Effects of Suspicion on Willingness to Engage in Systematic Processing of Persuasive Arguments
- 26 February 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Social Psychology
- Vol. 150 (2) , 148-159
Abstract
Two experimental studies tested the influence of suspicion on willingness to engage in a systematic analysis of arguments presented to support the introduction of a new comprehensive exam at public universities. The effect of suspicion differed depending on whether it was defined as a source feature or a receptor's personal disposition. Suspicion aroused by a specific source inhibited the systematic processing of the message, overwhelming individual differences in need for cognition. Suspicion as a receptors' stable disposition had the opposite effect. Highly suspicious receptors engaged in a more systematic processing of arguments. Although dispositional suspicion and need for cognition were correlated, the first variable had a significant effect beyond the effect of need for cognition.Keywords
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