INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES IN RESPONSES TO SOCIAL-INFLUENCE ATTEMPTS - THEORY AND RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTS OF MISANTHROPY

A propositional framework drawing on social-cognition models and expla ining how highly misanthropic individuals respond differently to influ ence attempts, is advanced. A pilot study (N = 893 adults) was complet ed to answer specific research questions, determine the psychometric a dequacy of the measurement model, and empirically test Key assumptions of the theoretical formulation Then, five theoretically derived hypot heses about message reception and acceptance were tested in two separa te research efforts (N = 215 and 202 adults). Three additional hypothe ses were tested and replicated concerning the positive relationship be tween misanthropy and the avoidance of health care. Support for all hy potheses was obtained. In addition, results indicated that, as suggest ed in past research, respondents high in misanthropy report higher act ual incidence of stress-related diseases. Discussion of the theoretica l import of these results for social influence researchers as well as the practical utility of the findings to people interested in developi ng mass-mediated disease prevention and control campaigns is offered