Can inoculation withstand multiple attacks? An examination of the effectiveness of the inoculation strategy compared to the supportive and restoration strategies

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28 Scopus citations

Abstract

This investigation introduced multiple competitive attacks in order to assess the effectiveness of inoculation treatments in protecting established attitudes in a natural setting. A four-phase experiment was conducted involving 433 participants. The results revealed that the effectiveness of refutational inoculation messages dissipated some in the face of an additional attack. Still, refutational inoculation messages proved to be more effective than supportive, restoration, and control (no message) conditions in protecting established attitudes in the face of multiple attacks. The content of an additional attack (the same as the first attack or different) did not affect the capacity of inoculation refutational messages to confer resistance to competitive attacks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)655-676
Number of pages22
JournalCommunication Research
Volume36
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2009

Keywords

  • Inoculation
  • Multiple attacks
  • Resistance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language

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