Papers by Chris Carpenter
Argumentation and Advocacy, 2009
Boster et al.'s (2006) dimensions of diffusion ability were used to determine if the argument... more Boster et al.'s (2006) dimensions of diffusion ability were used to determine if the argumentation of superdiffusers of health information (those who are well-connected, persuasive, and knowledgeable about healthy lifestyles) is different from those who are not. In Study 1, 164 undergraduates completed the measures of diffusion ability. They were then asked how they would try to persuade a target either to lose weight or to avoid smoking. The scenario they were given was either simple or complex. For the participants who responded to the avoiding smoking scenario a 2 (superdiffuser or not) X 2 (scenario complexity: simple or complex) interaction was found such that superdiffusers who responded to the complex scenario produced more arguments, more overall themes in their arguments, and addressed more elements of the scenario than any of the other three groups. Superdiffusers produced more arguments when they responded to the weight loss scenario. A second study was conducted with 35 participants who were interviewed about their beliefs on dieting. Their responses were coded for argument complexity. Superdiffusers produced more complex arguments than non-superdiffusers. In sum, results indicated that superdiffusers argue in ways that would facilitate the effective diffusion of health information.
Health Communication, 2012
proposed that superdiffusers are well connected, persuasive, and a maven in a content area. They ... more proposed that superdiffusers are well connected, persuasive, and a maven in a content area. They proposed that superdiffusers, if recruited, could promote the adoption of health practices. In this manuscript a model of this process is presented, and an intervention designed to test the efficacy of this influence strategy is introduced.
Several hypotheses were derived from the self-expansion model concerning romantic relationships a... more Several hypotheses were derived from the self-expansion model concerning romantic relationships and social networking sites (SNSs). A sample of 276 participants responded to questions about their relationshi p history and SNS uses and a subset of those (N = 149) responded to additional questions about a current romantic partner. Results suggest that past self-expansion leaves a residue shown by more interests. This finding was moderated by overall Facebook use. Particular Facebook behaviors such as tagging one's partner in status updates, appearing together in photographs, and listing similar interests on profiles are indicative of self-expansion processes typically found in romantic relationships.
A strong message recall-attitude relationship was predicted when participants were induced to use... more A strong message recall-attitude relationship was predicted when participants were induced to use memory-based processing to form their attitudes but not when induced to use on-line processing after exposure to a persuasive message. The recall-attitude correlation in the memory-based conditions was expected to be positive when the arguments were strong and negative when they were weak; 240 participants participated in a study to test these predictions. An ample and positive recall-attitude relationship was found when participants were exposed to strong arguments in both processing conditions. A small but negative relationship was found in the weak arguments, on-line processing condition but not the memory-based condition. Parallel findings were obtained when need to evaluate was used to measure processing type.
This study proposed a path model of the effects of message comprehensibility on attitude change w... more This study proposed a path model of the effects of message comprehensibility on attitude change with the measured cognitive mediators suggested by dual-process models of persuasion. An experiment was conducted using a 2 (strong arguments vs. weak arguments) Â 2 (easy vs. difficult to understand arguments) fully crossed independentgroups design with 120 participants. The data were consistent with the traditional impact of message comprehensibility on difficulty of processing the message such that the effect of argument strength was diminished when the arguments were difficult, rather than easy, to understand. The path models were not consistent with the data, and the model was revised to produce adequate fit.
This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the a... more This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues.
A meta-analysis of the speech disfluency literature suggested that the relationship between speak... more A meta-analysis of the speech disfluency literature suggested that the relationship between speaker disfluencies and competence judgments may be mediated. The theory of elaborative resistance production (TERP; Turner & Banas, 2007) was then applied to the effects of disfluencies on speaker persuasiveness. An experiment was conducted such that 240 undergraduate students watched a short video in which a speaker was either high or low reward and produced 0, 1, or 2 verbal disfluencies. Evidence was found consistent with a causal chain running from speaker disfluency to attitude-defensive cognitions, then to ratings of speaker credibility, and then to message acceptance.
From 54 articles, 172 effect sizes were meta-analyzed to determine whether men and women are diff... more From 54 articles, 172 effect sizes were meta-analyzed to determine whether men and women are differentially distressed by emotional versus sexual infidelity. Predictions were derived and tested from an evolutionary psychology (EP) perspective, a social-cognitive perspective, and the double-shot perspective. The data were not consistent with the EP predictions because men tended to respond in the predicted manner in only the U.S. student samples, whereas the rest of the data were largely consistent with the social-cognitive theory. Specifically, both sexes tended to be more upset by emotional than sexual infidelity when forced to choose which type of infidelity was more distressing. Both sexes indicated that sexual infidelity was more distressing than emotional when asked to rate their level of distress separately for each using continuous measures. The lesbian and gay samples were mostly consistent with the double-shot hypothesis because they tended to respond based on stereotyping grounded in the sex of their partner, paralleling heterosexuals in this regard. Analysis of the scenarios designed to test the double-shot hypothesis found somewhat smaller effects when the possibility of both types of infidelity was ruled out. These findings suggest that professionals seeking to address problems associated with jealousy in romantic relationships would profit from avoiding sex-linked assumptions about which aspect of infidelity is likely to be more upsetting.
Communication Monographs, 2009
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Papers by Chris Carpenter