Some effects of time and thought on attitude polarization.

Abstract

Three experiments were performed to examine the effects of thought on attitude change. It was predicted that (a) thought produces a change in attitude so as to make it more extreme in the initial direction (i.e., polarization) and (b) the longer one thinks about the attitude object, the greater the tendency toward polarization. In Experiments 1 and 2, the attitude objects were drawn from a heterogeneous attitude questionnaire; in Experiment 3, they were news type photos. Hypothesis b was tested over the following thought durations: 30, 60, 90, and 180 sec in Experiment 1; 4S, 60, 90, and 180 sec in Experiment 2; and 28 and 60 sec in Experiment 3. Experiments 2 and 3 also had no-thought conditions, thereby permitting a test of Hypothesis a. Using whether or not an attitude became more polarized as the dependent variable, Hypothesis b received significant support in all three experiments, and Hypothesis a was supported only in Experiment 3. What is the fate of attitudes when an individual is separated from the attitude object and external information concerning that attitude object is unavailable? It may be predicted that under certain specified conditions, such attitudes (i.e., affect, evaluation) change to become more polarized, with positive attitudes becoming more positive and negative attitudes becoming more negative. This prediction is derivable from two assumptions. The first is that thinking about some attitude object has an impact on the cognitions associated with that object such that they become more consistent with the initial attitude direction. Sadler and Tesser (1973) collected evidence in support of this assumption. Subjects were exposed to either a likable or dislikable other person whom they were told to think about or were distracted from thinking about. Then they listed their cognitions concerning the other person. When the stimulus other was likable, subjects who thought about him listed more positive cognitions than subjects who were distracted from thinking about him. There were few negative cognitions, and they were unaffected by The authors are indebted to Chris Leone and Sally Edge for their assistance in running subjects in