Verbal Ability, Argument Order, and Attitude Formation

Frontiers in Psychology

Mindaugas Mozuraitis¹ 

关键词: verbal ability;    argument order;    argument integration;    attitude formation;    persuasion;    need for cognition;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01374

学科分类：心理学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The current study explored the interaction of verbal ability and presentation order on readers’ attitude formation when presented with two-sided arguments. Participants read arguments for and against compulsory voting and genetic engineering, and attitudes were assessed before and after reading the passages. Participants’ verbal ability was measured, combining vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension skill. Results suggested that low verbal-ability participants were more persuaded by the most recent set of arguments whereas high verbal-ability participants formed attitudes independent of presentation order. Contrary to previous literature, individual differences in the personality trait need for cognition did not interact with presentation order. The results suggest that verbal ability is an important moderator of the effect of presentation order when formulating opinions from complex prose.

【 授权许可】

CC BY