Self-guide framing and persuasion: responsibly increasing message processing to ideal levels.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Consumer Psychology

Background:

• Self-guides, representing personal standards (ideal self) or duties (ought self), influence behavior and attitudes.
• Understanding how message framing interacts with individual self-guide chronicities is crucial for effective persuasion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of matching persuasive message framing (ideal vs. ought) to individuals' chronic self-guides on their attitudes and cognitive responses.
• To explore the moderating role of need for cognition in this self-guide framing effect.

Main Methods:

• Participants' chronic ideal and ought self-guides and self-discrepancies were assessed using a computerized reaction time task.
• A week later, participants were exposed to a persuasive message about a breakfast product framed in terms of either ideals or oughts.
• Attitudes and cognitive responses were measured to assess message processing and argument quality attention.

Main Results:

• Matching the message frame to an individual's stronger self-guide (ideal or ought) enhanced message processing.
• This effect was more pronounced in individuals with a low need for cognition.
• Message framing that matched self-discrepancies, rather than stronger self-guides, did not yield similar processing enhancements.

Conclusions:

• Aligning persuasive message framing with an individual's dominant self-guide (ideal or ought) can significantly improve message processing and attitude formation.
• The effectiveness of self-guide-matched framing is influenced by individual differences, such as need for cognition.
• Future research should consider the nuances of self-guide discrepancies versus chronic self-guides in persuasive communication strategies.