The persuasive impact of attitudinal, behavioral, and combined message statements

What makes persuasive messages effective: expressing attitudes, describing behaviors, or combining both? Across two preregistered experiments (total N = 1,506) and an internal meta-analysis, we compared attitudinal statements (e.g., “The car was good” or “I liked the car”), behavioral statements (e.g., “I bought the car” or “I intended to buy the car”), and combined attitudinal–behavioral statements (e.g., “The car was good, and I bought it,” or “I recommended buying the car”). Participants read positive or negative social media messages about various products and reported their attitudes, perceived norms, and behavioral intentions. Mixed-effects models revealed that combined attitudinal–behavioral statements had the strongest persuasive impact, attitudinal statements had a moderate impact, and behavioral statements had the weakest impact. These effects were mediated by mental simulation of behavior, generalized across higher- and lower-value products, and were confirmed in a network meta-analysis. These findings advance theory and application in communication by showing how integrating attitudinal and behavioral content enhances persuasion.