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3 - Attitude Formation at the Individual Level

from Part I - The Fundamentals of Public Opinion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2024

Clifford Young  and
Kathryn Ziemer
Clifford Young
Affiliation:
Ipsos Public Affairs
Kathryn Ziemer
Affiliation:
Ipsos Public Affairs
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Summary

This chapter examines how attitudes are formed. Attitude formation is explained as a function of prior beliefs and information. This process is viewed through two complementary lenses: the static process and the dynamic process. The static model thinks of attitudes as a combination of ratings and rankings. We term this the multi-attribute model – a commonly used approach in psychology and economics. The dynamic model concentrates on how humans process information, where things like words, symbols, and memory networks take on practical significance. Ultimately, both models have many applications for the practitioner.

Keywords

multi-attribute modelattitudesmemoryinformation processingstatic processdynamic processattributesratingsrankingsonline processing model
Type
Chapter
Information
Polls, Pollsters, and Public Opinion
A Guide for Decision-Makers
 , pp. 25 - 37
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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