Prior Attitudes Research Articles

Improving outgroup attitudes in schools: First steps toward a teacher-led vicarious contact intervention.

Despite the urgent need for promoting positive intergroup relations in schools, research on intergroup relations is not systematically translated into prejudice-reduction interventions. Although prejudice-reduction interventions in schools based on indirect contact have been conducted for decades, they have all been carried out by researchers themselves. In a field experiment in Finland in autumn 2015, we tested for the first time a vicarious contact prejudice-reduction intervention for its effectiveness among adolescents (N=639) when implemented independently by school teachers instead of researchers. In addition, we tested the extent to which the intervention's effect depends on initial outgroup attitudes, previous direct outgroup contact experiences, and gender, hypothesizing that the intervention improves outgroup attitudes particularly among adolescents with more negative prior attitudes and less positive prior direct contact, and more among girls than among boys. We found an unanticipated overall deterioration in the outgroup attitudes during intervention in both the experimental and control groups. However, attitudes seemed to deteriorate somewhat less in the experimental than in the control group, and the intervention had a significant positive effect on outgroup attitudes in one experimental subgroup that needed it most: girls who had negative rather than positive outgroup attitudes at the outset. We discuss our results in light of previous research and contextual particularities.

When Comments and Quotes Collide: How Exemplars and Prior Attitudes Affect News Credibility

ABSTRACTOnline news outlets offers individuals with a variety of cues to public opinion such as quotes and comments, both of which have been shown to affect perceived public opinion. However, what happens when quotes embedded in news conflict with the sentiment of online comments? An experiment (N = 276) was conducted to investigate this question using a 3 (quote tone: issue supportive vs. issue opposition vs. no quote control) × 3 (comment tone: issue supportive vs. issue opposition vs. no comment control) design. Results revealed that counter-attitudinal online comments are less likely to decrease news credibility when accompanied by attitude consistent quotes. Perceptions of exemplar representativeness and similarity were also affected by exemplar congruity and prior issue attitudes. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for exemplification theory and the practice of journalism are discussed.

My point is valid, yours is not: myside bias in reasoning about abortion

ABSTRACTThe study explores whether people are more inclined to accept a conclusion that confirms their prior beliefs and reject one they personally object to even when both follow the same logic. Most of the prior research in this area has relied on the informal reasoning paradigm; in this study, however, we applied a formal reasoning paradigm to distinguish between cognitive and motivational mechanisms leading to myside bias in reasoning on value-laden topics (in this case abortions). Slovak and Polish (N = 387) participants indicated their attitudes toward abortion and then evaluated logical syllogisms with neutral, pro-choice, or pro-life content. We analysed whether participants’ prior attitudes influenced their ability to solve these logically identical reasoning tasks and found that prior attitudes were the strongest predictor of myside bias in evaluating both valid and invalid syllogisms, even after controlling for logical validity (the ability to solve neutral syllogisms) and previous experience of logic.

False beliefs and confabulation can lead to lasting changes in political attitudes.

In times of increasing polarization and political acrimony, fueled by distrust of government and media disinformation, it is ever more important to understand the cognitive mechanisms behind political attitude change. In two experiments, we present evidence that false beliefs about one's own prior attitudes and confabulatory reasoning can lead to lasting changes in political attitudes. In Experiment 1 (N = 140), participants stated their opinions about salient political issues, and using the Choice Blindness Paradigm we covertly altered some of their responses to indicate an opposite position. In the first condition, we asked the participants to immediately verify the manipulated responses, and in the second, we also asked them to provide underlying arguments behind their attitudes. Only half of the manipulations were corrected by the participants. To measure lasting attitude change, we asked the participants to rate the same issues again later in the experiment, as well as one week after the first session. Participants in both conditions exhibited lasting shifts in attitudes, but the effect was considerably larger in the group that confabulated supporting arguments. We fully replicated these findings in Experiment 2 (N = 232). In addition, we found that participants' analytical skill correlated with their correction of the manipulation, whereas political involvement did not. This study contributes to the understanding of how confabulatory reasoning and self-perceptive processes can interact in lasting attitude change. It also highlights how political expressions can be both stable in the context of everyday life, yet flexible when argumentative processes are engaged. (PsycINFO Database Record

