Resistance to persuasion and relation to personality traits

Abstract

This study sought to examine whether, and to what extent, the expression of personality traits is related to resistance to persuasion. It also studied whether personality traits can predict the occurrence of a boomerang effect; how resistance to persuasion and attitude change relate to age and gender; and how these variables are affected by social desirability of the original attitude. 567 individuals participated in the study, all aged between 18 and 86. The participants were asked to read a text (the Heinz dilemma) and select one of two possible responses to it (“original attitude”). They then completed a personality inventory. Once the participants had adopted their original attitude, they were exposed to a persuasive message. The study then measured any change in their attitude or, where their attitude had not changed, any change in the strength with which they adopted it. The results showed that those who had adopted a more socially desirable original attitude and then changed their mind had a higher level of agreeableness than those whose original attitude was less socially desirable, and that extraversion was a statistically significant predictor of a boomerang effect. Individuals who had adopted a less socially desirable original attitude and were able to resist persuasion were, on average, older than those who resisted persuasion from a more socially desirable original attitude. It would be worth including an assessment of self-regulatory resources in future studies.

Keywords

• resistance to persuasion
• boomerang effect
• moral dilemma
• personality
• agreeableness