How Emotional and Rational Media Messages Shape Attitudes: The Moderating Role of Preexisting Attitudes and Appeal Strength

• In Event: Best of Information Systems

Abstract

The present study aimed to contribute to an understanding of how emotionally arousing and rational articles in newspapers and magazines shape attitudes. An experimental study employing a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial between-subjects design was conducted (N = 189). First, participants were presented with an article using either emotional or rational language in order to induce attitudes primarily based on either affect or cognition. In a second step, participants were confronted with a strong or respectively weak persuasive appeal using either emotional or rational language. The results show a significant interaction between type of attitude induction, tone of the persuasive appeal, and persuasion strength. Participants showed greater susceptibility to persuasion appeals that matched their attitude base (e.g., attitude based on affect challenged with an emotional persuasion appeal) when the persuasion appeal was weak. On the other hand, participants confronted with a strong persuasion appeal showed greater susceptibility to mismatched persuasion (e.g., attitude based on affect challenged with a rational persuasion appeal). Results are discussed in the light of an increasingly competitive media market and the corresponding emotionalization of media content.

Authors

• Fabian Ryffel, U of Zurich

• Werner Wirth, U of Zurich