EFFECTS OF SOURCE CREDIBILITY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHORITARIANISM AND ATTITUDE CHANGE

Persuasive messages attributed to either a high credible or a low credible source were presented to Ss who varied in F Scale ("authoritarianism") scores. A significant interaction appeared between F Scale scores and source credibility with respect to attitude change, indicating the low F scorer to be more influenced by source differences than the high F scorer. These data are interpreted as supporting McGuire's general model for the relationship between persuasibility and personality, and refuting Johnson and Steiner's hypothesis that the high F scorer is "source-oriented. " Extension of these findings to social conformity studies is discussed. Johnson and Steiner (1967) have proposed an explanation to account for the relationship between authoritarianism and attitude change or conformity. These authors suggest that the high authoritarian is oriented to (or de-pendent upon) the source of the message, an