Researchers systematically varied the quality of persuasive communications that advocated comprehensive exams for college students, and also varied the prestige of the communicator. Further, some student participants were led to believe that such academic reforms might be carried out in the near future, whereas others were led to believe that such reforms wouldn't occur until long after they had already graduated. Those students who believed that the reforms were a long time in coming were more influenced by communicator prestige than by the quality of the persuasive arguments. These findings support the assertion that __________ route to persuasion.
A) people high in need for cognition use the central
B) message relevance influences whether people use the central or peripheral
C) weak arguments are less persuasive when people use the peripheral
D) strong arguments are less persuasive when people use the central

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This study demonstrates the influence of peripheral cues (in this case, communicator prestige) on attitude change when message relevance is low (i.e. when the reforms are perceived to be a long way off). In contrast, when participants believed the reforms could happen soon (i.e. when message relevance is high), the quality of the persuasive arguments had more impact on attitude change, indicating that they were using the central route to persuasion. Option A is incorrect because the study did not measure need for cognition. Option C is incorrect because the study did not manipulate the strength of the arguments. Option D is incorrect because the study found that strong arguments were more persuasive when the central route was used.

Researchers Systematically Varied the Quality of Persuasive Communications That Advocated