Construct Differentiation and Person-Centred Regulative Messages

Abstract

This research examined the effect of interpersonal construct differentiation and legitimate authority on several facets of regulative message design: the number of message strategies persuaders use, the way in which persuaders conceive the persuadee's behaviour problem, and the way persuaders defend their proposals to their persuadees. In Study 1 undergraduates responded to two situations requiring them to regulate the behaviour of a subordinate. In Study 2 undergraduates responded to one of three regulative situations that cast them into the role of peer or supervisor. In both studies highly differentiated persuaders conceived the problem and defended their proposal in more symbolicallycoordinated ways than less differentiated persuaders. Study 2 found that the correlational relationships did not differ as a function of the legitimate authority existing between the persuader and persuadee. Study 3 found that the correlational relationships could be substantially accounted for by the number of targetrelevant goals and the message-focused conception of persuasion the persuader possessed.