Attitude change Theories of attitude change l l

Attitude change Theories of attitude change: l l Cognitive dissonance Persuasive communication Dual-process theory Evidence relating to these theories sychlotron. org. l

Consistency principle Affect Cognition sychlotron. org. Behaviour

Cognitive dissonance l l Based on the consistency principle Dissonance = disagreement Attitude change occurs when a person has a need to reduce the dissonance between: l l l Different aspects of same attitude Different attitudes Attitude & behaviour sychlotron. org. l

Cognitive dissonance Affect Cognition Dissonance within attitude sychlotron. org. Behaviour

Cognitive dissonance I enjoy cigars Smoking kills people I smoke sychlotron. org. How could Sigmund reduce his cognitive dissonance?

Cognitive dissonance Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) l l l PPs spent some time doing a tedious task; were then offered either $1 or $20 to tell another PP it was interesting & enjoyable PPs were later asked to rate how enjoyable the task had been How do you think the ratings might differ between the $1 and $20 conditions? sychlotron. org. l

Control (task only) $1 payment $20 payment sychlotron. org. How enjoyable? Cognitive dissonance

Persuasive communication l The idea that attitude change is brought about by conveying information. Success depends on 3 factors: l l l Source of message Content of message Nature of target sychlotron. org. l

Persuasive communication Source: l l l Expert Trustworthy Credible Attractive NB: sleeper effects – nature of the source matters less after a delay sychlotron. org. l

Attitude change Cognitive dissonance Immediate 4 weeks later psychlotron. org. high credibility low credibility Hovland & Weiss (1952)

Persuasive communication l Content: Fear & anxiety l l Not enough or too much and people will ignore the message One or two sided argument l l One sided if target is already leaning towards the source’s position Two sided if the target is intelligent sychlotron. org. l

Persuasive communication Target: l l l Intelligence Age, gender Strength of existing views sychlotron. org. l

Dual process theory The likelihood of attitude change is determined by how the target processes the message l l l Superficial (peripheral) processing Systematic (central) processing Which ‘route’ is taken depends on the relevance of the message to the target sychlotron. org. l

Dual process theory Message High relevance Central route Thorough processing Sound, logical arguments required Low relevance Peripheral route Superficial processing The elaboration-likelihood model (Petty et al, 1994)

Dual process theory l l Petty et al (1981) Student attitudes towards taking an additional examination Two IVs: l l Level of involvement Strength of arguments sychlotron. org. l

Dual process theory Level of involvement Strong Low Weak Strength of argument High Petty et al (1981)

Resistance to change l l Reactance Forewarning Selective avoidance sychlotron. org. l