Hearts and Minds: The Priority of Affective Versus Cognitive Factors in Person Perception

In two experiments, affect-based and cognition-based attitudes towardaperson wereinduced by varyingthesequenceofaffective and cognitive information presented to subjects while holding the content of these communications constant. In Experiment 1, affective and cognitive persuasive appeals were created by means of a similar order manipulation, whereas in Experiment 2, affective and cognitive persuasive appeals were induced through a focus manipulation. Results indicated that affect-based attitudes were most effectively changed by affective persuasive appeals, whether these appeals were produced by an order manipulation or a focus manipulation. Affect-based attitudes also tended to be expressed with greater confidence than cognition-based attitudes.