Sleeper effect: characteristics of this persuasive phenomenon

If we were told that sometimes we believe more in a political speech or a propaganda ad after a few months to see it that not at the very moment in which we are receiving it, we would surely say that this is simply impossible.

However, in both social and experimental psychology, the existence of the effect of the sleeper has been raised, a rare 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 various explanations have been given and attempts have been made to address it experimentally. Let's take a deeper look at what it is.

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Sleeper effect: what is it?

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 force after a certain time has passed

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Normally, when something is said or shown that carries with it a message, be it political, opinionated, ethical or of any other kind, nature, the usual thing is that the person manifests a series of immediate attitudes with respect to the content of the message same. Depending on how credible you find what is being said in the message to be, the person basically he is going to make one of the following two decisions: accept what they are telling him or simply not accept it.

Regardless of whether or not he believes that the information he has just received is true, it is normal that, after a while, he forgets the content of the message. In other words, if a person is exposed to a message of any kind, it is normal for it to have made a greater impression immediately upon receiving it than not after a few weeks.

However, and according to how the sleeper effect is defined, what sometimes happens is that the message, which was not originally considered credible, is taken into consideration after weeks. Not only does the person continue to remember what was said to him a long time ago, but he also manifests a whole series of favorable attitudes or in accordance with what he was told at the beginning.

This phenomenon, as described here, may seem counterintuitive. If there is doubt from the beginning about the content of a message, especially because there is doubt about the veracity of the source of information, it is normal that, with the passage of time, it either ends up being forgotten or is even more critical of what is in it. stated.

Historical background

The origins of the definition of this particular phenomenon can be found in times of World War II. The United States had a clear interest in maintaining high morale among the ranks, in addition to convincing its soldiers of the need to help its allied countries, including Great Britain. To do this, the War Department of that country used propaganda entertainment, in films, in which it was intended to spread a message of optimism and sympathy towards the allies.

However, despite the large investment that the United States was making in the production 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 permeating among the troops. Through these experiments it was seen that the message they intended to spread was not as well received as they thought.

It was seen that those short films that had an informative nature and that sought to strengthen certain existing attitudes related to the war seemed to have a very moderate impact in the short term. term. However, after a few weeks, it was seen that among the troops there was a notable increase in this optimism and support both for their nation and for allied countries.

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Theories behind this phenomenon of persuasion

As we were already commenting, the sleeper effect is notable for being a fairly counterintuitive phenomenon. The normal thing would be that, when faced with a message that we doubt, the content of the same is seen in an even more critical way 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 complicated replicate it.

1. Forget that it is doubtful

The first to describe this phenomenon were Hovland, Lumsdaine and Sheffield in 1949. These researchers, taking the case of the American soldiers, hypothesized that, after some time having received the message, it is forgotten that it has doubtful aspects and the content of the message itself remains.

That is, over time, the attitudes that were manifested at the beginning are being forgotten, which means that the content of the message itself is gaining more prominencegenerating new attitudes.

This, however, is not so simple. It is quite simplistic that people, after a while, are going to change their attitudes for the simple fact to forget where a particular message came from or they will believe what was said in it sudden.

The other proposal from the same research group is that the origin of the message is not really forgotten, what happens is that it dissociates with the message. That is to say, it is known that it had a doubtful origin, but it is not known which one.

Given this fact, the person gives it greater importance, and even gives him another opportunity to 'see' it in a different way. more objective, which can affect their attitudes if the original persuasive objective of the message reaches be satisfied.

2. Different processing of content and origin

Years after the Hovland group proposed what we have seen in the previous point, the group of Pratkanis, Greenwald, Leipe, and Baumgardner offered an alternative hypothesis to the above 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 over time, while the content or message itself remains.

By looking at content separate from its source, 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:

1. strong initial impact

The sleeper effect can only occur if the message that was initially issued has a marked and remarkable persuasive impact.

Although the person will not believe it, the fact that this message is strong makes it remain in their long-term memory.

2. Post discarded message

When a message is issued by an information source that is not considered trustworthy, that message tends to be discredited right from the start.

However, if the information source is found to be unreliable, but after the message has been delivered, then the message will be better remembered, running the risk of being more suggestible in the long run.

For example, we are watching a political meeting on television and, when the candidate finishes his speech, a presenter comes out highlighting, with evidence, all electoral promises broken by the same candidate when he won an election past.

Despite the fact that we have been given evidence that this politician is not to be trusted, having seen the evidence after having Listening to the speech does not mean that we do not remember what he was saying while he was 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.

Criticism 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 has great doubts about it, with the passage of time will end up being taken into account and will even significantly modify the attitudes of those who received it in a principle.

It has been virtually impossible to replicate this phenomenon under laboratory conditions.. The theories proposed, both by the Hovland group and the Pratkanis group, stand out for being not at all clear with what they understand by persuasive message and unreliable source. Experimental psychology highly doubts that this phenomenon is plausible in real life beyond its hypothetical approach.

Bibliographic references:

• Capon, N. & Hulbert, J., "The Sleeper Effect — An Awakening", Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol.37, No.3, (Autumn 1973), pp. 333–358.
• Cook, T. D., Gruder, C. L., Hennigan, K. M., & Flay, B. R., "History of the Sleeper Effect: Some Logical Pitfalls in Accepting the Null Hypothesis", Psychological Bulletin, Vol.86, No.4, (July 1979), pp. 662–679.
• Hovland, C.I., Lumsdale, A.A. & Sheffield, F.D, Experiments on Mass Communication: Studies in Social Psychology in World War II: Volume III, Princeton University Press, (Princeton), 1949.
• Hovland, C.I., Weiss, W., "The Influence of Source Credibility on Communication Effectiveness", Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol.15, No.4, (Winter 1951), pp. 635–650.
• Pratkanis, A. R., Greenwald, A. G., Leippe, M. R., & Baumgardner, M. h. (1988). In search of reliable persuasion effects: III. The sleeper effect is dead: Long live the sleeper effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(2), 203–218. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.2.203