EFFECTS OF LITERAL AND METAPHORICAL PERSUASIVE MESSAGES

In the first part of this study, the relative effectiveness of metaphorical and literal persuasive political messages is investigated. Participants read a literal or a metaphorical description of a racist political party and subsequently filled out a questionnaire about this party's policy and the ways in which to counteract it. Results suggest that, although metaphors do influence the participants' ideas, literal messages are more effective. In the second part of the study, we find that persuasive messages do not enhance agreement with statements that are congruent with the message but, rather, suppress agreement with incongruent statements. These results are discussed in the context of persuasion theory.