Q.Your friend eats too much junk food, how would you be able to bring about a change in her/his attitude towards food?

I would try to change my friend's attitude using the processes NCERT describes for attitude change. First, I would give credible, well-judged information (source credibility, message with the right amount of content) about how junk food harms health and how healthy food helps — this can create cognitive dissonance between 'I like junk food' and 'junk food is harmful', pushing my friend to change one cognition. I could use both a rational appeal (money/health facts) and an emotional appeal (caring for oneself and family). Being a liked friend, I can use the two-step (identification) process and model healthy eating myself so my friend imitates it. Face-to-face persuasion works better than indirect messages, and rewarding/praising healthier choices strengthens the new …

Understand the starting point

My friend currently has a positive attitude toward junk food. Attitudes that are still like opinions and not deeply tied to values are easier to change, so a food preference can be changed by working on its cognitive, affective and behavioural components.

Use cognitive dissonance

I would give my friend accurate information so that two dissonant cognitions arise — 'I eat too much junk food' and 'junk food causes serious harm to health'. Holding two ideas that are out of tune creates mental discomfort, and to reduce this dissonance my friend is likely to change one cognition — ideally by cutting down junk food (the healthy, sensible way to restore consonance), rather than by denying the harm.

Attend to source and message characteristics

Attitude change is more likely when the message comes from a credible and attractive source, so I would present facts clearly and, where possible, refer to doctors or trustworthy health information. The message should carry just the right amount of information — neither too much nor too little — and I can combine:

• a rational appeal (junk food wastes money and damages health; healthy food is economical and nourishing), and
• an emotional appeal (if you care for yourself and your family, good nutrition matters most).

A moderate amount of fear/concern can persuade, but I would avoid frightening my friend so much that the message 'turns off' and loses effect.

Use identification and the two-step process, and model healthy eating

Since my friend likes and trusts me, I am a favourable source. In the two-step concept (Mohsin), the target first identifies with the source and then imitates the source's own changed behaviour. So I would actually model healthy eating — visibly enjoying nutritious food and reducing junk food myself — so that my friend, identifying with me, imitates the change (observational learning).

Choose the right mode, and reward the new behaviour …