The effect of affect-based dissonance versus cognition-based dissonance on motivated reasoning and health-related persuasion

This study provides evidence for motivated reasoning when participants' prior intentions are incompatible with stimulus messages. Two types of dissonance that result from incompatible goals are identified: affect-based dissonance (dissonance accompanied with negative emotions) and cognition-based dissonance (dissonance accompanied with disagreements with the message). Findings indicate that different motivated reasoning strategies are used to reduce the 2 types of dissonance. Denying the relevance of the message information and shallow message processing reduced affect-based dissonance, and greater critical scrutiny of the message reduced cognition-based dissonance. Specific recommendations for increasing the persuasiveness of health-related ads under conditions of affect-based versus cognition-based dissonance reduction strategies are provided.