Journal article

Publication year: 2012

Pages: 107-127

Journal: Basic and Applied Social Psychology

Volume number: 34

Issue number: 2

ISSN: 0197-3533

eISSN: 1532-4834

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2012.655992

Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group

Abstract: 
Four experiments investigated the influence of situational familiarity within a judgmental context on the process of credibility attribution. We predicted that high familiarity with a situation would lead to higher efficacy expectations for, and a more pronounced use of, verbal information when making judgments of credibility. Under low situational familiarity, judges were expected to experience higher efficacy expectations for, and a more pronounced use of, nonverbal information. In Experiments 1 through 4, participants under low or high situational familiarity saw a film in which nonverbal cues (fidgety vs. calm movements) and verbal content cues (low vs. high plausibility) were manipulated. As predicted, when familiarity was low, only the nonverbal cues influenced participants' judgments of credibility. In contrast, participants in the high familiarity condition used only the verbal cues. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that efficacy expectations regarding verbal and nonverbal information, but not processing motivation, drive this familiarity effect.

Harvard Citation style: Reinhard, M., Scharmach, M. and Sporer, S. (2012) Situational Familiarity, Efficacy Expectations, and the Process of Credibility Attribution, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 34(2), pp. 107-127. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2012.655992

APA Citation style: Reinhard, M., Scharmach, M., & Sporer, S. (2012). Situational Familiarity, Efficacy Expectations, and the Process of Credibility Attribution. Basic and Applied Social Psychology. 34(2), 107-127. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2012.655992