ABSTRACT
Persuasion is one of the most common functions of communication – something people routinely attempt to achieve. Sometimes the basis of opposition to the persuader's advocated viewpoint is negative attitudes: people don't have positive evaluations of the public policy being recommended, of the product being offered, of the action being advocated. Even if people have the relevant positive attitudes and social factors (injunctive and descriptive norms), and they believe that they do have the ability to perform the behaviour – even then, although people may intend to do the behaviour, they nevertheless sometimes don't follow through. In those circumstances, the challenge a persuader faces is that of getting people to convert their intentions into behaviour. Three general strategies can be useful for addressing this challenge. They are prompts, explicit planning, and inducing hypocrisy or guilt. Inducing feelings of hypocrisy or guilt requires that both the existing positive attitude and the previous inconsistent behaviour be made salient.
