Two experiments examined the hypothesis that the sequence of affect and cognition in an attitude's formation is an important determinant of its affective and cognitive means of persuasion. Affect-based and cognition-based attitudes were induced and subsequently challenged by either affective or cognitive means of persuasion. The procedure used to create the two types of attitudes and the means of persuasion involved varying the sequence of affect and cognition while holding the content of communication constant. As predicted, affect-based attitudes exhibited more change under affective means of persuasion than under cognitive means of persuasion. Cognition-based attitudes, on the other hand, exhibited equal change under both forms of persuasion. The interaction between attitude type and means of persuasion emerged both when affect was manipulated subliminally (Experiment 1) and when affect was manipulated supraliminally (Experiment 2). Moreover, in the 2nd experiment, affect-based attitudes were expressed with greater confidence than their cognition-based counterparts. Together, these findings underscore the theoretical as well as practical importance of distinguishing between affect- and cognition-based attitudes, and more generally, the need for influence attempts to make contact with an attitude's origin.
Abstract