Summation versus balance in attitude organization and change.

4 groups of 40 Ss were provided with different amounts of positively evaluated information about a fictitious person. The information was presented in such a way that the total amount of affect associated with the information increased as a function of number of pieces of information, while the mean amount of affect associated with the information decreased as a function of number of pieces of information. Thus, the situation was such that maximally different predictions of attitude change would be made by a summation and a balance theory. The results strongly supported the summation theory point of view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)