Does Greater Amount of Information Always Bolster Attitudinal Resistance?

Abstract

Previous research suggests that attitudinal resistance to information that challenges a prior evaluation increases with the amount of information underlying the prior evaluation. We revisit this proposition in a context in which a set of important claims about a target brand are presented either alone - a lower amount of "isolated" information - or along with other favorable, but less important claims - a higher amount of "embedded" information. Results from two experiments show that when the challenge occurs immediately after the initial evaluation, a greater amount of "embedded" initial information does produce greater attitudinal resistance. However, when the challenge occurs after a delay, a lesser amount of "isolated" information produces greater attitudinal resistance. The findings qualify previous assumptions about the role of prior information in attitudinal resistance, and support a constructive view of judgment revision and attitudinal resistance.