Expectancy-value models of attitudes: A note on the relationship between theory and methodology

Concern has been expressed in the literature regarding the method of scoring ‘beliefs’ within expectancy-value models of attitudes. This paper reviews the major issues and focuses upon some hitherto largely neglected problems with scoring methods. Empirical findings from a series of studies concerned with ‘the theory of reasoned action’ are examined: with a multiplicative Combination of beliefs and evaluations, it is found that bipolar scoring of belief items leads to higher correlations of the summed products of beliefs and evaluations with attitudes than are achieved with unipolar scoring. These findings contrast markedly with recently reported research and indicate the important role played by contextual factors (such as belief content and the response scales presented to subjects). It is concluded that more attention needs to be paid to the relationship between conceptual and methodological issues.     

Expectancy,value, and attitudinal semantics

A novel single-attribute test between competing expectancy-value models of attitude was devised using subjects' ratings of clusters of statements located at a range of points within a three-dimensional semantic space with expectancy, value and attitude as the co-ordinates. The data provided strongest support for a model using bipolar scoring for evaluation and unipolar scoring for expectancy.     

Belief Importance in Expectancy-Value Models of Attitudes1

In this study, 312 respondents were asked to indicate their attitude toward smoking and their smoking behavior. Attitudes were assessed by a direct attitude measure (4 items) and a series of 15 belief statements about the possible consequences of smoking. Next, respondents were asked to select the 3 consequences they found most important. Attitude scores derived from these important beliefs were more predictive of behavior than those based on all 15 beliefs, and far superior to attitude scores based on the remaining 12 beliefs. Differences between the 2 groups (smokers vs. nonsmokers) were more pronounced when attitude scores were based on important beliefs, and disappeared for scores based on nonselected, less important beliefs. It is argued that incorporating belief importance in expectancy-value models helps to assess the structure of attitudes and could improve our insight in the determinants of behavioral preference.     

Resolving the theory of planned behaviour's ‘expectancy-value muddle’ using dimensional salience

The theory of planned behaviour is one of the most widely used models of decision-making in the health literature. Unfortunately, the primary method for assessing the theory's belief-based expectancy-value models results in statistically uninterpretable findings, giving rise to what has become known as the ‘expectancy-value muddle’. Moreover, existing methods for resolving this muddle are associated with various conceptual or practical limitations. This study addresses these issues by identifying and evaluating a parsimonious method for resolving the expectancy-value muddle. Three hundred and nine Australian residents aged 18–24 years rated the expectancy and value of 18 beliefs about posthumous organ donation. Participants also nominated their five most salient beliefs using a dimensional salience approach. Salient beliefs were perceived as being more likely to eventuate than non-salient beliefs, indicating that salient beliefs could be used to signify the expectancy component. The expectancy-value term was therefore represented by summing the value ratings of salient beliefs, an approach that predicted attitude (adjusted R ²?=?0.21) and intention (adjusted R ²?=?0.21). These findings suggest that the dimensional salience approach is a useful method for overcoming the expectancy-value muddle in applied research settings.     

Predicting Adolescent Drinking From Alcohol Expectancy Values: A Comparison of Additive,Interactive, and Nonlinear Models1

Additive, interactive, and nonlinear models of alcohol expectancy values were compared using survey data from 1,758 high school students. Expectancies and values independently predicted drinking in the additive model. Expectancies were more important as predictors than were values, and negative expectancies were more important than positive expectancies. Significant expectancy-value interactions also were found. Drinking was highest when positive consequences were believed to be likely and desirable and was lowest when negative consequences were believed to be likely and undesirable. Significant nonlinearities indicated that beliefs about negative consequences had greater effects at lower levels of likelihood and evaluation whereas beliefs about positive consequences had greater effects at higher levels of likelihood and evaluation. However, the interactive and nonlinear effects were small.     

