Project Type
Faculty Scholarship
Scholarship Domain(s)
Scholarship of Discovery
Presentation Type
Presentation
Abstract
Research on the hot-cold empathy gap (Nordgren et al., 2007) suggests that participants currently experiencing some visceral state (e.g., fatigue) empathize more with others in that same state and evaluate them more positively when their behavior is impacted by it (e.g., a tired mother yelling at a cashier). Research on persuasion suggests that the quality of a persuasive message (strong vs. weak) has more of an impact among people for whom that message is more relevant (Ajzen, Brown & Rosenthal, 1996), but less of an impact among those who are distracted (Petty, Wells & Brock, 1976). In this study, I integrate these two areas, seeking to determine whether participants in a state of fatigue who read a persuasive message from an overtired employee to his boss will display a larger argument quality effect (indicating relevance) or a smaller argument quality effect (indicating distraction) relative to participants who are not currently fatigued. A multiple regression predicting persuasion from argument quality and fatigue revealed a significant interaction (F(1,237) = 7.37, p = .007, ηp2 = .03), suggesting that argument quality had less of an impact for fatigued participants (b = .46, F(1,237) = 2.26, p = .14, ηp2 = .009) than non-fatigued participants (b = 1.39, F(1,237) = 102.81, p < .0001, ηp2 = .30). These findings appear to fit better with a distraction account than a relevance account, but this and other alternatives will be discussed.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
The hot-cold empathy gap and persuasion: Does fatigue boost or reduce the argument quality effect?
Reed 330
Research on the hot-cold empathy gap (Nordgren et al., 2007) suggests that participants currently experiencing some visceral state (e.g., fatigue) empathize more with others in that same state and evaluate them more positively when their behavior is impacted by it (e.g., a tired mother yelling at a cashier). Research on persuasion suggests that the quality of a persuasive message (strong vs. weak) has more of an impact among people for whom that message is more relevant (Ajzen, Brown & Rosenthal, 1996), but less of an impact among those who are distracted (Petty, Wells & Brock, 1976). In this study, I integrate these two areas, seeking to determine whether participants in a state of fatigue who read a persuasive message from an overtired employee to his boss will display a larger argument quality effect (indicating relevance) or a smaller argument quality effect (indicating distraction) relative to participants who are not currently fatigued. A multiple regression predicting persuasion from argument quality and fatigue revealed a significant interaction (F(1,237) = 7.37, p = .007, ηp2 = .03), suggesting that argument quality had less of an impact for fatigued participants (b = .46, F(1,237) = 2.26, p = .14, ηp2 = .009) than non-fatigued participants (b = 1.39, F(1,237) = 102.81, p < .0001, ηp2 = .30). These findings appear to fit better with a distraction account than a relevance account, but this and other alternatives will be discussed.