Alan Strathman

Bio: Alan Strathman is an academic researcher from University of Missouri. The author has contributed to research in topics: Consideration of future consequences & Counterfactual thinking. The author has an hindex of 20, co-authored 32 publications receiving 3918 citations. Previous affiliations of Alan Strathman include Ohio State University.

The consideration of future consequences: Weighing immediate and distant outcomes of behavior.

Abstract: We propose a new construct called consideration of future consequences (CFC), which is hypothesized to be a stable individual difference in the extent to which people consider distant versus immediate consequences of potential behaviors. Following a description of the construct itself, a measure of this individual difference is developed and validated. Data collected from 7 samples of college students indicates that the measure has acceptable reliability and validity. In addition, evidence of the role of CFC in regulating affective responses to negative events is reviewed. The utility of the CFC construct is demonstrated in 2 studies

Positive Mood and Persuasion: Different Roles for Affect Under High- and Low-Elaboration Conditions

Abstract: Two experiments examined the processes by which positive mood influences attitude change under high and low message elaboration conditions. To examine elaboration, Experiment 1 included individuals who differed in their need for cognition, and Experiment 2 manipulated the relevance of the message. In each study, Ss were exposed to a persuasive communication following a positive or neutral mood induction. In both studies, positive mood produced more positive attitudes toward the advocacy, but positive mood influenced the positivity of Ss' thoughts only under high-elaboration conditions. Path analyses showed that positive mood had a direct effect on attitudes in the low-elaboration conditions but influenced attitudes indirectly by modifying the positivity of thoughts in the high-elaboration conditions. Does a positive mood facilitate persuasion? Many of the initial studies addressing this question suggested that manipulations inducing a positive mood either just before or during a persuasive communication increased the likelihood of attitude change (e.g., Biggers & Pryor, 1982; Dribben & Brabender, 1979; Srull, 1983). These "main effect" findings were so consistent that in reviewing the work on positive affect and persuasion, McGuire (1985) concluded that Persuasive impact is greater if the person is in a happy, benevolent mood when the message comes, noshing on peanuts and soda (Janis, Kaye, and Kirschner, 1965), watching a good program (Krugman, 1983), and with pleasant musical background (Galizio and Hendrick, 1972), an appropriately scented other (Baron, 1983), a smile on one's face (Laird, 1974), nodding one's head (Wells and Petty, 1980), or relaxed in posture (Petty, Wells, Heesacker, Brock, and Cacioppo, 1983). (p. 285) Since 1985, however, the picture has become more complicated. In particular, recent studies have found that positive

Promotion Orientation Explains Why Future-Oriented People Exercise and Eat Healthy Evidence From the Two-Factor Consideration of Future Consequences-14 Scale

Abstract: The authors extended research linking individual differences in consideration of future consequences (CFC) with health behaviors by (a) testing whether individual differences in regulatory focus would mediate that link and (b) highlighting the value of a revised, two-factor CFC-14 scale with subscales assessing concern with future consequences (CFC-Future) and concern with immediate consequences (CFC-Immediate) proper. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the revised CFC-14 scale supported the presence of two highly reliable factors (CFC-Future and CFC-Immediate; αs from .80 to .84). Moreover, structural equation modeling showed that those high in CFC-Future engage in exercise and healthy eating because they adopt a promotion orientation. Future use of the two-factor CFC-14 scale is encouraged to shed additional light on how concern with future and concern with immediate consequences (proper) differentially impact the way people resolve a host of intertemporal dilemmas (e.g., health, financial, and environmental behavior).

The Role of Counterfactual Thinking in Judgments of Affect

Abstract: The role of counterfactuals in judgments of affective reactions to outcomes was examined. Subjects read about individuals who experienced gains or losses as a result of either deciding to take action and make a change or deciding not to take any new action. In addition, the salience of the counterfactual alternative was manipulated. Past results were replicated in the case of negative outcomes: Individuals who lost money on the basis of action were judged as feeling worse than those who lost money on the basis of inaction. This occurred under both high and low salience of the counterfactual. With positive consequences, however, exaggerated affect for outcomes associated with action rather than inaction occurred only when the counterfactual alternative was made highly salient. Implications for the construction and use of counterfactuals are discussed, and a process model is developed on the basis of the data and the proposed conceptualization.

