ABSTRACT
Although a variety of situational variables can diminish the relationship between a person’s attitudes and his or her behavior, that relationship is still strong enough to warrant the attention devoted in social psychology to attitude measurement and the study of persuasion. The fact that prejudice and discrimination still exist in contemporary society indicates just how difficult some attitudes are to alter. A persuasive attempt can be regarded as including a source, a message, a recipient, and in examining the conse quences of persuasion it is important to distinguish between public compli ance and private acceptance. Sources of resistance to attitude change in clude the complexity of the structure of the target attitude, the functions that holding particular attitudes may serve, and discrepancy between the individual’s existing attitude and the persuasive communication. Attitude change can be facilitated by communicator credibility and other character istics of the persuasive appeal, and by the active participation of the target person in the process of change. Attempts to alter attitudes, whether in the laboratory or in the real social world, involve ethical issues to which so cial psychologists should attend.
