SOURCE CREDIBILITY AND INVOLVEMENT AS VARIABLES INFLUENCING THE REACTIONS OF TAIWANESE STUDENTS TO PERSUASION.
Abstract
Three groups of students at National Taiwan University participated in an experiment designed to measure the effects of national origin, sex, personal involvement, and source credibility on persuasibility. A control group simply responded to an 8-item attitude scale dealing with military involvement by the United States in Vietnam. Before answering the scales, one experimental group read a communication, attributed to a low credibility source, advocating a reduction in U. S. military involvement in Vietnam. Another group read the same communication attributed to a high credibility source before indicating their attitudes. Those subjects who identified themselves as Mainland Chinese not only showed stronger support of U. S. military policy in Vietnam than did those who identified themselves as Taiwanese, they also revealed a higher level of involvement in this issue. The highly credible source was more effective in influencing attitudes than the less credible source, and both sources were effective as compared with the control condition. The findings are interpreted as more supportive of assimilation-contrast theory than of cognitive dissonance theory. They also suggest that neither theory is fully capable of handling the results. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0648443
Entities
People
- Elliott Mcginnies
Organizations
- University of Maryland