Length of Information Search
With objective processing, consumers attend to information
carefully and thus search for and process message-relevant
arguments. Thus, the length of information search should be
affected by the number of message-relevant arguments or
by the length of the message. However, when hope is
strong, the length of information search should be affected
less by the number of message-relevant arguments or message
length than by the extent to which claims suggest that
the goal-congruent outcome is possible. Edwards and Smith
(1996) argue that people should terminate information
search earlier when the information supports a desired conclusion
than when it does not. We surmise that this is the
case when hope is strong. Because additional search runs
the risk of a person identifying information that does not
support the outcome’s possibility, we expect that search terminates
when consumers have evidence that the goalcongruent
outcome is possible. The greater the yearning is
for the outcome, the faster consumers may terminate search
when information supports the outcome’s possibility. Thus: