Ledgerwood Alison, Chaiken Shelly
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2007 Dec;93(6):940-56. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.93.6.940.
Social judgment theory holds that a person's own attitudes function as reference points, influencing the perception of others' attitudes. The authors argue that attitudes themselves are influenced by reference points, namely, the presumed attitudes of others. Whereas exposure to a group that acts as a contextual reference should cause attitude assimilation, exposure to a group that acts as a comparative reference should cause attitude contrast. In Study 1, participants subliminally primed with their political ingroup or outgroup endorsed more extreme political positions than did controls. Study 2 demonstrated that prime types known to uniquely facilitate assimilation and contrast enhanced the polarization effect in the ingroup and outgroup conditions, respectively. Study 3 established an important boundary condition for whether group salience produces attitude assimilation or contrast by showing that perceived closeness to the elderly moderates the direction and strength of the group priming effect. The results suggest that the transition from assimilation to contrast occurs when a group ceases to function as a context and becomes a comparison point. Implications for social judgment theory, assimilation and contrast research, and conflict escalation are discussed.
社会判断理论认为，一个人自身的态度起着参照点的作用，影响着对他人态度的认知。作者认为，态度本身会受到参照点的影响，即他人假定的态度。接触作为情境参照的群体应会导致态度同化，而接触作为比较参照的群体则应会导致态度对比。在研究1中，被潜意识地启动了政治内群体或外群体概念的参与者比对照组更倾向于支持极端的政治立场。研究2表明，已知能独特地促进同化和对比的启动类型分别增强了内群体和外群体条件下的两极分化效应。研究3通过表明对老年人的感知亲近程度会调节群体启动效应的方向和强度，为群体显著性是产生态度同化还是对比确立了一个重要的边界条件。结果表明，当一个群体不再作为一种情境而成为一个比较点时，就会发生从同化到对比的转变。文中还讨论了这些结果对社会判断理论、同化与对比研究以及冲突升级的启示。
