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Using Empathy To Shift Climate Change Attitudes., Carson Haller
Using Empathy To Shift Climate Change Attitudes., Carson Haller
Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses
It has shifted from a hunch to an existential threat, it is a harbinger of disaster and bankruptcy, backed by science, and yet a considerable portion of Americans still believe that climate change is a hoax. It is becoming increasingly imperative to convince this portion to join the fight. It has been found that empathy is an effective method of persuasion, prompting the question of whether empathy could be used shift climate change attitudes. The hypothesis of this study was that if a person feels empathy for somebody harmed by the effects of climate change, they will be more willing …
Applying Exploratory Learning Methods To Sociopolitical Beliefs And Cognition., Sarah French
Applying Exploratory Learning Methods To Sociopolitical Beliefs And Cognition., Sarah French
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Americans are polarized along party lines across a variety of sociopolitical issues, including climate change and sustainability issues. Sociopolitical messaging often triggers biased processing that results in defensive rejection or biased elaboration (i.e., counterarguing) of belief-incongruent information. The current research examined whether exploratory learning activities, primarily applied in STEM-education research, can foster belief updating about polarized sustainability issues. Exploratory learning encourages people to engage with learning materials and arrive at their own conclusions before receiving direct instruction/messaging. In two experiments, participants reported their beliefs about carbon taxes and electric vehicle incentives (among other issues) before and after receiving counter-attitudinal persuasive …
Observers' Perceptions Of Rapport In Accusatorial Interrogations, Gabriela Rico
Observers' Perceptions Of Rapport In Accusatorial Interrogations, Gabriela Rico
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Rapport is widely regarded as a necessary precondition for interrogations and is thought to lay the foundation for the success of later interrogation techniques. In accusatorial contexts in which suspects are often resistant to disclose potentially self-incriminating information, rapport enables interrogators to gain the suspect’s trust, respect, and cooperation. Although the specific psychological mechanisms by which rapport achieves these effects are largely understudied, rapport-building techniques resemble principles of social influence (Goodman-Delahunty & Howes, 2014), specifically persuasion. Techniques such as establishing common ground, engaging in active listening, demonstrating empathy, and disclosing personal information may serve as impression management strategies, which allow …
Freedom, Abortion, And Hypocrisy: The Effect Of Hypocrisy On Pro-Life Abortion Attitudes, Emily M. Vance
Freedom, Abortion, And Hypocrisy: The Effect Of Hypocrisy On Pro-Life Abortion Attitudes, Emily M. Vance
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Previous research suggests that highlighting the gap between inconsistent values can result in long-term attitude change (Rokeach, 1971), that feeling hypocritical might prompt pro-attitudinal behavior (e.g., Dickerson et al., 1992), and that a reactance decoy makes participants more receptive to subsequent persuasive messages (Schumpe et al., 2020). Drawing from these findings, the purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the impact of induced hypocrisy on pro-life abortion attitudes, an attitude commonly grounded in the value of freedom, depended on a reactance decoy. Consistent with Aronson et al.’s paradigm (1991), participants first publicly advocated for the importance of personal …
Changing Vaccine Hesitant Attitudes Of Parents Using Moral Persuasion, Max Vitro
Changing Vaccine Hesitant Attitudes Of Parents Using Moral Persuasion, Max Vitro
Master's Theses
In the fight against Covid-19, overt, science-based messaging is not enough to persuade everyone to get vaccinated no matter how encouraging the data. Recent studies on attitudes toward vaccines and other health-promoting measures have provided clues as to why so many are still opposed, suggesting many who were resistant had reasons that were rooted along moral grounds. This process of moralization occurs when a belief becomes a moral matter of ‘right and wrong’ rather than a means to an end. Because moral beliefs are more entrenched, they’ve proven much more difficult to change. There is one approach that could increase …
The Psychology Behind The Marketing Of Alcohol And Tobacco: How We Convince People To Do Things That Are Bad For Them, Sophie Dvorkin
The Psychology Behind The Marketing Of Alcohol And Tobacco: How We Convince People To Do Things That Are Bad For Them, Sophie Dvorkin
