Persuasion online or on paper: a new take on an old issue

Few, if any, studies have examined the persuasion process as it unfolds in the computer environments that are so popular in today’s educational settings. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which students’ knowledge and beliefs and their reactions to the features of the articles would be differentially influenced as a result of reading traditional persuasive texts vs. online computerized persuasive texts. The results revealed that text presentations were effective at significantly modifying both, students’ knowledge and beliefs. However, students in the computerized text condition found the texts significantly more difficult to understand, less interesting, and the authors less credible. Implications for research and practice are forwarded.