Social reinforcement in attitude change.

Ss were exposed to an attitude different than one they had expressed previously with the purpose of seeing whether postcommunicative conversation would reflect attempts at reducing such cognitive dissonance. Analyzing the conversation of women who had been exposed to attitudes concerning toilet training which was different than the one they had expressed indicated that they did tend to reduce cognitive dissonance by seeking out information that either agreed with their formally held notion or the newly advocated one. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GD09M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating societal change in attitude.

Presents a probabilistic response model for assessing attitude data from national surveys. The attendant statistical analysis by generalized least squares adjusts for the heterogeneous variances and covariances characterizing the data in such surveys. The flexibility of this approach in survey analysis is illustrated using attitude data from the Netherlands' Social and Cultural Report 1980. Estimation and testing procedures applied to these data demonstrate sharp shifts during the last decade toward easing social constraints on the feminine role. This illustration is suggestive of the types of lawful relationships that are demonstrable at the societal level of analysis. Other possible applications of the approach are suggested. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit ambivalence from attitude change: An exploration of the PAST model.

Traditional models of attitude change have assumed that when people appear to have changed their attitudes in response to new information, their old attitudes disappear and no longer have any impact. The present research suggests that when attitudes change, the old attitude can remain in memory and influence subsequent behavior. Four experiments are reported in which initial attitudes were created and then changed (or not) with new information. In each study, the authors demonstrate that when people undergo attitude change, their old and new attitudes can interact to produce evaluative responses consistent with a state of implicit ambivalence. In Study 1, individuals whose attitudes changed were more neutral on a measure of automatic evaluation. In Study 2, attitude change led people to show less confidence on an implicit but not an explicit measure. In Studies 3 and 4, people whose attitudes changed engaged in greater processing of attitude-relevant information than did individuals whose attitudes were not changed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diversion of juvenile offenders: An experimental comparison.

This study presents the results of a longitudinal experiment focused on the relative efficacy of varying treatments for juvenile offenders (N?=?213). Four interventions using nonprofessionals were contrasted with an attention-placebo group and a treatment-as-usual control group. Systematic manipulation checks indicated a high degree of integrity in the different treatment conditions. Examination of outcomes was accomplished using multiple measures of self-reported delinquency and official recidivism. Results indicated no significant differential effects on self-reported delinquency. However, all treatment conditions involving a specific intervention model located outside the formal juvenile justice system produced lower recidivism rates than the attention-placebo condition, the treatment-as-usual control condition, or the intervention condition located within the juvenile justice system. The nature of these findings and their relation to the field of delinquency theory and treatment are discussed. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear and attitude change.

To explore attitude change under high-fear conditions, an experimental group of student nurses was tested 3 times during a 6-wk. TB affiliation. This group showed significantly greater attitude change than a control group. In the experimental group, anticipatory-fear and fear-decrease scores were positively correlated with favorable attitude-change scores. High fear apparently facilitated attitude change in this group. The relationship between fear and attitude change in the high fear experimental group was monotonic with no decrease in attitude change at the highest fear levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reconciling conflicting results derived from experimental and survey studies of attitude change.

"Two quite different types of research design are characteristically used to study the modification of atitudes through communication. In the first type, the experiment, individuals are given a controlled exposure to a communication and the effects evaluated in terms of the amount of change in attitude or opinion produced… . In the alternative research design, the sample survey, information is secured through interviews or questionnaires, both concerning the respondent's exposure to various communications and his attitudes and opinions on various issues." Divergences in results from the 2 methods are cited and the reconciliation of apparent conflicts is attempted. There appear to be "certain inherent limitations of each method." The mutual importance of the 2 approaches to communication effectiveness is stressed. "… each represents an important emphasis. The challenge of future work is one of fruitfully combining their virtues so that we may develop a social psychology of communication with the conceptual breadth provided by correlational study of process and with the rigorous but more delimited methodology of the experiment." 24 refs (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive restructuring and attitude change.

Factors which influence attitude change were investigated by determining attitudes of non-Catholic college Ss to the possibility of their becoming Catholic. These attitudes were then explored under 2 subsequent experimental conditions defined by a willingness to participate further in the project. If willing, they were forced to realize the meaning of their written attitudes. The results indicated an interactive effect with increased change of opinion or resistance to change. This was determined by the degree of option to participate in interaction while being forced to recognize the implications of the meaning of their written statements. Awareness of meaning in interaction with freedom to participate or not produced the greatest attitude change; interaction with no freedom produced the greatest resistance to change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive consistency and attitude change.

The effect of temporal presentation of ideas, consistency of presented attitude, and wishful thinking on the logicalness of thinking was investigated. The results were discussed in relation to previous empirical and theoretical research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Static and dynamic measures of ability: An experimental comparison.

Third graders were trained to mastery on a balance-scale strategy by either a scaffold method (the amount of help decreased as children's proficiency increased) or a nonscaffolded method (help did not vary with children's proficiency). A multivariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), with intelligence, cognitive tempo, independence, and pretraining balance-scale skill as covariates, revealed that students in the scaffolded group performed consistently across maintenance and transfer points whereas the performance of students in the nonscaffolded condition declined on transfer posttests. A dynamic measure (number of examples required to reach mastery) predicted transfer but not maintenance in both groups, but in the nonscaffolded condition, intelligence and pretraining skill also predicted transfer performance. Thus, scaffolded instruction may be a superior instructional and diagnostic method. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associative and propositional processes in evaluation: An integrative review of implicit and explicit attitude change.

