Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Overt head movements and persuasion: a self-validation analysis.

Pablo Briñol1, Richard E Petty

  • 1Department of Social Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. pablo.brinnol@uam.es

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|June 10, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Head movements like nodding or shaking influence attitude change by affecting confidence in message thoughts. This self-validation mechanism is stronger with clear arguments and high elaboration.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

On the relationship between indirect measures of Black versus White racial attitudes and discriminatory outcomes: An adversarial collaboration using a sample of White Americans.

Journal of personality and social psychology·2026
Same author

Extended Persuasion: Elaboration Moderates Indirect Attitude Change.

Psicothema·2025
Same author

Reactions to undesired outcomes: Evidence for the opposer's loss effect.

Journal of personality and social psychology·2025
Same author

What is unique about acceptance and correction of misinformation? Insights from work on attitudes, persuasion, and beyond.

The American psychologist·2024
Same author

Falling Vocal Intonation Signals Speaker Confidence and Conditionally Boosts Persuasion.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2024
Same author

The association of the persecutory ideation questionnaire with clinically-relevant and other outcomes: the moderating role of confidence.

Scientific reports·2024

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Attitude Change Research

Background:

  • Overt behaviors are increasingly recognized for their influence on cognitive processes.
  • The self-validation hypothesis suggests that certain actions can validate or invalidate thoughts.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate a novel mechanism where head movements impact attitude change.
  • To explore how nodding and head shaking influence persuasion based on message argument strength.
  • To examine the role of cognitive elaboration in mediating these effects.

Main Methods:

  • Participants were instructed to either nod or shake their heads while exposed to persuasive messages.
  • Message argument strength (strong vs. weak) and elaboration levels were manipulated.

Related Experiment Videos

  • A fourth experiment tested similar effects with different overt behaviors (handwriting) and attitude domains (self-esteem).

    • Main Results:

    • Nodding increased persuasion with strong arguments, while head shaking increased persuasion with weak arguments.
    • These effects were amplified when participants engaged in high levels of message elaboration.
    • The findings extended to self-esteem changes when using dominant versus nondominant hand writing.

    Conclusions:

    • Head movements serve as a self-validation mechanism, enhancing or undermining confidence in one's thoughts.
    • The impact of head movements on attitude change is contingent on message quality and cognitive engagement.
    • Overt behaviors can broadly influence attitude formation and change across various domains.