Thinking about consistency: Perceived amount of thought as an antecedent for inter-attitudinal consistency

Abstract

<p>Inter-attitude structure is concerned with how attitudes are connected in memory in a coherent and consistent manner. Domain expertise and issue importance are sources of inter-attitudinal consistency. High levels of issue-relevant thought may also contribute to consistency. Guided by research that shows the importance of the distinction between perceived amount of thought and actual amount of thought in predicting attitude outcomes, the present work attempted to provide evidence of subjective elaboration as an antecedent of Inter-Attitude Consistency independent of objective amount of thought, and as a mediating factor of the effect of thought on consistency. The project also sought evidence of the spreading of this effect from the target attitudes to issues similar and dissimilar to the target issues. Data collected was not consistent with predictions. Results, discussion, and exploratory analyses are presented.</p>