Hate the Sin, Love the Saints: Activities Versus Actors in Message Design

Abstract

The reported study investigated the persuasive effects of nouns describing activities and their human actors in message design. Fictitious op-ed essays were created from the point of view of authors taking a complimentary or critical stance on two controversial topics. Different versions were created in which activity nouns ( immigration, cosmetic surgery) or actor nouns ( immigrants, cosmetic surgeons) referring to the topics were manipulated orthogonally to essay stance. Participants considered essays praising actors to be more persuasive than others praising activities, but were more persuaded by essays indicting activities than actors. The implications for message design theory and practice are discussed.