CMC Senior Theses
The marketing tactics of the alcohol and tobacco industry are inextricably linked through the psychological basis upon which these companies target their customers. Through the principles of reciprocity, social proof, scarcity, commitment and consistency, unity, and authority featured in Robert Cialdini’s book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (2021). The principle of reciprocity explains how companies get customers to buy in, social proof explains our dependence on our peers’ validation, and scarcity explains why we want what we can’t have. The principles of commitment and consistency explain how companies garner long-term customers that see themselves as an extension of a brand, …
Tell Me A Story: Exploring The Use Of Narratives To Reduce Backlash To Organizational Diversity Initiatives, Desmond W. Leung
Tell Me A Story: Exploring The Use Of Narratives To Reduce Backlash To Organizational Diversity Initiatives, Desmond W. Leung
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Diversity initiatives represent key priorities for many organizations, but research and recent high-profile examples suggest that diversity initiatives can generate significant backlash, particularly among organizational members. The primary aim of this study is to investigate how narrative forms of diversity initiative messaging may attenuate backlash among organizational members compared to more traditional expository forms of diversity initiative messaging. Drawing on research related to narrative communication, persuasion, and diversity, I proposed a first-stage dual moderated mediation model where psychological reactance and perceptions of realistic threat mediate the negative effect of narrative (vs. expository) diversity messaging on backlash. Additionally, I examined whether …
Moral Matching: Strategic Messaging To Overcome Barriers To Persuasion, Tess M. Buckley
Moral Matching: Strategic Messaging To Overcome Barriers To Persuasion, Tess M. Buckley
Communication (PhD) Dissertations
Persuasive messages are often met with resistance. Message fatigue is a unique motivational state caused by excessive exposure to redundant messages, which leads to active and passive resistance towards persuasive messages. The consequences of active and passive resistance are particularly harmful when directed towards messages intended to assist individuals in making health decisions. This dissertation investigated a message framing strategy, moral matching, to combat message fatigue resistance in the context of COVID-19. Guided by message fatigue and moral foundation theory literature, there were three main purposes of this dissertation. The first purpose was to identify what features of COVID-19 health …
Leveraging Moral Foundations To Increase Covid-19 Vaccination, Cara Elizabeth Ray
Leveraging Moral Foundations To Increase Covid-19 Vaccination, Cara Elizabeth Ray
Dissertations
Despite the vast majority of the eligible U.S. adult population being vaccinated against COVID-19, geographical clusters of unvaccinated individuals pose a substantial risk of outbreak. It is important to encourage as many individuals as possible to vaccinate against COVID-19 to reduce its spread and severity. Past research has identified endorsement of the purity and liberty moral foundations – intuitive domains of moral concern – as predictors of vaccine hesitancy and political conservatism, while conservatism is itself associated with vaccine hesitancy. Across two online surveys, I examined the effects of a message invoking the purity and liberty foundations as well as …
Self-Distancing As A Persuasive Amplifier For Increasing Help-Seeking Among People With Depression, Sara M. Hollar
Self-Distancing As A Persuasive Amplifier For Increasing Help-Seeking Among People With Depression, Sara M. Hollar
CGU Theses & Dissertations
People with high levels of depressive symptomatology report less favorable attitudes toward help-seeking and reduced help-seeking intentions than people with lower levels of depressive symptomatology. While some attempts to persuade people with depression to seek help have been successful, others have failed. Preliminary research using both perspective-taking and mental time-travel self-distancing writing tasks have shown potential. However, a video that asked people to think, rather than write, about help-seeking from a distanced perspective failed to increase help-seeking outcomes. This dissertation tests a new approach where participants are prompted to take a self-distanced approach while watching existing help-seeking video messages. In …
The Anatomy Of A Controlling Message And The Impact Of Reactance On Attitude Certainty, Thomas Vincent Staunton Jr.
The Anatomy Of A Controlling Message And The Impact Of Reactance On Attitude Certainty, Thomas Vincent Staunton Jr.
