The effects of ego involvement on responses to editorial satire

Sport publicity: Commitment's moderation of message effects

“…Further validation of whether the two commitment groups were theoretically distinct used the L-O-R scale. Consistent with Powell (1975) findings, committed subjects with stronger attitude demonstrated a wider L-O-R than their less committed counterparts (M Low 2.49 versus M High 3.52) F(1, 191) = 7.07, p < .01).…”

“…Despite the influential nature of publicity in shaping public opinion (Entman, 1989), commitment can moderate reader responses (Powell, 1975). Commitment appears to operate similar to involvement in its ability to cue information processing and prompt elaboration.…”

“…Research by Powell (1975) on editorial readers found that strong attitude [albeit ego-involvement] maintained a wider L-O-R that stabilized responses. Similarly, we suspect committed readers will hold wider latitudes-of-rejection that enable attachment to the team to endure despite conflicting information.…”

“…Prior evidence suggests less committed subjects recall fewer argument facts and thoughts from messages, whereas highly involved and committed subjects exert greater mental effort during processing and recall more facts and favorable thoughts (Powell, 1975). One notable distinction to this response may occur when committed individuals are confronted with negative information.…”

Attitude strength: One construct or many related constructs?

“…Resistance to change is positively related to extremity (Ewing, 1942;Osgood & Tannenbuam, 1955), certainty (L. J. Marks & Kamins, 1988;Swann & Ely, 1984), importance (Borgida & Howard-Pitney, 1983;Fine, 1957), interest in relevant information (Ewing, 1942;Knower, 1936), knowledge (Wilson, Kraft, & Dunn, 1989;Wood, 1982), accessibility (Bassili & Fletcher, 1991), direct experience (Borgida & Campbell, 1982;Wu & Shaffer, 1987), affective-cognitive consistency (Chaiken, 1982;Rosenberg, 1968), larger latitudes of rejection, and smaller latitudes of noncommitment (e.g., J. L. Powell, 1975;C. W. Sherif, Kelly, Rogers, Sarup, & Tittler, 1973).…”