When Feeling is Believing: The Role of Emotional Contagion in Persuasion
Authors:
- Kyle R. Andrews (Michigan State University)
- Frank Boster (Michigan State University)
While a considerable amount of research has documented both emotional contagion and the impact of mood on persuasion, very little has examined the extent to which these two processes can operate in tandem. That is, it is not clear whether interacting with an expressive source can lead to increased positive mood via motor mimicry and emotional contagion, which in turn impacts the evaluation of a persuasive argument given by the source. An experiment was designed to test this proposition. Results found partial support for the hypothesis. Expressiveness on the part of a source led to mimicry on the part of a receiver, which in turn led to more positive persuasive outcomes, but was not mediated by mood change. Source expressiveness was also a significant predictor of source credibility, which moderated the effect of mimicry on persuasion. A post-hoc model incorporating the effects of source credibility and argument strength was tested and found to fit the data. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.