Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Analogue Study Examining Attitude Change Theory And Its Implications For Dissemination And Implementation Of Empirically Supported Treatments, Laura D. Seligman, Andrew L. Geers, Erin F. Swedish, Joseph D. Hovey, Gabriela Hurtado

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite the promise of research-based treatments, dissemination into community settings has been problematic. Attitudes toward these treatments may be partially responsible for the slow uptake. Building on the functional theory of attitudes, it was hypothesized that presenting emotion-focused rather than cognitively-focused information about a treatment would produce more positive attitudes toward the treatment in individuals interested in clinical practice. To test this hypothesis, 144 students (116 women; Mage = 22.46 years) completed a measure of vocational interest and evaluated a treatment after reading either an emotional or cognitive passage about the treatment. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants’ interests in clinical …