Is attitude static? Yale attitude change approach: Basis

Our attitudes are evaluations of people, objects or ideas. They are positive and negative and affect the way we see the world around us and the way we chose to behave around it. We are not neutral beings and this is reflected through our attitudes. We will not view snakes, babies, dogs and lions the same way as we have different attitudes towards them. These attitudes are based on affective, cognitive and behavioral components (Aronson, Wilson, Fehr, & Akert, 2013, p.154). Attitudes aren’t fixed however.

Researchers at Yale conducted experiments to find what drives peoples attitude change in regards to persuasive messages. Their approach is known as the Yale attitude change approach. This model observes the conditions under which one will be most likely to change their attitudes in response to a persuasive message. The effectiveness of the persuasive communication will be the result of the interplay between the source of the communication, the nature of the communication and the nature of the audience.

Their research has found different results about how these variables can be manipulated to be more persuasive. Sources that are attractive and/or expert are ideal. People are more likely to be persuaded if they find the source attractive or credible. A message that does not try to convince you explicitly and that provide arguments for both sides if it can beat the other yields more attitude change. However the primacy and recency effect will have an impact and must be accounted for to obtain ideal results. Given a scenario where there are two speakers who voice different opinions, it will be better to speak first if there is no pause between the two and better to speak after if there is a pause. The audience that is most vulnerable to persuasive messages is one that is distracted, of low-intelligence and of moderate self-esteem. 18 to 25 year-olds constitute the audience that is most susceptible to attitude change and thus constitute the ideal audience. Beyond 25 people ‘s attitude stabilize and resist change more.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

Albert Einstein

Written by: Soufiane Bouhmouch