Page 193 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

182 PETTY, PRIESTER, BRIÑOL

see Blaney, 1986; Bower, 1981; Isen, 1987). The increased accessibility of
mood-congruent material in memory may lead to mood-congruent associa-
tions that may further influence the evaluation of the target. In other words,
when the elaboration likelihood is high, mood can introduce a positive or
negative bias to the thoughts generated in response to the persuasive mes-
sage. Thus, positive mood can have a similar effect on attitudes under high-
and low-elaboration conditions, but the process is different. In one exami-
nation of this, students watched a television commercial in the context of a
program that induced either a happy or a neutral mood (Petty, Schumann,
Richman, & Strathman, 1993). The likelihood of thinking about the critical
ad was varied by telling some of the students that they would be allowed to
select a free gift at the end of the experiment from a variety of brands of the
target product (high involvement) or that they would be allowed to select a
free gift from another product category (low involvement). Following expo-
sure to the television program containing the ads, the students reported on
their moods, rated their attitudes toward the target product, and listed the
thoughts they had during the message. The results of this study revealed
that the pleasant program led to a more positive mood and more positive
evaluations of the product under both high- and low-elaboration condi-
tions. Importantly, and consistent with the notion that a pleasant mood pro-
duces positive attitudes by different processes under high- and low-
elaboration conditions, it was found that a pleasant mood was associated
with more positive thoughts about the product when the elaboration likeli-
hood was high, but not when it was low. Figure 7.4 presents the results from
causal path analyses that simultaneously estimated the three paths between
(a) manipulated mood and attitude toward the product, (b) manipulated
mood and proportion of positive thoughts generated, and (c) proportion of
positive thoughts and attitude toward the product. Under low-involvement
(low-elaboration) conditions, mood had a direct effect on attitudes, but did
not influence thoughts (see left panel). In contrast, under high- involvement
(high-elaboration) conditions, mood had no direct effect on attitudes.
Instead, mood influenced the production of positive thoughts, which in
turn had an impact on attitudes (see right panel).
One way in which mood biases thoughts is by affecting how likely peo-
ple think the consequences mentioned in the message are. Specifically,
when in a good mood and thinking carefully, people believe that positive
consequences mentioned in the communication are more likely, but nega-
tive consequences are less likely. The opposite occurs for a negative mood
(e.g., Johnson & Tversky, 1983). Thus, positively framed arguments (e.g.,
if you stop smoking, you will live longer) are more effective when
thoughtful people are in a positive rather than a negative mood because
people overestimate the likelihood of the positive consequence, but nega-
tively framed arguments (if you don’t stop smoking, you’ll die sooner) are