International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Attitude accessibility concerns how quickly an →  attitude is activated from →  memory. Attitudes that are more accessible from memory are more predictive of behavior, influence what messages are attended to, and how those messages are processed, and are more stable across time. Unfortunately, little is known about how to change the accessibility of attitudes from memory, particularly with regards to how persuasive messages influence accessible attitudes (→  Information Processing ; Memory, Message ). Consider the following example . Suppose you see a spider – you might have a very quick “yuck” response. The fast yuck response indicates an accessible attitude toward spiders. You do not have to think about whether you like spiders, rather, the mere presence of a spider results in the activation of your attitude. On the other hand, imagine you are walking down a sidewalk with a friend looking for a place to eat. Your friend points to a Portuguese restaurant and suggests you try it. In this instance, you may have to think about whether you like Portuguese food, because you are not sure what you think of it, before deciding that it is good. The fact that you have to ponder whether you like something suggests that either you have a relatively inaccessible attitude or you have never formed an attitude toward that object. Attitudes have been studied across a number of different disciplines ... log in or subscribe to read full text