Attitudes and Attitude Change

Attitudes have been a central topic in social psychology from its early beginnings. But what exactly are attitudes, where do they come from, and how can they be modified? The overall aim of Attitudes and Attitude Change is to provide students with a comprehensive and accessible introduction to these basic issues in the psychological study of attitudes. In four parts, readers learn about how attitudes can be measured, how attitudes are shaped in the course of life, how they are changed by other people, and finally, how attitudes in turn affect our thoughts and behavior. This completely revised and updated second edition covers many recent developments and reports cutting-edge research while also addressing the classic findings and theories that advanced the field. In addition to integrating the newly emerged topics of implicit attitudes and recent models regarding the coexistence of explicit and implicit attitudes, this edition also adds chapters on social influence and resistance to persuasion. This comprehensive and user-friendly book carefully balances theoretical underpinnings and empirical findings with applied examples to enable readers to use the insights of attitude research for practical applications. Critical discussions also instigate readers to develop their own thinking on key topics.

Tobias Vogel is a psychologist primarily interested in the questions of what, how, and why. His research focuses on social cognition with an emphasis on judgment, decision making, and evaluation. After his dissertation on persuasion, he studied and taught social and consumer psychology in Germany and Switzerland. He currently works as a research fellow at the University of Mannheim, Germany, and blogs about psychological phenomena of public interest. Michaela Wänke has interests in various fields of social cognition and the intersections of social cognition and consumer and political psychology. Her research areas include persuasion, fluency, social judgment and attitude measuring, among many other topics. She held a chair for social psychology at the University of Basel, Switzerland, from 2002 to 2011 and currently holds a chair for consumer and economic psychology at the University of Mannheim, Germany.

1: What is an attitude and why is it important? PART I. Gateways to our attitudes 2: Asking for attitudes - not that simple after all 3: Beyond asking for attitudes: From indirect measures to implicit attitudes Part II. The origins of our attitudes 4: From incidental sensations and needs to attitudes 5: Attitude conditioning: How objects become linked with valence 6: Malleable attitudes: Between stored representations and context-dependent constructions 7: Attitudes - a question of good balance Part III. The social nature of attitude change 8: Persuasion - Making others want what you want them to like! 9: Social Influence on our attitudes 10: Resistance: The stubborn receivers - and how to persuade them PART IV. Consequences of our attitudes 11: The world is not what it used to be - Attitude influences on information processing 12: Do attitudes predict behavior? 13: Which attitudes predict behavior and when? PART V: Epilogue