Audience commitment and source knowledge of audience as determinants of attitude change following counterattitudinal advocacy

This study tested two hypotheses growing out of the aversive consequences interpretation of counterattitudinal advocacy effects: first, that persons encoding counterattitudinal messages for a known audience will report greater attitude change toward the position advocated than persons encoding counterattitudinal messages for an unknown audience; and, second, that persons encoding counterattitudinal messages for an uncommitted audience will demonstrate greater attitude change toward the position advocated than persons encoding counterattitudinal messages for a committed audience. After completing an attitude pretest, subjects encoded counterattitudinal essays favoring two years of mandatory military service for all male high school graduates. Analyses of the attitude change scores produced confirmation of both hypotheses.