Thought confidence as a determinant of persuasion: the self-validation hypothesis.

Full 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.

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Author information

Author/s: Petty, Richard E (RE); Briñol, Pablo (P); Tormala, Zakary L (ZL);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1222, USA. petty.1(-atsign-)osu.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of personality and social psychology (J Pers Soc Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-May; vol 82 (issue 5) : pp 722-41

Dates: Created 2002/05/10; Completed 2002/10/24; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12003473, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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