Date of Award

2024

Degree Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Psychology, MA

Program

School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

William D. Crano

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Eusebio Alvaro

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2024 Tehreem Riffat

Keywords

Attitude Change, Attitudes, Persuasion, Psychology, Sleeper Effect

Subject Categories

Psychology | Social Psychology

Abstract

The present study was conducted to delve into the cognitive dynamics of the sleeper effect. The study investigated the role of persuasive message repetition (once, twice), the position of a discounting cue, which challenged the stated position of a communication, the cue’s credibility (high/low) and the timing of the cue (presented before or after the persuasive communication) on the outcome of a sleeper effect experiment. Analytically, the study was conceptualized as a 2 (Cue Credibility: high/low) x 2 (Cue presentation: before/after the persuasive message), (Elaboration: Communication was read once or twice) x 3 Test (pretest, posttest 1, posttest 2) design. It was hypothesized that participants presented with the discounting cue after a persuasive message, receiving the persuasive message twice, and from a low credibility source, would be more likely to demonstrate an increase in positivity of attitudes in posttest (i.e., a sleeper effect), consistent with the thrust of the persuasion message after a delay of one week (an attenuation of the communication effect from posttest 1 to posttest 2) compared to other study conditions, thus demonstrating a sleeper effect. To clarify this effect, a theory-relevant variable (i.e., vested interest) was entered as a moderator. For this purpose, a sample of 200 Mturk participants was assembled A mixed factorial between-within groups ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Results suggested no within-group time effects, owing to the standardization of the attitude measure. Only message repetition yielded a significant main between-effect, such that participants who received the persuasive message once demonstrated a more pronounced attitude change in favor of the persuasive message across all time points, as compared to participants who received the persuasive message twice. The discussion section critically examines the underlying reasons for the discrepancy between hypothesized outcomes and yielded results.

ISBN

9798342762892

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