The effects of reward-oriented (pleasure) and punishment-oriented (fear) appeals were examined in conjunction with initial credibility on attitude change and terminal credibility. Ss were exposed to either a reward-oriented or a punishment-oriented message by either a high-credible or low-credible source. Reward and punishment appeals did not differentially affect either attitude change or perceived credibility. Both types of appeals produced substantial attitude change when presented by a high-credible source, neither produced significant change when presented by a low-credible source.
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McCroskey et al. (1971) studied this question.
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