Measuring the Affective and Cognitive Properties of Attitudes: Conceptual and Methodological Issues

TLDR

Assessment of affective and cognitive attitude properties remains problematic despite renewed interest. The study outlines techniques to overcome these problems, reports scales for measuring affective and cognitive attitude properties, and evaluates their reliability and validity. Study 1 examined internal consistency, discriminant, and convergent validity of the scales, while Study 2 experimentally induced affective or cognitive attitudes to test the scales’ discriminative ability. The scales proved internally consistent, discriminant, and convergent, and successfully differentiated between affective‑ and cognitive‑based attitudes.

Abstract

Despite renewed interest in the affective and cognitive properties of attitudes, assessment of these constructs is plagued by a number of problems. Some techniques for overcoming these problems are outlined, and scales for assessing the affective and cognitive properties of attitudes are reported. Two studies examine the reliability and validity of these scales. Study 1 assesses the internal consistency and the discriminant and convergent validity of these scales and indicates that the scales are useful for assessing the affective and cognitive properties of attitudes toward a wide range of objects. In Study 2, the ability of the scales to differentiate attitudes that are based primarily on affective versus cognitive information is examined by experimentally creating affective or cognitive attitudes in subjects. Analyses reveal that the scales can differentiate between people whose attitudes are based primarily on either affective or cognitive information.