Attribution of Freedom in a Persuasive Communication Situation

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate variables which affect a communicator's attribution of freedom to a communicatee. A communicator delivered a communication to a communicatee who reacted either favorably or unfavorably. Further, the communicator expected to have to deliver a subsequent communication either to the same communicatee or to a different communicatee. As predicted, greater freedom was attributed to the communicatee (1) when the reaction to the communication was favorable than when it was unfavorable, and (2) when a subsequent communication was to be directed toward the same communicatee than when it was to be directed toward a different communicatee. These findings were discussed in terms of a person's need for compliance and the role of the attribution of freedom in serving this need. The study also provided evidence about the relationship between the attribution of freedom and liking.