Attitude stability and attitude strength: one is enough to make it stable

Abstract

The temporal stability of attitudes toward socially relevant and irrelevant issues was examined as a function of different dimensions of attitude strength. Attitude strength was found to be a three-dimensional structure consisting of Generalized Attitude Strength (defined by amount of experience with the attitude object, certainty, importance, vested interest, frequency of thinking about the attitude object, self-reported and working knowledge); Internal Consistency (defined by evaluative-cognitive and evaluative-affective consistency); and Extremity (defined by affective and evaluative extremity). The temporal stability of an attitude was moderated by only one dimension of attitude strength. The specific dimension that moderated stability was different for different issues. Generalized Strength appeared to contribute to temporal stability of an attitude by supporting its cognitive component.