Seft-Monitoring and Attitude Polarization: Individual Differences in the Role of Belief Consistency and Belief Confidence in the Mere-Thought Effect

The mere thought effect is the tendency for favorable attitudes to become more favorable and unfavorable attitudes to become more unfavorable following thought (Tesser, 1978). Changes in belief-consistency and belief-confidence mediate this effect (Tesser, Martin, & Mendolia, 1995). However, there are self-monitoring differences in the extent to which people are driven by consistency in their beliefs (Fuglestad & Snyder, 2009; Snyder, 1974). It was predicted that mere-thought and self-monitoring will interactively influence attitude polarization. We also hypothesized that the interactive effects of mere-thought and self-monitoring on attitude polarization will be mediated by belief-consistency and belief-confidence. After indicating their initial attitudes about capital punishment, participants were randomly assigned to two different opportunities for thought (i.e., 60s or 180s condition) to list all beliefs about capital punishment. Participants independently responded to the 25-item Self-Monitoring Scale (Snyder, 1974) and a measure on belief-confidence. As predicted, there was a marginally reliable significant interaction between mere-thought and self-monitoring. Low self-monitors compared to high self-monitors demonstrated more polarized attitudes when giving them more time to think about a target issue. As predicted, after controlling for belief-consistency and belief-confidence, the interaction between opportunity for thought and self-monitoring was attenuated. Limitations (i.e., problem with directionality, third variable problem, and threats to statistical validity) and suggestions for future research (i.e., conditions high self-monitors might exhibit more attitude polarization and exploring additional personality/situational moderators) were discussed.

Grantor dc:publisher

UNF Digital Commons

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Rodriguez, Rosanna

• Thesis; University of North Florida; UNF; Dissertations
• Academic -- UNF -- Psychology; Dissertations
• Academic -- UNF -- Master of Arts in General Psychology; mere-thought effect; attitude polarization; self-monitoring; belief-consistency; belief-confidence
• Personality and Social Contexts
• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/631

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.unf.edu:etd-1668