Measuring the Locus of Causality as a Means of Generating Explanations for the Legitimization of Paltry Favors Effect

Two experiments were designed to examine the potential for impression management as an explanation of the legitimization of paltry favors (LPF) effect. Scenarios varied the technique (control v. LPF, Experiment 1), and both whether or not the target complied and the amount donated by the target (Experiment 2). The potential for impression management as a mediator of the effect was explored by examining attributions made concerning the locus of causality for compliance and non-compliance. Findings provide the foundation for future research by generating evidence consistent with the desire to make a favorable impression as an explanation for the LPF effect

Free classification of large sets of everyday objects is more thematic than taxonomic

Traditionally it has been thought that the overall organisation of categories in the brain is taxonomic. To examine this assumption, we had adults sort 140–150 diverse, familiar objects from different basic-level categories. Almost all the participants (80/81) sorted the objects more thematically than taxonomically. Sorting was only weakly modulated by taxonomic priming, and people still produced many thematically structured clusters when explicitly instructed to sort taxonomically. The first clusters that people produced were rated as having equal taxonomic and thematic structure. However, later clusters were rated as being increasingly thematically organised. A minority of items were consistently clustered taxonomically, but the overall dominance of thematically structured clusters suggests that people know more thematic than taxonomic relations among everyday objects. A final study showed that the semantic relations used to sort a given item in the initial studies predicted the proportion of thematic to taxonomic word associates generated to that item. However, unlike the results of the sorting task, most of these single word associates were related taxonomically. This latter difference between the results of large-scale, free sorting tasks versus single word association tasks suggests that thematic relations may be more numerous, but weaker, than taxonomic associations in our stored conceptual network. Novel statistical and numerical methods for objectively measuring sorting consistency were developed during the course of this investigation, and have been made publicly available

A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Disrupt-Then-Reframe Compliance Gaining Technique

The disrupt-then-reframe compliance gaining technique (DTR; Keywords: Compliance-Gaining; Interpersonal Communication; Meta-Analysis Social influence scholars have focused on various techniques used to gain the compliance of target persons. Many of these techniques, such as the foot-in-the-door, the door-in-the-face, and the legitimization of paltry favors, are well known in the social influence literature. A less well known, but fascinating technique is the disrupt-then-reframe technique (DTR), which was first identified b

Simulation of a Dynamic Theory of Reasoned Action

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1046878114562930Background. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is invoked frequently when social science scholars examine messages, affect, cognition, and action. Nevertheless, the fact that the TRA is a cross-sectional model limits its utility as an explanatory mechanism for those who study relationships among these variables as they change over time. This essay addresses this limitation by developing three versions of a Dynamic Theory of Reasoned Action (DTRA). Method. Simulations were conducted to examine the properties of these varying DTRA models. The extent of autoregression was varied in these simulations, and the subsequent effects on the size and stability of the model parameters, the fit of the cross-sectional TRA, and the distributional properties of the variables that comprise the model were assessed. Results. Results indicate that in the absence of an external shock (such as a persuasive message), these models reach equilibrium, and that trials to equilibrium increase as the autoregression parameters increase. The TRA fits perfectly at equilibrium, but may fail when the system is not in equilibrium, even when the DTRA fits perfectly. Finally, although starting with seed distributions closely approximating normality, distributional properties depart decidedly from normality over trials

The Suasory Force of Sticky Messages: A Replication and Extension

Stickiness refers to a message’s persuasive properties: simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and stories (SUCCES). A sticky message is expected to be more memorable, and hence persuasive, for a longer duration than a non-sticky message. The present research tested this hypothesis first in a longitudinal experiment addressing the issue of applying sunscreen. Results showed a time × message induction non-additive effect such that the non-sticky message effect decayed more than the sticky message, but its explanation remains elusive. Thus, a second experiment was conducted, and prior results were replicated, with a potential explanation for the effect provided.18 month embargo; published online: 07 April 2022This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

The legitimization of paltry favors effect: A review and meta-analysis. Communication Reports

A meta-analysis was conducted on the legitimization of paltry favors (LPF) effec

A Meta-Analytic Review of the Effect of Guilt on Compliance

Meta-analytic procedures were used to estimate the effect of experienced guilt on compliance. Examination of 47 effect sizes indicated that inducing guilt is an effective means by which to increase compliance, ρ = .26. Moreover, despite coding for numerous substantive and methodological moderators, there was no evidence of moderation in these data. Instead, correcting for measurement error in the independent variable and restriction in range in the dependent explained all variance in effect sizes, yielding a corrected effect size of ρ′ = .35

Assessing the Effects of Partisan Bias at the Group Level of Analysis: A Hidden Profile Experiment

Although there is some evidence in the political arena that pooling information can overcome individual biases to improve decision-making accuracy, research from the group communication and psychology arenas suggests otherwise. Specifically, research on the hidden profile, a group-level decision-making problem, suggests that groups are decidedly biased when making decisions. This laboratory experiment tested whether or not partisan biases manifest at the group level of analysis. In the main, it was found that groups composed of either all Republican or all Democratic group members were likely to make a decision that was consonant with their party’s political ideology, which ultimately impacted hidden profile solution rates (i.e., decision accuracy). Moreover, supplemental analyses suggest that Republican and Democratic groups reached their biased decisions through different means. A discussion is provided in which the implications of these results are considered

The impact of guilt and type of compliance-gaining message on compliance

Consistent with Cialdini's Negative State Relief Model it has been established repeatedly that targets of compliance-gaining attempts comply with a request to help more frequently when those targets feel guilty than when they do not feel guilty. Expanding upon this result it was predicted that to the extent that a compliance-gaining message serves as a cue to link compliance with the restoration of positive or neutral affect, the compliance rate would vary. Building upon this reasoning it was hypothesized that a positive self-feeling compliance-gaining message would be more effective in producing target compliance than would a direct request message when the target felt guilty, but that the opposite relationship would hold when the target was not feeling guilty. An experiment in which both guilt and message type were varied was designed to test this hypothesis. In the main, the data were consistent with these predictions