Leila T. Worth

Processing deficits and the mediation of positive affect in persuasion.

Motivational and cognitive mediators of the reduced processing of persuasive messages shown by recipients in a positive mood were tested. Ss in positive or neutral moods read strong or weak counterattitudinal advocadies for either a limited time or for as long as they wanted. Under limited exposure conditions, neutral mood Ss showed attitude change indicative of systemic processing, whereas positive mood Ss showed no differentiation of strong and weak versions of the message. When message exposure was unlimited, positive mood Ss viewed the message longer than did neutral mood Ss and systematically processed it rather than relying on persuasion heuristics. These findings replicated with 2 manipulations of mood and 2 different attitude issues. We interpret the results as providing evidence that reduced cognitive capacity to process the message contributes to the decrements shown by positive mood Ss.

Processing of persuasive in-group messages.

Two studies investigated the processes mediating the persuasive impact of messages representing in-group opinions. In the 1st study, subjects read either a strong or a weak message attributed to either an in-group member or to another group. Subjects were more persuaded by a strong message from the in-group than a weak one, suggesting content-focused processing of the in-group message. Subjects were equally unpersuaded by either a strong or a weak message from the other group, and showed little sign of message processing. In the 2nd study, Ss listened to in-group or other-group messages about issues that varied in their relevance to in-group membership. When the issue was relevant to the in-group, subjects were persuaded by a strong message from the in-group, unpersuaded by a weak message from the in-group, and equally unimpressed by strong and weak messages from the other group. When the issue was irrelevant to the in-group, subjects accepted the position advocated by the in-group regardless of message quality, and again ignored messages from the other group. These results suggest that increased message processing, and not merely the impact of source persuasion cues, can underlie in-group-mediated attitude change.

Cognitive organization of impressions: effects of incongruency in complex representations

Two experiments investigated the organization in memory of expectancy-congruent and expectancy-incongruent information pertaining to multiple trait concepts in an impression-formation task. In Experiment 1, when multiple trait concepts were represented in the information describing the target person, both congruent and incongruent items reflecting the same trait concept were stored together and were directly associated in memory, and both types of items were recalled equally well. In Experiment 2, when only one trait concept was represented in the information, incongruent items were recalled with higher probability than congruent items, and the latter were not directly associated in memory. Results suggest that with increasing categorical complexity of stimulus information, processes are invoked that do not occur in simpler impression-formation contexts. Implications for theoretical models of person memory are discussed.

The generalization of outcome-biased counter-stereotypic inferences

Abstract Two experiments assessed the degree to which changes in stereotyped perceptions of target individuals produced by outcome-biased inferences generalized to the target group as a whole. In Experiment 1, subjects read about a group of individuals in either a stereotypically intelligent (professors) or a stereotypically less intelligent (custodians) occupation who participated in a general knowledge quiz-bowl competition. Each group of individuals scored the same number of points, but (depending on condition) were said to have either won or lost the competition because of the criterion needed to win. As expected, subjects perceived individuals to be more intelligent when they won than then they lost, even if actual performance was the same. In addition, perceptions of the target individuals as being more or less intelligent generalized to their occupational membership group as a whole. In Experiment 2, subjects made outcome-biased inferences about sample groups of Asian and Black students and later completed an adjective checklist about the relevant population as a whole. Results indicated that the outcome-biased inferences made about the sample group also generalized (albeit weakly in one case) to the group as a whole, indicating that the occurrence of outcome-biased inferences facilitated stereotype modification. In neither case did outcome biases completely reverse stereotypes.