474 CHAPTER 12
INTERACTION WITH OTHERS Sometimes attitudes are formed because the person is
around other people with that attitude. If a person’s friends, for example, all hold the
attitude that smoking is cool, that person is more likely to think that smoking is cool as
well (Brenner, 2007; Eddy et al., 2000; Hill, 1990; Shean et al., 1994).
VICARIOUS CONDITIONING (OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING) Many attitudes are learned
through the observation of other people’s actions and reactions to various objects, people,
or situations. Just as a child whose mother shows a fear of dogs may develop a similar
fear, to Learning Objective 5.3, a child whose mother or father shows a positive
attitude toward classical music may grow into an adult with a similarly positive attitude.
Attitudes are not only influenced by other people in a person’s immediate world
but also by the larger world of the educational system (many attitudes may be learned in
school or through reading books) and the mass media of social networking sites, maga-
zines, television, and the movies—a fact of which advertisers and marketing experts are
well aware (Gresham & Shimp, 1985; MacKenzie et al., 1986; Visser & Mirabile, 2004).Attitude Change: The Art of Persuasion
12.6 Describe how attitudes can be changed.
Sometimes people learn attitudes that aren’t necessarily good
ones, right? So can attitudes change?Because attitudes are learned, they are also subject to change with new learning.
The world is full of people, companies, and other organizations that want to change
people’s attitudes. It’s all about the art of persuasion, the process by which one person
tries to change the belief, opinion, position, or course of action of another person through
argument, pleading, or explanation.
Persuasion is not a simple matter. There are several factors that become important
in predicting how successful any persuasive effort at attitude change might be. These
factors include the following:- Source: The communicator is the person delivering the message. There is a strong
tendency to give more weight to people who are perceived as experts, as well as
those who seem trustworthy, attractive, and similar to the person receiving the
message (Eagly & Chaiken, 1975; O’Keefe, 2009; Petty & Cacioppo, 1986, 1996;
Priester & Petty, 1995). - Message: The actual message should be clear and well organized (Booth- Butterfield,
1996). It is usually more effective to present both sides of an argument to an audi-
ence that has not yet committed to one side or the other (Crowley & Hoyer, 1994;
O’Keefe, 2009; Petty & Cacioppo, 1996; Petty et al., 2003). Messages that are directed
at producing fear have been thought to be more effective if they produce only a
moderate amount of fear and also provide information about how to avoid the
fear-provoking consequences (Kleinot & Rogers, 1982; Meyrick, 2001; Petty, 1995;
Rogers & Mewborn, 1976). More recent research suggests that fear messages with
a higher amount of fear may be very effective when they not only provide infor-
mation about how to avoid the consequences but also stress the severity of those
consequences, particularly among women (Tannenbaum et al., 2015). - Target Audience: The characteristics of the people who are the intended target
of the message of persuasion are also important in determining the effective-
ness of the message. The age of the audience members can be a factor, for exam-
ple. Researchers have found that people who are in the young adult stage of the
late teens to the mid-20s are more susceptible to persuasion than are older people
(O’Keefe, 2009; Visser & Krosnick, 1998).
persuasion
the process by which one person
tries to change the belief, opinion,
position, or course of action of another
person through argument, pleading, or
eZRlanation.