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Original Article

You Are the One I Want to Communicate With!

Relational Motives Driving Audience-Tuning Effects on Memory

Published Online:January 01, 2013https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000097

Abstract

This article investigates the role of relational motives in the saying-is-believing effect (Higgins & Rholes, 1978). Building on shared reality theory, we expected this effect to be most likely when communicators were motivated to “get along” with the audience. In the current study, participants were asked to describe an ambiguous target to an audience who either liked or disliked the target. The audience had been previously evaluated as a desirable vs. undesirable communication partner. Only participants who communicated with a desirable audience tuned their messages to suit their audience’s attitude toward the target. In line with predictions, they also displayed an audience-congruent memory bias in later recall.

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