Premium
Distracting stimuli: Do they elicit or inhibit counterargumentation and attitude shift
Author(s) -
Haslett Deirdre Maccann
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2420060107
Subject(s) - psychology , comprehension , active listening , social psychology , audiology , test (biology) , listening comprehension , developmental psychology , communication , linguistics , medicine , paleontology , philosophy , biology
Studied the effects of distracting stimuli, presented simultaneously with a persuasive but counterattitudinal communication, on subvocal counterargumentation and attitude shift. All subjects were first‐year undergraduate male students at Birmingham University, England. The 80 experimental Ss who formed ten different treatment groups, responded to distracting sequences of numbers by performing visual, auditory, vocal and manual tasks, and combinations thereof, while listening to the message. The base‐line group of 28 Ss merely listened to the same communication, which advocated compulsory male sterilisation. After task completion, all Ss were given a six‐item Likert‐type attitude measurement questionnaire, a counterargumentation measurement similar to that devised by T. C. Brock (1967) and a three‐item comprehension test of the arguments used in the communication. The results suggest that distracting stimuli which are greater in intensity or which require a more ‘active’ response from the recipient (up to a certain level of activity) are more likely to inhibit counterargumentation and thus elicit shift toward agreement with the message (while leaving comprehension levels unaffected) than those which are lower in intensity, or which require either a ‘passive’ or a ‘high‐active’ response.