The interplay of emotions,elaboration, and ambivalence on attitude–behavior consistency

Previous research on the relationship between attitudinal ambivalence and behavioral prediction mainly focused on the cognitive perspective. This paper introduces the simultaneous roles played by emotions (positive or negative) and elaboration. We find that both emotions and elaboration could moderate the effect of attitudinal ambivalence on attitude–behavior consistency. Furthermore, positive and negative emotions have different psychological mechanisms: positive emotions influence attitude–behavior consistency directly; negative emotions influence attitude–behavior consistency indirectly through elaboration. This article also discusses the theory contribution, marketing implication, and avenues for future research. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The moderation of ambivalence on attitude–intention relations as mediated by attitude importance

Attitudinal ambivalence has been found to moderate attitude–intention relations. However, no prior work has investigated the mechanisms by which this moderation effect occurs. The present research attempted to address this issue. Across two studies, there was evidence that an Ambivalence × Attitude interaction was mediated through judgements about attitude importance. Additionally, the present research ruled out the possibility that attitude certainty, a factor that is often found to be positively related to attitude importance, was not responsible for the observed mediating effects of this latter variable. While replicating previous evidence supporting the moderating properties of ambivalence on attitude–intention relations, the current research sheds light on the critical role that attitude importance plays in this relationship. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Persistence of attitude change and attitude–behavior correspondence based on extensive processing of source information

A three‐phase longitudinal study (spread over a month's time) was carried out to investigate attitude's persistence and linkage to behavior as it may be affected by the processing of information about the communication source. The following three independent variables were manipulated: (i) contents of the source of information (implying the communicator to be expert or inexpert on the topic of the communication); (ii) length of the source information (brief versus lengthy); and (iii) message recipients' involvement in the issue at hand (high versus low). Replicating prior research when the source information was brief, it exerted greater persuasive impact under low versus high involvement, and when it was lengthy, it exerted greater persuasive impact under high versus low involvement. Of greater importance, the newly acquired attitudes were more persistent and were linked more strongly to actual behavior when the source information was lengthy (versus brief) provided the recipients had high (versus low) involvement in the issue. These findings were interpreted to mean that just like with the message/issue information in prior research, when processed extensively, source information, too, may contribute to the formation of persistent and behavior‐driving attitudes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beyond attitudinal ambivalence: effects of belief homogeneity on attitude‐intention‐behaviour relations

Attitudinal ambivalence extends the traditional unidimensional conceptualization of attitude by acknowledging that people can simultaneously evaluate attitude objects as positive and negative. The present paper argues that this bidimensional view of attitudes may be extended further to take account of multidimensional influences on attitudes using measures of belief homogeneity. Study 1 (n = 155) showed that attitudes based on homogeneous belief‐sets were significantly more predictive of subsequent behaviour (β = 0.47, p<0.01) than were attitudes based on heterogeneous belief‐sets (β = 0.08, ns). Study 2 (n = 136) manipulated belief homogeneity and found that when beliefs were made heterogeneous, attitudes based on heterogeneous belief‐sets were significantly less predictive of behavioural intentions (β = 0.46, p < 0.01) than attitudes based on homogeneous belief‐sets (β = 0.84, p < 0.01). Implications for research on attitudinal ambivalence and attribute importance are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Moderator effects of attitudinal ambivalence on attitude–behaviour relationships

Attitudinal ambivalence is generally construed as existing when the same attitude object is evaluated simultaneously as both positive and negative. The present research examined the moderating role of attitudinal ambivalence (as assessed by split‐semantic differential measure) on the relationship between bipolar semantic differential measures of attitude and subsequent behaviour using moderated regression analysis. In Study 1, higher levels of attitudinal ambivalence were shown to result in weaker attitude–behaviour relationships for eating a low‐fat diet (N = 140) and eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day (N = 142). Study 2 (N = 361) replicated this effect when also including a measure of past behaviour for eating a low‐fat diet. Implications for understanding the relationship between attitudes and behaviour are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social identity and the attitude–behaviour relationship: effects of anonymity and accountability

