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Presents a study that examined how change in minority size influence information processing and attitude change. Analysis of the possibility that changes in minority size may instigate systematic information processing; Evaluation of the different attributions people make for changes in minority size; Comparison between minority messages and majority messages in relation to the effects of changes on influence.

Attitudinal network graphs are signed graphs where edges capture an expressed opinion; two vertices connected by an edge can be agreeable (positive) or antagonistic (negative). A signed graph is called balanced if each of its cycles includes an even number of negative edges. Balance is often characterized by the frustration index or by finding a single convergent balanced state of network consensus. In this paper, we propose to expand the measures of consensus from a single balanced state associated with the frustration index to the set of nearest balanced states. We introduce the frustration cloud as a set of all nearest balanced states and use a graph-balancing algorithm to find all nearest balanced states in a deterministic way. Computational concerns are addressed by measuring consensus probabilistically, and we introduce new vertex and edge metrics to quantify status, agreement, and influence. We also introduce a new global measure of controversy for a given signed graph and show that vertex status is a zero-sum game in the signed network. We propose an efficient scalable algorithm for calculating frustration cloud-based measures in social network and survey data of up to 80,000 vertices and half-a-million edges. We also demonstrate the power of the proposed approach to provide discriminant features for community discovery when compared to spectral clustering and to automatically identify dominant vertices and anomalous decisions in the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Given that people rely heavily on their party affiliation to make their political decisions, an interesting dilemma occurs when people are exposed to counter-attitudinal information from the party they identify with. This paper examines how exposure to counter-attitudinal messages from the party an individual identifies with influence further online information seeking and attitude change. Introduction: Given that people rely heavily on their party affiliation to make their political decisions, an interesting dilemma occurs when people are exposed to counter-attitudinal information from the party they identify with. This paper examines how exposure to counter-attitudinal messages from the party an individual identifies with influence further online information seeking and attitude change. Analysis: Quantitative analysis was carried out on the data using SPSS. Results. In terms of information seeking, neither attitude-party message consistency, nor partisanship strength, led to confirmation bias-seeking. In terms of attitude change, there was significant difference in attitude change between strong and weak partisans when they were exposed to the pro-attitudinal message. Conclusions. Despite popular belief, even those with strong party identification do not blindly seek out information that confirms their own belief. The type of information exposure, rather than an individual's strength of party affiliation, influences the further information seeking patterns of individuals. In addition, attitude change patterns showed some complexities depending on various conditions. This paper calls for more nuanced understanding of political information seeking behaviour and attitude change.

