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Belief‐bias and labor unions: The effect of strong attitudes on reasoning
Author(s) -
Lynn Monty L.,
Williams Richard N.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/job.4030110502
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , judgement , social psychology , salience (neuroscience) , attribution bias , contrast (vision) , scale (ratio) , cognitive psychology , political science , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science , law
This study compared three types of reasoning bias associated with strong belief: Judgement of plausibility, contrast effects, and social attribution. Respectively, these relate to bias in the perceived validity and extremity of statements and bias in causal interpretations of actions. Technical college students ( N = 153) in two highly unionized communities completed one scale for each form of bias and a section of the IRC Union Attitude Scale which measured their attitude toward unions. Belief–bias was indicated across all three measures although there were differences in their salience. Social attribution was the strongest type of bias manifested ( r = 0.58, p ⩽ 0.001) and contrast effects ( r = 0.33, p ⩽ 0.001) were a second and third. The implications of these results are explored and future research directions in this new line of study are suggested.