Message Arguments Research Articles

Novelty as a Parameter for Using Arguments in Persuasive Communication

Background: In this paper, a series of studies investigating one of the parameters for effectiveness in relation to using arguments in persuasive communication messages is described: the novelty of arguments.Method: The first study involves the elicitation of arguments, the second study entails the identification of novel arguments, and the third study focuses on the influence of novel versus familiar arguments. The main hypothesis for this series of studies was: Messages with novel, valid and relevant arguments will lead to more attitude change than messages with familiar, valid and relevant arguments.Results: This hypothesis is supported by the data: messages with new, valid and relevant arguments led to more attitude change than messages with familiar, valid and relevant arguments.Discussion: To ensure the central processing of arguments, messages need to be new to the receiver.There is a need for more experimental studies identifying parameters for effectiveness in relation to various behavior change methods.

The Time for Insects Is Now

The Time for Insects Is Now

Perceived Humorand Purchase Intention:Mediating Role of Attitude towards the Advertisement and Brand

In order to investigate the purchase intention of the customers, and its relationship with perceived humor, this research analysesdifferent types of humor that havebeen used in advertising campaigns. In this regard, multi-mediation analysis has been applied keeping in mind the perspective of humor in advertising; moreover, attitudes towards the advertisement, and attitudes towards the brand are used as sequential mediators. In addition, self-monitoring and message arguments have also been included as moderators in order to estimate the interaction effect in theproposedmodel. The data has been gathered from 617 respondentsafter showing them relevant advertisements. After checking the normality of the data, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis was applied using AMOS. Also, Simple Linear Regression was used to test simple relationships; however, complex models have also been tested by usingthe hierarchal regression (to test moderation), and the bootstrapping (to test mediation) methods. A good fitbetween the data and the tested model was observed. As predicted, the purchase intentions were positively related to perceived humor, and evidence of full mediation effect was found. However, for the moderation of self-monitoring and message arguments, the findings were distinctive. In reality, this research can be used by mature brands which mostly require the use of persuasive advertising. As the results of different types of humor, collectively, are significant, it can be inferred that companies must use a mix method approach in terms of types of humor they might resort to in their advertisementcampaigns. Findings are particularly noteworthy for national and multinational media agencies in Pakistan, as well in the other parts of the world.

Partisan cues and internet memes: early evidence for motivated skepticism in audience message processing of spreadable political media

ABSTRACT Internet memes represent fundamental practices underlying much of digitally mediated conversation in the current participatory media environment, increasingly playing a prominent role in political contexts online. At the same time, memes’ fleeting nature makes them easily dismissed as insignificant media. To date, there is little published research that focuses on memes from the audience perspective. This study responds to calls to establish effects of political internet memes by examining the role of partisan cues in audience assessment of political internet memes’ message quality. An online quasi-experiment (N = 633) was conducted to assess perceptions of political memes’ message effectiveness and argument quality. The results reveal that internet memes are subject to biased cognitive processing, specifically selective judgment or motivated skepticism. These findings suggest that despite their fleeting nature, political internet memes might be a vehicle for political messages that contribute to a polarized media environment. Suggestions for future research are presented.

Social Shopping Relationship Management on Social E-Commerce in Indonesia (Case Study: Online Food Consumers)

96 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-ID JA X-NONE Abstract: The phenomenon of online shopping and business start-ups are rising in Indonesia, and one of the results of this movement is a new form of e-commerce—social shopping—which combines two online activities: social networking and online shopping. Manuscript type: Case Studies Research Aims: The purpose of this paper is to improve academic understanding on social shopping websites and to research the impact of relationship quality and the ensuing effect on individuals’ online loyalty to social shopping websites. Design/methodology/approach: This paper examines factors that may affect consumer behaviour in social shopping websites. This study proposes a conceptual framework which uses Google forms to gather information from members who have made at least one previous online food purchase. Data was collected from Kaskus.com, a social shopping website in Indonesia. The authors analyzed the model using the structural equation modelling approach. Research Findings: The results show that members’ perceived social network, message source credibility, website stimuli, and argument quality are important factors that affect consumer e-loyalty. In addition, both consumer website value and relationship quality strengthened this loyalty . Theoretical Contribution/Originality: This study provides a comprehensive framework to better understand the influences on the development of relationship quality and the impact on member loyalty by addressing the role of information and content creation in the social shopping environment, especially on online food consumer behaviour. Practitioner/Policy Implication: Websites should provide trusted information, attention to stimulus, facilitate user interactions, and strengthen the value of the community to increase the user’s shopping experience. Research limitation/Implications: In this research, we were limited to one product category: food, and there are other factors that should be research such as cultural factors, lifestyle, level of technology adoption, and tradition to better understand the intentions of customer loyalty.

