Stigmatized sources and persuasion: Prejudice as a determinant of argumentscrutiny

Two experiments examined the viability of several explanations for why majo rity group individuals process persuasive messages from stigmatized sources more than those from nonstigmatized sources. In each study, majority group participants who either were high or low in prejudice or were high or low in ambivalence toward a stigmatized source's group were exposed to a persua sive communication attributed to a stigmatized (Black, Experiment I; homose xual, Experiment 2) or nonstigmatized (White, Experiment 1; heterosexual, E xperiment 2) source. In both studies, source stigmatization increased messa ge scrutiny only among those who were low in prejudice toward the stigmatiz ed group. This finding is most consistent with the view that people scrutin ize messages from stigmatized sources in order to guard against possibly un fair reactions by themselves or others.