Resistance & Persuasion Literature
Table of contents
LECTURE 1 NOTES ................................................................................................................ 3
LECTURE 1 LITERATURE .................................................................................................... 3
Knowles, E. S., & Linn, J. A. (2004). The importance of resistance to persuasion. In E. ......... 3
S. Knowles & J. A. Linn (Eds.), Resistance and Persuasion, (pp. 3-9). Mahwah, NJ: .............. 3
Erlbaum.................................................................................................................................. 3
LECTURE 2 NOTES - SELF-CONTROL ............................................................................. 6
LECTURE 2 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 11
Wheeler, S. C., Briñol, P., & Hermann, A. D. (2007). Resistance to persuasion as self- ......... 11
regulation: Ego-depletion and its effects on attitude change processes. Journal of ................ 11
Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 150-156. ....................................................................... 11
Fennis, B. M., Janssen, L., & Vohs, K. D. (2009). Acts of benevolence: A limited- ................ 15
resource account of compliance with charitable requests. Journal of Consumer .................. 15
Research, 35, 906-924............................................................................................................ 15
LECTURE 3 NOTES – ADVERTISING LITERACY .......................................................... 23
LECTURE 3 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 28
Hudders, L., De Pauw, P., Cauberghe, V., Panic, K., Zarouali, B., & Rozendaal, E. ............. 28
(2017). Shedding new light on how advertising literacy can affect children's ........................ 28
processing of embedded advertising formats: A future research agenda. Journal of............. 28
Advertising, 46(2), 333-349. .................................................................................................. 28
Rozendaal, E., & Figner, B. (2019). Effectiveness of a school-based intervention to .............. 38
empower children to cope with advertising. Journal of Media Psychology............................ 38
LECTURE 4 NOTES – PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE & POLITENESS THEORY . 43
LECTURE 4 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 47
Rains, S. A. (2013). The nature of psychological reactance revisited: A meta-analytic .......... 47
review. Human Communication Research, 39, 47-73. ........................................................... 47
Jenkins, M., & Dragojevic, M. (2013). Explaining the process of resistance to ...................... 51
persuasion: A politeness theory-based approach. Communication Research, 40, 559-590..... 51
LECTURE 5 NOTES – RECEIVER’S RESISTANCE STRATEGIES PART I ................. 60
LECTURE 5 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 65
Zuwerink Jacks, J., & Cameron, K. A. (2003). Strategies for resisting persuasion. Basic and
Applied Social Psychology, 25, 145-161. ................................................................................ 65
, Van ‘t Riet, J., & Ruiter, R. A. C. (2013). Defensive reactions to health-promoting
information: an overview and implications for future research. Health Psychology Review,
7(sup1), S104-S136. ............................................................................................................... 71
LECTURE 6 NOTES – RECEIVER’S RESISTANCE STRATEGIES PART II &
SENDER STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME RESISTANCE PART I ................................... 83
LECTURE 6 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 88
Knowles, E. S., & Linn, J. A. (2004). Approach-Avoidance model of persuasion: Alpha and
omega strategies for change. In E. S. Knowles & J. A. Linn (Eds.), Resistance and Persuasion,
(pp. 117-148). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. .................................................................................. 88
Fransen, M. L., Verlegh, P. W. J., Kirmani, A., & Smit, E. G. (2015). A typology of consumer
strategies for resisting advertising, and a review of mechanisms for ..................................... 95
countering them. International Journal of Advertising: The Review of Marketing ............... 95
Communications, 34, 6-16. .................................................................................................... 95
LECTURE 7 NOTES – NARRATIVE PERSUASION AND SELF-PERSUASION .......... 99
LECTURE 7 LITERATURE ................................................................................................ 103
Aronson, E. (1999). The power of self-persuasion. American Psychologist, 54, 875-............ 103
884. (Note: you may skip the part on the jigsaw classroom) ................................................ 103
Moyer-Gusé, E., Chung, A. H., & Jain, P. (2011). Identification with characters and ......... 105
discussion of taboo topics after exposure to an entertainment narrative about sexual ........ 105
health. Journal of Communication, 61, 387-406. ................................................................. 105
LECTURE 8 NOTES -EMOTIONS..................................................................................... 110
LECTURE 8 LITERATURE ................................................................................................ 115
Cummins, R. G., Gong, Z. H., & Reichert, T. (2021). The impact of visual sexual appeals on
attention allocation within advertisements: an eye-tracking study. International Journal of
Advertising, 40(5), 708-732. ................................................................................................ 115
Strick, M., Holland, R. W., van Baaren, R. B., & Van Knippenberg, A. (2012). Those........ 119
who laugh are defenseless: How humor breaks resistance to influence. Journal of ............. 119
Experimental Psychology: Applied, 18(2), 213. ................................................................... 119
LECTURE 9 NOTES – INFLUENCER ENDORSEMENT .............................................. 124
LECTURE 9 LITERATURE ................................................................................................ 128
Breves, P., Liebers, N., Motschenbacher, B., & Reus, L. (2021). Reducing Resistance: ....... 128
The Impact of Nonfollowers’ and Followers’ Parasocial Relationships with Social ............. 128
Media Influencers on Persuasive Resistance and Advertising Effectiveness. Human .......... 128
Communication Research, 47(4), 418-443. .......................................................................... 128
, LECTURE 1 NOTES
Resistance =
a reaction against change: “I don’t like it”, “I don’t believe it”, “I won’t do it”.
