title: Resisting persuasion by the skin of one's teeth: the hidden success of resisted persuasive messages.
abstract: Recent research has suggested that when people resist persuasion they can perceive this resistance and, under specifiable conditions, become more certain of their initial attitudes (e.g., Z. L. Tormala & R. E. Petty, 2002). Within the same metacognitive framework, the present research provides evidence for the opposite phenomenon--that is, when people resist persuasion, they sometimes become less certain of their initial attitudes. Four experiments demonstrate that when people perceive that they have done a poor job resisting persuasion (e.g., they believe they generated weak arguments against a persuasive message), they lose attitude certainty, show reduced attitude-behavioral intention correspondence, and become more vulnerable to subsequent persuasive attacks. These findings suggest that resisted persuasive attacks can sometimes have a hidden yet important success by reducing the strength of the target attitude.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Science, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. ztormala@indiana.edu
authors.forename: Zakary L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Tormala
authors.forename: Joshua J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Clarkson
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Petty
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012919:Social Behavior