Modifying attitudes and knowledge about nuclear energy

An experiment was conducted to determine the efficacy of a role‐playing procedure in modifying attitudes and information about nuclear energy. Forty‐nine students were assigned roles either consonant or dissonant with their original attitudes, and then asked to argue these positions during a simulated negotiation over the site of a proposed nuclear power plant. As expected, all participants gained in knowledge, and changed their attitudes in the direction of the role played. However, subjects advocating an anti‐nuclear power position dissonant with their initial attitudes showed greater and more permanent change, relative to counter‐attitudinal pro‐nuclear power role‐players who regressed to their previous attitudes during a four‐week follow‐up period. Reasons for the differential change pattern were discussed, including their implications for actual nuclear energy negotiations. Additionally, causal analyses of the data suggested that attitude and information changes occurred independently, i.e., that nei...