IRRITATE ME AND I’LL BLOCK YOU! – CONSUMER’S COGNITIVE PROCESS LEADING TO AD BLOCKERS

Digital advertising is one of the most crucial medium of communication and marketing (Berner and Kiley, 2005). Digital advertising brings with itself several benefits such as increase in reach, low advertising cost, and high degree of customer engagement. However, along with benefits it also brings several challenges for the marketers such as comprehending consumer attitude, consumption and behaviour towards digital advertisements. According to prior literature attitude towards internet consists of factors such as information, entertainment, irritation, and trustworthiness (Aaker & Bruzzone, 1985). Ad blocking has become one of the most important concerns for advertising industry globally. This paper has attempted to understand the series of actions that leads to ad blocking. This series consists of consumer response and consumer attitude towards digital advertising where the constant ad delivery creates ad intrusiveness which leads to ad irritation which in turn leads to ad avoidance and ultimately results in ad blocking. Ad blocking further has serious consequences in brand image and brand valuation, because as more number of users opt to download and use ad blockers, advertisement instead of increasing brand valuation results in brand devaluation, not to mention wastage of ad spend. Through literature review it was found that reports discuss ad blockers and its operations but there is little understanding on the process that leads a consumer to install ad blocking software on his digital device. The research objective of the study is therefore, to understand cognitive process of consumers that leads them to take a decision of installing an ad blocking software on their digital device. The study therefore proposes four research questions, 1. What aspects of online advertising irritate users? 2. How do consumers avoid advertisements? 3. What causes a consumer to use ad blocker? 4. What cognitive process lead a consumer to install ad blocking software? A mixed method research is adopted for the purpose of this paper. In the first stage a qualitative research was conducted through semi-structured interviews in order to understand consumer opinion on what leads them to install an ad blocking (Jagani and Panda 2016). Thematic analysis of transcripts was conducted from which 81 items on ad irritation, ad avoidance and ad blocking were identified for second stage of the study which consists of online survey using quantitative research methods. The items for the quantitative survey are \categorised in three main categories viz. Irritation, Avoidance and Action. The sample consists of 18 to 35 year olds who are active users of internet and have been exposed to digital advertisement, spends more than two hours per day on internet through various digital device and are aware of ad blockers or have used them in the past. Non-probabilistic sampling method was selected for the study and quota sampling was implemented. The study aims to comprehend the process that leads a consumer to install an ad blocking software on his or her digital device.

Attitudes toward protective behavioral strategies: Do they predict use of strategies and alcohol outcomes over time?

Whereas past research among young adults has established that the use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) is negatively related to alcohol outcomes, fewer studies have examined constructs related to PBS use. This study aimed to examine longitudinally the associations of attitudes toward PBS with PBS use and alcohol outcomes, as well as between PBS use and attitudes toward PBS. It also aimed to examine biological sex as a moderator of these associations. Participants (N = 248) were young adults participating in a longitudinal study in the US. Measures of attitudes toward PBS, PBS use, alcohol use and related consequences at 18, 24 and 30-months were included in the analyses. Results indicated that attitudes toward PBS were positively related to subsequent PBS use when prior PBS use was not controlled for; similarly, PBS use was positively related to attitudes toward PBS when prior attitudes were not taken into account. Both associations did not remain significant after controlling for prior PBS use and attitudes. These associations were not significantly moderated by biological sex. There was, however, a significant interaction between attitudes toward PBS and biological sex in predicting alcohol use, such that positive attitudes toward PBS were significantly related to fewer drinks over time among males but not among females, even after controlling for prior PBS use and alcohol use. Finally, after controlling for prior PBS use and consequences, attitudes toward PBS were not significantly related to consequences over time. Implications of these findings for prevention among young adults are discussed.

