Distraction Effects on the Perceived Extremity of a Communication and on Cognitive Responses
Participants listened to either a proattitudinal or counterattitudinal communication under varying levels of distraction. A distraction x message position interaction indicated that distraction decreased the perceived extremity of the counterattitudinal communication while increasing the perceived extremity of the proattitudinal message. Distraction decreased the number of counterarguments generated by counterattitudinal speech recipients, but unexpectedly did not significantly affect proargumentation. Proargumentation notwithstanding, the results were consistent with the dominant thought disruption hypothesis.