A study assessed the effect of the use of reasoning message strategies on (1) a generally accepted goal of instruction (critical thinking) and (2) the affective behavior of students (attitudes toward the instruction). Subjects, 68 college students enrolled in journalism/mass communication classes, participated in one of three treatment groups that used either declarative sentence, question, or outline reasoning guides developed specifically for use with their textbooks. The students were trained in the use of the guides, which they used throughout a 15-week semester. In addition, they were pretested and posttested on a critical thinking measure and an attitude survey. Mean grade point averages were also collected. Results indicated that in the cognitive domain, the sentence and question guides were effective in developing critical thinking skills in the journalism/mass communication content areas. In the affective domain, the data indicated no significant attitude difference among the groups. There was, in fact, a significant positive correlation across the treatments toward the guides, the classroom atmosphere, and the teaching approach. Together the findings suggest that receiver-centered strategies based on the discovery theory of learning--one that encourages participation, self-awareness, and informed guessing--foster a positive relationship between growth in cognition and affective behavior. (FL)