Cultural differences in the persuasiveness of evidence types

Using evidence in support of claims makes a message more persuasive, but it is not known whether the persuasiveness of evidence depends on the type of evidence, and on the cultural background of the receiver of the message. This book reports on a series of five studies, in which the expected and actual persuasiveness of anecdotal, statistical, causal, and expert evidence were investigated in France and the Netherlands, with a particular focus on expert evidence. The findings from these empirical studies clearly demonstrate that there are cultural differences in the relative expected persuasiveness as well as the actual persuasiveness of the evidence types studied. Expert evidence was found to be more persuasive in France than in the Netherlands, although these cultural differences were subtle. Therefore, the findings reported in this book further underscore the importance of investigating the influence of culture on the persuasion process.

  • Hornikx, J. (2005). Cultural differences in the persuasiveness of evidence types in France and the Netherlands. Dissertation Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen [pdf].

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