Processes of Social Influence on Sampling Behavior: The Effect of Other's Positive Attitude and Receiver's Prior Experience

Abstract

AbstractStudies about attitude formation have pointed out the importance of sampling behavior. When thinking about actual social interaction scenes, it may be better to consider them as attitude‐updating processes between those who have already formed attitudes based on some experience. Sixty‐five participants took part in the experiment, in which the other's positive attitude and the participant's own prior experience were manipulated. After participants had been presented five types of puzzles (experience: direct vs. indirect), which had been made to improve analytic ability, their attitudes towards the puzzles were measured (“pre attitude”). They were shown the other's positive attitude (inconsistent vs. consistent), and they were given 10 min of free time before “testing on their analytic ability.” The amount of time spent on each puzzle was recorded to index sampling behavior and the attitudes towards the puzzles were measured after the free time (“post attitude”). The results of analyses showed that the other's positive attitude increased sampling behavior when the participant's attitude was positive (first‐ranked) and negative (fifth‐ranked), and that prior experience and sampling contributed to attitude change for the first‐ranked puzzle. Those who had had direct experience and those who had spent more time sampling this puzzle tended to maintain their previous positive attitude. The potential boundary conditions of social influence on sampling behavior are discussed.