title: Should persuasion be affective or cognitive? The moderating effects of need for affect and need for cognition.
abstract: Three experiments tested the hypothesis that need for affect and need for cognition influence receptivity to affect- and cognition-based persuasive messages. Experiment 1 found that an affective message elicited more positive attitudes among individuals high in need for affect and low in need for cognition, whereas a cognitive message elicited more positive attitudes among individuals low in need for affect and high in need for cognition. Experiment 2 found that individual differences in need for affect influenced receptivity to an affect-based (but not cognition-based) message, whereas individual differences in need for cognition influenced receptivity to a cognition-based (but not affect-based) message. Experiment 3 found that individual differences in need for affect were associated with increased recognition of information from an affect-based (but not cognition-based) message, whereas individual differences in need for cognition were associated with increased recognition of information from a cognition-based (but not affect-based) message. Overall, the studies point to the importance of individual differences in need for affect and need for cognition in understanding how individuals respond to different types of persuasive messages.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom. haddockgg@cardiff.ac.uk
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Haddock
authors.forename: Gregory R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Maio
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huskinson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001290:Attitude; D003071:Cognition; D003858:Dependency, Psychological; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality / Q000145:classification*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D011932:Reading; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires