Browsing by Subject "Persuasion"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Emotional framing effects
    (2009-05) Williams, Jennifer Lisa
    The primary purpose of this study is to determine whether emotion plays a critical role in framing effects. The research uses data from an experiment in which subjects were exposed to a policy frame using components intended to evoke emotional responses (e.g., High Emotion policy frame) or a policy frame using components not intended to evoke emotional responses (e.g., Low Emotion policy frame). After reading the message, subjects answered both open-ended and close-ended questions. An analysis of their responses demonstrates that High Emotion policy frames generate significantly more emotional responses among individuals than Low Emotion policy frames. Second, it demonstrates that there is a significantly stronger relationship between emotional issue interpretations and policy attitudes in response to a High Emotion policy frame than a Low Emotion policy frame. Third, it reveals that the emotional and cognitive responses evoked by emotional policy frames are not redundant predictors of attitudes. Fourth, using three models of emotional framing effects that differ based on the dimensions used to measure emotional responses, it shows that that individuals exposed to unfamiliar emotional policy frames use relatively more active processing when transforming their emotions into emotional issue interpretations than individuals exposed to a familiar frames. In sum, emotions play a critical role in framing effects.
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    Gratitude as Persuasion: Understanding When and Why Gratitude Expressions Facilitate and Inhibit Compliance
    (2015-08) Dwyer, Patrick C.
    Most of the research examining the influence of gratitude expressions on compliance has focused on their benefits, but some empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that they can both facilitate and inhibit compliance with requests. This dissertation seeks to understand when and why gratitude expressions enhance compliance and also when and why they may lead to diminished compliance. Two online experiments of adult participants tested hypotheses based on self-determination theory and the persuasion knowledge model. Motivation type and persuasion awareness were hypothesized to moderate the influence of gratitude expressions on compliance, and perceptions of sincerity, basic need support, and differences in state motivation were hypothesized to mediate these effects. Results suggest that gratitude expressions increase compliance through affecting perceptions of sincerity and by supporting relatedness needs. However, results also suggest that gratitude expressions do not always enhance compliance, and can sometimes lead to diminished compliance. Motivation type and persuasion awareness were both found to moderate the influence of gratitude expressions on compliance, and these effects were mediated by differences in state motivation. This research broadens our understanding of gratitude in social contexts by showing that expressions of gratitude can not only facilitate compliance with requests, but also sometimes lead to reductions in compliance. It demonstrates when each of these outcomes is more likely to occur, and it also contributes by uncovering some of the psychological dynamics underlying these influences.
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    The persuasion effects and mechanisms of vivid imagery inducing strategies in negative health messages: exploring the roles of motivation, affect, and message substance.
    (2009-03) Myers, Jun Rong
    This dissertation examines the persuasion processes and effects of affect-based mental imagery processing in the context of a negative health persuasion message. It aims at determining the qualifying conditions in which mental imagery affects persuasion in a negative message context. Through two controlled experiments, a particular emphasis is given to the influences of consumer prevention motivation, experienced negative affect, and the quality of message substance on message persuasion.
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    The role of reactance and positive emotions in persuasive health messages: refining the theory of psychological reactance and the politeness theory and testing the theories of positive emotions
    (2013-02) Lee, Eunsoon
    The purpose of this study is to expand research on persuasion 1) by examining psychological reactance as a function of threats to positive identity above and beyond threats to freedom and 2) by examining the role of positive emotions. An online survey recruited 478 students from undergraduate courses at several universities in the U.S. The study included a 2 (high threat to positive identity vs. low threat to positive identity) X 2 (high threat to freedom vs. low threat to freedom) X 2 (positivity vs. none) with 2 topics (exercise and meditation) mixed design and participants were randomly presented with one of 16 survey types. The "working out" study advocated participation in a weekly exercise routine and the "stress relief" study encouraged practicing meditation for general mental/physical health. One major contribution of this study is that this study extended the Theory of Psychological Reactance by incorporating the notion of threats to identity based on the Politeness Theory. It was found that a perceived threat to identity led psychological reactance and had direct influences on persuasive outcome. This study also highlighted the importance of studying curiosity and hope, which played key roles in mitigating psychological reactance and in promoting persuasion. Empirical tests of three major variables - identity threat, curiosity, and hope - that this study used were novel approaches in persuasion field and the findings demonstrated their promising roles in persuasion.
