TY - JOUR
T1 - Forming judgments of attitude certainty, intensity, and importance
T2 - The role of subjective experiences
AU - Haddock, Geoffrey
AU - Rothman, Alexander J.
AU - Reber, Rolf
AU - Schwarz, Norbert
PY - 1999/7
Y1 - 1999/7
N2 - Two studies examined the impact of subjective experiences on reports of attitude certainty, intensity, and importance. In Study 1, participants with moderate or extreme attitudes toward doctor-assisted suicide generated three (easy) or seven (hard) arguments that either supported or countered their opinion toward the issue prior to indicating the strength of their attitude. Participants with moderate attitudes rated their opinions as more intense, personally important, and held with greater certainty when they had generated either a small number of supporting arguments or a large number of opposing arguments. Ratings provided by individuals with extreme attitudes were unaffected by the argument generation task. In Study 2, the impact of ease of recall on strength-related judgments was eliminated when it was rendered nondiagnostic by a misattribution manipulation. Implications of these findings for attitude strength and other judgmental phenomena are discussed.
AB - Two studies examined the impact of subjective experiences on reports of attitude certainty, intensity, and importance. In Study 1, participants with moderate or extreme attitudes toward doctor-assisted suicide generated three (easy) or seven (hard) arguments that either supported or countered their opinion toward the issue prior to indicating the strength of their attitude. Participants with moderate attitudes rated their opinions as more intense, personally important, and held with greater certainty when they had generated either a small number of supporting arguments or a large number of opposing arguments. Ratings provided by individuals with extreme attitudes were unaffected by the argument generation task. In Study 2, the impact of ease of recall on strength-related judgments was eliminated when it was rendered nondiagnostic by a misattribution manipulation. Implications of these findings for attitude strength and other judgmental phenomena are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1177/0146167299025007001
DO - 10.1177/0146167299025007001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0033247452
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 25
SP - 771
EP - 782
JO - Personality and social psychology bulletin
JF - Personality and social psychology bulletin
IS - 7
ER -