The aggression paradox: Understanding links among aggression, sensation seeking, and the consideration of future consequences.

Abstract: Four studies involving 573 female and 272 male college students demonstrated that multiple forms and measures of aggression were associated with high levels of sensation seeking, impulsivity, and a focus on the immediate consequences of behavior. Multiple regression analyses and structural equation models supported a theoretical model based on the general aggression model (C.A. Anderson & B.J. Bushman. 2002), positing that hostile cognition and negative affect mediate the relationships between the aforementioned individual differences and aggression. Sensation seeking also predicted a desire to engage in physical and verbal aggression. The final study demonstrated that relative to those scoring low, individuals scoring high on the consideration of future consequences are only less aggressive when aggression is likely to carry future costs.

Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change

Abstract: Das Elaboration Likelihood Modell (ELM) wurde in den 1980er Jahren von den Sozialpsychologen Richard E. Petty und John T. Cacioppo mit dem Ziel entwickelt, die prozesshafte Verarbeitung persuasiver Botschaften zu erklaren und Einstellungsveranderungen in Abhangigkeit von der Rezeptionssituation, den Eigenschaften einer persuasiven Botschaft und individuellen Voraussetzungen des Rezipienten vorherzusagen. Die zentrale Veroffentlichung dieser Persuasionstheorie ist das 1986 erschienene Buch Communication and persuasion: Central and peripheral routes to attitude change. In diesem Schlusselwerk der Medienwirkungsforschung werden das ELM und seine Basiskonzepte theoretisch definiert und durch eine Vielzahl empirischer Studien untermauert. Daruber hinaus diskutieren die Autoren methodische Schwierigkeiten bei der Uberprufung ihrer Annahmen sowie Konsequenzen der verschiedenen Elaborationsrouten. Communication and persuasion bietet damit einen detaillierten Uberblick zu einem der wichtigsten Zwei-Prozess-Modelle der persuasiven Kommunikationsforschung.

Attitudes and attitude change

Abstract: ▪ Abstract We review empirical and conceptual developments over the past four years (1992–1995) on attitudes and persuasion. A voluminous amount of material was produced concerning attitude structure, attitude change, and the consequences of holding attitudes. In the structure area, particular attention is paid to work on attitude accessiblity, ambivalence, and the affective versus cognitive bases of attitudes. In persuasion, our review examines research that has focused on high effort cognitive processes (central route), low effort processes (peripheral route), and the multiple roles by which variables can have an impact on attitudes. Special emphasis is given to work on cognitive dissonance and other biases in message processing, and on the multiple processes by which mood influences evaluations. Work on the consequences of attitudes focuses on the impact of attitudes on behavior and social judgments.

Mood and judgment: the affect infusion model (AIM).

Abstract: Evidence for the role of affective states in social judgments is reviewed, and a new integrative theory, the affect infusion model (AIM), is proposed as a comprehensive explanation of these effects. The AIM, based on a multiprocess approach to social judgments, identifies 4 alternative judgmental strategies: (a) direct access, (b) motivated, (c) heuristic, and (d) substantive processing. The model predicts that the degree of affect infusion into judgments varies along a processing continuum, such that judgments requiring heuristic or substantive processing are more likely to be infused by affect than are direct access or motivated judgments. The role of target, judge, and situational variables in recruiting high- or low-infusion judgmental strategies is considered, and empirical support for the model is reviewed. The relationship between the AIM and other affect-cognition theories is discussed, and implications for future research are outlined.

When moderation is mediated and mediation is moderated

Abstract: Procedures for examining whether treatment effects on an outcome are mediated and/or moderated have been well developed and are routinely applied. The mediation question focuses on the intervening mechanism that produces the treatment effect. The moderation question focuses on factors that affect the magnitude of the treatment effect. It is important to note that these two processes may be combined in informative ways, such that moderation is mediated or mediation is moderated. Although some prior literature has discussed these possibilities, their exact definitions and analytic procedures have not been completely articulated. The purpose of this article is to define precisely both mediated moderation and moderated mediation and provide analytic strategies for assessing each.