| Abstract: | ABSTRACT Two experimental studies tested the influence of suspicion on willingness to engage in a systematic analysis of arguments presented to support the introduction of a new comprehensive exam at public universities. The effect of suspicion differed depending on whether it was defined as a source feature or a receptor's personal disposition. Suspicion aroused by a specific source inhibited the systematic processing of the message, overwhelming individual differences in need for cognition. Suspicion as a receptors' stable disposition had the opposite effect. Highly suspicious receptors engaged in a more systematic processing of arguments. Although dispositional suspicion and need for cognition were correlated, the first variable had a significant effect beyond the effect of need for cognition. |
