Development of attitude strength over the life cycle: surge and decline

This article explores the relation of age to manifestations and antecedents of attitude strength. Three studies demonstrate that susceptibility to attitude change is greater during early and late adulthood than during middle adulthood. Three additional studies demonstrate that attitude importance, certainty, and perceived quantity of attitude-relevant knowledge are greater in middle adulthood than during early or late adulthood. These antecedents may therefore explain life cycle shifts in susceptibility to change. Susceptibility to change, importance, certainty, and perceived knowledge differ from one another in terms of their correlations with education, gender, and race, challenging the notion that attitude strength is a unitary construct. Evidence that people incorrectly believe that susceptibility to change declines steadily over the life course reinforces the distinction between operative and meta-attitudinal measures of attitude strength.     

Unpacking attitude certainty: Attitude clarity and attitude correctness.

Attitude certainty has been the subject of considerable attention in the attitudes and persuasion literature. The present research identifies 2 aspects of attitude certainty and provides evidence for the distinctness of the constructs. Specifically, it is proposed that attitude certainty can be conceptualized, and empirically separated, in terms of attitude clarity (the subjective sense that one knows what one's attitude is) and attitude correctness (the subjective sense that one's attitude is correct or valid). Experiment 1 uses factor analysis and correlational data to provide evidence for viewing attitude clarity and attitude correctness as separate constructs. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrate that attitude clarity and attitude correctness can have distinct antecedents (repeated expression and consensus feedback, respectively). Experiment 4 reveals that these constructs each play an independent role in persuasion and resistance situations. As clarity and correctness increase, attitudes become more resistant to counterattitudinal persuasive messages. These findings are discussed in relation to the existing attitude strength literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude strength and resistance processes.

This study examined whether multiple indicators of attitude strength form general dimensions that foster differential pathways to resistance. Ego involvement, certainty, personal importance, knowledge, and extremity were assessed. Resistance processes and outcomes were measured in a selective judgment paradigm. Intentions to act on attitudes and information-seeking proclivities were also assessed. Factor analyses of the strength measures revealed 2 factors. Both fostered intentions to act but were associated with differential resistance processes and outcomes. Heightened levels of the factor representing commitment to one's position were associated with increased selective elaboration, selective judgment, and attitude polarization. Embeddedness, the linkage of the attitude to one's self-concept, value system, and knowledge structure, was associated with decreased selective elaboration and increased information seeking and selective memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wearing the cloak: Antecedents and consequences of creating facades of conformity.

This study examines a select set of relationships proposed in P. F. Hewlin’s (2003) conceptual model of antecedents and consequences of creating facades of conformity. Results from a survey study of 238 employees working in multiple industries indicate that perceived nonparticipative work environments, minority status, self-monitoring, and collectivism are related to creating facades of conformity. Emotional exhaustion serves as a mediator between creating facades of conformity and members’ intention to leave the organization. Collectivism moderates the relationship between emotional exhaustion and intention to leave. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy beliefs: Comparison of five measures.

Compared 5 ways of operationalizing self-efficacy that are commonly found in the literature and assessed the antecedents and consequences of self-efficacy on the basis of A. Bandura's (1986) conceptualization. Results indicate that measuring self-efficacy by using a task-specific, 1-item confidence rating showed the lowest convergent validity with the other self-efficacy operationalizations and showed the least consistency in its correlation with the hypothesized self-efficacy antecedents and outcomes. Furthermore, self-efficacy magnitude and self-efficacy strength (combining all the certainty answers) appeared to be inferior to self-efficacy composites based on combining only the strength items where the magnitude response was "yes, I can perform at that level." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgment under emotional certainty and uncertainty: The effects of specific emotions on information processing.

The authors argued that emotions characterized by certainty appraisals promote heuristic processing whereas emotions characterized by uncertainty appraisals result in systematic processing. The 1st experiment demonstrated that the certainty associated with an emotion affects the certainty experienced in subsequent situations. The next 3 experiments investigated effects on processing of emotions associated with certainty and uncertainty. Compared with emotions associated with uncertainty, emotions associated with certainty resulted in greater reliance on the expertise of a source of a persuasive message in Experiment 2, more stereotyping in Experiment 3, and less attention to argument quality in Experiment 4. In contrast to previous theories linking valence and processing, these findings suggest that the certainty appraisal content of emotions is also important in determining whether people engage in systematic or heuristic processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Independence of interaction and interpersonal attraction in a psychiatric hospital population.

Investigated correlates of amount of liking, actual amount of interaction, and subjectively perceived amount of interaction in 38 patients (mean age, 39 yrs) on 2 state psychiatric hospital wards. Liking and actual amount of interaction were not correlated with each other. Measures of both perceived and actual physical attractiveness, familiarity, reciprocity of liking, personality similarity (MMPI), and attitude similarity were obtained. Perceived measures of all of these variables correlated highly with liking and somewhat less highly with perceived interaction. With the exception of perceived familiarity, none of them were consistently correlated with actual interaction. Actual measures of the variables were not correlated with liking, perceived interaction, or actual interaction. The implications of the results for theories of interpersonal attraction are discussed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sustained helping without obligation: Motivation, longevity of service, and perceived attitude change among AIDS volunteers.