Aging and dual-task performance: a meta-analysis

The relations between dual-task effects and aging were examined through a meta-analysis of 33 studies (with 48 independent participant groups) using latency as the dependent measure and 30 studies (with 40 independent participant groups) focusing on accuracy. Brinley plots and state traces were derived, and a model to explicate different types of complexity (additive and multiplicative) was developed. The effects of dual-task processing on latency were additive, and this additive cost was larger in older adults than in younger adults and larger than predicted from general slowing. This cost was small and independent of task complexity. The effects of dual-task processing on logit-transformed accuracy were likewise additive, but no specific age deficit was associated with this dual-task cost.     

Scaling and Testing Multiplicative Combinations in the Expectancy–Value Model of Attitudes

This article examines the multiplicative combination of belief strength by outcome evaluation in the expectancy–value model of attitudes. Because linear transformation of a belief strength measure results in a nonlinear transformation of its product with outcome evaluation, use of unipolar or bipolar scoring must be empirically justified. Also, the claim that the Belief × Evaluation product fails to explain significant variance in attitudes is found to be baseless. In regression analyses, the main effect of belief strength takes account of the outcome's valence, and the main effect of outcome evaluation incorporates the outcome's perceived likelihood. Simulated data showed that multiplication adds substantially to the prediction of attitudes only when belief and evaluation measures cover the full range of potential scores.     

Expectancy-value models of health behaviour: An analysis by conjoint measurement

Various studies in the health area consistently rejected the multiplicative combination between severity and probability of threat which is predicted by expectancy-value (EV) theories. It is hypothesized here, that this negative evidence may be due to an overly demanding assumption underlying the multiplicative combination, namely, the assumption that people are able to performs trade-offs between expectancies and valences. This hypothesis is tested in two studies in which subjects judged hypothetical health threats. Results from a nonparametric analysis (conjoint measurement) of individual data (Study 1) and an experimental study of trade-off judgments (Study 2) are mostly consistent with the prediction. Unexpectedly, however, an ANOVA of the aggregate data of Study 1 yielded a small, but significant effect consistent with the multiplicative assumption. Whereas this latter result can be interpreted as evidencing an attempt to perform trade-offs, the overall results show as predicted that trade-off judgments are associated with a systematic error component due to the inherent difficulty of this type of judgment.     

A methodology to assess the utility of future space systems

The Air Force SPACECAST 2020 study identified and prioritized some future space systems and technologies required in the next century. This paper presents the results of research on the SPACECAST 2020 value model. The model determines and prioritizes future space systems’ utility towards controlling and exploiting space. This research identifies the assumptions and simplifications in the additive utility function and assesses modifications. The research shows that mutual utility independence of the mission areas is a reasonable assumption. Mutual utility independence allows the use of the multiplicative and multilinear utility functions. Also, the SPACECAST 2020 scoring functions used the same scoring scale and only measured the utility of future capabilities. This study makes modifications to the SPACECAST 2020 measure-of-merit scoring functions. It replaces most of these functions with either a concave, convex, linear or ‘S’ scoring function, which have expanded capability ranges to include both current and future capabilities. The modified scoring functions and alternative utility functions do not alter the SPACECAST 2020 results but do improve the credibility and future usefulness of the model. This study shows that the initial assumption of using an additive utility function is also valid. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Double Denial in Attitude Formation1

While expressing their attitude toward an object, people sometimes deny both the probability of attributes that would speak against the attitude and the value of these attributes. We term this kind of functioning double denial. Double denial is incompatible with expectancy-value models of attitude formation. In eight studies of attitudes, values, and beliefs, there was clear evidence for double denial. The evidence was particularly strong for items measuring salient beliefs and for items and groups of participants yielding belief ratings that strongly correlated with attitudes. The results are interpreted in terms of the social functions of values and beliefs in the construing of arguments pro or con an attitude object. It is concluded that beliefs and values are dynamic entities, continually shaped in argumentation, and that expectancy-value models of attitude are inadequate to account for the relationships among attitudes, beliefs and values.     

