Primacy versus recency in persuasion as a function of the timing of arguments and measures.

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Abstract
In an after-only design 4 independent variables were manipulated to test Miller and Campbell's theory of primacy vs. recency in persuasion: time between communications (none, 2 days, 1 week, or 2 weeks), time between the 2nd communication and the measures of opinion and retention (none, 2 days, or 1 week), order of communications (pro-con or con-pro), and order of measures (opinion-recall or recall-opinion). There were 2 dependent variables: opinion (measured on a rating scale) and retention (measured through recall). Confirming Miller and Campbell, the longer the time interval between 2 communications the greater the recency effect in both opinion and recall immediately after the 2nd communication; and the longer the time elapsed from the 2nd communication until measurement the less the recency effect. Contrary to Miller and Campbell's prediction, delayed measurement did not tend to produce primacy in the case of the groups in which the 2nd communication followed immediately upon the 1st. The theoretically predicted shape of the recency function over time was only roughly supported. A correlational analysis of the relation between opinion and retention called into question the assumption that opinion is a direct function of retention of message content. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

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