Scaling of attitude items under stress: Response shift or change of personal reference scale?
✍ Scribed by Ute Schönpflug; Wolfgang Schönpflug
- Book ID
- 102831444
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1972
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 980 KB
- Volume
- 2
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0046-2772
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The purpose of this experiment was to explore psychological mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of extremization o f judgments (accentuation) under stress. Specifically the question was raised whether accentuation was due to some change o f the internal representation of the objective scale (the personal reference scale, . In the case of no indication for such a change a further analysis o f accentuation concerning the nature o f response shifts was intended.
Four different degrees o f stress were induced by varying levels o f white noise stimulation. Induction of stress was monitored by measures of electrodermal and cardiac activity. Ss in each of the stress conditions rated statements on social issues for degree of socialist or communist attitude expressed. In part I o f the experiment Ss were free to choose any bipolar scale comprisiny 2-13 categories. In part I I they repeated their judgments on a 9-point bipolar scale.
A s degree o f stress was not systematically related to scale selection in part I , there was no support for the hypothesis o f a change of personal reference sca?e. A linear function between a general instability o f the judgmental frame o f referencr and stress was found, however. Again an increasing tendency to accentuate under intermediate stress levels was observed. Under medium degree of stress an increased tendency to vary scales was also observed.