ESTIMATING THE CREDIBILITY OF SOCIAL-INFLUENCE CONTINGENCIES FRAMED AS THREATS OR PROMISES

Threats and promises express a contingency between actions and outcomes or a message recipient. In the present research, we examined whether identical contingencies would be seen as differentially credible depending on whether they were framed as threats or promises. Credibility refers to whether a threat or promise user is believed to be willing to carry out the contingency expressed in the threat or promise. In a hostile country context, a contingency framed as a threat was seen as more credible than the same contingency framed as a promise. In contrast, in a roommate context, a contingency framed as a promise was judged as more credible than the same contingency framed as a threat.