3 PROCESSES OF VALUE CHANGE WITHOUT BEHAVIORAL CHANGE

Two experiments on information processing replicate earlier findings that a person's evaluation of an object changes as a function of its salience to him, its pertinence relations with other objects, and the reduction of cognitive dissonance. However, these effects do not carry over to corresponding changes in his directed behavior toward the object. It is suggested that communication research might limit itself to value change and those cognitive processes that precede it, rather than try to predict behavioral change directly from value change. Copyright © 1969, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved