The Interactive Effects of Ambivalence and Certainty on Political Opinion Stability
Some political attitudes and opinions shift and fluctuate over time whereas others remain fairly stable. Prior research on attitude strength has documented several features of attitudes that predict their temporal stability. The present analysis focuses on two of them: attitudinal ambivalence and ce...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Social and Political Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jspp.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp/article/view/1247 |
| _version_ | 1797967596314689536 |
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| author | Andrew Luttrell Richard E. Petty Pablo Briñol |
| author_facet | Andrew Luttrell Richard E. Petty Pablo Briñol |
| author_sort | Andrew Luttrell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Some political attitudes and opinions shift and fluctuate over time whereas others remain fairly stable. Prior research on attitude strength has documented several features of attitudes that predict their temporal stability. The present analysis focuses on two of them: attitudinal ambivalence and certainty. Each of these variables has received mixed support for its relationship with attitude stability. A recent set of studies, however, has addressed this link by showing that ambivalence and certainty interact to predict stability. Because those studies relied exclusively on college student samples and considered issues that may have been especially likely to evince change over time, the present analysis aimed to replicate the original findings in a sample of registered Florida voters with an important politically relevant issue: abortion. Results of these analyses replicated the previous findings and support the generalizability of the ambivalence × certainty interaction on attitude stability to a sample of registered voters reporting their attitudes toward abortion. Implications for public opinion and the psychology of political attitudes are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:33:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b1acb7be01cc44cc9ada5bcd376e00a9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2195-3325 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:33:44Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Social and Political Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-b1acb7be01cc44cc9ada5bcd376e00a92023-01-02T20:45:22ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyJournal of Social and Political Psychology2195-33252020-09-018252554110.5964/jspp.v8i2.1247jspp.v8i2.1247The Interactive Effects of Ambivalence and Certainty on Political Opinion StabilityAndrew Luttrell0Richard E. Petty1Pablo Briñol2Department of Psychological Science, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USADepartment of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USAFacultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, SpainSome political attitudes and opinions shift and fluctuate over time whereas others remain fairly stable. Prior research on attitude strength has documented several features of attitudes that predict their temporal stability. The present analysis focuses on two of them: attitudinal ambivalence and certainty. Each of these variables has received mixed support for its relationship with attitude stability. A recent set of studies, however, has addressed this link by showing that ambivalence and certainty interact to predict stability. Because those studies relied exclusively on college student samples and considered issues that may have been especially likely to evince change over time, the present analysis aimed to replicate the original findings in a sample of registered Florida voters with an important politically relevant issue: abortion. Results of these analyses replicated the previous findings and support the generalizability of the ambivalence × certainty interaction on attitude stability to a sample of registered voters reporting their attitudes toward abortion. Implications for public opinion and the psychology of political attitudes are discussed.https://jspp.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp/article/view/1247attitude stabilitycertaintyambivalenceattitude strengthpublic opinion |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Luttrell Richard E. Petty Pablo Briñol The Interactive Effects of Ambivalence and Certainty on Political Opinion Stability Journal of Social and Political Psychology attitude stability certainty ambivalence attitude strength public opinion |
| title | The Interactive Effects of Ambivalence and Certainty on Political Opinion Stability |
| title_full | The Interactive Effects of Ambivalence and Certainty on Political Opinion Stability |
| title_fullStr | The Interactive Effects of Ambivalence and Certainty on Political Opinion Stability |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Interactive Effects of Ambivalence and Certainty on Political Opinion Stability |
| title_short | The Interactive Effects of Ambivalence and Certainty on Political Opinion Stability |
| title_sort | interactive effects of ambivalence and certainty on political opinion stability |
| topic | attitude stability certainty ambivalence attitude strength public opinion |
| url | https://jspp.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp/article/view/1247 |
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