Memory Representations of Compliance-Gaining Strategies and Tactics

Abstract

An important step in the development of cognitive theories of message processing is to detail the manner in which information relevant to this task is represented in memory. Given this, the present research sought to examine memory for various features of compliance-gaining messages. The results of these five studies indicate that people are generally proficient at remembering the tactical instantiations in a message but that memory for strategies (i.e., sequences of tactical acts) is generally poor. The effects of warned versus incidental memory tests and duration of retention interval were also examined. The results of these studies are explained by recourse to an associative network model of long-term memory.