After reading the message, subjects received a discounting cue stating that the message was false and then rated the trustworthiness of the message source. This set of procedures resulted in a sleeper effect. The procedures developed by these researchers are sufficiently different from those of earlier studies to warrant a new interpretation of the sleeper effect.
As a replacement for the dissociation hypothesis, a differential decay interpretation was proposed that hypothesized a sleeper effect occurs when a the impact of the message decays more slowly than the impact of the discounting cue and b the information from the message and from the discounting cue is not immediately integrated to form an attitude and thus the discounting cue is already dissociated from message content.
The procedures associated with a reliable sleeper effect and the differential decay hypothesis do not often occur in the real world. However, one case in which these conditions are met is when an advertisement makes a claim that is subsequently qualified or modified in a disclaimer often given in small print and after the original message.
In such cases, the disclaimer may not be well integrated with the original claim and thus its impact will decay quickly, resulting in the potential for a sleeper effect. Although much of the research on the sleeper effect has focused on the discounting cue manipulation, researchers have developed other procedures for producing sleeper effects including a delayed reaction to a fear-arousing message, b delayed insight into the implications of a message, c leveling and sharpening of a persuasive message over time, d dissipation of the effects of forewarning of persuasive intent, e group discussion of a message after a delay, f the dissipation of reactance induced by a message, g delayed internalization of the values of a message, h wearing-off of initial annoyance with a negative or tedious message, i delayed acceptance of an ego-attacking message, and j delayed impact of minority influence.
Hovland , Lumsdaine, and Sheffield first discovered the effect in a well-known study that demonstrated the delayed impact of a World War II propaganda film on American soldiers. After examining the results, they initially hypothesized that forgetting of the discounting cue in this case, the non-credible source was driving the effect. However, this premise turned out to be incorrect, because the recall measures indicated that recipients of the message were remembering the source of the communication.
Consequently, Hovland and Weiss modified the forgetting hypothesis to one of dissociation. Years later, Pratkanis, Greenwald, Leippe, and Baumgardner offered an alternative hypothesis that differed from Hovland and his colleagues. They argued that the conditions under which the sleeper effect is more likely to occur were not highlighted under the dissociation hypothesis. In addition, the requirements for a sleeper effect laid out by Gruder et al. Based on a series of 17 experiments, the researchers proposed a theory of differential decay; that is, they suggested that the sleeper effect occurs because the impact of the cue decays faster than the impact of the message.
Consequently, an overall increase in attitude change is observed at a later time. Moreover, they found that a critical requirement needed to observe the sleeper effect included the discounting cue following rather than preceding the message.
Psychology Wiki Explore. Over time our memory simply disconnects the low-credibility source from the message. This article on sneezing myths puts it to rest … sneezing is like an orgasm only in that they both produce powerful bodily convulsions.
Photo by Olgierd Pstrykotworca. Thanks for this post, I always knew intuitively about this effect, but never knew its name — cool!
I also learned about this in my social psychology class. As things become more familiar, we tend to think of them as accurate descriptions of our world. Hi JD Sleeper effect… not heard of it before. Thought at first that you were referring to the effect of reading one of my posts. In my communications class I learned about the sleeper effect and if you can add something to the low registering statement it gets even more belief attached to it….
IT Girl sneezes 17 times in a row every morning when she gets up from her allergies well until we discovered tea tree oil in the bedding laundry I think she would say that sneezing makes convulsions but also produces a release of pressure…. I put it up on biking architect a couple of weeks ago…he is a journalist who has become an information designer I think his business is called infoglut? Interesting but so true.
Have you heard of the conformity experiments? They too are quite incredible. I think whether something is true or not, if often takes a few exposures for it to permeate our consciousness. Like you say, we then just need to work out whether the info is correct….
Thanks for the insight, JD. I have found this to be true on both ends of the stick. Sometimes we believe something is true because everybody says it is… over time we gain perspective and realize we are just being persuaded by the world-voice.
0コメント