Message Discrepancy Persuasion
Message Discrepancy Persuasion is a process of changing attitudes. This ob- jective is not easy to achieve. As a general rule, people are motivated to defend their opinions, which they do, in part, through selective exposure to information that supports their views. Given an opportunity to advocate for attitude change, communicators confront what is perhaps the most critical stra- tegic question: How extreme a position should they take? How discrepant should a message be from the audience’s existing position in order to have the greatest impact?
Common sense suggests two opposite answers. One approach is to take an extreme position in the hope that the more change you advocate, the more you will get. Another approach is to not push for too much change so that the audi- ence will not reject the message outright. Which approach seems more effec- tive? Imagine trying to convert your politically conservative friends into liberals or the other way around. Would you stake out a radical position in order to move them toward the center, or would you preach moderation so as not to be cast aside? Research shows that communicators should adopt the second, more cau- tious approach. To be sure, some discrepancy is needed to produce a change in attitude. But the relationship to persuasion can be pictured as an upside-down U with the most change being produced at moderate amounts of discrepancy.
