Message Arguments Research Articles

The Combined Influence Hypothesis: Central and Peripheral Antecedents of Attitude toward the Ad

Abstract Two competing hypotheses relative to the formation of attitude toward the ad (Aad)provide the basis for an experiment. The peripheral-cue hypothesis views Aadas an outcome of consumer response to executional elements of an ad while the combined-influence hypothesis anticipates a joint effect of central message arguments and peripheral cues in Aadformation. Results supported the combined-influence hypothesis across varying levels of processing motivation and opportunity with differences in the relative magnitude of argument and cue effects consistent with The Elaboration Likelihood Model.

Multiple Sources in Advertising Appeals: When Product Endorsers are Paid by the Advertising Sponsor

Previous research has shown that respondents who are exposed to multiple sources featured in an advertising appeal engage in more diligent processing of the message arguments than those who are exposed to a single message source presenting the same basic appeal. Other research has demonstrated that the persuasive advantage of an appeal can be significantly diminished when respondents perceive that the message source is motivated by the compensation received to endorse a product. Using a 2 (Single vs. Multiple Sources)×2 (Paid vs. Unpaid Source) between-subjects factorial design, subjects were shown a print advertisement for a new multivitamin food supplement. Results showed that subjects exposed to unpaid multiple sources generated significantly more positive thoughts and attitudes than those exposed to a similar number of sources who were paid to endorse the product. In contrast, subjects in the single-source conditions showed no significant differences in the number of thoughts and the strength of attitudes in response to paid versus unpaid message sources. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.

Effects of mood on high elaboration attitude change: The mediating role of likelihood judgments

AbstractTwo experiments examined the processes by which positive and negative mood states produce attitude change under high elaboration conditions. We hypothesized that under high elaboration conditions, mood would influence attitudes by affecting the perceived likelihood of occurrence for consequences presented in message arguments. In Experiment I, arguments were framed positively, and positive mood led to greater perceived likelihood of the consequences and more favourable attitudes than negative mood for subjects high in need for cognition (NC). In Experiment 2, arguments were framed either positively or negatively, and a mood × frame interaction was obtained on attitude and likelihood judgments for high‐NC subjects. That is, positive mood led to marginally greater perceived likelihood of positive consequences but to lower likelihood of negative consequences as compared to negative mood. As a result, positive mood tended to lead to more persuasion than negative mood when the message was framed positively, but to less persuasion when the message was framed negatively In both experiments, path analyses supported the prediction that likelihood judgments mediated the impact of mood on attitudes for high‐NC individuals.

Knowledge of the Advocated Position and the Processing of In-Group and Out-Group Persuasive Messages

This study investigated the processing consequences of receiving non-membership-relevant persuasive messages from in-group or out-group members. Students were given two-sided messages ostensibly from an in-group or out-group source. The position advocated in the message was announced either before or after message arguments were presented, and position-consistent arguments were either strong or weak. In-group messages were more likely to receive content-focused processing (as indicated by lager processing times and differential persuasion to strong and weak arguments) when position advocacy followed rather than pre ceded message presentation Prior knowledge of the in-group position produced acceptance of the in-group position regardless of message quality, particularly of the counter attitudinal message. Out-group appeals produced almost no attitude change, even with strong arguments. 7hese results provide further information about the processing mediation of the increased persuasive power of in-groups.

Noncompliance with Persuasive Appeals for a Prosocial, Altruistic Act: Blood Donating1

Effects of persuasive messages, responsibility denial (RD), and attitude‐accessing on blood‐giving attitudes, intentions, moral obligations, and behavior were examined. In Study 1, participants (n= 84) who heard a message emphasizing moral reasons for donating indicated a more favorable postmessage attitude and stronger moral obligation to donate than participants exposed to a message aimed at reducing fear, a combined moral and fear‐ reduction message, or no message. Combined message participants showed greatest intent to donate, yet only 14% of all participants attended a campus drive. In Study 2, low (n= 52) and high (n= 60) RD individuals heard the message arguments and were asked to access their attitudes. Low compared to high RD individuals stated a stronger sense of moral obligation, particularly when they accessed their thoughts relevant to blood donating, and behavioral intention, especially in the combined message condition. Few participants attended a blood drive (12.5%), yet most were low RD individuals from the nonaccessed attitude condition (83%). Results suggest that few individuals will engage in the altruistic act of blood donating, despite the experimental use of persuasive messages and accessing issue‐relevant attitudes.

The Role of Mood in Advertising Effectiveness

This study demonstrates the facilitating effect of positive mood on brand attitudes for readers of print advertising and explores contingencies and cognitive processes underlying that effect. Mood appears to affect the amount of total cognitive elaboration, bias the evaluation of argument quality, and peripherally affect brand attitudes. An experiment using print ads reveals that positive moods create less elaboration, which results in more heuristic processing and reduces the extent to which message evaluation—itself favorably influenced by positive moods—mediates brand attitudes. The effect is greater when the reader has a low need for cognition and when the ad contains weak message arguments.