Julgamento Moral do Aborto: Influência da Atitude Prévia, Princípios Deontológicos e Utilitaristas

Resumo Julgamentos morais fazem parte do cotidiano das pessoas e processos cognitivos são utilizados como base para a formulação de um julgamento moral. Este trabalho tem como objetivo mensurar o efeito covariante da atitude prévia em relação a um tema moral na relação entre a sobrecarga cognitiva e o julgamento de um cenário moral. O Experimento 1 testou a relação direta entre princípios morais (i.e., deontológico e utilitarista) e sobrecarga cognitiva em uma tarefa de julgamento moral. No Experimento 2, foi testada a interferência da atitude prévia em tarefa de julgamento moral. Em ambos os experimentos, a amostra foi composta por estudantes universitário, em sua maioria homens. Os resultados sugerem que a sobrecarga cognitiva induz um julgamento de origem deontológica e que a atitude prévia em relação a um objeto moral interfere significativamente na tarefa de julgamento moral independente do cenário.

An Optimization-Based Initial Alignment and Calibration Algorithm of Land-Vehicle SINS In-Motion.

For a running freely land-vehicle strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS), the problems of self-calibration and attitude alignment need to be solved simultaneously. This paper proposes a complete alignment algorithm for the land vehicle navigation using Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) and an odometer. A self-calibration algorithm is proposed based on the global observability analysis to calibrate the odometer scale factor and IMU misalignment angle, and the initial alignment and calibration method based on optimal algorithm is established to estimate the attitude and other system parameters. This new algorithm has the capability of self-initialization and calibration without any prior attitude and sensor noise information. Computer simulation results show that the performance of the proposed algorithm is superior to the extended Kalman filter (EKF) method during the oscillating attitude motions, and the vehicle test validates its advantages.

How do implicit/explicit attitudes and emotional reactions to sustainable logo relate? A neurophysiological study

Food package labels can be used to influence consumers’ evaluation and purchasing behaviour, fostering sustainable consumption. Therefore, it is important to understand consumers’ emotional reaction to food package labels that convey sustainable information. The aim of the present research is to get a better understanding of the relation between consumers’ attitudes and emotional reactions often used to measure the effectiveness of a communication. Particularly, we focused on recyclability, assessing participants’ prior explicit and implicit attitudes towards recyclability and their emotional reaction to food packages featuring logos of (non-)recyclability. The emotional reaction was measured both at an explicit and at an implicit level, using direct (self-reported) and indirect (eye movement, facial expressions and pupil dilation) techniques respectively. Results showed that explicit attitudes predicted self-reported emotions, while implicit attitudes predicted the spontaneous emotional reactions, highlighting the importance to assess both explicit and implicit attitudes. Moreover, results showed that the relation between the time that people looked at the logo and the spontaneous emotional reaction was contingent upon the participant’s implicit attitudes. Finally, a follow-up analysis revealed that people with positive implicit attitudes towards recyclability were faster in detecting the recyclable logo and spent more time on processing the logo which on its turn resulted in better emotional reactions. Thus, the results suggest that implicit attitudes influence both visual attention and emotional reactions. Overall, the research contributes to a better understanding of the relation between prior attitudes and emotional reactions to food packaging, and supports the use of an approach that comprises both direct and indirect measures of attitudes and emotions.

The role of attitudes in technology acceptance management: Reflections on the case of hydrogen fuel cells in Europe

Abstract This manuscript considers the implications of prior attitudes for public-facing communication campaigns relating to hydrogen technologies in Europe. Findings from a survey of publics in seven EU countries indicate low attitude strength and low stability of attitudes towards hydrogen fuel cells for stationary and mobile applications, as well as country differences. While prior attitudes are known to be influential in technology acceptance, they appear to be less so at the early stage of technology diffusion, when public knowledge and awareness are relatively low. This in turn implies that while psychological theories are proving useful in consumer-citizen aspects of socio-technical transitions research in particular, their context-specific application and further empirical testing are required. The findings imply that information campaigns would be a valuable tool at this early stage of hydrogen technologies, being likely to increase awareness for those with low or no knowledge and to positively influence attitudes towards the technology. Assuming higher diffusion of the technologies in future, however, communication strategies would need to be adapted: stronger commitment towards particular attitudes may lead to ‘biased’ information processing and evaluation. Regular monitoring on a country-specific level in this regard is thus recommended, reflecting country differences in the degree of diffusion of hydrogen technologies.

