Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Group Discussion Versus Persuasive Speech In Changing Behavior, George J. Sullivan

Student Work

There has been much research concerning attitude change, but few studies examining concomitant changes in behavior. Those studies that have studied behavioral changes have produced inconsistent results The present study was directed at exploring the relationship between different methods of changing behavior. Forty-six undergraduate students were assigned to either a control, persuasive speech, general discussion, or problem-solving discussion conditions. Experimental conditions were measured by two dependent variables: the number of volunteers (behavioral intention) and appearance at a meeting the following day (overt behavior). With regard to behavioral intentions, persuasive speech did not differ from controls; both types of discussion were …