The Forewarning Effect of Coherence Markers in Persuasive Discourse: Evidence From Persuasion and Processing

摘要

Several studies showed how coherence markers, like connectives and lexical cue phrases, influence the processing and representation of informative text. Although discourse analysts have repeatedly argued that coherence markers influence the processing of persuasive text as well, there is hardly any empirical evidence for this idea. This article reports on 2 experiments investigating the possible forewarning effect of coherence marking: When coherence markers cause readers to recognize an attempt to influence them, they build up resistance and it becomes difficult to persuade them. The experiments show that objective marking is more persuasive than subjective marking. Also, subjective marking causes readers to recognize the persuasive author's intent more easily. Furthermore, subjective markers seem to cause resistance to persuasion, whereas objective markers improve integration of information.