Effects of message Repetition on Argument Processing, Recall, and Persuasion

Previous research has suggested that message argument scrutiny is enhanced by moderate levels of message repetition, whereas tedium develops at high levels of message repetition. Such a conceptualization implies that responses to messages containing strong versus weak arguments should be affected differently by a moderate level of message repetition. This prediction was tested in a study of 102 undergraduates assigned randomly to the cells of a 2 (Argument Quality: Strong vs. Weak) x 2 (Message Repetition: One vs. Three) between-subjects factorial design. Analyses revealed the predicted interaction on the measure of postcommunication attitudes, providing convergent evidence that moderate levels of message repetition can increase or decrease persuasion by enhancing argument scrutiny.

Transactions for concurrent object-oriented programming systems

Transactions for concurrent object-oriented programming systems

Argumentation and credibility appeals in persuasion

This study tests the cognitive response model while investigating three means of persuasion—argumentation, expertise, and attractiveness—on an involving topic. Arguments perceived as strong by receivers generate more favorable cognitive responses (more supportive and less refutative thoughts) than weak message arguments, and they generate more attitude change. While perceived source expertise and attractiveness influenced cognitive responses, they did not do so in a coherent fashion nor did they mediate attitude change.

Situational Effects of Advertising Repetition: The Moderating Influence of Motivation, Ability, and Opportunity to Respond

It is argued theoretically that the attitudinal gain from advertising repetition should continue to increase rather than level off when consumers fail to generate cognitive responses to message arguments in earlier exposures. An experiment shows that repetition continues to increase brand attitudes and purchase intentions in conditions where support and counter argument production is expected to be low, but that these attitudinal gains level off under conditions in which a high level of such production is expected.

Access to attitude-relevant information in memory as a determinant of persuasion: The role of message attributes

Recipients with access to attitude-relevant information in memory were thought to draw on these beliefs and prior experiences to evaluate the validity of message arguments. Consistent with this idea, persuasion for these recipients was largely a function of the perceived validity of message content: Messages containing high-quality arguments were more persuasive than messages containing lowquality arguments, whereas variations in a structural attribute of the message (its length) proved to have little impact on opinion change. In contrast, people who tend to retrieve little attitude-relevant information were believed to be less able to evaluate the validity of message arguments in terms of information accessed from memory. Instead, it was anticipated that they would base their opinion judgments on a more superficial analysis of persuasion cues, focusing on attributes like message length. Consistent with this reasoning, these recipients were more persuaded by long than short messages. Recipients with moderate levels of retrieval functioned much like the high-retrieval subjects.

The effects of a salient self-schema on the evaluation of proattitudinal editorials: Top-down versus bottom-up message processing

The effects of a salient self-schema on message evaluation were studied. Subjects were identified who characterized themselves using trait adjectives that reflected the prototype of either a “religious” or a “legalistic” person. Equally persuasive sets of proattitudinal messages were developed empirically using weak arguments. Half of the messages were developed to reflect a “religious” perspective on the issue (capital punishment, abortion) whereas half were developed to reflect a “legalistic” perspective on the issue. Religious and legalistic subjects were then exposed to religious or legalistic arguments supporting an equally acceptable position (e.g., eliminating capital punishment). Afterward, subjects evaluated the persuasiveness of the communication and listed their thoughts as part of a “curriculum development project.” Results suggested that subjects when exposed to a schema-relevant message arguments for a position in which they believed were more positive about the quality of the message arguments and in their cognitive responding. These data extend the heuristic value of selfschemata to the area of attitudes and suggest that cognitive responses in persuasion are subjectively rather than objectively rational.

Effects of message repetition and position on cognitive response, recall, and persuasion.

Although the mere exposure effect has been researched widely, surprisingly little is known about the attitudinal and cognitive effects of message repetition. It was hypothesized that the sequence of topic-relevan t thoughts generated in response to a (repeated) persuasive message would parallel attitude change. To test this prediction, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, individuals heard a communication either zero (control), one, three, or five times in succession, rated their agreement with the advocated position, and listed the message arguments they could recall. In Experiment 2, individuals heard a communication either one, three, or five times, rated their agreement, listed their thoughts, and listed the message arguments they could recall. In both experiments, agreement first increased, then decreased as exposure frequency increased (regardless of the position advocated), but agreement was unrelated to the recall of the message arguments. In Experiment 2, analyses of the listed thoughts revealed that counterargumentation decreased, then increased, whereas topic-irrelevant thinking increased as exposure frequency increased; as expected, only topic-relevant thoughts were related to agreement. These results are interpreted in terms of an attitude-modification model in which repetition and content of a persuasive advocacy affect the type and number of thoughts generated; these thoughts, in turn, affect the attitudinal reaction to the advocacy. In this article, we will consider the atti- using children as well as adults (Heingartner tudinal effects of repeated exposure to per- & Hall, 1974), employing between-subjects suasive communications, an area that has (Moreland & Zajonc, 1976) as well as withingenerated surprisingly little research by social subjects (Crandall, 1972) designs, in field psychologists despite its frequent occurrence (Zajonc & Rajecki, 1969) as well as laborain and importance to everyday life. This area tory (Matlin, 1970) settings, employing picis not well understood (cf. Harrison, 1977), torial magazine advertisements (McCullough in part because most research has focused on & Ostrom, 1974) as well as nonsense syllables

Belief defense produced by derogation of message source

Discrediting the sources of messages attacking cultural truisms provided an effective belief defense which also bolstered the efficacy of a refutational defense and a supportive defense. The arguments in the attacking messages were rated less fair and less believable when attributed to a discredited source, but there were no differences in comprehension of arguments from credible and discredited sources.