The predictability of attributions from attitudes, and the effect of schema complexity on extremity and confidence of attributions

Pilon, Joseph Paul (1990) The predictability of attributions from attitudes, and the effect of schema complexity on extremity and confidence of attributions. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The author investigated two hypotheses. H1: Attitudes about a target will be predictive of attributions made regarding the target. H2: As the cognitive complexity by which the target is represented increases, the less extreme, and less confident will be subjects' attributions regarding the target. In Experiment 1 the responses of 240 subjects were used to create standardized descriptions of a target. In Experiment 2 , 160 subjects participated in a 2 (attitude) X 2 (complexity) X 2 (outcome) design. Attitude about a target was manipulated using positive and negative descriptions, complexity of processing was manipulated by have subjects think about the target using 3 or 6 characteristics, and outcome of a situation was manipulated by having scenarios end in either a positive or negative outcome. The null hypothesis of H1 could not be rejected since attitude had no effect on the attributions. No conclusions could be drawn about complexity since the manipulation of schema complexity was unsuccessful. An unanticipated result was that positive outcomes led to more internal attributions. Unlike other studies which found similar results, this one controlled for the preceding situation.

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