Chapter 1 - Universiteit Twente

Extending the Model: Forewarned is Forearmed
beneficial to those low in self-control strength, so that they can build up their resistance.
In that respect, our studies are the first to show that the effect of forewarning is not
just a matter of increasing the motivation to resist persuasion; the effect of forewarning
depends on the amount of regulatory resources a person has available, given that it
is more pronounced when people’s resources are diminished. Eventually, there will
be no difference in the extent of resistance between people who were depleted but
conserved resources, and people who had their resources available from the beginning.
Whether these processes can be consciously controlled, or whether the process
of conserving resources for subsequent counterargumentation and resistance to
persuasion operates mainly beyond our conscious awareness, still remains to be tested.
The present studies underscore previous research which has shown that resistance to
persuasion is an effortful activity which depends on one’s self-regulatory capacities.
People need self-control resources to actively resist a persuasion attempt, to be able
to scrutinize a message or request and argue against the persuasive communication.
Being low in self-control strength weakens our defense, and when one is not prompted
to do something about it, as in conserving and mobilizing remaining strength, one’s
attempts at resistance are more likely to fail. Gathering knowledge on and insight into
resistance processes is relevant to a host of influence contexts, yet the issue is probably
most germane to the field of marketing and consumer behavior. In contrast to such
non-profit domains as health promotion or risk communication, where influence
attempts are sometimes welcomed by the message recipient, commercial influence is
typically met with a less accepting, more skeptical response. Indeed in the marketing
sphere, unsolicited influence appears to be the rule rather than the exception.
People are frequently being harassed by telemarketers after a day of hard work, sales
representatives and fundraisers approach shoppers with unwanted offers, and television
programming is frequently interrupted by unwanted advertising messages. It seems
that the quantity of persuasive messages and requests we encounter is growing by the
day, and often it is not even what these want to persuade us about, but it is the fact that
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