This investigation dealt with the role and impact of affect in the process of resistance. A total of 597 participants took part in the study in 4 phases spanning 6 weeks. Initial results indicated that the cognitive, affective-anger, and affective-happiness inoculation treatments all conferred resistance to persuasive attacks. Structural equation analyses were conducted on the cognitive, affective-anger, and affective-happiness experimental inoculation conditions in order to examine the process of resistance. The results across all 3 conditions revealed a direct path in which inoculation treatments directly induced resistance to persuasive attacks. However, indirect paths to resistance varied across the 3 experimental conditions. Cognitive inoculation treatments contributed to receiver threat and counterarguing output, which, in turn, enhanced resistance. Thus, the cognitive inoculation treatments triggered a process that is consistent with McGuire's theoretical explanation for resistance. By contrast, both affective-anger and affective-happiness inoculation treatments relied more heavily on elicited emotional responses. Finally, the results indicated that greater receiver involvement was positively associated with experienced anger and, therefore, indirectly contributed to resistance, whereas greater receiver self-efficacy tended to dampen resistance. T he inoculation approach to promoting resistance to attitude change has been the focus of considerable theoretical and applied interest. However, many questions about inoculation remain unresolved and "deserve renewed study in the context of contemporary theory and Michael Pfau (Ph.D., University of Arizona, 1987) is professor and director of graduate studies in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Erin

This study examined the influence of soft-money-sponsored issue-advocacy advertising in U.S. House and Senate campaigns, comparing its effects against candidate-sponsored positive advertising and contrast advertising on viewers' candidate preferences and on their attitudes that reflect democratic values. The results revealed no main effects for advertising approach on candidate preference. Instead, advertising approach exerted unique impacts based on viewer party affiliation: Advocacy ads influenced only nonpartisans, whereas candidate-sponsored contrast advertising primarily affected Republicans. Viewer exposure to candidatesponsored advertising, both positive and contrast, elicited greater viewer awareness and interest in campaigns and more knowledge of the candidates and their positions, both in comparison to the control condition and to soft-money-sponsored issue-advocacy ads.

This study compares people's use of political talk radio to that of other mass communication sources and to their confidence in democratic institutions. The paper argues that communication modalities (e.g., political talk radio) serve as important sources of secondary socialization: negative depictions of democratic institutions by specific sources cultivate negative perceptions of those institutions among users of these modalities. In order to test this position, the investigation employs a broad interconnected approach, combining a content analysis of references to specific democratic institutions across mass communication sources with a survey of people's media use patterns and their confidence in institutions. The results indicate that political talk radio depicts most institutions negatively, and that listeners manifest reduced confidence in those institutions. The implications of these findings for this nation's “crisis of confidence” in political institutions are explored.

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