Sleeper Effect: Characteristics Of This Persuasive Phenomenon
If we were told that, sometimes, we believe a political speech or a propaganda advertisement more after a few months of seeing it than at the very moment we are receiving it, we would surely say that that is simply impossible.
However, in both social and experimental psychology, The existence of the sleeper effect has been proposed a strange phenomenon that occurs when, after a few weeks, our attitudes towards a persuasive message change significantly.
This phenomenon is extremely rare and it has even been suggested that it is not something that really happens, however several explanations have been given and attempts have been made to address it experimentally. Let’s take a closer look at what it is about.
The sleeper effect is a curious phenomenon, proposed from social and experimental psychology, which maintains that, sometimes, A message that was intended to be persuasive from the beginning, instead of being assimilated immediately, will receive greater strength after some time has passed
Normally, when something is said or shown that carries a message, be it political, opinion, ethical or of any kind, it is usual for the person to express a series of immediate attitudes regarding the content of the message itself. Depending on how credible what is being said in the message seems to be, the person will basically make one of the following two decisions: accept what they are being told or simply not accept it.
Regardless of whether or not you believe that the information you have just received is true, it is normal that, after a certain time, you will forget the content of the message. That is, if a person is exposed to a message of any type, it is normal that it has made a greater impression immediately after receiving it than after a few weeks.
However, depending on how the sleeper effect is defined, what sometimes happens is that The message, which was originally not considered credible, is taken into consideration after weeks Not only does the person continue to remember what they were told a long time ago, but they also begin to express a whole series of attitudes that are favorable or in accordance with what they were told in the beginning.
This phenomenon, as described here, may seem counterintuitive. If you doubt the content of a message from the beginning, especially because you doubt the veracity of the source of information, the normal thing is that, with the passage of time, you either end up forgetting or become even more critical of what that was said in it.
Historical background
The origins of the definition of this particular phenomenon can be found in the times of World War II. The United States had a clear interest in maintaining high morale among the ranks, as well as convincing its soldiers of the need to help their allied countries, including Great Britain. To achieve this, the War Department of that country used propaganda entertainment, especially films, which sought to spread a message of optimism and sympathy towards the allies.
However, despite The large investment that the United States was making in the making of these films did not seem to obtain the desired effects That is why, through a series of experiments, he set out to see how the message was getting through to the troops. Through these experiments it was seen that the message they intended to spread was not as well received as they believed.
It was seen that those short films that were informative in nature and that sought to strengthen certain existing attitudes related to the war seemed to have a very moderate impact in the short term. However, after a few weeks, it was seen that among the troops there was a notable increase in this optimism and support for both their nation and the allied countries.
Theories behind this phenomenon of persuasion
As we were already commenting, the sleeper effect draws attention for being a rather counterintuitive phenomenon. The normal thing would be that, when faced with a message that we doubt, its content is viewed even more critically with the passage of time not that it ends up being seen as something true after a few weeks.
Several aspects have been proposed that try to explain why and how the sleeper effect occurs, although to this day there is still controversy about it and it seems that, experimentally, it is difficult to replicate it.
The first to describe this phenomenon were Hovland, Lumsdaine and Sheffield in 1949. These researchers, taking the case of American soldiers, hypothesized that, after some time after receiving the message, they forget that it has dubious aspects and the content remains. of the message itself.
That is, with the passage of time, The attitudes that were expressed at the beginning are forgotten, which causes the content of the message itself to gain greater prominence generating new attitudes.
This, however, is not so simple. It is quite simplistic that people, after a while, will change their attitudes simply by forgetting where a specific message came from or they will suddenly believe what was said in it.
The other proposal from the same research group is that in reality the origin of the message is not forgotten, what happens is that it dissociates with the message That is, it is known that it had a dubious origin, but it is not known which one.
Faced with this fact, the person gives it greater importance, and even gives it another opportunity to ‘see’ it in a more objective way, which can affect their attitudes if the original persuasive objective of the message is satisfied.
2. Different processing of content and origin
Years after Hovland’s group proposed what we saw in the previous point, the group of Pratkanis, Greenwald, Leipe and Baumgardner offered an alternative hypothesis to the previous explanation in 1988.
This research group proposed that the effect occurred because People encode the content of the message differently compared to the source from which it comes
That is, we know how to objectively differentiate what the message entails compared to who the source is.
As content and origin are processed differently, the origin is forgotten or loses strength with the passage of time, while the content or the message itself remains
By viewing content separately from its origin, it is more likely that it can be taken as truthful.
How is it given?
Whatever the mechanism that can give a more objective explanation to this strange phenomenon, for the message to be remembered over time it must meet the following two conditions:
The sleeper effect can only occur if the message that was originally issued has a marked and notable persuasive impact
Although the person will not believe it, the fact that this message is strong means that it remains in their long-term memory.
2. Post discarded message
When a message is issued by a source of information that is not considered reliable, there is a tendency to discredit that message from the beginning.
However, if the source of information is found to be unreliable, but after the message has been issued, then the message will be better remembered, running the risk of being more suggestible in the long term
For example, we are watching a political meeting on television and, as the candidate finishes his speech, a presenter comes out highlighting, with evidence, all the electoral promises unfulfilled by the same candidate when he won a previous election.
Although we have been given evidence that this politician is not trustworthy, having seen the evidence after listening to the speech does not mean that we cannot remember what he said while explaining what he would do if he won these elections.
After a few months, we are more likely to remember the content of the speech than the evidence that was given after it was over.
Criticisms of this phenomenon
The main controversy to which this phenomenon has been exposed is the way in which it occurs. It is very difficult to contemplate the possibility that a message that has just been broadcast and whose audience has not believed it or highly doubts it, will end up being taken into account over time and will even significantly modify attitudes. of those who received it in the beginning.
It has been practically impossible to replicate this phenomenon in laboratory conditions The theories proposed by both Hovland’s group and Pratkanis’ group stand out for being far from clear with what they understand by a persuasive message and an unreliable source. Experimental psychology greatly doubts that this phenomenon is plausible in real life beyond its hypothetical approach.
