Hi all,
I am looking into how and why ratings or attitudes towards a hypothetical construct or subject (ie, something that persons do not know) can differ over time. More specifically, in our study we asked participants to give their attitudes towards a hypothetical construct (ie, potential medication) at two points in time.
For those, where the attitudes differed (ie, they rated the same hypothecial medication differently at the two points in time): I am wondering whether their attitude changed over time (which was max. 3 weeks) if we simply found measurement error. Are there any explanations on the fluidity of attitudes towards hypothetical constructs? So far, I have not been able to find literature on this. If you have suggestions on literature of keywords to narrow my search, I would much appreciate it.
Another explanation would be that differences in context account for the differences in attitudes/ratings. Our two study time points were in different settings (at the hospital and at home). This is sub-opitmal methodology, but are there any sources that show differences in ratings depending on the context/situation?
Thank you for your help!
Attitudes towards mentally disordered persons varied depending on previously experienced contact with mental syndromes. Also, attitudes towards life and death as a disable person differ. If you are interested in this you can read our papers:
Hi Jens,
An interesting article that deals with the construction of attitudes, in general, is from Schwarz & Bohner (DOI: 10.1002/9780470998519.ch20 ) . They provide a good overview of related topics and possible keywords that may be interesting for you. Further evidence is presented by Moore et al. (DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.08.003 ) who describe how hypothetical questions can influence future judgment & behavior.
Best, Timo
The sleeper effect shows attitude change over a few weeks following persuasive appeals (like toward a medicine) because source memory is forgotten before semantic memory. Cognitive Dissonance accounts for attitude change as we feel uncomfortable about contradictions among our attitudes and behavior. Maybe something in the context you measured attitude could have nudged attitude one way or the other (e.g., priming, framing). Attitude stability and change over many years is also examined in Developmental Psychology, but those concepts seem less relevant for you. Best wishes with your study, Jens. ~ Kevin
Open-Source Social Psychology Textbook
(I recommend chapters on attitude and persuasion.)
https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/
Thank you all for your answers! I will try to work these explanations into the study! We might have different contextual framing , which may partly account for the differences in answers we received.
TWO HYPOTHESES ON THE CAUSES OF MALE HOMOSEXUALITY AND PAEDOPHILIA
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 October 2005
WILLIAM H. JAMES
These are surely hypotheses that have changed over time.
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