ABSTRACT
This chapter represents an extension of the previous chapter in the following way: Chapter 3 addressed how memory and cognition could lead to the development of beliefs about a product. In this chapter we are concerned with how these beliefs can be modified by changing elements in the stimulus situation. Persuasion is usually defined as communication that is designed to change the cognitions (attitudes, beliefs, opinions) of the person receiving it. In this chapter, we consider the effects of the elements of persuasive communication, and the effects of the arrangement of these elements of persuasive communication. Then we consider two formal, cognitively oriented theories that have relevance to the processes of persuasion: Attribution Theory and Fishbein’s Multiattribute Model of Attitudes. Bear in mind that our task in this chapter is to understand how consumers’ beliefs about a product are combined, integrated, and changed.