This study investigates the relationships among attitude change, advertising exposure, and choice of a new brand on an individual basis. Results indicate that although attitudes change both before and after choice of the new brand, the post-choice attitude change is greater in magnitude and correlated more highly with choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the influence of advertising exposure on individual brand attitude change. Results indicate that past exposures, brand familiarity, and prior attitude ore significantly related to attitudinal response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impacts of a science-based environmental communication campaign at a university dining hall. The impacts are assessed in terms of student attitudes toward sustainability, food consumption choices and perceptions and understanding of the campaign and the information it communicated.Design/methodology/approach A communication campaign was designed to convey the water footprint of food entrées available at a university dining hall. This campaign was tested during a three-week field experiment in which students at the dining hall were exposed to information about the sustainability of their food. To measure behavior and attitude change, sales and production data were collected before, during and after the campaign, and pre- and post-test surveys were administered. To better understand perceptions, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with undergraduate students who frequented the dining hall.Findings Consumption patterns did not change significantly as a result of the campaign, and students’ attitude scores actually became slightly less positive toward choosing low water footprint foods. Interview data helped explain these results by showing that the ability and desire of students to choose sustainable food were overwhelmed by convenience and time pressures; other food attributes often outweighed sustainability; limited food source information could not verify the benefits of sustainable food; and the science of water footprints was disconnected from students’ subjective concepts of sustainability.Originality/value This paper empirically examines how students understand and interpret an environmental change campaign focused on sustainable food. It addresses an important gap in the literature by augmenting experimental and survey results with in-depth interview data, which help explain the often ineffective outcomes of behavior change campaigns. The research was conducted in the novel setting of a university dining hall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Team-based learning, or TBL, is an application-oriented teaching method that combines small- and large-group learning by incorporating multiple small groups into a large group setting. It has been increasingly used in postsecondary and professional education over the past two decades. Given this increasing usage, many faculty wonder about the effects TBL has on learning outcomes. The authors performed a review and synthesis on the educational literature with respect to TBL to examine the quality of their descriptions of core TBL elements, then constructed narrative summaries of these selected articles. Their analysis demonstrated early evidence of positive educational outcomes in terms of knowledge acquisition, participation and engagement, and team performance. The authors conclude that the TBL literature is at an important maturation point, where more rigorous testing and study of additional questions relating to the method are needed, as well as more accurate reporting of TBL implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines whether individual differences in preference for consistency (PFC) affect the behavioral change in the induced-hypocrisy paradigm. Undergraduate students (N = 108) completed the PFC scale either 1 month (no PFC-focus condition) or immediately before (PFC-focus condition) the induced-hypocrisy procedure; this procedure includes pro-social advocacy, transgression recall, and a behavioral change measure. Results demonstrated (1) that PFC-level predicts behavioral change only when the participants were focused on their own PFC and (2) a relationship between the number of recalled transgressions and behavioral change only for high-PFC participants in PFC-focus condition. The necessity of considering simultaneously PFC-level, PFC-focus, and the number of recalled transgressions to better predict behavioral change in the hypocrisy-paradigm, is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increasingly, the staging of sport events promoting a social cause has become commonplace. This study collects data from spectators at two consecutive Homeless World Cups (Melbourne 2008 and Milan 2009) - an event that seeks to raise awareness of the global issue of homelessness. This paper aims to advance the understanding of specific attitude changes in spectators and to identify how these can be activated towards behaviours to produce enduring social impacts for events. The role of social capital in attitudinal change is emphasized, specifically bridging capital that signifies the creation of relationships between disparate individuals. Quantitative analysis provides insight into spectator demographics and attendance patterns, and contributes to the understanding of spectator attitudes towards homelessness. Patterns and trends suggest demographic and attendance variables align with differing forms of attitudinal change, and further suggest a hierarchy of effects may be relevant to the findings and provide a valuable contribution to future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though public opposition to same-sex marriage seems reasonably stable nationally, support in California has grown substantially in the past two decades. Using data from six Field Polls of Californians since 1985, we explore the roots of that growth in individual attitude change and population changes. Cohort replacement can explain half the growth. Although all groups of Californians say that they have become more accepting of homosexual relations since they turned 18, the pattern is strongest for liberals, Democrats, and the less religious. These groups have also become much more supportive of same-sex marriage, while conservatives, Republicans, Protestants, and African-Americans appear at least as opposed today as they were two decades ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three studies tested the valence-framing effect: that merely conceptualizing one's preferences as opposing something will make that preference more resistant to persuasion than will thinking about the same preference in terms of supporting something. In Study 1, participants who were led to conceptualize their political preferences as being against a candidate were more resistant to a counterattitudinal message than were participants who were led to conceptualize the same preference as being in favor of the other candidate. Study 2 showed that this effect was not due to a priming process, while Study 3 provided evidence for the effect's generalizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AT&T has developed a new marketing strategy for its residence long distance marketplace, the result of five years of research starting with overall market segmentation, continuing with concept testing, and culminating with a large scale field experiment testing the new ad campaign. This experiment demonstrated, with a unique level of precision, that (1) the ad copy changed purchase behavior and, (2) that AT&T should generate an additional $100 million by implementing the new campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a regression approach to attitude and credibility in the prediction of attitude change. Most existing theory and research in attitude change have based predictions upon preceding attitude and source credibility. Subsequent research utilizing this model must consider operationalizations that allow for a more complete analysis of the relationships among multidimensional constructs in the prediction of attitude change. Attitudes toward concepts have been demonstrated to involve at least three dimensions, direction, intensity, and salience.

The Desert Rock studies of troop participation in atomic maneuvers have demonstrated that indoctrination in atomic weapons and warfare can be effectively accomplished: the participant troops gained in information and improved in attitudes. Of information presented to the troops, that which had an intimate relation to the soldier's individual protection appeared to be most readily assimilated. Results obtained here suggest a marked relationship between information gained and changes in attitudes of confidence or anxiety toward participation in atomic maneuvers or warfare. Results are considered to offer suggestive hypotheses and implications for more general problems encountered in preparing civilian populations for exposure to disaster situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effects of organization and fluency on attitude change and source credibility. Interaction between message type (organized and disorganized) and form of delivery (fluent and nonfluent); Possible interaction between initial credibility, fluency and organization on attitude change and post-communication credibility; Effects of fluency and organization on terminal credibility.