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Having to Take a Stand: The Interactive Effects of Task Framing and Source Status on Attitudes

Michigan State University, elalayli{at}msu.edu

Ernest S. Park

Michigan State University

Lawrence A. Messé

Michigan State University

Norbert L. Kerr

Michigan State University

Some research has found that a minority message source is less persuasive than a majority source on personally relevant issues. In that research, participants were forewarned that they would have to report their attitudinal reactions. We hypothesized that if recipients were given an opinion-irrelevant (recall) task instead, source status would not affect attitudes. Participants were asked to read a strong, outcome-relevant, counterattitudinal persuasive essay presented by a minority or majority source under opinion or recall task directions. The minority was less persuasive than the majority in the opinion task condition, and this effect was mediated by source evaluation and favorable cognitive elaboration. No source status effects emerged in the recall task condition.

Key Words: attitude • majority • minority • persuasion • task

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