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URL: https://dx.doi.org/DOI:10.17504/protocols.io.7rahm2e

Authors: Jenna Clark, Melanie C. Green, Joseph J. P. Simons

Summary: Persuasion research often focuses on how source characteristics affect attitude change in response to a message; however, message characteristics may also alter perceptions of the source. The Message-Based Impression Formation effect (M-BIF) suggests that perceivers use features of messages to infer characteristics of the source, and that such inferences may have a variety of consequential outcomes. In particular, the choice of narrative versus statistical evidence may have implications for the perceived warmth and competence of a source. In five experiments, narrative arguments led to greater perceptions of source warmth and statistical arguments led to greater perceptions of source competence. Across the two behavioral studies, a matching effect emerged: participants preferred to work on cooperative tasks with partners who had provided narratives, and competitive tasks with partners who had provided statistical evidence. These results suggest that the evidence type chosen for everyday communications may affect person perception and interpersonal interaction.

Associated Publications: Clark JL, Green MC, Simons JJP (2019) Narrative warmth and quantitative competence: Message type affects impressions of a speaker. PLoS ONE 14(12): e0226713. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226713

Affiliations: Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University, University at Buffalo, Institute for High Performance Computing, Singapore

External URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226713

Version: 1

Publication Date: 2019

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