Answering Questions about Questions: A Persuasion Knowledge Perspective for Understanding the Effects of Rhetorical Questions

Past research is not clear on the process by which rhetorical questions influence persuasion (i.e., increased focus on message arguments vs. on the persuasion agent). Based on recent theories of persuasion knowledge and rhetorical figures in advertising, our model delineates conditions under which rhetoricals are likely to enhance argument elaboration (low salience of the rhetorical) and those under which they are likely to direct attention on the message source (high salience of the rhetorical format). Two experiments support the model and suggest that sali-ence of rhetorical figures has the potential to influence not only the direction of message processing but also the effectiveness of various ad executions. Questions where the answer is implicit within the ques-tion are termed rhetorical. Their use in persuasion set-tings dates back to at least the 1800s, when they were re-garded as a tactic of successful debating (Schopenhauer [1864] 1963; cf. Zillmann 1972). Since then, their effec-tiveness has been examined in various persuasion settings ranging from closing arguments of a defense attorney (Zill-mann 1972) to editorials (Petty, Cacioppo, and Heesacker 1981) to advertising (Mothersbaugh, Huhmann, and Franke 2002). The dominant explanation for the persuasive effects of rhetorical questions is the message elaboration view, which suggests that questions focus the recipient’s attention on message arguments and thereby enhance persuasion when argument quality is strong (e.g., Petty et al. 1981). Earlier research considered the effects of rhetoricals on perceptions of delivery style (i.e., Zillmann 1972) and source pressure (i.e., Zillmann and Cantor 1974). However, this latter line of inquiry was dropped fairly quickly primarily because of a lack of source-related theories to account for these effects