| Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools. |
DOI: 10.1177/0146167202250090 © 2003 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc. Self-Guide Framing and Persuasion: Responsibly Increasing Message Processing to Ideal Levels
Ohio State University The current research examines the effect that framing persuasive messages in terms of self-guides (ideal vs. ought) has on the attitudes and cognitive responses of individuals with chronic ideal versus ought self-guides. The strength of participants ideal and ought self-guides and the magnitude of participants ideal and ought self-discrepancies were measured using a computerized reaction time program. One week later, participants read a persuasive message about a fictional breakfast product, framed in terms of either ideals or oughts. Matching framing to stronger self-guide led to enhanced message processing activity, especially among individuals who were low in need for cognition. Individuals who read messages framed to match their stronger self-guides paid more attention to argument quality, as reflected in their attitudes and cognitive responses. Messages with self-guide framing that matched individuals stronger self-discrepancies did not have this effect on processing.
Key Words: attitudes persuasion self-guide self-discrepancy attitude change
|