Communicator Matching Effects in Persuasion: Susceptibility to Persuasive Appeals from Emotional and Rational Communicators and the Moderating Role of Attitude Meta-Bases

• In Event: Persuasion I: Strategies

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of emotional vs. rational communicators on attitude change. It is assumed that people who tend to base their attitudes on affect are more likely to be persuaded by an emotional as compared to a rational communicator. In contrast, people who tend to base their attitudes on cognition should be more susceptible to messages from a rational communicator than from an emotional communicator. To test this communicator matching effect, a total of 115 participants took part in an experiment. Participants read an interview about a fictitious medical study that was supposedly set out to test a new malaria medication. On top of the stimulus page, the interviewee was either described as an emotional (n = 62) or a rational (n = 53) expert. Results clearly show the expected communicator matching effect. Moreover, the findings indicate that differences in message elaboration underlie affective and cognitive communicator matching effects.

Authors

• Christian Schemer, U of Mainz

• Fabian Ryffel, University of Zurich