Recent research in persuasion shows that while message recipients often use little cognitive effort when assessing message validity, they may instead rely on a heuristic processing strategy. This study used a priming-like paradigm to manipulate the reliability that subjects apply to the heuristic "message length implies message strength." Subjects…

Describes an undergraduate psychology class that required the students to either write an essay (counterattitudinal advocacy) or read an essay supporting a scientifically acceptable position contrary to one of their beliefs. Maintains that counterattitudinal advocacy is more effective for overcoming beginning students' erroneous beliefs about…

Describes a research program of four studies that investigated whether instructional media could be used to deliver persuasive messages effectively. Highlights include learner attitudes, aptitude treatment interaction, instructional media research, the effectiveness of various media types, learner characteristics, and suggestions for additional…