Vicarious Attitude Change and the Design of 'Message' Films: Application to Race Relations.

Abstract : Can the persuasiveness of a 'message' film be increased by showing the target audience the persuasive effects of the message on a 'model'. The racial attitudes of four groups of white soldiers were compared. Group I had watched a video recording of a soldier viewing the film Black and White: Uptight, showing the positive effects of that film on his racial attitudes; Group II had seen a version of the recording in which the model's attitudes were not affected; Group III had seen the film only; Group IV had not been shown anything. Attitude questionnaire data obtained after the viewing showed no difference between the model-changing group (I) and the film-only group (III). However, scores of both groups reflected significantly less prejudice than the scores of Groups II and IV. (Author)