The Effects of Type of Communication Issue and Initial Opinion Strength on Immediate and Delayed Opinion Change

Abstract

<p>An experiment was conducted to determine the effect on opinion change of communications concerning different types of issues when given to subjects with different initial opinion strengths. Opinion change was evaluated immediately, and after an interval of time.</p> <p>The results indicated that opinion change was greatest for issues of low involvement, and least for issues of high involvement, irrespective of the subject's initial opinion strength. The induced opinion change for the issues of high involvement was found to be retained longer than that for the low involvement issues.</p>