influences

The Power of Affect: Predicting Intention

JON D. MORRIS

This robust structural modeling study, with over 23,000 responses to 240 advertising

The University of Florida

messages, found that affect when measured by a visual measure of emotional

[e-mail]

response dominates over cognition for predicting conative attitude and action.
CHONGMOO WOO
The University of Florida [e-mail] FOR

DECADES

marketing and advertising profes-

require cognitive processing. Thus, one clear

sionals and researchers have been struggling with

solution to these issues would be the development

JAMES A. GEASON

two important questions: What is more predictive

and use of a nonverbal measure of affect. A non-

The University of Florida

of consumer intent—thoughts or feelings? And, in

verbal measure would offer the potential for rep-

[e-mail]

the tripartite of cognitive, affective, conative atti-

resenting attitudinal properties without cognitive

tudes does cognitive attitude dominate and does

processing.

JOOYOUNG KIM

it mediate the relationship between affect and

The University of Florida

intent?

[e-mail]

AFFECTIVE AND COGNITIVE-BASED ATTITUDE

Affect is clearly one component of attitude and a

For many years, there was a tendency of focusing

force in persuasion. Petty and Cacioppo (1981)

on cognitive-based attitude, suggesting that, with

have defined attitude as, “a general and enduring

advertising involvement, cognition predominates

positive or negative feeling about some person,

over affective processing and that affective reac-

object or issue.” Although this definition obvi-

tions are always mediated by cognition (Green-

ously assigns an affective component to attitude,

wald and Leavitt, 1984; Tsal, 1985). In fact, the

persuasion research has been dominated by the

derivation and strength of the attitude toward the

message