The interactive effects of ambivalence and certainty on political opinion stability
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Luttrell, Andrew
Petty, Richard E.
Briñol, Pablo
Abstract / Description
Some political attitudes and opinions shift and fluctuate over time whereas others remain fairly stable. Prior research on attitude strength has documented several features of attitudes that predict their temporal stability. The present analysis focuses on two of them: attitudinal ambivalence and certainty. Each of these variables has received mixed support for its relationship with attitude stability. A recent set of studies, however, has addressed this link by showing that ambivalence and certainty interact to predict stability. Because those studies relied exclusively on college student samples and considered issues that may have been especially likely to evince change over time, the present analysis aimed to replicate the original findings in a sample of registered Florida voters with an important politically relevant issue: abortion. Results of these analyses replicated the previous findings and support the generalizability of the ambivalence × certainty interaction on attitude stability to a sample of registered voters reporting their attitudes toward abortion. Implications for public opinion and the psychology of political attitudes are discussed.
Keyword(s)
attitude stability certainty ambivalence attitude strength public opinionPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2020-09-02
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
8
Issue
2
Page numbers
525–541
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Luttrell, A., Petty, R. E., & Briñol, P. (2020). The interactive effects of ambivalence and certainty on political opinion stability. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 8(2), 525-541. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v8i2.1247
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jspp.v8i2.1247.pdfAdobe PDF - 586.89KBMD5: 9fd89d81e001de88241312b7928faf0c
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Luttrell, Andrew
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Petty, Richard E.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Briñol, Pablo
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-04-14T11:23:50Z
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Made available on2022-04-14T11:23:50Z
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Date of first publication2020-09-02
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Abstract / DescriptionSome political attitudes and opinions shift and fluctuate over time whereas others remain fairly stable. Prior research on attitude strength has documented several features of attitudes that predict their temporal stability. The present analysis focuses on two of them: attitudinal ambivalence and certainty. Each of these variables has received mixed support for its relationship with attitude stability. A recent set of studies, however, has addressed this link by showing that ambivalence and certainty interact to predict stability. Because those studies relied exclusively on college student samples and considered issues that may have been especially likely to evince change over time, the present analysis aimed to replicate the original findings in a sample of registered Florida voters with an important politically relevant issue: abortion. Results of these analyses replicated the previous findings and support the generalizability of the ambivalence × certainty interaction on attitude stability to a sample of registered voters reporting their attitudes toward abortion. Implications for public opinion and the psychology of political attitudes are discussed.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationLuttrell, A., Petty, R. E., & Briñol, P. (2020). The interactive effects of ambivalence and certainty on political opinion stability. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 8(2), 525-541. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v8i2.1247en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/5638
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.6242
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v8i2.1247
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Is related tohttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.3157
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Is related tohttps://osf.io/e7zb2/
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Keyword(s)attitude stabilityen_US
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Keyword(s)certaintyen_US
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Keyword(s)ambivalenceen_US
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Keyword(s)attitude strengthen_US
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Keyword(s)public opinionen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleThe interactive effects of ambivalence and certainty on political opinion stabilityen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue2
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers525–541
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Volume8
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Visible tag(s)Version of Recorden_US