CGU Theses & Dissertations
Psychological reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) has helped guide research on resistance to persuasion for over a half century. The theory holds that individuals value their freedom to make their own decisions, and when presented with a persuasive message, may perceive threat to their autonomy and react adversely to the message. Impersonal or mass disseminated messages, particularly those in pro-social or health related contexts, often must communicate in a manner that is direct and forceful to get a clear point across as efficiently as possible. Such messages can be characterized as high controlling (HC) and are generally constructed by using explicit …
Reciprocity: An Antecedent To Fraud Compliance And Unethical Behavior, Charles E. Drehmer
Reciprocity: An Antecedent To Fraud Compliance And Unethical Behavior, Charles E. Drehmer
College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations
There is a constant stream of headlines in the news about fraud schemes swindling people out of their hard-earned money. When analyzing these schemes, it can be difficult to see why these scams work so well time after time. Often, the potential payoff to the victim is farfetched or even impossible to a third party looking at the situation after the fact. Why would someone comply with a fraudulent request with such an implausible benefit to themselves or maybe even seemingly no benefit? One of the tools utilized by unscrupulous scam artists is the social norm of reciprocity. Simply stated, …
Combating Conspiracy Theories: An Attitudes-Based Approach, Marie Altgilbers
Combating Conspiracy Theories: An Attitudes-Based Approach, Marie Altgilbers
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The prevalence of conspiracy theories is a topic of increasing concern among researchers. Much of the research in this area has been focused on why people endorse conspiracy theories, and relatively little attention has been paid to how they may be mitigated. What research has been done focused primarily on interventions with arguments based in cognitive, fact-based appeals, with mixed success. The present research draws on findings from the attitudes and persuasion literature to test the hypothesis that conspiracy theory endorsement is more effectively reduced by affectively-based arguments than by cognitively-based arguments. Two affectively-based interventions were tested against a cognitively-based …
Socialism's Specter: The Effect Of Persuasion On Implicit Attitudes Towards Socialism, Amber Yanez
Socialism's Specter: The Effect Of Persuasion On Implicit Attitudes Towards Socialism, Amber Yanez
MSU Graduate Theses
Anti-socialist propaganda and media have swayed individuals to skepticism and fear about socialism. The propaganda, however, does not reflect necessarily the truth about socialism, in its persuasion against it. Media often uses persuasion techniques to influence opinions and beliefs. The primary focus of this study was to assess whether persuasion could be used to persuade participants’ implicit attitudes towards socialism. Participants were persuaded with pro-socialism content, anti-socialism content, and neutral content; and then completed an Implicit Association Test. It was hypothesized that the participants in the pro-socialism condition would have an implicit bias towards socialism, the participants in the anti-socialism …
Conformity And Persuasion: The Moderating Roles Of Interpersonal Closeness And Interaction Partner Sex, Christianne Morrison
Conformity And Persuasion: The Moderating Roles Of Interpersonal Closeness And Interaction Partner Sex, Christianne Morrison
Undergraduate Honours Theses
Research suggests that males are more persuasive than females (Carli, 1989; Cross, Brown, Morgan, & Laland, 2016). Additionally, research supports that interpersonal closeness facilitates persuasiveness (Thomas & Weigert, 1971). This experiment examines the effect of both persuader’s sex and feelings of closeness on persuasiveness. Participants interacted with a confederate through an online chatroom and completed a modified version of the Relationship Closeness Induction Task (Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone, & Bator, 1997). After rating perceptions of closeness with the confederate, participants entered a group chat with two more confederates in addition to the interaction partner in which they discussed a mandatory …
Perceived Threat And Left-Wing Authoritarianism: The Effect Of Framing On Persuasive Messages, James Donald Mcfarland
Perceived Threat And Left-Wing Authoritarianism: The Effect Of Framing On Persuasive Messages, James Donald Mcfarland
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Past research reveals a strong connection between feeling threatened and Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). This relationship is considered to be an integral part of authoritarianism and the nature of its presence in the left-leaning populace is still being fully explored. This study examined the relationship between perceived threat and Left-Wing Authoritarianism (LWA) through the framing of persuasive messages. Participants (n = 256) were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and given a list of reward- or threat-framed statements concerning the possible ramifications of voting in future elections and then asked to rate the quality and persuasiveness of the respective statements. …
Influence Of Authority And Message Framing On Compliance With Mental Health Treatment Recommendations, Morgan A. Ess
Influence Of Authority And Message Framing On Compliance With Mental Health Treatment Recommendations, Morgan A. Ess
