rejection to the paradoxical thinking conceptual framework, and extending the arguments in Hameiri et al (2018, 2019), we suggest that one of the reasons paradoxical thinking interventions are effective is because even though the messages fall within the latitude of rejection, they are processed, as they are consistent with the held beliefs and attitudes of the message recipients
In the terminology of the social judgment theory, we argue that moral conviction would be a good indicator for the range and width of positions that would be tolerable by message recipients (Eagly & Telaak, 1972)
Summary
The current research examined whether for a message that is based on the paradoxical thinking principles—i.e., providing extreme, exaggerated, or even absurd views, that are congruent with the held views of the message recipients—to be effective, it needs to hit a ‘sweet spot’ and lead to a contrast effect. This was manifested in high levels of disagreement compared to all other messages, rendering it less effective compared to the extreme, paradoxical thinking, message We discuss these findings’ practical and theoretical implications for the paradoxical thinking conceptual framework as an attitude change intervention, and for social judgment theory. Instead of eliciting inconsistency using counter-attitudinal information, or views, the paradoxical thinking message extrapolates extreme and absurd conclusions from the views held by the message recipient, which are meant to induce a deliberative examination of these beliefs and attitudes This process may lead to the realization that something within the individual’s beliefs is perhaps wrong, nonsensical, improbable, unacceptable or strange, which might stimulate unfreezing of these beliefs and eventually their moderation. Politics, and family are examples of issues that typically result in highly involved attitudes as they contribute to one's self-identity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