AROUSAL SAFETY LEADING TO PURCHASE INTENTION; THE ROLE OF MODERATING AND MEDIATING VARIABLES IN STRUCTURAL MODEL

The effect of arousal safety has been analyzed on purchase intention, then attitude towards the advertisement and attitude towards the brand have been incorporated as intervening variables between the relationships. The interaction effect of self-monitoring and message arguments have also been taken in to consideration for better understanding of the consumer’s response. The data has been gathered from 206 respondents by using purposive sampling method. The research instrument was comprised of summated rating/additive scale (likert scale) and semantic differential scaling. Confirmatory Factor Analysis has been applied after the application of preliminary tests on the data. Structure Equation Modeling and moderation and mediation analysis have also been applied to test the hypotheses. Arousal safety in the advertisements shape consumers response and it proved to be a fully mediated model. Self-monitoring also probes the relationship. Message arguments haven’t had any affect as moderator, hence can be used as a focal predictor. The study is a starting point for future research to provide a coherent methodology for capturing the necessary data, processing the underlying information and evaluating the effects of arousal safety in advertisements. The study extends the field of advertising in the direction of arousal safety (Humor) effects. In comparison to previous research, empirical evidence on the arousal safety in television advertising and purchase intention in relation with moderating and mediating variables is provided.

Towards sustainable consumption: Keys to communication for improving trust in organic foods

Lack of trust is thought to be one of the most significant barriers to the consumption of organic foods, which is an important dimension of sustainable behaviour. Building trust in organic foods is the central objective of this paper. Based on information processing models focusing on what message to transmit and how, and on the premise that to improve trust, two different dimensions (functionality and authenticity) must be managed simultaneously, this paper analyzes the comparative effectiveness of different combinations of message arguments, forms of appeal and sources on consumer trust. To this end, an experiment was designed with a total of 800 participants, in which 36 different treatments were tested. The results show strong interactions between the three variables considered and suggest that the most effective combinations for building trust are: the health argument put across by an expert, the authenticity argument transmitted by a producers’ union, the elitist argument made by an expert and lastly, the social argument transmitted by a public authority, using an emotional form of appeal in all four cases. These results serve to complete the previous literature on the subject, in which communication activities are recommended but the questions of what to say, how to say it and who should say it are not specifically addressed.

Comedy as a Route to Social Change: The Effects of Satire and News on Persuasion about Syrian Refugees

Using a pretest–posttest and delayed recontact experimental design with a national sample, this study examines shifts in U.S. public attitudes about Syrian refugees after watching a topical satirical news segment on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, compared with a CNN news segment. To investigate synergistic effects between satire and news, the design varied whether the news and comedy segments were viewed alone or in sequence (news before comedy or comedy before news). The results show that all four treatments (news only, comedy only, news-comedy, comedy-news) significantly increased support for refugees from pretest to posttest, and these effects were maintained after a 2-week delay. However, the effects were significantly greater in the three comedy conditions relative to news only. Finally, a serial mediation analysis demonstrated that perceived entertainment value is a positive mediator of comedy’s persuasive effects and serves as a buffer against negative indirect effects through message discounting and argument quality.

How people can become persuaded by weak messages presented by credible communicators: Not all sleeper effects are created equal

The sleeper effect has been proposed to describe temporal changes in persuasion for messages associated with noncredible sources. The present research introduces a new kind of sleeper effect denoting increases in persuasion for weak messages associated with credible sources. This effect of the source was hypothesized to derive from attending to the message source rather than the message arguments and reconstructing delayed attitudes primarily on the basis of the source information. Findings from three experiments revealed that when the focus of attention was the communicator, there was a sleeper effect for the source. Specifically, during the time between an immediate follow up and a delayed follow up, persuasion increased when credible sources presented weak arguments. In contrast, when the focus of attention was the message arguments, a traditional sleeper effect emerged. That is, persuasion increased when strong arguments were presented by a noncredible communicator. These effects were mediated by relative recall of arguments versus source attributes and replicated with different message topics and lengths of delay.

