From repetition to conviction: Attitude accessibility as a determinant of attitude certainty

The present experiment investigated the influence of attitude accessibility on several meta-attitudinal strength measures. It was predicted that certainty and perceived likelihood of change, i.e., commitment-related attributes of attitude strength, are influenced by changes in attitude accessibility...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental social psychology 2003-11, Vol.39 (6), p.594-601
Main Authors: Holland, Rob W, Verplanken, Bas, van Knippenberg, Ad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude accessibility
Attitude change
Attitude strength
Attitudes
Certainty
Changes
Cognition
Cognitive psychology
Confidence
Experimental psychology
Meta-cognition
Psychology
Self
Self image
Self-perception
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Summary:The present experiment investigated the influence of attitude accessibility on several meta-attitudinal strength measures. It was predicted that certainty and perceived likelihood of change, i.e., commitment-related attributes of attitude strength, are influenced by changes in attitude accessibility, while no effects were expected for importance and perceived centrality to values and the self, i.e., centrality-related attributes. Accessibility was manipulated by having participants express their attitudes either repeatedly or only once. As hypothesized, accessibility and measures of commitment were enhanced after repeated expression compared to single expression. Furthermore, mediation analyses supported the idea that subjective commitment may be inferred from the ease of attitude retrieval. Centrality-related attributes were found to be unaffected by the accessibility manipulation. The results are discussed in the light of a multi-dimensional structure of attitude strength and antecedent processes of meta-cognitive attributes of strength.
ISSN:0022-1031
1096-0465
DOI:10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00038-6