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Some attitudinal and cognitive consequences of thought

Journal of Research in PersonalityPublished 1 June 1977
Abraham Tesser, Claudia L. Cowan
Citations43
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.37
SNIP1.28

Abstract

A "reinterpretation of inconsistent cognitions" explanation of the previous finding that thought about an object tends to polarize attitudes toward that object was tested. Under the assumption that ambiguity facilitates reinterpretation, ambiguity of inconsistent information and opportunity for thought were manipulated. Consistent with expectations, (a) thought resulted in attitude polarization and this effect was increased with ambiguity (p < .01) and (b) evaluation (interpretation) of the inconsistent information varied as a function of thought (p < .05) and ambiguity (p < .01).

Keywords

Social SciencesDecision SciencesNeuroscience