Attitudes and Persuasion
Chapter 7
Persuasion and Attitude Change
1. A Two-Process Approach to Persuasion
Elaboration-Likelihood Model
Heuristic-Systematic Model
Heuristic/Peripheral - the person primarily attends to
superficial aspects of the message
Systematic/Central - the person thinks carefully and
deliberately about the content of the message
Elaboration-Likelihood Model
Message
unimportant,
uninteresting
Heuristic
processing
Peripheral Route
Message
important,
interesting
Systematic
processing
Central Route
Nonverbal
cues
important
Argument
strength
unimportant
Nonverbal
cues
unimportant
Argument
strength
important
Petty, Cacioppo & Goldman, 1981
Factors Influencing Information
Processing

We tend to use systematic processing when:
–
we are strongly motivated



–

accuracy motivation
impression motivation
defensive motivation
we have a high ability to do so
We tend to use heuristic processing when:
–
–
we are unmotivated
we lack the ability to systematically process info
Persuasion and Attitude Change
2. The Who, What, and Whom of Persuasion
a. source characteristics
sleeper effect - occurs when messages from
unreliable sources initially exert little influence but later
cause individuals’ attitudes to shift
b. message characteristics
c. receiver characteristics
Source and Message Characteristics

Important Nonverbal Cues
–
–
Attractiveness
Credibility




expertise
trustworthiness
Speaking style
Important Message Characteristics
–
–
High quality message
Vivid information

–
Identifiable victim effect
if audience is skeptical- use two-sided message
Receiver Characteristics



Need for Cognition
Mood
Age
Is Resistance Futile? Audience Effects
–
–
reactance- adopting opposite attitudes
forewarning- prior knowledge of persuasion

–
selective avoidance- avoid contradictory info.

–
–
increase arguments for and counterarguments against
channel surf, tune out certain info.
biased assimilation- perceive information that
disconfirms our views as unreliable
attitude polarization- interpret mixed evidence in
ways that strengthen existing views
Summary: ELM
Audience Processing Persuasion
Central
Route
High effort Strong
Analytical Elaborate arguments
Agree
cause
&
Motivated Counter- enduring
argue
agreement
Persuasive
Appeal
Peripheral
Route
Response
Low effort: Cues
Not
Use
trigger
analytical
peripheral
liking
or
cues,
&
involved
heuristics acceptance
Behavioral Approach to Attitude Change
1. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1957)
states that inconsistencies between a person’s thoughts,
sentiments, and actions create an aversive emotional state
(dissonance) that leads to efforts to restore consistency

