Page 38 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

Social Psychological Foundations of Social Marketing 31

arguments has a greater impact on persuasion than if the level of thinking
is low (Petty, Wells & Brock, 1976). Messages can also vary in the total
number of arguments that are presented, as well as their quality. Prior re-
search has shown that messages with more arguments can lead to greater
persuasion than messages with fewer arguments (Calder, Insko & Yandell,
1974; Josephs, Giesler & Silvera 1994), and this is especially true when
thinking is low (Petty & Cacioppo, 1984a).
Beyond the quality or length of information a message contains, mes-
sages can also vary in the type of information they present. For example,
messages can vary in whether they are simple or complex (Ahearne, Gruen
& Saxton, 2000) or whether the information contained in the message
consists only of arguments in favor of the advocated position (one-sided)
or consists of arguments both in favor of and against a position (two-
sided) (Hovland, Lumsdaine & Sheffield, 1949). Early research found that
two-sided messages, despite disclosing information against the presenter’s
position, could sometimes exert a persuasive advantage over one-sided
messages. One reason for this outcome was that people were more likely
to infer that the source of a two-sided message was trustworthy when the
source openly acknowledged weaknesses in the source’s own position
(Crowley & Hoyer, 1994). As was just noted for source factors, the avail-
able research suggests that variables relevant to the message can increase
or decrease persuasion depending on the situation and the psychological
processes by which they operate. The next sections describe the key as-
pects responsible for these different persuasion outcomes.

Recipient Factors in Persuasion

Recipient factors refer to characteristics of the individuals receiving the
message (i.e., the audience). There are numerous recipient factors relevant
to persuasion, and they can be divided into many different categories. For
example, recipient variables can be categorized by both trait and state fac-
tors. Trait factors consist of more stable characteristics of an individual
such as the person’s demographics (e.g., gender, age, race), cognitive skills
(e.g., intelligence), personality (e.g., extraversion or introversion), and
particular belief systems (e.g., previous attitudes or issue-related knowl-
edge). State factors consist of features of an individual that are more likely
to vary over time, across contexts, or based on the immediate situation.
For example, people can be in a variety of temporary states related to their
current mood, how powerful they feel, or how fatigued they are.
Previous research has established that both trait and state aspects of
the recipient can play critical roles in persuasion. For example, a