An Evaluation of Message Impact on Attitude Formation (A Case Study of 2009 Elections)

2009 presidential elections and the events surrounding it involve many complications and, yet, are important enough to be reviewed and evaluated repeatedly. Hence, the present study intends to answer the following questions: 1) To what extent did impact message on attitude formation affect the 2009 presidential elections?, 2) Which strategies neutralize message impact on attitude formation? To answer the first question, first, message impact on the shaping of the attitudes of the protesters was examined from cognitive, affective and behavioral perspectives and to answer the second question, the hard and soft strategies required to neutralize the devastating impact of message on the shaping of the attitudes were addressed. The present study is an applied research work and was carried out using the descriptive survey method. The results showed that, based on the respondents’ evaluation, the magnitude of message impact on the formation of the three dimensions of the protesters’ attitudes (cognitive, affective and behavioral), with a mean of 3.94, was above the average and significant at 99% confidence level. Also, the results of the dependent t-test indicated that, with regard to confrontation strategies, the impact of the soft dimension, with a mean of 4.10, was above the average and significant at 95% confidence level. However, the impact of the hard dimension, with a mean of 3.17, was slightly above the average and not significant at 95% confidence level.