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Changing Attitudes About a Pro-Environmental Proposal Concerning Solar Power: The Self-Validating Role of Ingroup
David Santos1, Javier Horcajo2, Rafael Gil2
1IE Business School, IE University (Spain).
Persuasive messages about solar power impact attitudes more when the source is perceived as part of one's ingroup. This ingroup bias strengthens attitude change through self-validation, influencing environmental proposal acceptance.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Environmental Psychology
Background:
- Understanding factors influencing pro-environmental attitudes is crucial for promoting sustainable behaviors.
- Ingroup-outgroup dynamics significantly impact social influence and persuasion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if persuasive messages for environmental proposals trigger attitude change via self-validation.
- To examine the role of ingroup versus outgroup source identification in this self-validation process.
Main Methods:
- Participants evaluated a solar power proposal after a persuasive message.
- A thought-listing task assessed cognitive responses (thought favorability).
- Source manipulation (ingroup vs. outgroup) was applied using the minimal group paradigm.
Main Results:
- A significant interaction was found between thought favorability and source type (ingroup/outgroup).
- Thought favorability more strongly predicted attitudes when the source was perceived as ingroup.
- This suggests ingroup sources enhance persuasion through self-validation.
Conclusions:
- Ingroup identification can amplify attitude polarization towards environmental proposals.
- Self-validation processes mediate the effect of source perception on environmental attitudes.
- Understanding social identity is key to effective environmental communication.
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