After graduation Richard E. Petty went on to start his academic career as the assistant professor of psychology at the University of Missouri, and in 1985 he was named the Frederick A. Middlebush Professor of Psychology.
Petty’s research focuses on the situational and individual differences factors responsible for changes in beliefs, attitudes, judgments, decisions, and behaviors.
More specifically, his current work examines the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion.
This model is used to understand prejudice, consumer choice, political and legal decisions, and health behaviors.
He has been a consultant and panelist for the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Dietary Guidelines Implementation to Improve the Health of Americans and the Committee for a Social Psychology of Aging, the National Institute on Drug Abuse panel on Using Persuasive Communication to Prevent Drug Abuse, and the National Science Foundation panel on the Human Dimensions of Global Change.