Dissonance can occur in a number of ways
–
–
–
Selecting between two reasonably attractive alternatives
Justifying effort
Engaging in counterattitudinal behavior
2. Experiencing and Reducing Dissonance
a. Decisions and Dissonance
Brehm’s Consumer Products Study
Asked participants to rate a bunch of
consumer products.
Experimental Group
0.8
Experimental group – offered the two
items participants had rated closest in
attractiveness (High Dissonance).
Control group – offered two items not
close in attractiveness (Low
Dissonance).
0.6
Change in Liking
Offered participants a choice between
two items
0.79
Control Group
0.38
0.4
0.2
0.11
0.11
0
-0
-0.2
-0.4
After 20 minutes, asked participants to
rate products again.
Predictions?
-0.41
-0.6
Change in
Liking Chosen
Item
Change in
Liking
NonChosen Item
Net Change
Aronson and Mills (1959)
Recruited women to participate in discussion
about sex (remember it is the ’50s.
3 conditions: mild initiation, severe initiation,
control.
In initiation conditions, participants told they had
to pass a test to be in discussion group.
Mild initiation – read a list of mild words and
romantic passage from novel to experimenter.
Severe initiation – read a list of explicit words
and pornographic passage to experimenter.
All people were told they passed but the
discussion had already started. They were
allowed to listen in on headphones to VERY
boring conversation.
Who do you think liked the discussion more?
Why?
Predicting Attitudes From Behavior
b. Effort Justification - tendency to reduce dissonance by
finding reasons for why you have devoted time, effort, or
money for something that turned out to be disappointing
Aronson and Mills (1959) ‘initiation experiment’
Cooper (1980) study on effort justification in
psychotherapy
Gerard and Mathewson (Replication)
Told participants they were signing up for a
group that would discuss morals on campus.
Noninitiation participants went through same
tests but didn’t believe they were joining
group.
Participants were told they had either passed
the test or had to wait a few days for the
results.
Everyone then listened to the VERY boring
conversation
Here is what happened…
40.0
Enjoyment of Conversation
Initiation participants told they would have to
pass some tests to see how inhibited they
were. Tests included receiving mild or severe
electric shocks (3X).
45.0
Passed Initiation
41.0
Waiting for Results
Noninitiation
35.0
31.1
30.0
26.1
25.0
19.8
20.0
15.0
11.5
13.2
10.0
5.0
0.0
Mild Shock
Severe Shock
Cooper (1980)
Hypothesized that the “suffering” involved in
psychotherapy is what makes people believe in its
effectiveness.
Upon arrival, receptionist either:
Reminded them their participation was completely
voluntary, or
Did not remind them of their free choice.
One group experienced behavioral therapy (identified
problem situations and practiced being assertive).
Other group exercised on treadmill (told exercise
helped assertiveness).
When they were finished, receptionist only paid them
a dollar.
Who do you think was more assertive in asking for
other dollar?
3.5
Assertiveness
Recruited women who felt they had assertiveness
problems. Told they would receive $2 for
participating.
4
3.4
3.2
3
2.5
2
2.1
1.9
1.5
1
0.5
0
Exercise
Behavior Therapy
High Choice
Low Choice
Predicting Attitudes From
Behavior
c. Induced Compliance and Attitude Change
induced (forced) compliance - subtly compelling
individuals to behave in a manner that is inconsistent with
their beliefs, attitudes, or values, which typically leads to
dissonance and often to a change in their original
attitudes or values in order to reduce their dissonance
Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) experiment on forced
compliance
Induced Compliance Study
$20
Told next person
tasks were fun
and interesting
Asked how
much they
enjoyed experiment
Boring
Tasks
Told next person
tasks were fun
and interesting
$1
Predicting Attitudes From
Behavior
3. When Does Inconsistency Produce
Dissonance?
a. free choice
b. insufficient justification
c. negative consequences
d. foreseeable consequences
Linder, Cooper, and Jones
Had participants write counterattitudinal
essays.
Condition 1 high vs. low choice
Condition 2 high vs. low monetary
incentive
Experiment 1 essay topic – allowing
communists on campus
Attitudes Towards Topic
2X2 Design
4
3.64
3.46
3.5
2.96
3
2.72
2.68
2.34
2.5
2
1.66
1.64
1.5
1
0.5
0
Experiment 2 essay topic – curfews on
campus
Free Choice
No Choice
Communists ($.50)
Communists ($2.50)
Curfew ($.50)
Curfew ($2.50)
Cooper and Worchel
Used Festinger and Carlsmith
procedure.
This experiment will probably be boring
like all the others.
Or
I’m glad this one will be fun. I’m looking
forward to it.
Which participants will show most
attitude change?
Amount of Attitude Change
In response to lie about how fun the
experiment was, person being lied to
said either:
25
Low Incentive
High Incentive
21
20
15
12
10
9
8
5
0
Unconvinced
Convinced
Reducing Cognitive Dissonance

Ways to reduce dissonance
– Direct methods

change attitude to be consistent with behavior
–

acquire supporting information
–

“many overweight people live long healthy lives”
trivialize the behaviors in question
–
–
“diets don’t really work anyway”
“looking thin is not all that important”
Indirect methods

restore positive self-evaluations
–

“I like the way I look, regardless of my weight”
distractions
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
http://www.wwnorton.com/socialpsych
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