The Presence of absolute qualifiers - such as ALWAYS OR Never - Often Indicates A false Statement
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6Differentiating Individual Differences in Resistance to Persuasion 105 Richard J. Shakarchi and Curtis P. Haugtvedt
Resistance to persuasion is familiar to anyone who has offered advice or coun- seling, delivered a sales pitch, or tried to enlist others in a plan of action. Re- sistance can be seen in a smirk, that stare of inattention, the sentence that begins, Well, perhaps, bu t... Theclear core of the denition of resistance is that it is a reaction against change. It becomes evident in the presence of some pressure for change. McGuire (1964) set the stage for discussions of resistance to per- suasion. He was interested primarily in increasing peoples ability to resist un- wanted inuence, a concern shared by Sagarin and Cialdini (this volume). McGuire dened resistance to persuasion as the ability to withstand a persuasive attack. McGuire treated resistance as a variable potential (rather than kinetic) response, ready to spring forward when needed. It could be built up through inoculation or bolstering, perhaps diminished in other ways, but it was a property of the person, the potential to resist persuasion. McGuires inoculation strategies increased resistance in two ways, rst, by increasing motivation to resist, and second, by arming the person with the weapons needed to accomplish the re- sistance. The Sagarin and Cialdini (this volume) chapter details the importance of both of these features of resistance. Interestingly, we will see from theSagarin and Cialdini chapter that the story does not end there. Training people to resist persuasion has other consequences that McGuire (1964) didnt anticipate. Sa- garin and Cialdinis research shows that training people to resist illegitimate
A third face of resistance is a general scrutiny that inuence, offers, or requests create. When people become aware that they are the target of an inuence attempt, a natural reaction is to attend more carefully and thoughtfully to every aspect of the situation (Langer, 1989; Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). This is a form of resistance that puts emphasis on the proposal itself. The careful scrutiny of the proposal means that each point is examined more carefully and questioned more thoroughly. The strengths of an argument are appreciated and accepted, and to that extent the proposal is believed. But, the weaknesses of an argument are exposed, evaluated, and countered, and to that extent, the proposal is re- jected. Several chapters in this volume emphasize this scrutiny face of resistance and illustrate the many ways that this primarily cognitive element (I dont believe it! ) works. Wegener et al.s chapter on multiple routes to resistance to persuasion discusses the many, often subtle ways this form of resistance works. The scrutiny face is also discussed in the chapter by Johnson et al. (this volume) on the power of positive thinking and in the chapter by Haugtvedt et al. (this volume), which explores resistance in consumer psychology.
creases in elaboration (thinking) about the attitude object (which createsresistant attitudes) should activate related knowledge that can be used to counterargue later opposing messages. Just as highly elaborated attitudes are more likely to guide behaviors, attitudes based on extensive thought should also guide related information processing. This could often include interpreting information in op- posing messages as failing to compel the person away from his or her existing opinions (see later discussion of use of attitudes in later information processing). Also, an attitude linked to many related attitudes and other knowledge structures might make people more motivated to maintain that attitude in face of attack. In many circumstances, however, it might be useful to think about resistance somewhat more broadly (see also Petty, Tormala, & Rucker, in press). That is, in addition to resistance as a property (quality) of an attitude and as the active process of counterarguing, one might consider resistance as a motive or as a persuasion outcome . Consideration of resistance as an outcome of persuasive attempts would prompt a treatment of resistance that is more parallel to contem- porary treatments of persuasion. As noted by Petty, Tormala, and Rucker (in press), resistance can be the result of many different processes.3Most important for the current discussion, we would emphasize that some of the processes that lead to resistance outcomes (i.e., relative lack of change) are more thoughtful than others. Just as it has been important to dissociate outcome from process in work on persuasion (see Petty & Wegener, 1999), it should be equally important to dissociate the resistance outcome from the responsible processes.
Resistance is the tug-of-war partner with persuasion. Just as it takes two op- posing teams for a tug-of-war competition, resistance and persuasion are op- posing yet integral parts of a persuasive interaction. However, treatments of persuasion in psychology, communication, rhetoric, political science, and mar- keting most often overlook, or at least underplay, the role of resistance in the process. Typically, when resistance is discussed, McGuires (1964) research on instilling greater resistance through inoculation and bolstering is treated in a separate and isolated section. This segregation fails to appreciate the full impli- cations of McGuires contribution and the crucial role that resistance plays in all persuasion. McGuire (1964) identied the interplay between persuasive chal- lenges and resistance to inuence as a dynamic process, McGuires system iden- tied motivation and argument as the elements involved in change. If the person had few counterarguments and little motivation, then he or she was easily per- suaded; but if motivation were increased and counterarguments made available, then inuence could be resisted. This is a view that is echoed in the Knowles and Linn (this volume) chapter that explores the implications of this approach avoidance model of persuasion. The key element is that complex situations like persuasive messages, offers, or commands set up conicting motives. The am- bivalence of the situation (Arkowitz, 2002) is one of its hallmarks. And, like any nonlinear system, the interplay of these opposing forces can yield interest- ing, unexpected, and sometimes paradoxical consequences.
Psychological resistance is a broad term, with a long and varied history, that refers to a variety of specic events. The term has been used to refer to the noncompliance with a directive (Newman, 2002), a desire to counteractsomeone elses attempt to limit ones choices (Brehm, 1966), unwillingness to achieve insight about the real nature of ones thoughts or feelings (Messer, 2002), avoid- ance of unpleasant or dangerous feelings (Perls, Hefferline, & Goodman, 1951), or the feeling of ambivalence about change (Arkowitz, 2002). Perhaps it is fair to say that resistance is a concept with a clear nucleus and fuzzy edges. As editors, we asked authors to be attentive to the issue of de- nition, to articulate the denitions and denitional issues raised by their topic and approach. This rst chapter will start the dening process generally and then proceed to discussing the varieties and dimensions of psychological resistance. Websters New World College Dictionary includes these four denitions of resistance: (a) The act of resisting, opposing, withstanding, etc., (b) Power or capacity to resist, (c) Opposition of some forc e...toanother or others, and (d) A force that retards, hinders, or opposes motion .... Therst of these four denitions references resistance as a behavioral outcome, the act of with- standing inuence. The other three reference more motivational aspects of re- sistance, as a power or oppositional force.
FOREWORDix phasizing positive thoughts about the message (Chapter 11), afrming the self (Chapter 12), training people to identify illegitimate messages (Chapter 13), and using resistance against itself, as studied in consumer psychology (Chapter 14). A nal section in the book contains one chapter (Chapter 15) that puts the previous chapters into an integrated perspective and leads readers away from these chapters toward future, unstudied issues in resistance and persuasion.
The Presence of absolute qualifiers - such as ALWAYS OR Never - Often Indicates A false Statement
It is not a good idea to ask instructors about what a future test will include.
A little tension before a test is fine