Prototypes in category learning: the effects of category size, category structure, and stimulus complexity

Although research in categorization has sometimes been motivated by prototype theory, recent studies have favored exemplar theory. However, some of these studies focused on small, poorly differentiated categories composed of simple, 4-dimensional stimuli. Some analyzed the aggregate data of entire groups. Some compared powerful multiplicative exemplar models to less powerful additive prototype models. Here, comparable prototype and exemplar models were fit to individual-participant data in 4 experiments that sampled category sets varying in size, level of category structure, and stimulus complexity (dimensionality). The prototype model always fit the observed data better than the exemplar model did. Prototype-based processes seemed especially relevant when participants learned categories that were larger or contained more complex stimuli.     

Identifying Salient Beliefs About Leisure Activities: Frequency of Elicitation Versus Response Latency1

Sets of 16 beliefs about the consequences of each of 6 leisure activities were selected in a pilot study by means of free elicitation. The beliefs varied in salience (salient vs. nonsalient), valence (positive vs. negative), and type (instrumental vs. effective). In the main study, 69 college students expressed their agreements with each belief, evaluated the consequences involved in the beliefs, and rated each leisure activity on 4 evaluative scales as a standard measure of attitude. The latencies of these responses were used to assess accessibilities of beliefs and attitudes in an effort to quantify degree of salience. Accessibility of beliefs was found to increase significantly with frequency of elicitation in the pilot study (salience) and with the judged favorability of the consequences. Salience was further found to be related to degree and extremity of agreement. Accessibility was also found to moderate the correlation between beliefs and attitudes posited in the expectancy-value model of attitude. The correlation between a given belief and the direct attitude measure increased with the belief's accessibility, and the correlation between a measure of attitude based on the set of salient beliefs and the standard attitude measures increased with the accessibility of the attitude. Implications for the identification and measurement of perceived benefits and costs of leisure are discussed.     

Induction of combination rules in two-dimensional function learning

Previous studies have typically found that when people learn to combine two dimensions of a stimulus to select a response, they learn additive combination rules more easily than nonadditive (e.g., multiplicative) ones. The present experiments demonstrate that in some situations people can learn multiplicative rules more easily than other (e.g., additive) rules. Subjects learned to produce specified response durations when presented with stimulus lines varying in length and angle of orientation. When stimuliand correct responses were related by a multiplicative combination of power functions, learning was relatively easy (Experiment 1). In contrast, systematic response biases occurred during the early phases of learning an additive combination of linear functions (Experiment 2) and a more complex (nonadditive and nonmultiplicative) combination of linear functions (Experiment3), suggesting that people have a tendency to induce a multiplicative combination of power functions. However, the initial biases decreased with practice. These results are explained in terms of a revised adaptive regression model of function learning originally proposed by Koh and Meyer (1991). Differences between the present results and previous results in the literature are discussed.     

Talent Development as a Multidimensional, Multiplicative, and Dynamic Process

Recent empirical research has challenged the common belief in the existence of talent, suggesting that exceptional performance is entirely the product of nurture rather than nature. However, this research has been based on a simple conception of what talent entails. Rather than involving a unidimensional, additive, and static genetic process, talent may instead emerge from a multidimensional, multiplicative, and dynamic process. This latter possibility is described in a two-part model that combines multidimensional and multiplicative inheritance with dynamic development. The first part of the model handles domain specificity, profile heterogeneity, the distribution of individual differences, familial heritability, and domain complexity. The second part explicates early- versus late-bloomers, early signs of talent, talent loss, and shifts in the domain of talent. The resulting model has crucial implications for how best to gauge the impact of nature in the development of talent.     

The role of information presentation formats in belief updating

The effects of the format by which information is presented on the cognitive processes of belief updating were investigated in the present research. Because of the differences in the affordance of verbal vs. numerical information, it is predicted that the belief updating processes involved in processing verbal and numerical information would be different. Specifically, the additive rule is used to combine information using verbal formats, while the averaging rule is used to combine information using numerical formats. Two experiments were conducted to test these hypotheses. Experiment 1 tested the belief updating process in the positive direction, and Experiment 2 tested the process in the negative direction. Two independent variables were manipulated: information presentation format (verbal vs numerical) and presentation order (strong–weak vs weak–strong). The participants were asked to adjust their purchase likelihood of a consumer product based on the sequential presentations of two experts' opinions. These two opinions varied in their formats (verbal vs. numerical) and strengths (strong vs weak). The two opinions were presented in either the strong–weak order or the weak–strong order. Participants were instructed to first anchor their purchase likelihood at 50%, and then adjust the purchase likelihood, first based on the first expert's opinion, and second based on both experts' opinions. In both experiments the hypotheses that participants employed an additive rule to integrate verbal information and an averaging rule to integrate numerical information were supported.     

