1. Thought Confidence as a Determinant of Persuasion: The Self-Validation Hypothesis.
- Author
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Petty, Richard E., Briñol, Pablo, and Tormala, Zakary L.
- Subjects
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ATTITUDE change (Psychology) , *PERSUASION (Psychology) , *SOCIAL dominance , *SOCIAL influence , *ATTITUDE (Psychology) , *PSYCHOTHERAPY - Abstract
Previous research in the domain of attitude change has described 2 primary dimensions of thinking that impact persuasion processes and outcomes: the extent (amount) of thinking and the direction (valence) of issue-relevant thought. The authors examined the possibility that another, more meta-cognitive aspect of thinking is also important--the degree of confidence people have in their own thoughts. Four studies test the notion that thought confidence affects the extent of persuasion. When positive thoughts dominate in response to a message, increasing confidence in those thoughts increases persuasion, but when negative thoughts dominate, increasing confidence decreases persuasion. In addition, using self-reported and manipulated thought confidence in separate studies, the authors provide evidence that the magnitude of the attitude-thought relationship depends on the confidence people have in their thoughts. Finally, the authors also show that these self-validation effects are most likely in situations that foster high amounts of information processing activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2002
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