A robust star identification algorithm with star shortlisting

A star tracker provides the most accurate attitude solution in terms of arc seconds compared to the other existing attitude sensors. When no prior attitude information is available, it operates in “Lost-In-Space (LIS)” mode. Star pattern recognition, also known as star identification algorithm, forms the most crucial part of a star tracker in the LIS mode. Recognition reliability and speed are the two most important parameters of a star pattern recognition technique. In this paper, a novel star identification algorithm with star ID shortlisting is proposed. Firstly, the star IDs are shortlisted based on worst-case patch mismatch, and later stars are identified in the image by an initial match confirmed with a running sequential angular match technique. The proposed idea is tested on 16,200 simulated star images having magnitude uncertainty, noise stars, positional deviation, and varying size of the field of view. The proposed idea is also benchmarked with the state-of-the-art star pattern recognition techniques. Finally, the real-time performance of the proposed technique is tested on the 3104 real star images captured by a star tracker SST-20S currently mounted on a satellite. The proposed technique can achieve an identification accuracy of 98% and takes only 8.2 ms for identification on real images. Simulation and real-time results depict that the proposed technique is highly robust and achieves a high speed of identification suitable for actual space applications.

Linking Pornography Consumption to Support for Adolescents' Access to Birth Control: Cumulative Results from Multiple Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal National Surveys

ABSTRACTThis article reports the results of three meta-samples investigating U.S. adults' pornography consumption, attitudes toward teen sex, and support for teen access to birth control. Findings were based on multiple independent samples totaling more than 11,000 people. Pragmatic motivations included examining what public health advocacy groups would consider a positive public opinion effect of pornography at a potentially pivotal time for U.S. policy makers. Theoretical motivations included probing key tenets from the sexual script acquisition, activation, application model (3AM) of sexual media socialization and the reinforcing spirals model (RSM) of media uses and effects. Consistent with the 3AM, path and mediation analyses of both cross-sectional and longitudinal data suggested that pornography consumption may increase support for teens' birth control access through a shift in perspective on teen sex. In alignment with the RSM, participants' prior beliefs and attitudes were prospectively predictive of their likelihood of future pornography consumption.

Gay Acquaintanceship and Attitudes toward Homosexuality: A Conservative Test

Does acquaintanceship with gays and lesbians produce more accepting attitudes toward homosexuality and gay rights? Although most scholars and laypeople would likely answer in the affirmative, previous work has struggled to answer this question because of the difficulty in disentangling social influence from social selection. Using panel data from the 2006 to 2010 editions of the General Social Survey, this study provides a conservative test of the contact hypothesis for gay acceptance. People who had at least one gay or lesbian acquaintance at baseline exhibited larger attitude changes at two- and four-year follow-ups with regard to support for same-sex marriage and moral acceptance of homosexuality. Furthermore, this contact effect extended even, and perhaps especially, to people who otherwise displayed more negative prior attitudes and lower propensities for gay and lesbian acquaintanceship.

Computer-Based Testing: Score Equivalence and Testing Administration Mode Preference in a Comparative Evaluation Study

The empirical evidences show that two identical Computer-Based Testing (henceforth CBT) and Paper-and-Pencil-Based Testing (henceforth PBT) do not always result in the same scores. Such conclusions are referred to as “the effect of testing administration mode” or “testing mode effect”. Moderators such as individual differences (e.g., prior computer experience or computer attitude) have been investigated [4] to see if they influence test takers’ performance. The Guidelines for Computer-Based Tests and Interpretations [1] recommended eliminating the possible effects of some moderator variables on test takers performance. This research was conducted to provide the required empirical evidences on the existence of distinctive effects caused by changing administration mode from conventional PBT to modern CBT. The relationship between testing mode preference on test takers’ CBT performance was also examined. Two equivalent tests and two questionnaires were used. Using descriptive statistics and ANOVA, the findings demonstrated that two CBT and PBT sets of scores were comparable. Additionally, prior testing mode preference and gender had no significant effect on test takers’ CBT score, and they were not considered the variables that might affect the performance on CBT.

