RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHORITARIANISM AND ATTITUDE CHANGE AS A FUNCTION OF SOURCE CREDIBILITY AND TYPE OF COMMUNICATION

468 undergraduates representing 4 levels of the California F Scale (authoritarianism) received a persuasive message from either a high- or low-credible source. Messages were either plausible, implausible, or unsubstantiated. No significant interaction appeared between F level and the source manipulation with respect to attitude change, which refutes the hypothesis of the high F scorer being source-oriented. As predicted, a direct relationship was found for F level and attitude change only for the message that yielded substantial attitude change variance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.