ABSTRACT

Within the persuasion literature, the most common treatment of the term “resistance” involves the outcome of showing little or no change to a persuasive message, (e.g., McGuire, 1964). However, to understand resistance truly, one must recognize that the study of resistance is more than simply the outcome of a persuasive message. Petty, Tormala, and Rucker (in press; see also Tormala & Petty, this volume) noted recently that within the persuasion literature, resistance has also been examined as a psychological process (e.g., one can resist by counterarguing), a motivation (i.e., having the goal of not being persuaded), and a quality of an attitude or person (i.e., being resistant to persuasion).