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Quantity trumps quality in this instance because ambivalent individuals are likely to accept messages regardless of their source’s perceived reliability, shows Johar’s research, conducted with Martin Zemborain of Austral University in Argentina. Because ambivalent individuals have conflicting positive and negative views, they are seeking a way to resolve that discord and solidify their opinions. This makes them open to persuasion from a variety of sources, reputable and otherwise.
Johar and Zemborain found that people with strong opinions, by contrast, are more likely to evaluate the reliability of a message’s source before accepting it. Their attitudes can also be influenced, however, if they are unable to check for a message source’s validity and are unaware that they are being persuaded. “People know that they shouldn’t be influenced by outside sources, but in today’s world, there is so much clutter out there that we are sometimes influenced without realizing it,” says Johar.
Source: “Attitudinal Ambivalence and Openness to Persuasion: A Framework for Interpersonal Influence”
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