Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft

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Der Sleeper Effekt : Theoriekritik und der Versuch eines Nachweises
(2018) Lindemann, Ann-Kathrin; Scheufele, Bertram
The sleeper effect was first described by Hovland, Lumsdaine and Sheffield (1949) in the 1940s. In the study, the influence of a propaganda movie on the attitudes of American soldiers seemed to grow over time: five days after watching the movie, the soldiers were less likely to agree with the movies conclusions than nine weeks later, when they showed a significant attitude change in line with the movies narrative. Consequently, the sleeper effect was defined as a persuasive media effect gaining strength with the passage of time. Despite its long research history, the origin of the sleeper effect is still undetermined (Kumkale & Albarracín, 2004). Therefore, one of the main objectives of this study is an in-depth review of the existing research literature regarding the underlying mechanisms which might cause the effect. Once these basic mechanisms are identified, the second objective is to test these principles in an experimental setting. The present study shows, that neither the order of presentation of the experimental stimuli, nor the extent of pre-existing attitudes have any influence on the sleeper effect - first and foremost, because the sleeper effect failed to occur in this experiment. Therefore, the question on how the sleeper effect is formed remains unsolved.