ABSTRACT

The central principle of inoculation theory is that when individuals are presented with a weakened form of a persuasive attack against an existing attitude, they become inoculated against future attacks to that attitude. To address a gap in the literature regarding inoculation mechanisms, we used focus groups (Study 1) to allow participants to describe resistance processes following inoculation. Guided by processing pathways that mirror those in established persuasion frameworks, participants described some of the variables that influence, occur during, and result from, their processing of inoculation material. We applied these findings by presenting a separate group of participants (Study 2) with a healthy nutrition inoculation message and studying their processing responses on the basis of variables identified in Study 1 and through related research. Analyses revealed that participants varied in their elaborative processing of the message and that elaboration was positively associated with desirable resistance processes (e.g. post-inoculation planning, talk, and information searching). By advancing our understanding of the ways through which inoculation messages prepare individuals for attitudinal attacks, these findings provide important future research directions and may inform effective inoculation message design.

摘要

接种理论的中心原理是，当个体被呈现为对一种现有态度的一种有说服力的攻击的弱化形式时，他们就会被接种以抵抗对该种态度未来的攻击。为了弥补文献中有关接种机制的空白，我们使用焦点小组（研究1）来让参与者描述接种后的耐药过程。参加者以与已建立的说服框架相仿的加工路径为指导，介绍了一些影响，处理接种材料或在其过程中产生的变量。我们通过向另一组参与者（研究2）提供健康的营养接种信息并根据研究1中确定的变量并通过相关研究来研究他们的加工响应，来应用这些发现。分析表明，参与者对消息的详细处理方式各不相同，并且详细说明与所需的抵抗过程（例如接种后的计划，谈话和信息搜索）呈正相关。通过增进我们对接种信息为个体进行态度攻击做好准备的方式的了解，这些发现提供了重要的未来研究方向，并可能为有效的接种信息设计提供依据。分析表明，参与者对消息的详细处理方式各不相同，并且详细说明与所需的抵抗过程（例如接种后的计划，谈话和信息搜索）呈正相关。通过增进我们对接种信息为个体进行态度攻击做好准备的方式的了解，这些发现提供了重要的未来研究方向，并可能为有效的接种信息设计提供依据。分析表明，参与者对消息的详细处理方式各不相同，并且详细说明与所需的抵抗过程（例如接种后的计划，谈话和信息搜索）呈正相关。通过增进我们对接种信息为个体进行态度攻击做好准备的方式的了解，这些发现提供了重要的未来研究方向，并可能为有效的接种信息设计提供依据。