ABSTRACT
Human life is replete with communications that have persuasive intent and seemingly always has been. Biblical Eve fell prey to the serpent's arguments to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then convinced Adam to follow suit. Modem politicians persuade voters to support them. Advertisers target mass-market segments who will buy their products. Spammers send the masses unrelenting barrages of unwanted promotions. In science, scholars craft their manuscripts· arguments to induce acceptance of their reported evidence on the topic. These examples merely touch the surface of communication and attitude change. Lest they lead to the misconceptions that communication and attitude change are solely human affairs, it is important to note that the phenomenon appears in varying levels of sophistication across species, but especially in those that are social in nature. The great apes persuade through gestures and vocalizations. Even bees communicate and induce behavior change in other bees, though it may be doubtful whether attitudes mediate this relation. Tn humans. messages may meet with responses ranging from enthusiastic embrace to vehement resistance. Even \\hen people are unaware of changing their attitudes, others' communications may induce subtle shifts in related cognitions.
