Attitudes and attitude change

• Published in: Annual review of psychology Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 609 - 647
• Main Authors: PETTY, R. E, WEGENER, D. T, FABRIGAR, L. R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palo Alto, CA Annual Reviews 01-01-1997; Annual Reviews, Inc
• Subjects: Affect; Attitude; Attitude (Psychology); Attitude change; Attitudes; Behavior; Behavior. Attitude; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Motivation; Persuasion (Psychology); Persuasive Communication; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social psychology; Human; Affect affectivity; Social influence; Attitude; Attitude change; Review; Persuasion; Social cognition
• ISSN: 0066-4308; 1545-2085
• DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.609

We review empirical and conceptual developments over the past four years (1992-1995) on attitudes and persuasion. A voluminous amount of material was produced concerning attitude structure, attitude change, and the consequences of holding attitudes. In the structure area, particular attention is paid to work on attitude accessibility, ambivalence, and the affective versus cognitive bases of attitudes. In persuasion, our review examines research that has focused on high effort cognitive processes (central route), low effort processes (peripheral route), and the multiple roles by which variables can have an impact on attitudes. Special emphasis is given to work on cognitive dissonance and other biases in message processing, and on the multiple processes by which mood influences evaluations. Work on the consequences of attitudes focuses on the impact of attitudes on behavior and social judgments.