(provided by candidate): The goal of the proposed research is to identify the type of counterargumentation that is most effective in creating resistance to repeated persuasive messages. Two experiments will examine the effectiveness of (1) counterarguments that provide information against the message without refuting its specific claims, (2) counterarguments directly refuting the specific claims of the message, and (3) conterarguments refuting the claims of the message by revealing its deceptiveness. Participants will be presented with a target persuasive message, a countermessage containing one of the above types of counteragumentation, and then with the target message again in one (Study 1) or four (Study 2) subsequent sessions. It is predicted that the refutational counterarguments would provide stronger resistance to one or multiple presentations of the target message than the nonrefutational counterarguments. Furthermore, the counterarguments refuting the claims of the message by revealing its deceptiveness will not only produce the strongest resistance, but would also lead to increasing resistance with each subsequent presentation of the target message. These findings should provide public health organizations with practical knowledge about creating resistance to repeated persuasive messages (especially those using deceptive claims), even when the organization does not possess the resources to reach the audience as often as its opponent.
