Attitude formation and change is a dynamic process and it occurs in the context of existing interpersonal relationships, group memberships, events, situations over a span of varying time periods. As already highlighted about the process of attitude formation in our previous article, here we discuss the various factors for the same. Efforts to change attitudes are known as persuasion. Persuasive messages can be processed in two distinct ways: through systematic processing or central route to persuasion, which involves careful attention to message content, or through heuristic processing or peripheral route to persuasion, which involves the use of mental shortcuts (e.g., “experts are usually right”). Attitude change at the most basic level involves a source sending a message toward some focal person. It focuses primarily on characteristics of the source or the communicator; the message and the person receiving the message or the audience (Hovland, Janis and Kelley, 1953).
1. Source of the message:
The originator of the message is known as the source. The source’s credibility and attractiveness can effectively impact the message.
Credibility – People are likely to get persuaded by a message when they have a greater number of reasons to believe the same. Features of expertness and trustworthiness affect the same. Expertness refers to special knowledge and skills; trustworthiness involves the truthfulness of the source, beyond their own personal objective. For example – the sentence ‘if you don’t start your car engine once every week, then your battery life of the car reduces’ has much higher credibility when it comes from a car mechanic than from any random salesperson. The credibility of the source provides the reliability of the information contained in the message (Turner, 1991).
Attractiveness – This is another factor that adds to credibility, as people are more likely to get influenced for attitude change by an attractive person when compared to those who are not (Hovalnd &Weiss, 1951). The effectiveness of the same has been seen in physical attractiveness (Chaiken, 1979), likability (Eagly & Chaiken, 1975) and similarity (Dembroski et al., 1978).
2. Content of the message:
Along with word messages, there are several other symbols that convey information to others, thus effectively impacting attitude change.
Suggestion – This technique generally shapes messages that include the hope that people will accept a belief, form an attitude or be incited by an action of some other people without the requirement of facts or logic. Advertisers are the most common to use suggestions. The most common type of this is prestige suggestion, where the message appeals to people’s regard for the source’s status or prestige. For example – Advertisers hire famous personalities to promote their products, to be the best in the market.
Appeals to fear – Persuading people can also be done by appealing to their fear. Fear of injury or disease seems to work effectively to appeal to fear. For example- people do use seatbelts in automobiles and wear helmets while riding the bike. But the effectiveness of this technique is not very reliable, as it is seen to often miss the target. Strong appeal to fire often backfires and leads people to give defensive avoidance. Here they avoid or refuse to accept the information put out by a communicator or their conclusion (Liberman & Chaiken, 1992). For example – A smoker upset by newspaper accounts of lung cancer due to smoking, stopped reading the newspaper. However, a strong appeal to fear can be effective when ways to avoid the feared consequences are present.
3. Receiver of the message:
The characteristics of the receiver also are seen to produce more or less effective persuasion. The following are included under this:
Influenceability – This largely covers the age and a few of the personality patterns of the receiver. Some people are more easily influenced by others whereas some are downright gullible. Also, very evidently children are more easily influenced than adults, poorly educated people are more easily influenced than those who are well-educated.
Selective Attention and Interpretation – Depending upon how the recipient perceives and interprets it. Information very different from our view creates cognitive dissonance. As per humans, there is a tendency to direct attention away from information that challenges existing attitudes and focus on the points that fit their initial attitude positions by ignoring the rest. Such avoidance increases resistance to persuasion and ensures that many of our attitudes remain largely intact for long periods of time.
All the mentioned factors are important in understanding the process of attitude change and especially to understand the relationship that existed between attitude and behaviour, to study the behavioural predictions from one’s attitude (Fishbein, 1967; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). For example – The organiser of a social campaign talks about the LGBTQ community, the various aspects of the community, how to appropriately behave and deal with them, how much it is important for people to be aware and sensitive about these matters, Now depending upon the speaking person’s credibility, expertise about this particular subject matter; the content of the message he is giving to the mass attending the campaign and how it is influencing the audience group, how they are interpreting the message will determine the direction towards which their attitude towards the LGBTQ community changes.
– Urveez Kakalia and Annesha Datta.