Awareness and attitude change in the forced-compliance paradigm: The importance of when

M. Ross and R. F. Shulman found that forced-compliance Ss who were reminded of their initial attitude, changed, while M. Synder and E. B. Ebbesen found the opposite. This difference is interpreted as due to timing of the reminder. The present study with 45 undergraduates indicated that both the timing of such a reminder and the context immediately prior to such a reminder were important. A significant degree of attitude change occurred for Ss who were reminded after they had been led to draw a conclusion regarding their present attitude, but no attitude change occurred for those Ss who were reminded of their past attitudes prior to being led to draw such a conclusion. (17 ref)