An Amplification Perspective on Attitude Certainty

Past research suggests that becoming more certain of an attitude strengthens that attitude, making it more resistant to persuasion and more predictive of behavior. The current research challenges this view of attitude certainty, suggesting that certainty can strengthen or weaken attitudes depending on their underlying ambivalence. In several experiments, we demonstrate that increasing attitude certainty strengthens attitudes (makes them more resistant and more predictive of behavior) when attitudes are univalent, but weakens attitudes (makes them less resistant and less predictive of behavior) when attitudes are ambivalent.



Citation:

Zakary Tormala and Joshua Clarkson (2009) ,"An Amplification Perspective on Attitude Certainty", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 68-71.

Authors

Zakary Tormala, Stanford University, USA
Joshua Clarkson, Indiana University, USA



Volume

NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36 | 2009



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