Persuasive Impact of a Communicator where Groups Differ in Apparent Co-Orientation

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Attitude Change Research

Background:

• Investigates factors influencing attitude change in group settings.
• Examines the role of communicator-receiver co-orientation in persuasion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the hypothesis that attitude change correlates with communicator-receiver co-orientation.
• To identify factors driving attitude shifts in undergraduate women within a sorority context.

Main Methods:

• A sorority president attempted to influence attitudes on mainland China's UN admission among 94 undergraduate women.
• Attitudes were measured using eight, seven-point Likert-type items.

Main Results:

• Sorority pledges exhibited significantly greater attitude change (p < .01) compared to chapter actives and actives from other groups.
• Co-orientation alone did not fully explain the observed attitude changes.

Conclusions:

• Factors beyond co-orientation, such as need for social approval and group membership value, significantly impact attitude change.
• Pledges' higher motivation for social approval and group belonging likely drove their greater attitude shifts.