Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Social Sciences has gone in this seventeenth edition to social psychologists Icek Ajzen, Dolores Albarracín, Mahzarin Banaji, Anthony Greenwald and Richard Petty for “revolutionizing the way we understand and measure attitudes" with an influence that extends to “psychology, sociology, political science, education, health, economics and other areas.”
The relationship between attitudes and behavior can also be studied through the lens of persuasion (understood as a process of social influence over the individual), given its power to alter a person’s attitudes and therefore their behavior. The main persuasion theory proposes two paths to achieve this: the central route, that of more elaboration, using characteristics that demand greater thought on the part of the individual, such that any attitude change will depend on the strength of the argument; and the peripheral route, which asks the recipient to be guided by simple cues without actually analyzing the message.
Known as the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), it owes its existence to Richard Petty, working with the late John Cacioppo. “What’s probably the most unique thing about our theory is that it says that the very same variable – whether it’s how much you like the source or how many arguments a source presents – can lead to more influence or less influence depending on the situation; whether the recipient is motivated and able to think about what the source is saying or not. It’s important to understand if someone is going to think a lot or not very much about something to determine how a variable impacts their attitude,” explains Petty, Professor of Psychology at the Ohio State University.
00:04 Professor Petty, the Frontiers of Knowledge. Award Committee has recognised your role in the development of theories regarding how people process persuasive messages and how such processing can lead people to change your attitudes. More precisely, you created, alongside with John Cacioppo, the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion and its dual process approach. What does this model propose?
00:55 What are the implications of the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion to theorising attitude formation for understanding prejudice, consumer 2 choices, political and legal decisions, as well as health behaviours, and why are they relevant in the current socioeconomic landscape?
02:01 How can your research help understand the factors that produce attitudinal and behavioural extremism?
03:37 One of your most recent publications has been The Handbook of Personalised Persuasion: Theory and Application, along with Andrew Luttrell and Jacob Teeny, in which you analyse what features of people, messages and contexts are most effective for personally tailored communication. Could you share its key points and how they can be leveraged to improve the influence of messaging?
Discover more here: frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/noticias/frontiers-knowledge-award-17-edition-social-sciences-to-social-psychologists-ajzen-albarracin-banaji-greenwald-petty
Follow us and learn about all our initiatives: fbbva.es/en
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Social Sciences has gone in this seventeenth edition to social psychologists Icek Ajzen, Dolores Albarracín, Mahzarin Banaji, Anthony Greenwald and Richard Petty for “revolutionizing the way we understand and measure attitudes" with an influence that extends to “psychology, sociology, political science, education, health, economics and other areas.”
The relationship between attitudes and behavior can also be studied through the lens of persuasion (understood as a process of social influence over the individual), given its power to alter a person’s attitudes and therefore their behavior. The main persuasion theory proposes two paths to achieve this: the central route, that of more elaboration, using characteristics that demand greater thought on the part of the individual, such that any attitude change will depend on the strength of the argument; and the peripheral route, which asks the recipient to be guided by simple cues without actually analyzing the message.
Known as the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), it owes its existence to Richard Petty, working with the late John Cacioppo. “What’s probably the most unique thing about our theory is that it says that the very same variable – whether it’s how much you like the source or how many arguments a source presents – can lead to more influence or less influence depending on the situation; whether the recipient is motivated and able to think about what the source is saying or not. It’s important to understand if someone is going to think a lot or not very much about something to determine how a variable impacts their attitude,” explains Petty, Professor of Psychology at the Ohio State University.
00:04 Professor Petty, the Frontiers of Knowledge. Award Committee has recognised your role in the development of theories regarding how people process persuasive messages and how such processing can lead people to change your attitudes. More precisely, you created, alongside with John Cacioppo, the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion and its dual process approach. What does this model propose?
00:55 What are the implications of the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion to theorising attitude formation for understanding prejudice, consumer 2 choices, political and legal decisions, as well as health behaviours, and why are they relevant in the current socioeconomic landscape?
02:01 How can your research help understand the factors that produce attitudinal and behavioural extremism?
03:37 One of your most recent publications has been The Handbook of Personalised Persuasion: Theory and Application, along with Andrew Luttrell and Jacob Teeny, in which you analyse what features of people, messages and contexts are most effective for personally tailored communication. Could you share its key points and how they can be leveraged to improve the influence of messaging?
Discover more here: frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/noticias/frontiers-knowledge-award-17-edition-social-sciences-to-social-psychologists-ajzen-albarracin-banaji-greenwald-petty
Follow us and learn about all our initiatives: fbbva.es/en
