知識分野による専門家の説得効果

抄録

In previous research, it is hypothesized that information from high-expertise source is more persuasive, while this effect vanishes for issues in which one is highly involved. Given that compared with natural sciences, issues which social sciences study on are generally considered more relevant to life, we predicted that experts’ persuasiveness would differ in various academic fields. A 2 (academic field: social sciences vs natural sciences) × 3 (source expertise: high vs low vs control) design is adopted in the research, in which participants were asked to read 4 articles from 2 academic fields and make evaluations on persuasiveness, scientific level, involvement, difficulty and so on. The results showed that participants were better persuaded by sources with higher expertise and articles from natural sciences, while no interaction between two factors was observed. These findings indicated that source expertise and academic fields influence persuasiveness independently.