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Verbal Ability, Argument Order, and Attitude Formation
Mindaugas Mozuraitis1, Craig G Chambers2, Meredyth Daneman2
1Analytics and Informatics, Cancer Care Ontario, Toronto ON, Canada.
Frontiers in Psychology
|October 6, 2016
Summary
Verbal ability influences how people form opinions from persuasive arguments. Low verbal ability readers are swayed by the latest information, while high verbal ability readers remain consistent.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Communication Studies
Background:
- Attitude formation is influenced by information processing.
- The order of information (presentation order) can affect persuasion.
- Individual differences may moderate these effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interaction between verbal ability and presentation order in attitude formation.
- To examine how readers with varying verbal skills process two-sided arguments.
- To determine if need for cognition moderates presentation order effects.
Main Methods:
- Participants read arguments on compulsory voting and genetic engineering.
- Attitudes were measured pre- and post-reading.
- Verbal ability was assessed via vocabulary and reading comprehension.
Main Results:
- Low verbal ability individuals were influenced by the recency of arguments.
- High verbal ability individuals formed attitudes irrespective of argument order.
- Need for cognition did not interact with presentation order, contrary to expectations.
Conclusions:
- Verbal ability is a key factor moderating the impact of argument presentation order.
- Cognitive skills, specifically verbal ability, play a significant role in opinion formation from complex information.
- Findings challenge previous assumptions about the universal effect of information order on persuasion.
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