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    Self-referencing and advertising effectiveness: The influence of ad model ethnicity, cultural cues and acculturation level
    (2015-03) Liu, Xiaoyan
    This study investigated the effect of ad model ethnicity, cultural cues and acculturation level on the attitudes toward the advertising and brand among Asian minorities. Additionally, this study explored the self-referencing as a mediating role between the effects of the race of ad characters and cultural cues and the attitudes toward the advertising and brand. A 2 (Asian characters vs. white characters) by 2 (Asian cultural background scenario vs. American cultural background scenario) by 2 (low acculturated vs. high acculturated) between-subjects factorial design was employed to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that the congruent advertising condition activated more self-referencing and were more favored by the Asian minorities than the incongruent advertising condition. In addition, high acculturation increases the degree of self-referencing when the ad features American cultural cues. Moreover, self-referencing mediated the effect of the model ethnicity and cultural cues on attitude to the advertising and brand.
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    Voice Shopping: The Effect of the Consumer-Voice Assistant Parasocial Relationship on the Consumer's Perception and Decision Making
    (2018-08) Whang, Claire
    The primary goal of this study was to investigate how shopping with voice assistants may be uniquely different from shopping on websites. This study focused on whether using different shopping mediums (i.e., voice assistant and websites) affects the way consumers evaluate the recommended product offered by the shopping medium. Based on the anthropomorphism literature and the parasocial interaction theory, the study proposed consumers to form a stronger parasocial relationship with a more humanlike shopping medium, which in turn influences consumers to evaluate the recommended product more positively. Specifically, consumers were expected to perceive voice assistants as more humanlike than websites because of the way voice assistants are designed (i.e., vocal conversation). Furthermore, the study aimed to understand the effect of two moderators, interaction style (task-oriented interaction vs. socially-oriented interaction) and product type (search product vs. experience product). To investigate the following questions, two experimental studies were conducted. Both studies recruited participants who are 18-36 years old and are familiar using voice assistants. Study 1 (N=85) utilized a 2 (shopping medium type: voice assistant vs. website) x 2 (interaction style: task-oriented vs. socially oriented) between-subject experiment factorial design. Participants were invited to the lab to interact with Amazon Echo or the Amazon website. Their interaction styles were manipulated using instructions that are focused on either socially-oriented interaction or task-oriented interaction. Study 2 (N=418) utilized a 2 (shopping medium type: voice assistant vs. website) x 2 (product type: experience product vs. search product) between-subject online experiment factorial design. Study 2 participants were recruited via Amazon MTurk. In Study 2, a hypothetical retailer was created instead of using currently available voice assistants and websites to eliminate the effect of preexisting relationships on the results. The recommended products were manipulated by two products with different search qualities and experience qualities. In both studies, the results of MANCOVA/MANOVA and PROCESS mediation analyses revealed that consumers evaluated products more positively when they were recommended by the shopping medium they formed a stronger parasocial relationship with. Consumers developed a stronger parasocial relationship with the shopping medium they perceived to be more humanlike. However, unlike hypothesized expectations, consumers perceived websites to be more humanlike than voice assistants, consecutively formed a stronger parasocial relationship with websites and evaluated products recommended by the websites more positively. The moderating effect of interaction style was not statistically significant, but the moderating effect of product type was statistically significant. Participants in the website condition evaluated the recommended experience product significantly more positively than participants in the voice assistant condition. Their evaluation of the recommended search product did not vary significantly between the website condition and the voice assistant condition. The findings suggest people may perceive voice assistants as an autonomous agent apart from their operating brands while perceiving websites to be inseparable from their operating brands (e.g., employee, product, CEO). In addition, although the proposed hypotheses were not supported, the findings still support the proposed model that suggested consumers be persuaded more by the more humanlike shopping medium because they form a stronger parasocial relationship with it. Further, the findings also suggest a recommended product’s search or experience qualities may critically influence the way consumers evaluate it. The research contributes to the anthropomorphism literature and parasocial interaction theory by confirming the causal relationship between humanlikeness and parasocial relationships. Further, the research provides knowledge related to utilizing voice assistants in the field of consumer behavior.