The role of emotion in persuasion was initially thought of strictly in terms of a main affect of valence. Early theorists posited that inducing a positive emotional state in individuals would lead to more persuasion, whereas inducing a negative emotional would lead to less persuasion. Researchers in this field eventually established clear boundary conditions for this initial perspective, noting that both positive and negative emotional states could either increase or decrease persuasion. However, research in emotion and persuasion continues to be thought of in terms of positive and negative valence, failing to distinguish the importance of distinct emotional states of the same valence. For example, while both sadness and anger are negative emotional states, they are clearly different qualitatively. The goal of the present research is to demonstrate the role of message framing and distinct emotional states in persuasion. This is accomplished by placing participants in a sad, angry, or neutral mood and exposing them to a persuasive message framed with arguments that contain either sad or angering events expected to occur if the proposal is not adopted.. Prior research has shown that matching the framing of a message to an emotional state increases how likely participants believe the events described are to occur. It is hypothesized that increasing perceptions of likelihoods will lead to more acceptance of the message, thus more persuasion when the message frame and emotional state match, rather than mismatch. Additional studies are designed to further explore this notion.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
1F31MH012849-01
Application #
6208236
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-RPHB-4 (01))
Program Officer
Chavez, Mark
Project Start
2001-01-05
Project End
Budget Start
2000-09-01
Budget End
2001-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$23,642
Indirect Cost
Name
Ohio State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
098987217
City
Columbus
State
OH
Country
United States
Zip Code
43210
Rucker, Derek D; Petty, Richard E (2004) When resistance is futile: consequences of failed counterarguing for attitude certainty. J Pers Soc Psychol 86:219-35
DeSteno, David; Petty, Richard E; Rucker, Derek D et al. (2004) Discrete emotions and persuasion: the role of emotion-induced expectancies. J Pers Soc Psychol 86:43-56
Rucker, Derek D; Polifroni, Mark; Tetlock, Philip E et al. (2004) On the assignment of punishment: the impact of general-societal threat and the moderating role of severity. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 30:673-84
Rucker, Derek D; Petty, Richard E (2003) Effects of accusations on the accuser: the moderating role of accuser culpability. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 29:1259-71