5.1. ATTITUDE, ATTITUDE CHANGE

A central construct for understanding influence is the construct of attitude. An attitude is an idea, charged with affect, predisposing action. For example, Mrs. Top Manager's attitude toward Department X getting additional space is based on several beliefs about the space problems of Department X, how well Department X is doing, the future of Department X research, and so on. Each of these ideas has some emotion, positive or negative, attached to it. For instance, if Mrs. Top Manager thinks that Department X is doing well, she is also likely to feel more positively about Department X getting additional space. Such feelings become intentions (e.g., self-instructions to approve the extra space), which often lead to action (approval of the space).

To change an attitude, one needs to consider the phases of the attitude change process. These are attention, comprehension, yielding, and remembering, followed by action. For example, if top management wants to change the attitude of the rank-and-file toward a new policy, it must produce a communication that will be attended. If the employees place the memo describing the new policy in the wastebasket, unread, it will obviously have no effect. But even if it is read, it must be understood. Comprehension is the phase when the attitude change message is understood. However, understanding does not necessarily mean acceptance. The reader might understand it and reject it. Thus, yielding refers to the phase in which the reader not only understands, but goes along with, the suggestion or the message. While yielding is very important in attitude change, if one is interested in action, one needs two more phases: First the person must remember yielding, and then the factors involved in the action (norms, roles, previous habits, affect toward the behavior, perceived consequences, and so on, as discussed in Chapter 6 on motivation) should not cancel out the intention to act. In other words, the analysis of attitude change shows that it is a complex process in which the attempt to change attitudes and behavior can be "derailed" by many factors. In thinking of the best means to change someone's attitude, it is useful to be analytic and to consider and anticipate all those factors and, if possible, make them favorable to the change.

The analysis of attitude change also requires thinking of the factors that are important in this change. There are four factors to be considered: the source of the attitude change, the message, the medium, and the audience. The source is the person or group that produces the attitude change message. For example, if Department X wants to get more space it could send its manager to talk to the top management, or it could send a departmental resolution to the top management or ask some allies to suggest to the top management that more space is needed. In each of these examples both the source (manager, department, allies) and the message are different. One must also consider the medium. For example, one might attempt to influence either face-to-face, through a written document, or by using a video presentation. Finally, one must consider the characteristics of the audience. Who are we trying to influence? Depending on our analysis of audience attributes, we can develop different strategies for attitude change. If the audience is very intelligent, research shows that we must produce a message that presents the position we advocate and that also convincingly deals with any objections to that position. This has special implications for an R&D organization whose participants are especially intelligent.