ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on theoretical approaches to the study of attitude change. It reviews the conceptualization of the origin and development of attitudes. The chapter examines the major theoretical treatments of attitude change. Interpreted broadly, the topic of attitude change is not only a focal preoccupation of theory and research in social psychology; it embraces phenomena and problems that equally concern students of personality, of culture, of political affairs, and of consumer preferences. The molding of public opinion by propaganda and through processes of persuasion is a matter of attitude change, but so also are the development or reduction of prejudice and the socialization of the child to adhere to the sentiments and values of his culture. The concept of attitude, although variously defined, is most commonly employed to designate inferred dispositions, attributed to an individual, according to which his thoughts, feelings, and perhaps action tendencies are organized with respect to a psychological object.
