Subjects were asked to evaluate one of four types of communications-statements about Negroes, statements about social issues, cartoons, or photographs. The evaluations were investigated as a function of the quality of the communications that preceded them, whether the communications in the series originated from one source or from different sources, the logical consistency of the communications in the series, and incentive to perform well on the rating task. Results generally support the hypothesis that source effects on communication evaluations are predictable from congruity theory only to the extent that the communication is contradictory to previous communications from the source that form the basis for the evaluation of that source. When the degree of contradiction is low, the tendency to resolve incongruities may be offset by a more general tendency to evaluate communications in relation to a comparison level, the value of which increases with the quality of the communications previously experienced. The effect of this latter tendency is opposite to that predicted by congruity theory. The influence of shift in comparison level appears to increase with incentive to perform well when all messages are attributed to the same source, but to decrease with incentive when the communications ostensibly come from different sources, Implications of results for congruity theory (Osgood & Tannenbaum, 1955) and exchange theory (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959) are discussed.

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