Distraction effects of contextual advertising on online news processing: an eye-tracking study

ABSTRACTAlthough recent scholarship has shown that congruency between editorial content and display advertising on web pages can lead to favourable outcomes for the advertiser, it is unclear whether these gains for advertisers come at the expense of users’ ability to process the content. To examine whether contextual in-page advertising distracts users during information processing, a 2 (target message argument type: weak/strong) × 2 (ad relevance: high/low) between-subjects factorial experiment (N = 99) examined how readers of a news article about risks associated with texting while driving (a) paid attention to the article, (b) paid attention to the advertisements, and (c) were persuaded by the article contents. Participants’ visual attention was captured unobtrusively using a device-mounted eye-tracking device. The findings show that readers were more likely to be persuaded by weaker arguments when the article was presented alongside highly relevant display ads than when the article was presented alongside less relevant ads. Readers also paid greater attention to relevant ads than irrelevant ads, and, surprisingly, readers in the strong argument condition paid more attention to the story content when it was presented alongside relevant ads. The implications for theories of visual attention and for online content publishers are discussed.

Rational and Emotional Communication in Advertising in Women's Magazines in Brazil

This article investigated the incidence of rational and emotional arguments in messages from 5.536 advertisements of six women's magazines in Brazil (Claudia, Nova, Estilo, Marie Claire, Elle and Gloss), published between May / 2008 and August / 2009. The methodology was based on an exploratory study, supported on a scale of 14 items, by Resnik and Stern (1977), which recommend matching appeals to attitude toward the product, that is, use informative advertising, based on rational appeals for products in which the consumer attitude is predominantly cognitive. To assess the emotional content, we used the scale of eight items of Plutchik (1980), represented by the primary emotions - Anger, Fear, Sadness, Disgust, Surprise, Curiosity, Acceptance and Joy. Data analysis included the frequency of the two appeals in the general category (durables, non-durables and services), product, and correspondence analyzes were used to identify the prevalence of two types of arguments in selected magazines. The results show the concentration of ads on non-durable goods, followed by the category of services, that overcomes the advertisings on durables. The study also analyzes the incidence of emotional and rational arguments by product category and by magazine.

Neural Predictors of Message Effectiveness during Counterarguing in Antidrug Campaigns

A substantial amount of research has focused on predicting the effectiveness of persuasive messages. However, characteristics of both the message itself and its receiver can impact theoretically predicted effects. For example, recent work published in this journal demonstrated that issue involvement modulates the relationship between message sensation value (MSV) and argument strength (AS). When exposed to anti-cannabis public service announcements (PSAs), high-drug-risk individuals rate these messages as having low effectiveness regardless of variation in MSV and AS. Accordingly, for high-risk individuals, MSV and AS lose their predictive power in message design; moreover, the all too common use of high MSV, high AS PSAs to dissuade drug use may be ineffective, as high-risk viewers are more likely to engage in counterarguing. In this paper, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlates of counterarguing. Subsequently, we employ a brain-as-predictor approach using neural activation and self-report data to predict message effectiveness in two independent samples. We demonstrate that by adding two neural predictors within the middle frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus to self-report data, the prediction accuracy of message effectiveness in high-drug-risk individuals during counterarguing can reach, and even surpass, the prediction accuracy for low-drug-risk individuals.

Stalking the “Vividness Effect” in the Preventive Health Message: The Moderating Role of Argument Quality on the Effectiveness of Message Vividness

Vividness strategy used in marketing communications has generated much controversy in empirical research. This study explores the potency and the influencing factors of “vividness effect” in preventive health related messages. Through a controlled experiment, this study demonstrates that two conflicting processing tendencies can co-exist as they are prompted respectively by message valence and message vividness. It shows that in a complex negative message context, where prevention goals are heightened, substance- and affect- based processing modes can co-exist. Moreover, the quality of message arguments plays a significant moderating role in determining the impact of message vividness on people's judgments and evaluations.

Speaking to the mind or the heart: effects of matching hedonic versus utilitarian arguments and products

Message arguments influence beliefs about product benefits which influence overall product evaluations. Three studies show that matching hedonic versus utilitarian arguments and products enhance evaluations of utilitarian products, but not hedonic products. The results generalize across several argument manipulations and several product categories.

