Social-Judgment Theory

Smile and the world smiles with you; cry and you cry alone.


Social-judgment theory argues that attitude change is affected by factors like the original attitude - the attitude being changed or replaced - and the difference between it and the new or replacement attitude. For example, the attitude "No one but the police and the military should have guns", is extremely different from the attitude "Everyone should have the right to own guns", but not too different from the attitude "Only qualified people should be allowed to own guns".

According to social-judgment theory, the first attitude will be more easily changed to a similar attitude than to a different attitude. According to this theory, attitudes about related issues are judged along a continuum, like the degrees of a thermometer, rather than as completely separate categories like an "on-off" switch. Thus there is no sharp line between liberal and conservative. Instead, there are extremely liberal, moderately liberal, slightly liberal, slightly conservative, moderately conservative, and extremely conservative attitudes. It is easier to change attitudes from one position to an adjacent position than to a position at the opposite end of the continuum.

Attitude change professionals, like advertisers and campaign managers, use social-judgment theory when they portray their product or candidate as similar to those already favoured by the audeience. If the audience accepts this similarity, it will be easier to change their attitude than if they believe their preexisiting attitudes are in opposition to the new product or candidate.



Here And Now
What is the use of planning to be able to eat next week unless I can really enjoy the meals when they come ? If I am so busy planning how to eat next week that I cannot fully enjoy what I am eating now, I will be in the same predicament when next week's meals become "now."

If my happiness at this moment consists largely in reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but dimly aware of this present. I shall still be dimly aware of the present when the good things that I have been expecting come to pass.

For I shall have formed a habit of looking behind and ahead, making it difficult for me to attend to the here and now. If, then, my awareness of the past and future makes me less aware of the present, I must begin to wonder whether I am actually living in the real world.

-- Alan W. Watts, The Wisdom Of Insecurity