Open AccessA COMMENTARY ON KERLINGER'S STRUCTURAL THEORY OF SOCIAL ATTITUDES 1
Author(s) -
Zdep S. M.,
Marco G. L.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
ets research bulletin series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2333-8504
pISSN - 0424-6144
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.1969.tb00727.x
Subject(s) - artifact (error) , generalization , psychology , relevance (law) , affect (linguistics) , social psychology , attitude , structural equation modeling , epistemology , mathematics , philosophy , statistics , political science , communication , neuroscience , law
Kerlinger's structural theory of attitudes is analyzed, and some of the implications of the theory are examined. Initially, Kerlinger's generalization from educational attitudes to the whole domain of social attitudes is questioned. In addition, Kerlinger's conclusion that social attitudes are multidimensional is shown to be an artifact of his definition of “attitude.” Moreover, it is pointed out that the factor analytic results obtained by Kerlinger cannot be interpreted as evidence against the bipolarity of attitudes. Finally, in terms of implications for attitude measurement, it is suggested that the relevance as well as the affect of items be assessed.