The Decision Not to Furl the Confederate Flag in My Classroom

ABSTRACTOver the last year and a half, a number of scholars, pundits, and journalists have criticized college campuses for coddling students by constructing environments that protect them from offensive opinions and evidence that disconfirms their prior attitudes. In this article, I suggest two pedagogical techniques that can help students encounter and digest evidence that may go against their preconceived worldviews and opinions: teaching rational versus irrational thought and quantitative research design and critique. Guiding undergraduates through empirical studies on sensitive topics and encouraging them to critique their findings in a rational, academic manner can help ease them into more reasoned and less reactionary discourse about race, gender, religion, politics, and any other controversial topic in today’s contentious climate. I use my own experience teaching students research design in the months following a race-related murder to illustrate the effectiveness of this method in an extreme circumstance.

Public acceptance of wind energy: Impact of sound levels

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory led a survey of 1,729 individuals located within 8 km of utility scale wind turbines in the United States. The survey included respondents around both large and small wind projects throughout the country. The survey focused on social acceptance, procedural and distributional justice, landscape and sound perceptions and annoyance, and compensation. A total of 15 of the wind projects were modeled to estimate the sound levels at each respondent’s home. Modeled metrics included background sound levels, maximum one-hour sound levels, percentage of time the respondent is downwind of a turbine, and a long-term sound level estimate using the local wind project capacity factor. Statistical analyses were conducted to estimate the acoustical drivers (sound level and sound level difference above background) toward the propensity for annoyance, and how these were affected by non-acoustic factors (e.g., compensation, prior attitude toward the project, visibility, etc.).

Partisan selective exposure: The role of party, ideology and ideological extremity over time.

Author(s): Rodriguez, Cristian G; Moskowitz, Jake P; Salem, Rammy M; Ditto, Peter H | Abstract: The preference for media that confirms prior attitudes and beliefs is problematic in democratic societies based on dialogue and joint deliberation. Over the last decades, partisan selective exposure (PSE) is argued to have increased along with other indices of polarization. We address the question of the increase in PSE, and possible differences by party, ideology and ideological extremity. Using data from the Pew Research Survey, we analyzed self-reported media consumption in 8 nationally representative surveys from the period 2000–2012 (n = 23,381). We relied on previous research on ideological classification of media outlets to conduct confirmatory factor analyses establishing the existence of two different variables, conservative and liberal media consumption. We predicted latent variables of media consumption using Item Response Theory models and analyzed the trajectories running latent growth curve models. An unconditional growth model revealeda general and sustained increase in PSE across ideological groups over time. Republicans showed a greater increase over time than did Democrats, after controlling for demographics. Introducing ideological extremity in the model revealed no differences in the trajectories of PSE between liberals and extreme liberals, whereas subjects identified as “very conservative” show a much steeper increase in PSE than any other group, whereas conservatives showed the lowest growth over time. We discuss theoretical implications for ongoing debates about political polarization and ideological asymmetry.

A study on the effects according to public interest awareness of IPL(Issue Placement) in TV programs : Focused on the moderating effects of policy involvement and prior attitude

A study on the effects according to public interest awareness of IPL(Issue Placement) in TV programs : Focused on the moderating effects of policy involvement and prior attitude

A study on the effects according to public interest awareness of IPL(Issue Placement) in TV programs : Focused on the moderating effects of policy involvement and prior attitude

A study on the effects according to public interest awareness of IPL(Issue Placement) in TV programs : Focused on the moderating effects of policy involvement and prior attitude

The Role of Evidence in Politics: Motivated Reasoning and Persuasion among Politicians

Does evidence help politicians make informed decisions even if it is at odds with their prior beliefs? And does providing more evidence increase the likelihood that politicians will be enlightened by the information? Based on the literature on motivated political reasoning and the theory about affective tipping points, this article hypothesizes that politicians tend to reject evidence that contradicts their prior attitudes, but that increasing the amount of evidence will reduce the impact of prior attitudes and strengthen their ability to interpret the information correctly. These hypotheses are examined using randomized survey experiments with responses from 954 Danish politicians, and results from this sample are compared to responses from similar survey experiments with Danish citizens. The experimental findings strongly support the hypothesis that politicians are biased by prior attitudes when interpreting information. However, in contrast to expectations, the findings show that the impact of prior attitudesincreaseswhen more evidence is provided.