The ability to withstand a persuasive attack.
An outcome: not being moved by pressures to change.
o E.g. not buying the specific topic / not stopping with smoking /
counterarguing.
A motivational state: motivation to oppose and counter pressures to change.
LECTURE 1 LITERATURE
Knowles, E. S., & Linn, J. A. (2004). The importance of resistance to persuasion. In E.
S. Knowles & J. A. Linn (Eds.), Resistance and Persuasion, (pp. 3-9). Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Resistance =
Refers to the noncompliance with a directive.
Refers to a desire to counteract someone else’s attempt to limit one’s choices.
Refers to unwillingness to achieve insight about the real nature of one’s thoughts or
feelings.
Refers to avoidance of unpleasant or dangerous feelings.
Refers to the feeling of ambivalence about change.
According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary resistance includes these four
definitions:
a) The act of resisting, opposing, withstanding, etc. → behavioral outcome.
b) Power or capacity to resist. → motivational aspect.
c) Opposition of some force … to another or others. → motivational aspect.
d) A force that retards, hinders, or opposes motion. → motivational aspect.
McGuire defined resistance to persuasion as the ability to withstand a persuasive attack. He
treated is as a variable potential response. His inoculation strategies increased resistance in
two ways.
1. First, by increasing motivation to resist.
2. Second, by arming the person with weapons needed to accomplish the resistance.
Outcome versus motive
Resistance defines an outcome the outcome of not being moved by pressures to
change.
o Raises issues such as the persuasive message has no effect on the recipient, or
it may produce a boomerang effect.
Resistance defines a motivational state: the motivation to oppose and counter
pressures to change.
, o Raises issues such as motivations to oppose may not result in behavioral
resistance, it may not alter the outcome, but it may affect other reactions to the
influence attempt.
Resistance as attitude
Affective
o “I don’t like it”
o Studies of changes in preferences for alternatives or action.
Cognitive
o “I don’t believe it”
o Studies of counterarguing to a persuasive message or evaluating outcomes in
the future.
Behavioral
o “I won’t do it”
o Studies of the failure to comply with a request.
Source of resistance
Many studies presume that resistance to be largely a quality of the person, or the
person’s attitude.
Brehm’s reactance emphasizes a external source.
o Reactance = caused by external threats to one’s freedom of choice. When a
person senses that someone else is limiting his or her freedom to choose or act,
an uncomfortable state of reactance results, creating motivation to reassert that
freedom.
▪ This externally provoked contrariness initiates oppositional feelings
and behaviors; the reactance person likes the forbidden fruit even
more.
Two sets of factors determine the amount of reactance
o One set concerns the freedoms that are threatened → the more numerous and
important the freedoms, the greater the reactance to losing them.
o A second set of factors concerns the nature of the threat → arbitrary, blatant,
direct, and demanding requests will create more reactance than legitimate,
subtle, indirect and delicate requests.
Four faces of resistance: reactance, distrust, scrutiny, and inertia.
Different perceptual stances toward resistance:
Reactance
Brehm (1966); recognizes the influence attempt as an integral element of resistance.
Reactance is initiated only when the influence is directly perceived and when it
threatens a person’s choices alternatives.
This view emphasizes the affective (“I don’t like it”) and motivational (“I won’t do
it”) sides of resistance.
Distrust
This spotlights the target of change, and it reveals a general distrust of proposals.
People become guarded and wary when faced with a proposal, offer or message to
change.
o They wonder that the motive behind the proposal might be, what the true facts
are.