Intensity and number of alternatives in hue identification: Piéron’s law and choice reaction time

Two experiments investigated the effects of intensity and the number of response alternatives in hue identification. Three questions were addressed. First, what is the relationship between these effects? If intensity and number of alternatives affect different processes in series, these factors would have additive effects on reaction time (RT). Other models predict a multiplicative interaction. These models assume that when a stimulus is presented, evidence accrues over time for each response alternative, and that when the evidence for a particular alternative exceeds its criterion, the response is made. A natural auxiliary assumption is that intensity affects the rate of evidence accrual, while the number of alternatives affects the criterion. The second question addressed is, how does choice RT change as a function of intensity? Piéron used a power function to describe the effect of intensity on simple RT. This paper considers three candidates for intensity’s effect on choice RT: the power, logistic, and Michaelis functions. Each candidate function was tested in an additive model and a multiplicative model. The best account was given by the power function in an additive model. The last question is, does each process produce an output that can be classified as correct or incorrect? Schweickert (1985) proposed that factors that selectively influenced such processes would have additive effects on log percent correct. Instead, an interaction was found. Perhaps the assumption that the process affected by intensity produces a single output is wrong.     

道德外语效应及其调节变量：来自元分析的证据

同一个道德决策情景使用外语(相比母语)呈现时,个体会表现出更强的功利性倾向,即道德外语效应。随着研究的深入,结论并不一致。本研究运用元分析方法首次探讨了语言类型(母语vs.外语)对道德判断中功利性倾向的影响,并分析了相关的调节变量。通过文献检索及梳理,共有19篇文献46个独立样本97个效应量符合元分析标准(N=9672)。结果显示存在较小但稳定的道德外语效应(g=0.23);调节效应分析表明,道德外语效应受故事类型的影响,在个人道德两难故事中存在较小但稳定的外语效应(g=0.32),但在非个人道德两难故事(g=0.11)与日常道德评价故事中(g=0.12)不存在外语效应;非个人道德两难故事中的外语效应受记分方式的影响,多点记分在该故事类型下存在效应(g=0.27),二点记分不存在效应(g=0.05);性别和语系类型没有显著的调节效应。这些结果表明语言类型对个体面对道德困境时的选择倾向有一定程度的影响,道德故事类型和记分方式在未来的研究中需要加以考虑。     

The relation between achievement goal and expectancy-value theories in predicting achievement-related outcomes: A test of four theoretical conceptions

Although achievement goal and expectancy-value theories are both dominant in the achievement motivation literature, the relation between goals and expectancy-value variables in predicting achievement-related behaviors remains unclear. The present study evaluated the empirical validity of four contrasting theoretical conceptions which posit that (1) goals and expectancy-value variables are independent predictors of achievement-related outcomes (2) goals predict expectancy-values, (3) goals mediate the relation between expectancies and task-values, and (4) goals partially mediate the relation between expectancy-values and achievement outcomes, in predicting course performance, career intentions and academic aspirations. Path models evaluating these conceptions were tested separately in mathematics and language arts domains among 697 6th and 8th grade students. Results supported the fourth theoretical approach suggesting that expectancy-value variables predict achievement-related outcomes both directly and indirectly through achievement goals. These findings provide insight about the relation between expectancy-value and achievement goal theories and highlight their complementary role in predicting achievement behaviors.     

Across-persons versus within-persons tests of expectancy-value models: A methodological note

It has been asserted that (I) tests of expectancy-value models require within-persons analyses and that (2) within-persons analyses yield better predictions of behavioral tendencies than do across-persons analyses. The first assertion is correct; the second is not. Justification for within-persons tests of expectancy-value models must be made on theoretical rather than empirical grounds.