The Relative Effectiveness of Direct and Indirect Persuasion

In a study to investigate why indirect influence may be greater than direct influence, 93 introductory psychology students imposed sentences in two criminal cases. Experimental Ss gave their sentences in the first case before and after reading a judge's (harsh) sentence. The difference between the two sentences was the measure of direct influence. No significant direct influence effect was noted, in comparison to a control group. The difference between the first sentence imposed in each of the cases was the measure of indirect influence. In one condition Ss anticipated seeing the judge's sentence in the second case; in the other condition Ss did not anticipate seeing the judge's sentence in that case. In comparison to the control group, indirect influence was significant (p < .025) in the anticipation condition, but not in the no-anticipation condition. Indirect influence in the anticipation condition, without direct influence, was interpreted as reflecting a social strategy for avoiding the appearance of influencibility in the first case and avoiding discrepancy from the influence agent in the second case.