Modeling the Effects of Processing Effort and Ability in Response to Persuasive Message Arguments

This study proposed a path model of the effects of message comprehensibility on attitude change with the measured cognitive mediators suggested by dual-process models of persuasion. An experiment was conducted using a 2 (strong arguments vs. weak arguments) × 2 (easy vs. difficult to understand arguments) fully crossed independent-groups design with 120 participants. The data were consistent with the traditional impact of message comprehensibility on difficulty of processing the message such that the effect of argument strength was diminished when the arguments were difficult, rather than easy, to understand. The path models were not consistent with the data, and the model was revised to produce adequate fit.

Evaluating the Message or the Messenger? Implications for Self-Validation in Persuasion

Characteristics of persuasive message sources have been extensively studied. However, little attention has been paid to situations when people are motivated to form an evaluation of the communicator rather than the communicated issue. We postulated that these different foci can affect how a source validates message-related cognitions. Participants focused on the source (Studies 1 and 2) or the issue (Study 2) while reading weak or strong message arguments. Later, the communicator was described as low or high in credibility. When focused on the source, highly motivated participants were more confident and their attitudes were more reflective of thoughts when argument quality matched (e.g., weak arguments-low credibility) rather than mismatched (e.g., weak arguments-high credibility) source credibility. Conversely, when participants were focused on the issue, self-validation was greater when credibility was high rather than low-regardless of argument quality. Implications of these findings for the study and practice of persuasion are discussed.

Being healthy or looking good? The effectiveness of health versus appearance-focused arguments in two-sided messages

Two experimental studies test the effectiveness of health versus appearance-related arguments in two-sided messages. The first study shows that two-sided messages to discourage suntanning are more effective when using appearance-focused instead of health-focused arguments. Study 2 elaborates on the underlying mechanism and extends the generalization of the results of the first study, by investigating two-sided messages to promote physical exercise. The results show that for health-motivated consumers, a health-focused message is more effective, whereas for appearance-motivated consumers, an appearance-focused message is more effective. This matching effect is mediated by argument relevance.

The Effects of Integrating Instrumental and Affective Arguments in Rhetorical and Testimonial Health Messages

Recent research highlights the superior influence of affect over cognition in health decision making. The present study examined the independent and combined effects of 2 message characteristics that are thought to tap into the cognition-affect distinction: message format (rhetorical vs. testimonial) and argument type (instrumental vs. affective). In this 2 × 2 experiment, 81 college students were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 health messages discouraging binge drinking. The results indicated that messages containing affective arguments were judged more positively and perceived as more effective than were messages containing instrumental arguments. The results further revealed an interaction effect between message format and argument type. Testimonials were more persuasive when they contained affective arguments than when they contained instrumental arguments. Type of arguments did not influence the efficacy of rhetorical messages. Mediation analyses revealed that instrumental arguments reduce the efficacy of testimonials because they prevent individuals from being transported into the story, and increase psychological reactance. In conclusion, testimonial messages more effectively discourage binge drinking among college students when they contain affective, as opposed to instrumental, arguments.

Resistance to persuasion in an anti‐consumption context: Biased assimilation of positive product information

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the role of biased assimilation processes as cognitive defense mechanisms facilitating resistance to counter‐attitudinal persuasive messages. Research is conducted in an anti‐consumption context, focusing on consumers with negative attitudes toward frozen food products. It is proposed that effective use of biased assimilation in the case of exposure to counter‐attitudinal persuasive messages depends upon the strengths of both initial attitude and counter‐attitudinal message. The results of experimental processes confirm the critical roles of initial attitude strength and persuasive message strength in terms of triggering and/or hindering biased assimilation processes. The results further indicate that, when exposed to a positive message, anti‐loyal consumers exert higher levels of biased assimilation than consumers with moderate negative attitudes. In addition, with stronger message arguments, effective use of biased assimilation decreases substantially. The results also indicate a robust negative effect of biased assimilation on attitude change. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Men and women watching and reading: Gender and information processing opportunity effects in advertising

This study examines gender differences in responses to advertising for low-involvement products. I argue that when an opportunity for detailed information processing is present, females will be inclined to use it and engage in systematic consideration of message content, whereas males will tend to ignore it and instead process an ad in a heuristic manner. I further suggest that this difference in cognitive styles will have implications for advertising effectiveness. In line with predictions, two experiments supported moderation effect of processing opportunity on behavioral intentions in responses to advertising. After viewing the ad in the conditions that allowed extensive elaboration on message arguments, females were more willing to engage in word-of-mouth (WOM) communication about the advertised product compared to males. No gender differences were observed when the opportunity for ad processing was low. Cognitive responses to advertising mediated the gender by processing opportunity interaction effect on WOM intentions.