Attitudes and Persuasion

Think about one specific attitude you have about something important to you. Why do you think as you do? What has influenced the development of the attitude you have toward this topic? What actions do you take because of this attitude? What would it take to change this attitude if you wanted to? Is an attitudinal change possible? Attitudes are formed and maintained in many ways. Social psychologists have studied how people form their attitudes for decades and from many perspectives. Why are researchers so interested in attitude? For one thing, your attitude typically influences your behavior. For example, attitudes about political topics such as war, abortion, civil rights, and so on, influence voting behavior. Advertisers attempt to create attitudes about the products they are trying to sell with the ultimate goal of making money for their clients. Persuasion is an attempt to change an attitude. Political operatives, advertisers, and others thoughtfully create persuasive messages to change attitudes and ultimately behavior. For this Discussion, you examine messages that you have seen recently and consider how they attempted to be persuasive regarding attitude formation or change            

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