Drench Hypothesis

A Boxing Analogy for Illustrating Drench Effects

Imagine a boxing event in which one boxer throws a punch to the other boxer, who is limited only to receiving or defending the punch. The impact of the punch can be determined by several factors. First, the thickness of the glove pad can make a difference in generating the impact of the punch. Suppose that the punch is thrown with a bare fist. The impact would be much greater than that through a glove. Second, the target boxer’s defensive effort, or lack thereof, is an important factor. A punch thrown over the tightly covering arms of the target boxer cannot be very effective. What if the target boxer loosens his defense with his arms drooping? The less the defensive effort, the greater the impact of the punch. Third, the distance of the target boxer to the punching boxer would produce differential effects. To be fully affected, the target boxer needs to stand close enough to the puncher. If the target boxer stays too far from the puncher, the impact would become negligible. Last, the target boxer’s body sturdiness (or lack thereof) would make a difference in the impact of the punch. That is, the less the body sturdiness, the greater the impact.

Likewise, imagine a person being exposed to a dramatic presentation. First, the thickness of the glove pad is likened to the viewer’s perception of how realistic the dramatic presentation is (i.e., perceived realism). The viewer would be influenced more by messages that are perceived to be realistic than otherwise. Second, a lack of defensive effort by the target boxer is likened to how much the viewer likes the specific role character “throwing” certain messages to him or her. The construct of role affinity represents this aspect. It is plausible that when facing an attractive role character, the viewer would be more susceptible (i.e., exerting less defensive effort than otherwise) to the messages exhibited or advocated by the role character. Third, the distance between the punching boxer and the target boxer is paralleled to how deeply the viewer is involved in the presentation (i.e., message involvement). Just as a punch thrown to a target person standing too far does not produce much impact, messages sent to less involved viewers would generate less influence. Finally, just as the impact of a punch is greater for a target boxer whose body is fragile, dramatic messages would generate greater impacts on viewers who have not formed their attitudes and/or behavior related to the subject in concern (i.e., subject novelty) (see Table 1).

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