Two experiments examined the impact of anonymity and accountability on the expression of group‐mediated attitude‐behaviour consistency. In Study 1, low and high identifiers (N = 106) were exposed to an attitude‐congruent norm and provided information about their intentions under anonymous and in‐group accountable conditions. In Study 2, salience of identity was manipulated, and participants (N = 185) were exposed to either an attitude‐congruent or an attitude‐incongruent norm, and provided information on their intentions and behaviour under anonymous and in‐group accountable conditions. In both studies, accountability elicited group‐normative attitudes and behaviour among individuals for whom the group was not a salient basis for self‐definition. When the group was a salient basis for self‐definition, the expression of attitude‐consistent intentions and behaviour was greater in anonymous conditions. It is suggested that strategic effects, such as those that occur in the presence of an in‐group audience, influence displays of group‐normative attitude–behaviour consistency. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of accuracy motivation and need to evaluate on mode of attitude formation and attitude–behavior consistency

This study investigates the effects of accuracy motivation and need to evaluate on online vs. memory-based attitude formation and attitude–behavior consistency. Results show that online attitude formation is more likely when accuracy motivation or the need to evaluate is high. However, cognitive load disrupts online attitude formation even when accuracy motivation is high. Additionally, attitude relevance increases the likelihood of online attitude formation, but attitude accessibility does not. Furthermore, online (vs. memory-based) attitudes are more predictive of subsequent non-hypothetical choice.     

The level of effort required for behaviour as a moderator of the attitude–behaviour relation

It was hypothesized that the manner in which attitudes influence behaviour is moderated by the level of effort required to perform a behaviour. The effort needed was manipulated in a field experiment by varying the difficulty of getting access to the attitude object. When the behaviour required substantial effort, the mediating role of intentions was strong, and attitudes had only indirect effects on behaviour, consistent with the theory of reasoned action. When the behaviour required little effort, however, attitudes had a significant direct effect on behaviour, and the mediating role of intentions was reduced. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

On the nature of children's judgments of linguistic features: Semantic relations and grammatical morphemes

Children's judgments of sentences were examined in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds in an effort to examine the relationship between children's use of various linguistic features and their judgments of these features in formal tasks. The sentences the children were asked to judge differed on the basis of features acquired gradually during the development of children's linguistic usage. The judgments made by the children did not appear related to the course followed in the acquisition of language usage, a finding that suggests that language acquisition and formal linguistic judgments may reflect different processes.     

On the self-fulfilling nature of apparent sex differences in behavior

A study was conducted to test the notion that a person's behavior conforms explicitly to the sex-role stereotype that attractive others have regarding the person's gender. In a 2 × 2 design, female subjects were induced to characterize themselves to a male partner who was either desirable or undesirable and whose stereotype of the ideal woman conformed very closely to the traditional female stereotype or its opposite. The results, which held for both an attitudinal and a behavioral measure of self-presentation, indicated that, when the partner was desirable, the subjects portrayed themselves as more or less conventional in terms of sex-role, depending upon whether the partner's stereotypic view of women was traditional or not. The implications of these findings for an analysis which stresses the self-fulfilling nature of apparent sex differences were discussed.     

Culture: the missing piece in theories of weak and strong reciprocity

Guala does not go far enough in his critique of the assumption that human decisions about sharing made in the context of experimental game conditions accurately reflect decision-making under real conditions. Sharing of hunted animals is constrained by cultural rules and is not "spontaneous cooperation" as assumed in models of weak and strong reciprocity. Missing in these models is the cultural basis of sharing that makes it a group property rather than an individual one.     

