Open AccessThe interactive role of subjective attitudinal ambivalence, knowledge, and certainty for attitude stability: The case of driving electric vehicles
Author(s) -
Drescher Franziska,
Ziegler Rene
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of theoretical social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2475-0387
DOI - 10.1002/jts5.89
Subject(s) - certainty , ambivalence , persuasion , social psychology , resistance (ecology) , psychology , attitude , affect (linguistics) , positive attitude , perspective (graphical) , stability (learning theory) , attitude change , epistemology , computer science , communication , ecology , philosophy , artificial intelligence , machine learning , biology
Research has investigated how each of numerous indicators of attitude strength separately affect an attitude's stability, resistance to persuasion, and utility in predicting behavior. More recent studies, however, have revealed interactive effects of attitude certainty and objective ambivalence. High (vs. low) certainty strengthened an attitude low in objective ambivalence (e.g., higher resistance to persuasion and attitude stability) but weakened an attitude high in objective ambivalence (e.g., lower resistance and stability). Extending these findings, we show that attitude certainty also moderates the effect of an attitude high or low in subjective ambivalence on attitude stability. Moreover, we generalize an interaction perspective on indicators of attitude strength by showing that attitude knowledge also interacts with ambivalence and certainty regarding attitude stability. Findings are discussed in regard to the interplay of different strength indicators more generally.