ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes some of the major findings of modern functional theory. Modern functional theory tends to focus on message attributes and how they relate to various aspects of the attitude object or recipient, using the word function to refer superficially to a person’s orientation toward relating to the world or to an attitude object’s general characteristics. The theory of schema correspondence acknowledges that attitude object schema set matching messages might be more persuasive than recipient self-schema set matching messages in certain instances. Perhaps recipients prefer messages and products that reflect their ideal schema set as a means of becoming more like their ideal self. The actual schema set matching message would also resonate with the recipient’s ideal schema set, and thereby enhance message persuasiveness. A self-schema integrates all of the information known about the self in a given domain into a systematic framework used during processing.