A central theme in recent research on attitudes is the distinction between deliberate, "explicit" attitudes and automatic, "implicit" attitudes. The present article provides an integrative review of the available evidence on implicit and explicit attitude change that is guided by a distinction between associative and propositional processes. Whereas associative processes are characterized by mere activation independent of subjective truth or falsity, propositional reasoning is concerned with the validation of evaluations and beliefs. The proposed associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model makes specific assumptions about the mutual interplay of the 2 processes, implying several mechanisms that lead to symmetric or asymmetric changes in implicit and explicit attitudes. The model integrates a broad range of empirical evidence and implies several new predictions for implicit and explicit attitude change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of conformity and attitude change.

"College males varying in affiliative motivation were subjected to a group-influence situation where their previously measured attitudes toward divorce was either unanimously opposed, or opposed with the exception of one supporter. The subject's public reaction (conformity) was measured, and also his private response (attitude change). The results indicated conformity to be a joint function of affiliative motivation and conditions of social support, with roughly similar but less significant results for attitude change." 19 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The motivational bases of attitude change.

In describing the motivational forces which determine attitude formation and change, the authors focus upon three basic variables: reward and punishment, reality testing, and ego defensiveness. Methodological approaches which seem to lead to appropriate tests of hypotheses generated by the discussion are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and susceptibility to attitude change.

Two hypotheses about the relation between age and susceptibility to attitude change were tested. The impressionable years hypothesis proposes that individuals are highly susceptible to attitude change during late adolescence and early adulthood and that susceptibility drops precipitously immediately thereafter and remains low throughout the rest of the life cycle. The increasing persistence hypothesis proposes that people become gradually more resistant to change throughout their lives. Structural equation models were applied to data from the 1956–1960, 1972–1976, and 1980 National Election Panel Studies in order to estimate the stability of political attitudes and unreliability in measures of them. The results support the impressionable years hypothesis and disconfirm the increasing persistence hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive complexity and assimilative projection in attitude change.

"Students in two undergraduate psychology courses were administered the same attitude scales on two occasions. The second administration was accompanied by information concerning the expressed opinions of either generals or peers. As hypothesized, those students showing little change in their attitude scale scores were found to be high on a measure of cognitive simplicity. Those students who were influenced by peers perceived themselves as more similar to peers than students who were negative to peer influence." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Misattribution of dissonance and behaviour-consistent attitude change.

Examined the prediction that people who have misattributed dissonance arousal to an external source may come to question the appropriateness of this attribution and may then be motivated to alter their attitudes. This was tested by having an experimenter discredit the plausibility of an external source after misattribution had presumably occurred. 80 female undergraduates participated in the study, with 16 of these Ss serving as controls. 64 Ss were given a pill described as having either unpleasant side effects or no side effects and then were committed to write counterattitudinal essays under high-choice conditions. Some Ss were then told that a mistake had been made and that they had actually been given the other form of the pill. As predicted, Ss who had initially been led to believe that the pill had aversive side effects but were later told that it did not manifested behavior-consistent attitude change. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude change through modification of attitude structure.

183 experimental Ss were tested regarding their attitudes toward allowing Negroes to move into white neighborhoods, toward 25 values in terms of expected satisfaction from each, and toward the 25 values in terms of "allowing Negroes to move into white neighborhoods" would lead to or block attainment of the values both before and after a change procedure designed to increase the S's awareness that nonsegregation would lead to the attainment of four important values. The experimental procedure changed perceptions and attitudes toward Negro housing segregation in S's with moderate initial attitude on the issue. Little attitude change was produced in extremely prejudiced and extremely nonprejudiced S's (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Embodiment, agency, and attitude change.

Attitude embodiment effects occur when the position or movement of a person’s physical body changes the way the person evaluates an object. The present research investigated whether attitude embodiment effects depend more on biomechanical factors or on inferential cues to causal agency. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that actual movements of the physical body are not necessary to create attitude embodiment effects when inferential cues imply agency for another person’s physical movements. Experiment 3 showed that actual movements of the physical body are not sufficient to create attitude embodiment effects when inferential cues imply nonagency for those movements. In all 3 experiments, inferential cues to agency played a more important role in attitude embodiment effects than did actual agency, suggesting that theories of embodiment and attitude embodiment need to consider inferential cues to agency alongside biomechanical mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The attitude polarization phenomenon: Role of response measure, attitude extremity, and behavioral consequences of reported attitude change.

Four studies examined the generality of attitude polarization (C. G. Lord et al, 1979). Biased assimilation of essays on 2 controversial issues was substantial and correlated with reported attitude change. Polarization was observed for reported attitude change on capital punishment and generally stronger in Ss with extreme than moderate attitudes. Polarization was not indicated in a pre–post measurement design. For affirmative action, reported polarization was not observed. The hypothesis that Ss reporting polarization would subsequently write particularly strong essays was not supported, although those reporting depolarization wrote relatively weak essays. The results suggest the relevance of individual differences in reported attitude change but do not confirm the powerful inferences frequently drawn regarding the pervasive, undesirable consequences of self-reported attitude polarization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)