Affective-Cognitive Consistency and Thought-Induced Attittude Polarization

Affective-Cognitive Consistency and Thought-Induced
Attitude Polarization

Shelly Chaiken
New York University
Suzanne Yates
Lehman College, City University
of New York

In accord with the hypothesis that thought-induced attitude
polarization requires the presence of a well-developed knowledge structure, highconsistency subjects evidenced greater polarization than low-consistency subjects only on the relevant topic after writing the relevant essay. Content analyses of subjects'relevant essays yielded additional data confirming Tesser's ideas regarding mediation:

High (vs. low) consistency subjects expressed a greater proportion of cognitions that were evaluatively consistent with their prior affect toward the attitude object and a smaller proportion of evaluatively inconsistent and neutral cognitions. Moreover,although high- and low-consistency subjects did not differ in the amount of attitudinally relevant information they possessed or their awareness of inconsistent cognitions, their method of dealing with discrepant information diverged: Highconsistency subjects evidenced a greater tendency to assimilate discrepant information by generating refutational thoughts that discredited or minimized the importance of inconsistent information.