John A. Banas

A Meta-Analysis of Research on Inoculation Theory

A meta-analysis of 54 cases testing the effectiveness of inoculation theory at conferring resistance and examining the mechanisms of the theory was conducted. The analyses revealed inoculation messages to be superior to both supportive messages and no-treatment controls at conferring resistance. Additionally, the results revealed refutational same and refutational different preemptions to be equally effective at reducing attitude change. However, the data were not consistent with some predictions made in narrative reviews of inoculation. No significant increase in resistance as a function of threat or involvement was found. Further, instead of a curvilinear effect for delay on resistance, the point estimates from our meta-analysis revealed equivalent resistance between immediate and moderate delays between inoculation and attack, with a decay in resistance after two weeks.

Nuances about the Role and Impact of Affect in Inoculation

This study examined the role and impact of affect in resistance. A three-phase experiment was conducted. The results indicated that inoculation treatments conferred resistance and exerted nuanced outcomes involving cognitive and affective responses to counterarguments and affect. The investigation also compared the effectiveness of cognitive, affective-positive, and affective-negative treatments. The results revealed that affective-negative messages were superior in eliciting threat, issue involvement, and cognitive counterarguing output and in enhancing the cognitive content of associative networks.

A Communication Competence Approach to Examining Health Care Social Support, Stress, and Job Burnout

Drawing upon Krepss (1988) Relational Health Communication Competence Model (RHCCM), this study examined the effect of perceived communication competence on perceived stress and subsequently perceived job burnout. In addition, the role of social support satisfaction as a potential mediator between perceived communication competence and perceived stress was explored. The extended RHCCM was proposed and tested in a survey of 221 health care workers from three Veterans Administration hospitals in the United States. The model was tested by structural equation modeling. The results indicated support for the extended model. The implications of the findings for the extended RHCCM are discussed along with limitations of the study and directions for future research.

Inoculating Against Reactance to Persuasive Health Messages

This investigation examined the possibility of decreasing psychological reactance to health campaigns through the use of inoculation messages. It was hypothesized that an inoculation message, which forewarned of the potential of subsequent reactance, would decrease participants’ likelihood of reacting negatively to a freedom-threatening message aimed to reduce excessive alcohol consumption. Participants (N = 275) who were inoculated against potential reactance felt less threatened and experienced less reactance compared to those who did not read an inoculation message. Structural equation modeling showed that inoculation indirectly predicted lower intention to drink alcohol via the theorized mediated reactance process. This research suggests that it is possible to inoculate against self-generated cognitions that might otherwise lead toward negative health behaviors.

Role and Impact of Involvement and Enhanced Threat in Resistance

This study examined the relative impact of outcome-relevant (OR), value-relevant (VR), and impression-relevant (IR) involvement on resistance to influence and whether it is possible to enhance elicited threat levels and, if so, to what effect on resistance to counterattitudinal attacks. An experiment was conducted featuring 281 participants. Results indicated that both OR and VR involvement functioned similarly. They both bypassed threat and counterarguing, instead exerting direct impacts on elicited anger, attitude strength, and resistance. There were no statistically significant results for IR involvement. Results concerning standard and enhanced threat revealed that both manipulations functioned similarly: They enhanced elicited threat, boosted the number and strength of cognitive responses to counterarguments, increased elicited anger, enhanced attitude strength, and contributed to resistance. However, the only booster effect for enhanced threat involved greater attitude certainty.

The Effects of Altercasting and Counterattitudinal Behavior on Compliance: A Lost Letter Technique Investigation

A field experiment was conducted to test the effectiveness of altercasting (Weinstein & Dutschberger, 1963) as a compliance-gaining technique. The central hypothesis predicts that positive altercasting messages should produce greater compliance than direct requests. Following Milgrams (1969) lost letter technique, 2,400 ostensibly “lost” letters were placed on car windshields throughout a metropolitan area along with a business card containing a handwritten altercasting or direct request message to mail the letter. The frequency of letters returned was used as a primary measure of compliance. The results do not demonstrate the effectiveness of altercasting as a compliance-gaining technique; on the contrary, they indicate that negative altercasting significantly reduces compliance.

More on Inoculating Against Reactance to Persuasive Health Messages: The Paradox of Threat

ABSTRACT This research examined the efficacy of inoculation as a strategy to mitigate psychological reactance based on the level of threat communicated in the forewarning and subsequent persuasive health appeal. Two 2 (inoculation) × 2 (freedom-threatening language) experiments were conducted. The first (N = 181) used elaborated inoculation designed to enhance the threat of impending reactance to a message advocating for responsible alcohol consumption. The second (N = 159) used limited inoculation designed to minimize the threat of impending reactance to a message advocating for responsible soft drink consumption. Results showed that elaborated inoculation increased reactance, whereas limited inoculation decreased reactance but only when the subsequent appeal used less freedom-threatening language. These findings suggest that inoculation has the potential to facilitate or buffer reactance depending on the level of threat communicated in inoculation forewarnings and in subsequent persuasive health appeals.

A Test of Competing Hypotheses of the Effects of Mood on Persuasion

This study examined the theoretical underpinnings of the mood by message quality interaction. Three hypotheses were presented as an explanation for the interaction: the lack of motivation hypothesis, the hedonic contingency hypothesis, and the mood-as-a-resource hypothesis. A 2 (Mood: sadness or happiness) × 3 (Argument Strength: strong, moderate, or weak) × 2 (Involvement: high or low) × 2 (Hedonic Consequences: pro- or counter-attitudinal topic) independent groups design was employed. The data revealed the association between argument strength and persuasion was positive and stronger for those in negative moods than for those in positive moods. Furthermore, the results indicated that the relationship between argument strength and persuasion was positive and stronger for pro-attitudinal topics than for counter-attitudinal topics, but the data clearly demonstrated that argument quality was the best predictor of persuasion.

Apprehension or motivation to defend attitudes? Exploring the underlying threat mechanism in inoculation-induced resistance to persuasion

ABSTRACT This study questions the traditional conceptualization of the threat component of inoculation and compares it to an alternative operationalization that was hypothesized to better capture the psychological function of threat according to inoculation theory, focusing less on an apprehensive response in favor of how inoculation treatments cognitively function to motivate resistance. Two measures of threat were contrasted by examining resistance to 9/11 Truth conspiracy propaganda. The results revealed motivational threat was conceptually distinct from the traditional threat measure, better predicted by inoculation treatments, less related to fear, more predictive of resistance to attitude change, and more supportive of inoculation theory when mediating the relationship between inoculation and resistance.

Exploring the “That's-Not-All” Effect: A Test of Theoretical Explanations

The “thats-not-all” (TNA) technique is a sequential request strategy in which an offer is improved before the message receiver responds. Although the TNA procedure has been the subject of several experiments, the theoretical mechanisms responsible for TNA effects are unclear. An experiment, utilizing a 3 (Request type: large TNA, moderate TNA, control) × 2 (Requester: prosocial, commercial organization) independent groups design, was conducted to investigate the moderators of the TNA effect. Three theoretical explanations were tested: perceptual contrast, reciprocal concessions, and social responsibility. The compliance rates were consistent with the traditional perceptual contrast and social responsibility explanations; however, the perceptual data were only consistent with social responsibility. The results have practical significance to people wishing to employ the TNA technique.