Dissonance Theory and Receptivity to Structural Perceptions of the
Causes of Urban Crime
Glen Broach, East Tennessee State University
The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 3. (Sep., 1974), 491-499
| The purpose of this paper is to present a description and test of a set of propositions attempting to specify the conditions of unfavorable and favorable reception of alternative perceptions urged upon the public by advocates of change in poverty and civil rights policy. |
| Issues | |
|---|---|
| 1974 | 2005 |
| race relations, crime and violence, the Vietnam War, the environment, the economy. | Abortion, Gay Marriage, Terrorism, Civil Liberties, Privacy, The Iraq War, the economy, the environment. |
H1. Disagreement with the stated findings of the Violence Commission will occur more frequently among those respondents who express resistance to racial integration.
H2. The rate of disagreement with the findings of the Violence Commission will be greater among those who both resist racial integration and regard crime and violence as the nation's most serious problem; the rate of disagreement will be less among those who resist integration, but select some other problem as more important.
The communication of perceptions calculated to induce changes for individuals' policy positions is likely to be best received among those for whom the policy problem area is less salient.
This result suggests a possible strategic consideration for advocates of policy change who propose to seek that change through the building of supportive popular majorities. Efforts to persuasively inculcate new perceptions as the basis for change can most effectivcely be directed toward members of the population for whom the policy problem is less important.