A conceptual framework that identifies psychological and behavioral features associated with antecedents, experiences, and consequences of volunteerism is presented, and an inventory that measures 5 specific motivations for AIDS volunteerism is developed and cross-validated. Then a field study of 116 AIDS volunteers is presented in which a helping disposition, volunteer motivations, and social support (as antecedents), and personal satisfaction and organizational integration (as experiences) are used to predict duration of service over 2? years. Structural equation analyses indicate that dispositional helping influences satisfaction and integration but not duration of service, whereas greater motivation and less social support predict longer active volunteer service. The model is generalized to the prediction of perceived attitude change. Implications for conceptualizations of motivation, theoretical issues in helping, and practical concerns of volunteer organizations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Not all stereotyping is created equal: Differential consequences of thoughtful versus nonthoughtful stereotyping.

Much research emphasizes heuristic use of stereotypes, though stereotypes have long been considered as capable of influencing more thoughtful processing of social information. Direct comparisons between thoughtful and nonthoughtful stereotyping are lacking in the literature. Recent research in attitude change emphasizes the different consequences of judgments arising from relatively thoughtful versus nonthoughtful processes. Therefore, increased thought could not only fail to decrease stereotyping but might also create stereotypic perceptions that are more likely to have lasting impact. The current studies demonstrate thoughtful and nonthoughtful stereotyping within the same setting. More thoughtful stereotyping is more resistant to future attempts at change and to warnings of possible bias. Implications are discussed for the typical research questions asked after observing stereotypic judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On-line and memory-based modification of attitudes: Determinants of message recall-attitude change correspondence.

Experiments investigated the impact of message elaboration on attitude change–message recall correspondence when attitude change occurs in an on-line (as attitude-relevant information is received), or memory-based (on the basis of retrieved attitude-relevant information) fashion. In 2 experiments, Ss' processing goals were manipulated to increase or inhibit on-line change and message elaboration. As predicted, Ss reported postexposure attitudes more rapidly in on-line vs memory-based conditions. Decreased message elaboration increased attitude–recall correspondence, regardless of when attitude change occurred. Increased elaboration produced elaboration–attitude judgment correspondence. Results suggest that recall of message content will best predict persuasion when message content is encoded free of elaborations, regardless of when attitude change occurs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Film music influences how viewers relate to movie characters.

Film music has powerful aesthetic effects on the perception and understanding of screen content, but does it also influence viewers' sense of connection with movie characters thereby creating antecedents for an experience of empathy? Participants viewed clips showing characters' neutral or ambiguous reaction to an event, person, or object. Viewers rated character likability and their certainty about characters' thoughts in three conditions: thriller music, melodrama music, and no music. The effect of music conditions differed significantly from the no music condition. Compared to melodramatic music, thriller music significantly lowered likability and certainty about characters' thoughts. During subsequent cued recall of screen content, thriller music increased anger attributions and lowered sadness attributions, while melodramatic music increased love attributions and lowered fear attributions. The study provides evidence that film music can influence character likability and the certainty of knowing the character's thoughts, which are antecedents of empathetic concern and emphatic accuracy. Thus film music may be regarded as modulating antecedents of empathic concern and empathic accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Source entitativity and the elaboration of persuasive messages: The roles of perceived efficacy and message discrepancy.

Compared with nonentitative groups, entitative targets are considered to elicit more elaborative processing because of the singularity or unity they represent. However, when groups serve as sources of persuasive messages, other dynamics may operate. The current research suggests that entitativity is intrinsically linked to perceptions of a group’s efficacy related to the advocacy, and this efficacy combines with the position of the appeal to determine message elaboration. When messages are counterattitudinal, entitative (efficacious) sources should elicit greater processing than nonentitative groups because of concern that the entitative sources may be more likely to bring about the negative outcomes proposed. However, when appeals are proattitudinal, sources low in entitativity (nonefficacious) should initiate more elaboration due to concern that they may be unlikely to facilitate the positive outcomes proposed. These hypotheses were supported in a series of studies. Preliminary studies established the entitativity–efficacy relation (Studies 1A and 1B). Primary persuasion studies showed that manipulations of source entitativity (Studies 2 and 3) and source efficacy (Studies 4A and 4B) have opposite effects on processing as a function of message discrepancy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamic operations of thought systems.

