Message Pretesting Using Perceived Persuasiveness Measures: Reconsidering the Correlational Evidence

Perceived message effectiveness (PME) measures have been used in persuasive message pretesting to diagnose differences between messages in actual message effectiveness (AME). This practice has been underwritten by pointing to positive correlations between individuals’ PME and AME scores. This essay argues that such correlations do not – and cannot – show that messages’ relative standing on PME matches their relative standing on AME, and thus...