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

Consistency principle Affect Cognition Behaviour psychlotron.org.uk

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

Cognitive dissonance Affect Cognition Behaviour Affect Cognition Behaviour Affect Cognition Behaviour Affect Cognition Behaviour Dissonance within attitude psychlotron.org.uk

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

Cognitive dissonance Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) 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? psychlotron.org.uk

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

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

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

Cognitive dissonance Attitude change Immediate4 weeks later high credibility low credibility Hovland & Weiss (1952) psychlotron.org.uk

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

Persuasive communication Target: Intelligence Age, gender Strength of existing views psychlotron.org.uk

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

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

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

Dual process theory Strength of argument WeakStrong Level of involvement HighLow Petty et al (1981)

Resistance to change Reactance Forewarning Selective avoidance psychlotron.org.uk