Compliance and attitude change under conditions of differential social reinforcement.

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Abstract
12 Ss known to have positive attitudes toward the church, as measured by a modification of Thurstone's scale, were induced to read a strongly antichurch essay before 3-person audiences. Unknown to any of the Ss, 4 speakers addressed prochurch listeners, 4 read the speech to neutral groups, and 4 faced audiences composed of antichurch individuals. All of the groups then discussed the communication for 12 min. The speakers as a group showed a change in attitude toward the church consistent with the position taken by the comunication. This change toward a less favorable stand was found to come principally from those speakers who had discussed the speech with individuals who were either neutral or negatively disposed toward the church. The results are interpreted as supporting a reinforcement theory of attitude change in an induced compliance situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

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