Our research program focuses on thought systems consisting of a core event that might befall a person and other topics evoked in free associating on this event, mostly its salient antecedents and consequences. We theorize that the pattern of salient antecedents and consequences evoked by the core event is related to its judged desirability and likelihood by several adaptive principles, such that when a change is directly induced in one part of the belief system it produces predictable remote adjustments in other parts. In a first experiment we manipulated the core event's judged desirability or likelihood and tested for predicted remote effects on the salience of antecedents and consequences. A second experiment conversely manipulated the salience of antecedents or consequences and tested for predicted remote effects on the core event's judged desirability and likelihood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The epistemic benefits of trait-consistent mood states: An analysis of extraversion and mood.

One must consider both trait and state affect to predict individual differences in emotional processing. The present results document a novel trait-state interaction that is consistent with proposals concerning the epistemic functions of affect (A. R. Damasio, 1994). Four studies tested the effects of extraversion and mood on motivation-relevant processing. Study 1 measured naturally occurring mood, whereas Studies 2-4 manipulated mood. Extraverts were faster to link events to their personal motivations when in a positive mood state, whereas introverts were fast to do so in a neutral or negative mood state. Further findings indicate that this interaction affects attitude accessibility rather than event elaboration. Overall, the authors suggest that there are pragmatic benefits to trait-consistent moods, particularly for processing motivation-relevant stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cognitive impact of past behavior: Influences on beliefs, attitudes, and future behavioral decisions.

To study the processes by which past behavior influences future behavior, participants were led to believe that without being aware of it, they had expressed either support for or opposition to the institution of comprehensive exams. Judgment and response time data suggested that participants' perceptions of their past behavior often influenced their decisions to repeat the behavior. This influence was partly the result of cognitive activity that influenced participants' cognitions about specific behavioral consequences and the attitude they based on these cognitions. More generally, however, feedback about past behavior had a direct effect on participants' attitudes and ultimate behavioral decisions that was independent of the outcome-specific cognitions. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for biased scanning of memory, dissonance reduction, self-perception, and the use of behavior as a heuristic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Application of attachment theory to the study of sexual abuse.

Research on sexual abuse frequently fails to address the influence of the family as a risk factor for the onset of all kinds of sexual abuse and as a mediator of its long-term effects. Attachment theory provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding the familial antecedents and long-term consequences of sexual abuse. Themes associated with insecure parent–child attachment (rejection, role reversal/parentification, and fear/unresolved trauma) are frequently found in the dynamics of families characterized by sexual abuse, and specific categories of sequelae are related to probable attachment experiences. Implications for intervention and research on sexual abuse are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antecedent retrieval processes.

In three experiments we examined the nature of the search for antecedents during reading. Subjects read passages that contained two possible antecedents: one appearing early in the passages and the other appearing late. The degree of elaboration was varied, with one antecedent receiving additional elaboration for half the passages and the other antecedent receiving additional elaboration for the remaining half. Reading time differences from the first two experiments demonstrated that late antecedents are reinstated more quickly than early antecedents and elaborated antecedents are reinstated more quickly than nonelaborated antecedents. Experiment 1 showed that concepts that fall in the path of an antecedent search can be activated by the search. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that this activation is restricted to concepts that are from the same general category as the target antecedent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceiving surface slant from deformation of optic flow.

Perceived surface orientation and angular velocity were investigated for orthographic projections of 3-D rotating random-dot planes. It was found that (a) tilt was accurately perceived and (b) slant and angular velocity were systematically misperceived. It was hypothesized that these misperceptions are the product of a heuristic analysis based on the deformation, one of the differential invariants of the first-order optic flow. According to this heuristic, surface attitude and angular velocity are recovered by determining the magnitudes of these parameters that most likely produce the deformation of the velocity field, under the assumption that all slant and angular velocity magnitudes have the same a priori probability. The results of the present investigation support this hypothesis. Residual orientation anisotropies not accounted for by the proposed heuristic were also found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating stage and continuum models to explain processing of exercise messages and exercise initiation among sedentary college students.

Concepts from the transtheoretical model (J. O. Prochaska, C. C. DiClemente, & J. C. Norcross, 1992), theory of planned behavior (I. Ajzen, 1985), and the elaboration likelihood model (R. E. Petty & J. I Cacioppo, 1986b) were used to examine how exercise readiness impacted processing of exercise messages and exercise initiation. Sedentary college students (n?=?147) were assessed for exercise attitude, intent, behavior, and stage of change. Students also listed their thoughts after reading messages with either strong or weak arguments for exercise. Attitude predicted depth of message processing, but stage of change did not. Stage of change and intent at baseline predicted exercise adoption at 1- to 3-month follow-up (n?=?134), with baseline activity moderating the effect of intent. Tailoring messages to recipients' depth of processing and interactive effects of intent and behavior on exercise adoption should be considered in future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual and situational differences in desire for certainty.

The correlation was determined between Ss' extremity of response on several attitude and judgment instruments and scores on a test of desire for certainty. "Significant correlations were obtained between response extremity and test scores, suggesting that individual differences in desire for certainty are consistent from one measure to another." In another study it was shown that the strength of the desire for certainty can be increased and decreased by situational influences. 24 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)