I came across an interesting study from two decades ago where people were polled on issues of the day for if they supported or opposed various policies (e.g., affirmative action in college admissions). After participants responded indicating their support or opposition, the phone interviewer presented a single sentence key point for the other opposite side. The dependent measure was if the participants changed their minds. Visser & Krosnick (1998) were primarily interested in how much people could be persuaded as a function of age. They found a U-shaped function where people were more persuadable in 20’s and 80’s, but not so easily persuaded in their 50’s and 60’s. What I find most striking is that the majority of people were persuaded in most age groups, and over 40% of those in their 50’s and 60’s changed their mind. I’m wondering if anyone has conducted a study with a similar design in more recent years? It would be fascinating to compare the percents persuaded more recently, given the rise of partisan news and the internet. ~ Kevin
Visser, P. S. & Krosnick, J. A. (1998). Development of attitude strength over the life cycle: surge and decline. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 75(6), 1389-1410.
Maybe this recentArticle Circumventing resistance to novel information: Piquing curio...
is interesting to you.- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Social Psychology
- Attitude