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of source authority and message framing on compliance with mental health treatment recommendations. The current study used measures of attitudes and intentions to seek psychological help as well as the likelihood that an individual will request initial counseling information as proxies for observing help-seeking behavior. A pretest and posttest experimental design was implemented. Participants were 273 students at Illinois State University. At pretest, participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Kessler K6+, the Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS), the Mental Help Seeking Intentions Scale (MHSIS), and indicated engagement in past …
Sold A Dream: An Experimental Test Of The Predictions Of The Elaboration Likelihood Model Of Persuasion In A Predatory Student Lending Scenario, Lauren M. Pytel
Sold A Dream: An Experimental Test Of The Predictions Of The Elaboration Likelihood Model Of Persuasion In A Predatory Student Lending Scenario, Lauren M. Pytel
College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations
Understanding why consumers fall prey to fraud and scams is a critically important area of research. Yet few comprehensive models of fraud victimization exist. The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion (ELM; Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) is a possible exception (e.g., Rusch, 1999; Langenderfer & Shimp, 2001; Lea et al., 2009), but the predictions of ELM remain to be empirically tested in a fraud-related decision context. Here, four experiments testing the predictions of ELM in a predatory student lending scenario are presented. Although results only partially supported the predictions of ELM, it is suggested that ELM can continue to serve as …
The Use Of The Elaboration Likelihood Model And Attitude Change In Personality Disorder Patients, Jillian Kaplan
The Use Of The Elaboration Likelihood Model And Attitude Change In Personality Disorder Patients, Jillian Kaplan
Scripps Senior Theses
Previous research has studied the relationship between the use of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and various personality traits when individuals are presented with persuasive information. This study aims to examine attitude change toward treatment in personality disorder (PD) patients using the ELM. It is predicted that patients of BPD, SPD, and OCPD will be more likely to use the central route of processing, while patients of NPD will be more likely to use the peripheral route of processing when evaluating persuasive information due the personality traits characteristic of the respective disorders. Selected patients of the four PDs of interest …
Reactions To Ingroup Critics Under Threat: Social Psychological Factors That Magnify Versus Mitigate Negative Reactions, Levi Adelman
Reactions To Ingroup Critics Under Threat: Social Psychological Factors That Magnify Versus Mitigate Negative Reactions, Levi Adelman
Doctoral Dissertations
Openness to criticism directed at one’s group can improve the quality of group decisions and alert groups to impending bad decisions. Past research has found that people respond more positively to criticism of their group when it comes from an ingroup versus outgroup member. Four experiments were conducted to examine whether people were less open to criticism of their group from fellow ingroup critics when they felt that their group’s wellbeing was threatened. The results suggest that this preference for criticism from ingroup members is significantly reduced or erased when criticism comes in a context of high threat, which decreases …
Mobilizing The Advantaged To Protest Injustice With The Disadvantaged, Hemapreya Selvanathan
Mobilizing The Advantaged To Protest Injustice With The Disadvantaged, Hemapreya Selvanathan
Masters Theses
The participation of advantaged group members in collective action with the disadvantaged group to challenge inequality is crucial to building a social movement. Although prior work has found that an invitation to participate in collective action is a strong predictor of participation, the extent to which advantaged group members are influenced by such invitations is not known. The present research investigates the effect of the race of an inviter (White vs. Black) on Whites’ willingness to participate in collective action for racial justice as a function of their underlying prejudicial attitudes. Study 1 found that greater internal motivation to respond …
Machiavellianism And Endorsement Of Appeal Type: An Examination Of Organization Recruitment, Steven M. Mueller
Machiavellianism And Endorsement Of Appeal Type: An Examination Of Organization Recruitment, Steven M. Mueller
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Machiavellianism is characterized by a cynical worldview, a relativistic ethical orientation, and a willingness to manipulate others. Because those higher in Machiavellianism are successful at obtaining positions of power, research is needed to better understand the ways these individuals influence others' attention and behavior. This study examined the effect of Machiavellianism and related personalities narcissism and psychopathy on appeal type preference (guilt-based, ego-promoted, or neutral). In this study, Machiavellianism was not associated with appeal type preference. Those higher in psychopathy, however, were more likely to endorse guilt-based persuasiveness. Further, those higher in narcissism reported positive attitudes toward the recruitment statement. …
Differential Effects Of Rational And Emotional Framing On Ingroup And Outgroup Persuasion, Andrew Finnegan
Differential Effects Of Rational And Emotional Framing On Ingroup And Outgroup Persuasion, Andrew Finnegan
Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)
Ingroup and outgroup research has largely focused on why differing attitudes toward the ingroup and outgroup exist. Additionally, persuasion research has focused on the construction of persuasive messages using primarily central routes to persuasion (rational messages) more than peripheral (emotional messages) even though research does support that emotional argumentation is an effective method of persuasion. The current study sought to combine these ideas by observing the most effective method to persuade ingroup and outgroup members through rational and emotional message framing. Persuasive messages were presented to participants that 1) either favored the participant’s ingroup or outgroup and 2) used either …
