THE CHANGE OF THE IMPRESSION OF THE SENDER AND ATTITUDE FORMATION TOWARDS THE OBJECT OF PERSUASION (Zmiana wrazenia o nadawcy a ksztaltowanie postawy wobec obiektu perswazji)

Psychological theories of persuasion usually focus on the issue of a change of peoples' attitudes towards object of persuasion. Among other factors, they take into account the role of sender's attributes in the change of those attitudes. However, they omit the fact that persuasive actions also change the way of how the persuader is perceived. The results of two experiments are presented in the article. The changes in the impression of the sender's credibility impact receiver's attitude towards the object of persuasion. The improvement of the impression of the sender leads to decrease of difference between receiver's and sender's issue position. The deterioration of impression leads to higher attachment of the receiver to his/her initial issue position (experiment 1) and causes moving back from the position of the sender when he/she is taking clear position (experiment 2).