Social vigilantism and reported use of strategies to resist persuasion

Donald A. Saucier, Russell J. Webster, Bethany H. Hoffman, Megan L. Strain

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

We assessed the unique contribution of social vigilantism (SV; the tendency to impress and propagate one's "superior" beliefs onto others to correct others' more "ignorant" opinions) in predicting participants' reported use of strategies to resist persuasion. Consistent with hypotheses, SV was uniquely and positively associated with reported use of several resistance strategies (including counterarguing, impressing views, social validation, negative affect, and source derogation) in response to challenges above and beyond the effects of argumentativeness, attitude strength, and topic (in Study 1, the issue was abortion; in Study 2, the war in Iraq or the constitutional rights of pornographers). These studies indicate that social vigilantism is an important individual difference variable in the process of attitude resistance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)120-125
Number of pages6
JournalPersonality and Individual Differences
Volume70
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2014

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Social vigilantism and reported use of strategies to resist persuasion'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this