What's in a frame anyway?: A meta‐cognitive analysis of the impact of one versus two sided message framing on attitude certainty

Abstract

Abstract The current research examines a potentially new strategy to increase attitude certainty: framing messages as two sided. That is, we explore the consequences of articulating that others have considered both the positives and negatives of a message position, in the absence of any real differences in substantive content presented. Although classic research and theory appear to assume no clear benefit for simply framing a message as two sided, we develop and apply a meta‐cognitive approach that predicts advantages for such messages with respect to attitude certainty and attitude‐behavior correspondence.