The nature of clinical depression: symptoms, syndromes, and behavior analysis

In this article we discuss the traditional behavioral models of depression and some of the challenges analyzing a phenomenon with such complex and varied features. We present the traditional model and suggest that it does not capture the complexity of the phenomenon, nor do syndromal models of depression that dominate the mainstream conceptualization of depression. Instead, we emphasize ideographic analysis and present depression as a maladaptive dysregulation of an ultimately adaptive elicited emotional response. We emphasize environmental factors, specifically aversive control and private verbal events, in terms of relational frame theory, that may transform an adaptive response into a maladaptive disorder. We consider the role of negative thought processes and rumination, common and debilitating aspects of depression that have traditionally been neglected by behavior analysts.     

On intuitional stability: The clear,the strong,and the paradigmatic

Skepticism about the epistemic value of intuition in theoretical and philosophical inquiry has recently been bolstered by empirical research suggesting that people’s concrete-case intuitions are vulnerable to irrational biases (e.g., the order effect). What is more, skeptics argue that we have no way to “calibrate” our intuitions against these biases and no way of anticipating intuitional instability. This paper challenges the skeptical position, introducing data from two studies that suggest not only that people’s concrete-case intuitions are often stable, but also that people have introspective awareness of this stability, providing a promising means by which to assess the epistemic value of our intuitions.     

The argumentative nature of holding strong views: A case study

Recently a number of critics of traditional approaches to the study of attitudes have stressed the need to study the ways in which people express views in natural discourse. The present study examines the rhetorical aspects of holding strong views by providing a detailed case study. It focuses on the discourse of a family discussing the British Royal Family, where one member of the family is recognized to hold strong views. A number of rhetorical complexities of the discourse are highlighted and particular attention is placed on the argumentative dimensions of holding strong views. It is suggested that strong views are held in relation to opposing views and in arguing about the issue of monarchy participants are also reflexively arguing about arguments. Examples are given to show that the holder of strong views, as opposed to the holder of weak views, does not necessarily have a greater opposition to the assumption of multisubjectivity, for the discourse of views is paradoxically marked by both assumptions of multisubjectivity and intersubjectivity. It is also shown that the holder of strong views may produce a variable discourse. The rhetorical nature of such variability is discussed and implications are drawn for the study of beliefs and for analysing the relations between thinking and arguing.     

On the nature of nature: Experimental studies in the power of rhetoric

This paper reports two studies which investigate the effects of different definitions of the natural upon human preferences. The first study is designed to show that items are deemed more acceptable when defined as natural than when defined as non-natural. Subjects rated the acceptability of cannabis use after reading a text which either described it as a natural herb or as a drug. Acceptability ratings were significantly higher in the former condition. The second study examines how the way in which the category ‘nature’ is defined affects the acceptability of changes to the environment. Subjects watched videos which showed pictures of landscapes and then superimposed changes which consisted either of wild, non-human elements (W), human elements which fitted with the colour, texture and contours of the original (F), or human elements which were unfitting in terms of these criteria (U). It was predicted that, when we defined nature as virgin territory, W changes would be more acceptable than F or U changes. However when we defined nature as visual harmony, it was predicted that W and F changes would be equally acceptable but U changes would be less so. The results largely confirm these predictions. In discussion we argue for the importance of studying how processes of defining nature affect environment action, and for the use of experimental techniques to complement discursive investigations of such processes.     

The importance of being we: human nature and intergroup relations

The author discusses the nature of in-group bias and the social motives that underlie ethnocentric attachment to one's own membership groups. Two common assumptions about in-group bias are challenged: that in-group positivity necessitates out-group derogation and that in-group bias is motivated by self-enhancement. A review of relevant theory and research on intergroup relations provides evidence for 3 alternative principles: (a) in-group attachment and positivity are primary and independent of out-groups, (b) security motives (belonging and distinctiveness) underlie universal in-group favoritism, and (c) attitudes toward out-groups vary as a function of intergroup relationships and associated threats to belonging and distinctiveness