Course description
This course focuses on the nature, development, and impact of attitudes and beliefs on our emotions, cognitions, and behaviors. We will discuss a number of theories and findings concerning attitude formation and change, and consider the relevance and application of those findings to advertising and to political and religious beliefs.
Learning Outcome
- When you have completed this course
you should be able to
- Identify persuasion attempts by
individuals and organizations.
- Improve your ability to resist
persuasion techniques.
- Understand how persuasion differs
across subgroups (e.g. gender and cultures).
- Understand the relationship between
behavior and attitudes.
- Utilize persuasion more effectively
in your own day-to-day lives.
- Employ persuasion techniques to improve the effectiveness of
campaigns
Course Content
- Introduction
to Attitudes and Beliefs:
- The
Function, Structure, and Measurement of Attitudes
- Basic
Mechanisms of Attitude Formation
- Attitude
Change: The Yale group and Persuasion
- Affective
and Cognitive Mechanisms of Attitude Change
- Behavioral
Approaches to Attitude Change
- Techniques and Psychological Mechanisms of Persuasion
Compulsory Reading Materials
- Gregory R. Maio& Geoffrey
Haddock. The Psychology of Attitudes and Attitude Change, 2nd
Edition. Sage Publications, 2015.
- Perloff, R. (2010). The Dynamics of
Persuasion: Communication and Attitudes in the Twenty-First Century, 4th Edition
(Routledge Communication Series). New York: Routledge Press. ISBN #
978-0-315-80568 or ISBN-0: 0415805686
Optional Reading Materials
- R. B. Day. Attitudes and Persuasion
Handbook. McMaster Custom Courseware,2016
- Cialdini, R. B. (2009). Influence:
Science and Practice (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Press.ISBN#0205609996 /
978-0205609994.
- American Psychological Association
(2009). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th
Ed.).Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ISBN# 1433805618/
978-1433805615