Source Credibility and Physiological Arousal: An Important Variable in the Credibility-Information Retention Relationship.

Abstract

This study provides evidence for a positive relationship between trustworthiness and physiological arousal. The importance of this relationship lies in previous research firmly establishing the relationship between physiological arousal and differential performance on long‐term and short‐term memory tasks. Previous studies that have failed to find a relationship between credibility and retention of information have also failed to differentiate between short‐and long‐term memory tasks and varying levels of arousal due to differential trust of sources. The data of this study suggest it is necessary to consider the arousal‐retention relationship as influenced by source trustworthiness in studies of credibility and information retention.