The Effectiveness of Attitude Inoculation Over Time
type: CreativeWork
description: Attitude inoculation occurs when a subject is exposed to an argument aimed at a pre-existing attitude, then given a refutation to the argument. This bolsters the pre-existing attitude and, in the process, leaves the message receiver prepared to resist future attempts to change their attitude, by having provided counter arguments. There is consensus among scholars and practitioners that attitude inoculation techniques are indeed effective for developing resistance to attitude change (Matusitz and Breen 2013; Niederdeppe, Gollust, and Barry 2014; Pfau et al. 2003) Since its inception, inoculation theory has been studied across multiple fields and has especially been of interest in a marketing context. Several gaps in the current literature are explored in this thesis. The primary problem identified is the lack of longitudinal research conducted to date on the topic of inoculation. Of those studies that do explore longitudinal effects, the vast majority have only done so with periods less than two weeks, despite this being identified as the common point of decay in the effectiveness of inoculation treatments (Banas and Rains 2010). The studies in this thesis are amongst the first to extend past the two-week period. In addition, these studies are also at the forefront of inoculation research in terms of examining differences in argument strength and the effects of moderators such as age, gender, income, and education. Finally, the implementation of a booster message is novel, in that reminder messages (boosters) are only now beginning to be studied, despite being a major unknown factor in the long-term workings of inoculation. In this thesis, the longitudinal impact of inoculation treatments with varied inoculation message strength is explored through multiple survey experiments. The primary analysis method consists of ANOVA with interaction calculations followed by targeted t-tests. The data analysis shows that the effectiveness of attitude inoculation is driven by the…
abstract: Attitude inoculation occurs when a subject is exposed to an argument aimed at a pre-existing attitude, then given a refutation to the argument. This bolsters the pre-existing attitude and, in the process, leaves the message receiver prepared to resist future attempts to change their attitude, by having provided counter arguments. There is consensus among scholars and practitioners that attitude inoculation techniques are indeed effective for developing resistance to attitude change (Matusitz and Breen 2013; Niederdeppe, Gollust, and Barry 2014; Pfau et al. 2003) Since its inception, inoculation theory has been studied across multiple fields and has especially been of interest in a marketing context. Several gaps in the current literature are explored in this thesis. The primary problem identified is the lack of longitudinal research conducted to date on the topic of inoculation. Of those studies that do explore longitudinal effects, the vast majority have only done so with periods less than two weeks, despite this being identified as the common point of decay in the effectiveness of inoculation treatments (Banas and Rains 2010). The studies in this thesis are amongst the first to extend past the two-week period. In addition, these studies are also at the forefront of inoculation research in terms of examining differences in argument strength and the effects of moderators such as age, gender, income, and education. Finally, the implementation of a booster message is novel, in that reminder messages (boosters) are only now beginning to be studied, despite being a major unknown factor in the long-term workings of inoculation. In this thesis, the longitudinal impact of inoculation treatments with varied inoculation message strength is explored through multiple survey experiments. The primary analysis method consists of ANOVA with interaction calculations followed by targeted t-tests. The data analysis shows that the effectiveness of attitude inoculation is driven by the…
author: Gadnyx, David
keywords: Attitude, Attitude inoculation, Attitude change, Attitude resistance, Persuasion, Inoculation
date published: 2021
date modified: 2026-07-27T18:46:06Z
provider: AUT University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: AUT University