Page 99 - The Social Animal

Mass Communication, Propaganda, and Persuasion 81

person and still be effective, as long as it is clear that he or she has
nothing to gain (and perhaps something to lose) by persuading us.
Why was Joe “The Shoulder” so effective in our experiment?
Let’s take a closer look. Most people would not be surprised to hear
a known convict arguing in favor of a more lenient criminal justice
system. Their knowledge of the criminal’s background and self-in-
terest would lead them to expect such a message. When they receive
the opposite communication, however, these expectations are discon-
firmed. To make sense of this contradiction, the members of the au-
dience might conclude that the convict had reformed, or they could
entertain the notion that the criminal is under some kind of pressure
to make the anticrime statements. In the absence of any evidence to
substantiate these suppositions, however, another explanation be-
comes more reasonable: Maybe the truth of the issue is so compelling
that, even though it apparently contradicts his background and self-
interest, the spokesman sincerely believes in the position he espouses.
Further evidence for this phenomenon comes from a more re-
cent experiment. Alice Eagly and her colleagues presented students
32
with a description of a dispute between business interests and envi-
ronmental groups over a company polluting a river. The students
then read a statement about the issue. In some conditions, the
spokesman was described as having a business background and was
said to be speaking to a group of businessmen. In others, his back-
ground and audience were varied, thereby altering the participants’
expectations about his message. The results supported the reasoning
presented above; when the message conflicted with their expecta-
tions, listeners perceived the communicator as being more sincere,
and they were more persuaded by his statement. For example, it’s
hard to imagine a more convincing spokesperson for an antismoking
campaign than someone whose fortune was made off the habits of
millions of U.S. smokers. In fact, Patrick Reynolds, who inherited
millions of dollars from the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company,
founded by his grandfather, took a strong public stand against smok-
ing and encouraged victims of smoking-related illnesses to file law-
suits against tobacco companies! 33
The trustworthiness of a person can also be increased if the au-
dience is absolutely certain the person is not trying to influence them.
Suppose a stockbroker calls you up and gives you a hot tip on a par-
ticular stock. Will you buy? It’s hard to be sure. On the one hand, the