Table of contents
LECTURE 1 NOTES ................................................................................................................ 3
LECTURE 1 LITERATURE .................................................................................................... 3
Knowles, E. S., & Linn, J. A. (2004). The importance of resistance to persuasion. In E. ......... 3
S. Knowles & J. A. Linn (Eds.), Resistance and Persuasion, (pp. 3-9). Mahwah, NJ: .............. 3
Erlbaum.................................................................................................................................. 3
LECTURE 2 NOTES - SELF-CONTROL ............................................................................. 6
LECTURE 2 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 11
Wheeler, S. C., Briñol, P., & Hermann, A. D. (2007). Resistance to persuasion as self- ......... 11
regulation: Ego-depletion and its effects on attitude change processes. Journal of ................ 11
Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 150-156. ....................................................................... 11
Fennis, B. M., Janssen, L., & Vohs, K. D. (2009). Acts of benevolence: A limited- ................ 15
resource account of compliance with charitable requests. Journal of Consumer .................. 15
Research, 35, 906-924............................................................................................................ 15
LECTURE 3 NOTES – ADVERTISING LITERACY .......................................................... 23
LECTURE 3 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 28
Hudders, L., De Pauw, P., Cauberghe, V., Panic, K., Zarouali, B., & Rozendaal, E. ............. 28
(2017). Shedding new light on how advertising literacy can affect children's ........................ 28
processing of embedded advertising formats: A future research agenda. Journal of............. 28
Advertising, 46(2), 333-349. .................................................................................................. 28
Rozendaal, E., & Figner, B. (2019). Effectiveness of a school-based intervention to .............. 38
empower children to cope with advertising. Journal of Media Psychology............................ 38
LECTURE 4 NOTES – PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE & POLITENESS THEORY . 43
LECTURE 4 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 47
Rains, S. A. (2013). The nature of psychological reactance revisited: A meta-analytic .......... 47
review. Human Communication Research, 39, 47-73. ........................................................... 47
Jenkins, M., & Dragojevic, M. (2013). Explaining the process of resistance to ...................... 51
persuasion: A politeness theory-based approach. Communication Research, 40, 559-590..... 51
LECTURE 5 NOTES – RECEIVER’S RESISTANCE STRATEGIES PART I ................. 60
LECTURE 5 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 65
Zuwerink Jacks, J., & Cameron, K. A. (2003). Strategies for resisting persuasion. Basic and
Applied Social Psychology, 25, 145-161. ................................................................................ 65
, Van ‘t Riet, J., & Ruiter, R. A. C. (2013). Defensive reactions to health-promoting
information: an overview and implications for future research. Health Psychology Review,
7(sup1), S104-S136. ............................................................................................................... 71
LECTURE 6 NOTES – RECEIVER’S RESISTANCE STRATEGIES PART II &
SENDER STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME RESISTANCE PART I ................................... 83
LECTURE 6 LITERATURE .................................................................................................. 88
Knowles, E. S., & Linn, J. A. (2004). Approach-Avoidance model of persuasion: Alpha and
omega strategies for change. In E. S. Knowles & J. A. Linn (Eds.), Resistance and Persuasion,
(pp. 117-148). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. .................................................................................. 88
Fransen, M. L., Verlegh, P. W. J., Kirmani, A., & Smit, E. G. (2015). A typology of consumer
strategies for resisting advertising, and a review of mechanisms for ..................................... 95
countering them. International Journal of Advertising: The Review of Marketing ............... 95
Communications, 34, 6-16. .................................................................................................... 95
LECTURE 7 NOTES – NARRATIVE PERSUASION AND SELF-PERSUASION .......... 99
LECTURE 7 LITERATURE ................................................................................................ 103
Aronson, E. (1999). The power of self-persuasion. American Psychologist, 54, 875-............ 103
884. (Note: you may skip the part on the jigsaw classroom) ................................................ 103
Moyer-Gusé, E., Chung, A. H., & Jain, P. (2011). Identification with characters and ......... 105
discussion of taboo topics after exposure to an entertainment narrative about sexual ........ 105
health. Journal of Communication, 61, 387-406. ................................................................. 105
LECTURE 8 NOTES -EMOTIONS..................................................................................... 110
LECTURE 8 LITERATURE ................................................................................................ 115
Cummins, R. G., Gong, Z. H., & Reichert, T. (2021). The impact of visual sexual appeals on
attention allocation within advertisements: an eye-tracking study. International Journal of
Advertising, 40(5), 708-732. ................................................................................................ 115
Strick, M., Holland, R. W., van Baaren, R. B., & Van Knippenberg, A. (2012). Those........ 119
who laugh are defenseless: How humor breaks resistance to influence. Journal of ............. 119
Experimental Psychology: Applied, 18(2), 213. ................................................................... 119
LECTURE 9 NOTES – INFLUENCER ENDORSEMENT .............................................. 124
LECTURE 9 LITERATURE ................................................................................................ 128
Breves, P., Liebers, N., Motschenbacher, B., & Reus, L. (2021). Reducing Resistance: ....... 128
The Impact of Nonfollowers’ and Followers’ Parasocial Relationships with Social ............. 128
Media Influencers on Persuasive Resistance and Advertising Effectiveness. Human .......... 128
Communication Research, 47(4), 418-443. .......................................................................... 128
, LECTURE 1 NOTES
Resistance =
a reaction against change: “I don’t like it”, “I don’t believe it”, “I won’t do it”.
