Abstract
Employed cognitive dissonance theory to develop a framework for examining factors affecting the shift in public attitudes toward the Persian Gulf War. Data were collected during the war using a survey administered to a random sample of 162 undergraduates at 2 universities selected based on their presumed different prewar attitudes. Results show that strength of personal ties to the Middle East, self-reported liberalism/conservatism, and salient aversive events were all strongly related to attitude change toward Operation Desert Storm.