This investigation examined the boundaries of inoculation theory by examining how inoculation can be applied to conspiracy theory propaganda as well as inoculation itself (called metainoculation). A 3-phase experiment with 312 participants compared 3 main groups: no-treatment control, inoculation, and metainoculation. Research questions explored…

Most of the literature on impression management considers direct tactics such as self-promoting by mentioning personal achievements and ingratiating by complimenting others. These direct tactics can backfire if the target recognizes the hidden motive behind them. Therefore, people often use indirect impression management tactics. Previous research…

This research examines how young adults' attitudes toward human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and their intentions to get the vaccine are influenced by the framing of health messages (gain vs. loss) and time orientation (i.e., the extent to which people value immediate vs. distant consequences of their decisions). Results of an experiment…

This study assessed the effects of negotiators' anger on their own and their counterparts' use of negotiation strategies and whether such effects were moderated by national culture. Participants (N= 130) were 66 sojourning Chinese and 64 Americans who performed an intracultural negotiation simulation. Findings indicated that (a) anger caused…

Self-affirmation has been shown to reduce biased processing of threatening health messages. In this study, the impact of self-affirmation on college smokers' reactions to gain- versus loss-framed antismoking public service announcements (PSAs) was examined. A consistent pattern of interaction was observed wherein self-affirmation produced more…

Web-based media often present multiple sources of influence, such as mass media and peers, within one interface. When individuals identify with peers who are visually anonymous and with whom they do not directly interact, they should be susceptible to social influence from that group. This study examined the interplay among antimarijuana public…

People are considerably more defensive in the face of group criticism when the criticism comes from an out-group rather than an in-group member (the intergroup sensitivity effect). We tested three strategies that out-group critics can use to reduce this heightened defensiveness. In all studies, Australians received criticism of their country…

The study reported here employed a mixed factorial design to experimentally investigate the effects of message format on memory for the source of information. Political messages were presented in 3 types of formats: conventional political ads, news-like political ads, and news stories. Memory for the source of information was measured directly…

This manuscript reports 2 experiments that were conducted to test and extend the work of J. P. Dillard and L. Shen (2005) examining the cognitive and affective processes involved in psychological reactance. In particular, the studies reported here (a) examined the best-fitting model of reactance processes and (b) tested 3 factors that may affect…

Recent social influence research utilizing psychological reactance theory (J. W. Brehm, 1966) has focused on how reactance motivates message rejection due to threats to perceived freedoms posed by controlling language. Although reactance has been shown to increase message rejection and source derogation, persuasive appeals employing alternative…

In this study, demand/withdraw patterns and feeling caught were tested as mediators of family communication patterns and young adults' mental well-being. Participants included 567 young adults from divorced and nondivorced families. For young adults in nondivorced families, family conversation orientations had both a positive, direct effect on…

Examines the communication strategies that differentiate "strong" stepfamilies from stepfamilies having more difficulty, inductively deriving a composite of stepfamily "communication strengths." Finds that in general, strong stepfamilies reported using everyday talk, more openness, spending time together as a family, communicating clear rules and…