The ability to withstand a persuasive attack.
An outcome: not being moved by pressures to change.
o E.g. not buying the specific topic / not stopping with smoking /
counterarguing.
A motivational state: motivation to oppose and counter pressures to change.
LECTURE 1 LITERATURE
Knowles, E. S., & Linn, J. A. (2004). The importance of resistance to persuasion. In E.
S. Knowles & J. A. Linn (Eds.), Resistance and Persuasion, (pp. 3-9). Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Resistance =
Refers to the noncompliance with a directive.
Refers to a desire to counteract someone else’s attempt to limit one’s choices.
Refers to unwillingness to achieve insight about the real nature of one’s thoughts or
feelings.
Refers to avoidance of unpleasant or dangerous feelings.
Refers to the feeling of ambivalence about change.
According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary resistance includes these four
definitions:
a) The act of resisting, opposing, withstanding, etc. → behavioral outcome.
b) Power or capacity to resist. → motivational aspect.
c) Opposition of some force … to another or others. → motivational aspect.
d) A force that retards, hinders, or opposes motion. → motivational aspect.
McGuire defined resistance to persuasion as the ability to withstand a persuasive attack. He
treated is as a variable potential response. His inoculation strategies increased resistance in
two ways.
1. First, by increasing motivation to resist.
2. Second, by arming the person with weapons needed to accomplish the resistance.
Outcome versus motive
Resistance defines an outcome the outcome of not being moved by pressures to
change.
o Raises issues such as the persuasive message has no effect on the recipient, or
it may produce a boomerang effect.
Resistance defines a motivational state: the motivation to oppose and counter
pressures to change.
, o Raises issues such as motivations to oppose may not result in behavioral
resistance, it may not alter the outcome, but it may affect other reactions to the
influence attempt.
Resistance as attitude
Affective
o “I don’t like it”
o Studies of changes in preferences for alternatives or action.
Cognitive
o “I don’t believe it”
o Studies of counterarguing to a persuasive message or evaluating outcomes in
the future.
Behavioral
o “I won’t do it”
o Studies of the failure to comply with a request.
Source of resistance
Many studies presume that resistance to be largely a quality of the person, or the
person’s attitude.
Brehm’s reactance emphasizes a external source.
o Reactance = caused by external threats to one’s freedom of choice. When a
person senses that someone else is limiting his or her freedom to choose or act,
an uncomfortable state of reactance results, creating motivation to reassert that
freedom.
▪ This externally provoked contrariness initiates oppositional feelings
and behaviors; the reactance person likes the forbidden fruit even
more.
Two sets of factors determine the amount of reactance
o One set concerns the freedoms that are threatened → the more numerous and
important the freedoms, the greater the reactance to losing them.
o A second set of factors concerns the nature of the threat → arbitrary, blatant,
direct, and demanding requests will create more reactance than legitimate,
subtle, indirect and delicate requests.
Four faces of resistance: reactance, distrust, scrutiny, and inertia.
Different perceptual stances toward resistance:
Reactance
Brehm (1966); recognizes the influence attempt as an integral element of resistance.
Reactance is initiated only when the influence is directly perceived and when it
threatens a person’s choices alternatives.
This view emphasizes the affective (“I don’t like it”) and motivational (“I won’t do
it”) sides of resistance.
Distrust
This spotlights the target of change, and it reveals a general distrust of proposals.
People become guarded and wary when faced with a proposal, offer or message to
change.
o They wonder that the motive behind the proposal might be, what the true facts
are.
