Differences in actual persuasiveness between experiential and professional expert evidence

This study investigates the effects of different types of expert evidence on persuasiveness. Following Wagemans (2011), two types of experts were distinguished that can be used in expert evidence: experiential experts (who base their expertise on personal experience) and professional experts (who base their expertise on professional knowledge). In a between-subjects experiment (N = 179), these different types of experts were included in a news report on a political issue. Results indicate that professional and experiential experts were perceived as equally trustworthy. However, the perceived expertise and persuasiveness of professional experts was higher than that of experiential experts. Perceived expertise completely mediated the effects of the different types of expert evidence on persuasiveness. These results point towards a recommendation of using professional expert evidence over experiential expert evidence in reporting on political issues.