Healthy Skepticism Library item: 20417

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Publication type: Journal Article

Visser PS, Krosnick JA.
Development of attitude strength over the life cycle: surge and decline.
J Pers Soc Psychol 1998 Dec; 75:(6):1389-410
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/75/6/1389/

Abstract:

This article explores the relation of age to manifestations and antecedents of attitude strength. Three studies demonstrate that susceptibility to attitude change is greater during early and late adulthood than during middle adulthood. Three additional studies demonstrate that attitude importance, certainty, and perceived quantity of attitude-relevant knowledge are greater in middle adulthood than during early or late adulthood. These antecedents may therefore explain life cycle shifts in susceptibility to change. Susceptibility to change, importance, certainty, and perceived knowledge differ from one another in terms of their correlations with education, gender, and race, challenging the notion that attitude strength is a unitary construct. Evidence that people incorrectly believe that susceptibility to change declines steadily over the life course reinforces the distinction between operative and meta-attitudinal measures of attitude strength.

Keywords:
Adult Age Factors Aged Aged, 80 and over Aging/psychology* Attitude* Education Ethnic Groups Female Humans Male Middle Aged Regression Analysis Sex Factors United States