The relation of cognitive and memorial processes to persuasion in a simulated jury trial
Abstract
Four experiments investigated the dependence of persuasion on cognitive factors. All experiments employed a court case for which 795 subjects acted as jury members, reading summaries of both the prosecution and defense's testimony. The amount of objective information on both sides of the case was varied. Persuasion was a position function of the number of prosecution arguments and the number of defense arguments. This finding was extended by obtaining measures of the subjects’cognitive reactions to the case as well as their opinions and by following both of these measures over time. Both analysis of variance and multiple regression techniques showed that subjects could have derived their opinions from their cognitions about the case. This relationship also held up over time. These results suggest the general form of an information-processing theory of persuasion. One prediction of this theory is for an asymptotic function relating objective information to persuasion. This prediction received empirical support.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Cites
The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information.
Miller, G. A. (1956) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0043158 · Cited by 17,812 · see citing works
The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information.
Miller, G. A. (1994) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.101.2.343 · Cited by 17,469 · see citing works
Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure
Zajonc, R. B. (1968) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0025848 · Cited by 6,745 · see citing works
Advances in experimental social psychology
Berkowitz, L. J., Zanna, M. P., & Olson, J. M. (1964) · Academic Press eBooks · Cited by 2,265 · see citing works
Wicker, A. W. (1969) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1969.tb00619.x · Cited by 2,152 · see citing works
Post, L. T. (1937) · American Journal of Ophthalmology · doi:10.1016/s0002-9394(37)94142-4 · Cited by 2,128 · see citing works
Journal of Experimental Research in Personality
(1965) · Nature · doi:10.1038/2061296c0 · Cited by 1,426 · see citing works
Readings in attitude theory and measurement
Jahoda, M., & Fishbein, M. (1968) · British Journal of Sociology · doi:10.2307/588703 · Cited by 1,287 · see citing works
Cognitive structure and attitudinal affect.
Rosenberg, M. J. (1956) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0044579 · Cited by 1,070 · see citing works
Psychological Foundations of Attitudes
Greenwald, A. G., Brock, T. C., & Ostrom, T. M. (1968) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/c2013-0-12318-5 · Cited by 840 · see citing works
Current Studies in Social Psychology.
Caro, F. G., Steiner, I. D., & Fishbein, M. (1966) · Journal of Health and Human Behavior · doi:10.2307/2948961 · Cited by 643 · see citing works
The order of presentation in persuasion
Hovland, C. I. (1957) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 521 · see citing works
Experimental Social Psychology
(1972) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/c2013-0-10904-x · Cited by 504 · see citing works
On resistance to persuasive communications.
Festinger, L., & Maccoby, N. (1964) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0049073 · Cited by 460 · see citing works
Recency and primacy in persuasion as a function of the timing of speeches and measurements.
Miller, N., & Campbell, D. T. (1959) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0049330 · Cited by 365 · see citing works
Communicator credibility and communication discrepancy as determinants of opinion change.
Aronson, E., Turner, J. A., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1963) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0045513 · Cited by 365 · see citing works
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1972) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.23.020172.002415 · Cited by 340 · see citing works
Experiments on mass communication, Vol. 3.
Hovland, C. I., Lumsdaine, A. A., & Sheffield, F. D. (1949) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1037/14519-000 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
Communication discrepancy and intent to persuade as determinants of counterargument production
Brock, T. C. (1967) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(67)90031-5 · Cited by 268 · see citing works
Fishbein, M., & Raven, B. H. (1962) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/001872676201500104 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
An experimental study of psychological resistances to fear arousing communications.
Janis, I. L., & Terwilliger, R. F. (1962) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0047601 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Averaging model analysis of set-size effect in impression formation.
Anderson, N. H. (1967) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0024995 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Motion pictures and the social attitudes of children.
Peterson, R. C., & Thurstone, L. L. (1933) · MacMillan Co eBooks · doi:10.1037/14715-000 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Persistence of induced opinion change and retention of the inducing message contents.
Watts, W. A., & McGuire, W. J. (1964) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0041081 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Test of a model for opinion change.
Anderson, N. H. (1959) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0042539 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Battle, G. G., & Wigmore, J. H. (1938) · Virginia Law Review · doi:10.2307/1068138 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Primacy versus recency in persuasion as a function of the timing of arguments and measures.
Insko, C. A. (1964) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0042765 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Self-citationA Study in the Formation of Opinion Based upon Legal Evidence
Weld, H. P., & Roff, M. F. (1938) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1415696 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Streufert, S. (1970) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(70)90059-4 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Wilson, W., & Miller, H. L. (1968) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0021251 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Competence, counterarguing, and attitude change
Cook, T. D. (1969) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1969.tb01749.x · Cited by 48 · see citing works
One-sided versus two-sided communications and countercommunications.
Insko, C. A. (1962) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0044782 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Self-citationAllen, D., REICHELT, P. A., ACER, J. W., et al. (1974) · Nursing Research · doi:10.1097/00006199-197403000-00020 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Effect of verbal conditioning of attitudes on subsequent motor performance.
Kranser, L., Knowles, J. B., & Ullmann, L. P. (1965) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0021766 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Cialdini, R. B., & Insko, C. A. (1969) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0027784 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Self-citationThe individual in a social context
Lindzey, G. E., & Aronson, E. (1969) · Addison-Wesley eBooks · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Murray, F. S. (1968) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1420629 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60214-2 · Cited by 8,822 · see citing works
Dimensions of Consumer Expertise
Alba, J. W., & Hutchinson, J. W. (1987) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/209080 · Cited by 4,375 · see citing works
The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986) · Communication and Persuasion · doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4964-1_1 · Cited by 3,202 · see citing works
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1984) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.46.1.69 · Cited by 1,727 · see citing works
How consumers assess the value of advertising
Ducoffe, R. H. (1995) · Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising · doi:10.1080/10641734.1995.10505022 · Cited by 774 · see citing works
Information utility and the multiple source effect
Harkins, S. G., & Petty, R. E. (1987) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.2.260 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
How persuasive is AI-generated propaganda?
Goldstein, J. A., Chao, J., Grossman, S., Stamos, A., & Tomz, M. (2024) · PNAS Nexus · doi:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae034 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
“Similarly, research in psychology has shown that people are more likely to believe misinformation when it comes from multiple sources, rather than one (the “mul-tiple source effect”) (23) and more likely to adopt a position when it is supported by a greater number of arguments (24).”
Background
- Authors
- Calder, B. J., Insko, C. A., & Yandell, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- ORCID
- Calder, Bobby J.
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Social Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1974-03
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 62-93
- ISSN
- 0021-9029 (ISSN-L)
- 1559-1816
- OpenAlex
- W2049703789
- Cited by
- 139
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 18.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Law › Jury Decision Making Processes
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychology of Social Influence
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- persuasion, jury decision-making, cognitive processes, memory, objective information, attitude change over time
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
