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The structure of attitudes: Attribute importance, accessibility and judgment
Author(s) -
Harreveld Frenk,
Pligt Joop,
Vries Nanne K.,
Andreas Silke
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1348/014466600164543
Subject(s) - psychology , set (abstract data type) , social psychology , task (project management) , modal , computer science , chemistry , management , polymer chemistry , economics , programming language
Two studies related attribute importance to accessibility and speed of judgment. Attitudes were assessed by a direct attitude measure and a modal set of 15 attributes. Attributes were rated in terms of their probability and desirability. Subsequently, participants were required to select the five attributes they considered to be most important. Results of Study 1 (dealing with attitudes towards condom use) show that individually selected, important attributes are more easily retrieved and judged faster than non‐selected, less important attributes. Judging attributes took less time than evaluating one's overall attitude, suggesting a bottom‐up process in which the various attributes are combined to form an overall attitude. Study 2 (dealing with attitudes towards smoking) extends these findings and also addresses the stability of attitude structure. Important attributes were again associated with reduced response times, and attribute‐related judgments took less time than judging one's overall attitude. Accessibility of important attributes remained stable over time as indicated by the results of a lexical decision task one week later. Finally, important attributes were also recalled better than less important attributes. Implications for research on attitude structure are discussed.