The Indirect Effect of Nonnarrative Message Engagement (NNME) on Attitudes Through Reactance and Counterarguing

• In Event: The Study of Persuasion in Mass Communication

Abstract

In an exploratory study we examine the effects of message engagement with an expository message on attitude change, and the mediation of this effect through reactance and counterarguing. We distinguish message engagement from topic involvement (the way involvement is usually treated in classic persuasion research) and argue that other factors affect the degree of involvement with messages. Borrowing conceptually from research on narrative persuasion and its focus on transportation, we offer a measure of non-narrative engagement (NNME) that examines the experience of exposure. Results show that NNME has a direct effect on post-exposure that is sequentially mediated through reactance and counterarguing.

Authors

• Jonathan Cohen, U of Haifa

• Nehama Lewis, University of Haifa