Message Framing And Source Factors: Peers' Impact On Exercise Intentions, Samantha Grace Lynn Hunter
Message Framing And Source Factors: Peers' Impact On Exercise Intentions, Samantha Grace Lynn Hunter
MSU Graduate Theses
The present study examined reported exercise intentions, confidence ratings, and exercise behaviors by manipulating the health status of the message source (lifetime healthy, reformed unhealthy) and message frame (gain, loss). Participants read background information pertaining to the health experience of the message source. Participants then read a physical activity health pamphlet that was attributed to the message source. The health pamphlet provided four arguments that were presented in either a gain or loss frame depending on experimental condition. The results revealed that there was a strong positive relationship between exercise intentions and actual exercise behavior reported during the follow up …
Education About The Adverse Health Effects Of Recreational Marijuana: The Role Of Type Of Persuasion And Source, Dina Mattern
Education About The Adverse Health Effects Of Recreational Marijuana: The Role Of Type Of Persuasion And Source, Dina Mattern
Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)
In recent years, efforts have been made to legalize cannabis based on increasing research supporting medical benefits and the assumption, albeit questionable, that this is a safe drug. Statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) demonstrate a sharp increase in users, especially among the youth population (2014). This is problematic because smoking marijuana during the teenage years has been shown to have possible adverse effects, such as despondency and potential complications in cognitive development. (Crane et al., 2012) This current study aims to explore effective ways to educate the public on the adverse health effects of recreational marijuana …
Influence Of Metaphoric Language On Juror Decision Making, Melissa Michelle David
Influence Of Metaphoric Language On Juror Decision Making, Melissa Michelle David
Master's Theses
This paper examines the effects of metaphoric language on judgment, assessment and juror verdict decision making. It further examines potential interactions between the use of figurative language and defendant race on juror verdict decisions. Research has potential implications on how the recent cultural climate has changed racial biases within the realm of juror decision making.
Persuasion In The Health Field: Framing The Message For Attitude Change, Kelley Ogami
Persuasion In The Health Field: Framing The Message For Attitude Change, Kelley Ogami
Scripps Senior Theses
The process of persuasion, the changing of a person’s attitudes, has often been applied to health communications designed to promote healthy behavior. Manipulation of aspects of the persuasive message can influence persuasion and the likelihood of attitude change. For a long time, the existing persuasion research had yet to examine how different types of message framing and intervention targets directly and in interaction with one another act as predictors of health attitude change. Therefore, this thesis addressed this lapse using an online survey to assess participants’ attitude towards the health issue of hypertension after reading a health message. This health …
The Influence Of Advertisement Music On Gender Identity And Sex Stereotyping In Young Girls, Ellen S. Pelos
The Influence Of Advertisement Music On Gender Identity And Sex Stereotyping In Young Girls, Ellen S. Pelos
Scripps Senior Theses
This paper proposes a study that investigates whether manipulating pitch and tempo in children’s toy advertisement music has an effect on gender identity and sex stereotyping in preschool-aged girls. This particular intersection between advertisement, persuasion, gender identity, and sex stereotyping scholarship has not yet been explored. However, past research does suggest that high pitch and fast tempo have a significant positive impact on mood and arousal, two factors associated with more susceptibility to persuasive messages. The 3- to 4-year-old female participants will be randomly assigned to one of the nine advertisement conditions. The music in the ads for each condition …
Persuasion In Online Communication : Automation And Counteraction, Samira Shaikh Shaikh
Persuasion In Online Communication : Automation And Counteraction, Samira Shaikh Shaikh
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
In this thesis, we studied persuasion in online communication and how to automate
The Influence Of Expectancy Persuasion Techniques On Socially Anxious Analogue Patients' Treatment Beliefs And Therapeutic Actions, Rebecca M. Ametrano
The Influence Of Expectancy Persuasion Techniques On Socially Anxious Analogue Patients' Treatment Beliefs And Therapeutic Actions, Rebecca M. Ametrano
Doctoral Dissertations
Although patients’ psychotherapy outcome expectations correlate with posttreatment outcome, there is limited research explicating treatment elements that causally influence these expectations. Most relevant studies have focused on varied deliveries of a treatment rationale. Although elements of rationale delivery appear important for altering patients’ expectations, many studies have been marked by methodological shortcomings, such as lack of a control group. In this clinical analogue experiment, I examined the influence of expectancy persuasion methods, delivered in a video-based presentation of a cognitive-behavioral treatment rationale for social anxiety, on analogue patients’ post-rationale treatment beliefs, treatment motivation, social anxiety symptoms, and therapeutic action. One …