Attitude Change and Persuasion

Attitudes

Functional attitude theories hold the central notion that people have attitudes for different reasons. By understanding the different reasons that one has for an attitude and targeting these reasons can be the basis for being able to change an attitude. The basic attitude functions are:

The knowledge function of an attitude refers to the need for people to assign structure, meaning, or order to their surroundings. For instance, in studies of cognitive dissonance people need to assign order to a chaotic situation (incompatible behavior and attitude) and therefore bolster a particular attitude to do so. Advertisers have used this as strategic tactic for years when they target people who have chronic pain, depression, or some other particular condition that results in perceived disorder in their lives. Morals, ethics, and the need to find structure in ambiguous situations serve this function in much the same way. Such attitudes provide a sense of consistency and order in the lives of people.

2. Attitudes can also fulfill a utilitarian function that allows one to maximize rewards and minimize punishments obtained from objects in the natural world. These attitudes function to summarize outcomes that are inherently associated with things and to guide one's behavior in the direction of one's interests. For instance, a person's attitude towards pizza could serve a utilitarian function because it tastes good (reward) but for another person it could be avoided because it is fattening (punishment). So attitudes function in terms of maximizing perceived benefits and minimizing perceived costs. Empirically many of the operant conditioning studies served to reinforce this function.

3. Attitudes could also serve social adjustive functions in that having certain attitudes can allow one to develop rapport with certain reference groups that one finds to be valuable. Moreover such attitudes can help one to express their values and establish a personal identity. Obviously someone's political affiliation would be an example of such an attitude. These attitudes can be quite powerful as seen in "minimal groups" studies where merely being assigned to a particular group results in one favoring their group and belittling the out -- group. These attitudes will often mediate one's relationships and one's sense of self based on the issues that they symbolize.

4. Attitudes can also function to reduce the threats to one's self. Typically this is explained in terms of threats to one's ego or self-esteem and will often result in one distancing oneself from out -- groups that are perceived as threatening, or in true psychoanalytic fashion distancing oneself from objects that one projects unacceptable impulses to. Empirically this function has been associated with prejudice; however, in terms of self -- protection we can also see such attitudes functioning to protect one from physical threats such as snakes. Many people have an irrational fear of snakes that results from a survival instinct. Thus, these attitudes often function hand-in-hand with the social adjustive functions of attitudes to ostracize undesirables.

Based on these four categories of attitude functions it has been hypothesized that the ability to persuade someone to do something, think about something or change in attitude about something, or to consider something counter to their attitude one must confront the functions of the attitude that one is targeting. This is known as the functional matching hypothesis. For example research has shown that persuasive messages targeted at people that are strong self-monitors should target the social adjustive function of the attitude. One sees the utilitarian form of persuasion in many advertisements, whereas political figures may target threats to the self or the knowledge function of an attitude. According to this hypothesis the most effective message or form of persuasion should target the function of the attitude (or behavior) that it is trying to change.

Question two.

In advertisement number one we see a picture of the young man with hair and then some comparisons of balding men or men with other hair-related issues. Certainly there is a socially adjustive function to this ad in that men don't want to belong to the old, bald man's club. In fact part of the ad says that they will provide healthier youthful looking hair. So you said does appeal to one's sense of being in the (youthful looking group). Similar to the social adjustive functional appeal is the utilitarian appeal of having hair for men. Society tends to bestow more positive reinforcers on men with hair than balding men, although recently the shaven look has changed somewhat. However, there certainly is a sense of one being both youthful and successful when one has hair the matter what their age really is and these types of ads appeal to that function.

Advertisement number two certainly appeals more to the knowledge function of the "bald" attitude by describing a case where a person achieved a fuller looking head of hair by using the service offered by the advertisement. There is also a little box that has a trichologist giving a technical explanation of the problem of the person who is depicted in the advertisement, thus reducing uncertainty for the reader. Of course the personal endorsement aspect of this advertisement appeals to the utilitarian function of an attitude in that the woman depicted in the ad says that her fuller looking hair helps her to perform at her very best and improves her confidence. Of course who does not want to perform at their best and be full of confidence all the time? And we all know that everyone with a full head of hair always performs at their best and is always confident. Nonetheless, this advertisement targets knowledge, utilitarian functions, and more implicitly the social adjustment function of the attitude that women have concerning thinning hair and baldness.