CUE REPRESENTATION AND SELECTION EFFECTS OF AROUSAL ON PERSUASION

A popular prediction in persuasion research is that decreased ability to process information increases reliance on peripheral cues and decre ases reliance on central claims. This article explains why this predic tion does not necessarily hold when processing capacity is impaired by high arousal. Three experiments suggest that two types of processes u nderlie arousal effects on persuasion. Arousal induces selective proce ssing of cues that are diagnostic at the expense of cues that are nond iagnostic-the selection effect. Arousal may also dilute the influence of cues that are capacity demanding-the representation effect. It is t herefore important to disentangle the diagnosticity of persuasion cues from their processing demands.