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Incomplete grounding: the theory of symbolic separation is contradicted by pervasive stability in attitudes and behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2021

Oleg Urminsky Open the ORCID record for Oleg Urminsky [Opens in a new window]
Oleg Urminsky*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, Chicago, IL60637. [email protected]://home.uchicago.edu/~ourminsky/
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Abstract

The proposed theory is broad enough to accommodate the reduction or elimination of prior influences by a variety of acts symbolizing separation (including cleansing). However, it does not account for stability in psychological variables, and is contradicted by widely documented stability in people's actual attitudes and behavior over time, in multiple domains, despite people's pervasive everyday acts of symbolic separation.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e26
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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