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Item Investigating the impact of general action and inaction goals on attitude polarization(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2014) Owenby, Shaun Robert; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ian M. HandleyPrevious research shows that people can hold general goals for action or inaction. Further, action (vs. inaction) goals can result in less or greater attitude change in response to a persuasive message under different circumstances. To explain this opposite pattern of results, the current research explored the possibility that action (inaction) goals enhance (diminish) the default tendency of a given situation. Furthermore, research on attitude polarization demonstrates that despite exposure to equally strong yet opposing messages on a particular topic, individuals evaluate information consistent with their existing attitude as stronger (i.e. biased assimilation) and report more polarized attitudes as a result. Thus, for the present thesis, it was hypothesized that action (inaction) goals would enhance (diminish) this default tendency for biased information processing, leading to more (less) polarized attitudes compared to participants who receive no (control) goals. In this experiment, participants with non-neutral initial attitudes toward the impact of illegal immigration on the economy completed word fragments as part of an apparent verbal agility task. Via random assignment, this task actually primed either a general action, inaction, or no (control) goal. Next, participants viewed equally strong but opposing messages in a side-by-side format where one message supported and the other refuted the economic benefits of illegal immigration. Finally, participants responded to several measures to assess direct and perceived attitude polarization, as well as biased assimilation of the messages. The results replicated several findings in attitude polarization literature; however, goal primes yielded no effects, thus the hypotheses were unsupported. Several explanations of the results and possibilities for future research are discussed.Item Dead-set against it? : thoughts of death can promote resistance to attitude change(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2007) Dood, Tiffany Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ian M. HandleyTerror Management Theory (TMT) argues that people experience an underlying sense of 'terror' when presented with their own mortality, causing them to more strongly defend their ideals (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 2000). Although much support exists for this idea, prior research has not specifically investigated whether mortality reminders will enhance individuals' resistance to persuasive attempts that are counter to their existing attitudes. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine how reminders of individuals' mortality affect participants' attitudes towards persuasive messages that were pro- or counter-attitudinal. In the presented study, participants' mortality was or was not made salient. Next, participants read a pro- or counter-attitudinal essay regarding a tuition plan that was supported by strong or weak arguments, after which message attitudes were assessed. Results indicated that participants formed more favorable attitudes after reading pro-attitudinal essays and less favorable attitudes after reading counter-attitudinal essays. This effect was particularly pronounced in the mortality salience condition. These results are consistent with TMT in that reminders of mortality lead individuals to resist (i.e., form more unfavorable attitudes) counter-attitudinal persuasive appeals.