A Study of the Association among Verbal Attitudes, Commitment and Overt Behavior in Different Experimental Situations

Abstract

This study examined the paired associations among verbal attitudes, commitment and overt behavior. Overt behavior was measured by the degree to which students voluntarily became socially involved in a campus chapter of a civil rights organization. Verbal attitudes were found to be either consistent or inconsistent with overt behavior depending upon how the investigator structured the experimental situation in which verbal attitudes were measured. Stu dies examining racial attitudes and overt behavior have often reported inconsistency between the measure of verbal attitudes and overt behavior.' One explanation for the discrepancy is that characteristics of the overt sitiutinn. rather than attitudes. determine the action toward the attitude object.2 Another way of interpreting the findings involves the recognition that situational factors influence behavior in both measurement situations. When measuring verbal attitudes, the situational characteristics can be markedly different than characteristics in the overt situation. The disparity between the situational characteristics which influence respondents' role-playing in each setting may contribute to the inconsis-