The implicit guides to convincingness intuitions: how emotional valence, emotional arousal, and processing fluency relate to perceived and actual convincingness

How intuitively convincing readers find a text appears to be influenced by the valence and intensity of the emotions it elicits, and whether it feels easy to read. However, how these factors simultaneously contribute to convincingness is unclear. Therefore, we examined the simultaneous contributions of valence, arousal, and processing fluency to texts’ perceived convincingness (how convincing readers find texts) and actual convincingness (the extent to which readers agree with the main claim). Adult native speakers of Dutch (N = 120) read 20 short persuasive texts, for which they rated experienced valence, arousal, and fluency, and either perceived or actual convincingness. All factors appear to be significant predictors of convincingness, with valence being the strongest, followed by arousal, while fluency played a smaller role. Our results nuance previous findings: valence and arousal play distinct, complex roles, whereas fluency appears to have a limited contribution. These results highlight the importance of investigating these factors simultaneously.