Self-esteem and intelligence affect influenceability: The mediating role of message reception.

Although there is general agreement that people differ in how easily they can be influenced, little evidence is available concerning the source of these individual differences. A meta-analytic review was conducted to determine whether message recipients' self-esteem or intelligence predicts influenceability. Recipients of moderate self-esteem proved to be more influenceable than those of low or high esteem. According to the Yale-McGuire model, this curvilinear pattern stems from individual differences in reception of as well as yielding to the influence appeal. Recipients low in self-esteem have difficulty receiving the message; those high in self-esteem tend not to yield. Adequate data were not available to examine curvilinear effects of intelligence. Instead, low intelligence recipients were more influenceable than highly intelligent ones. In general, the findings highlight the importance of message reception in understanding the processes of opinion change.