סמינר בהתנהגות ארגונית

ד״ר גיא יצחקוב, הקריה האקדמית אונו 

People often attempt to change the attitude of others by putting forward counterarguments. However, hearing counterarguments is not always useful, because the message recipient may feel this constitutes an infringement on the right to hold such an attitude. Hence, counterarguments are perceived as threatening and can prompt a defensive processing of information. The outcome of such defensive processing is usually a bolstering of the initial attitude, which is opposite to the intention of the person offering the counterargument (i.e. boomerang effect). People may be more effective in changing the attitudes of their interlocutors by relying on techniques that create mental states leading to a reconsideration of the original attitude.  Such mental state can be facilitated by merely listening to other people.  My research shows that the experience of high quality listening can change speakers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions, without any persuasive attempt provided by the listeners. Specifically, across four laboratory experiments, my colleagues and I found that experiencing high quality listening reduced speakers’ social anxiety and defensiveness. This in turn resulted in increased attitude complexity and reduced speakers’ attitude extremity (Itzchakov, Kluger & Castro, 2017). These effects were replicated in three quasi-experiments which employed a listening intervention technique in organizations (Itzchakov & Kluger, 2017). Furthermore, my colleagues and I found that high quality listening differentially affected two components of speaker’s attitude certainty by increasing attitude clarity, but not attitude correctness. Moreover, the increased clarity was followed by an increased intention of speakers to share their attitude with others, but not to persuade them (Itzchakov, DeMarree, Kluger & Turjeman-Levi, 2018).  Overall, this line of research is the first evidence to show that an interpersonal variable, unrelated to the attitude itself, can affect attitude structure.