THE CONTRIBUTION OF SIMILARITY TO ATTITUDE CHANGE IN SUBJECTIVE AND EMPIRICAL CONTEXTS: AN ATTRIBUTIONAL EVALUATION OF ATTRACTIVENESS

This study examined how similarity contributed to attitude change in a subjective or empirical context, in which counselors agreed or disagreed with subjects\u27 predictions. The study was conducted according to a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design. The levels of the first three factors; counselor similarity, counselor judgment (agreement or disagreement), and nature of influence (subjective or empirical context), were completely crossed and yielded eight treatment conditions. The fourth factor, time, was defined by pre and post interview measures. Ninety-eight undergraduates completed an attitude change instrument on which they predicted whether they would like teaching and whether they had the necessary capabilities to become a successful teacher. They met for 30 minutes with a counselor who agreed or disagreed with one of their predictions. After the interview, subjects re-rated their predictions, completed the CRF-S and a manipulation check instrument, and were debriefed. Four separate univariate ANOVAs with repeated measures analysis were conducted on the four scales of the attitude change instrument. On the subjective scale, there was a Time x Counselor Judgment x Nature of Influence interaction, F (1,85) = 3.82, p \u3c .05. A post hoc analysis consisting of F tests for simple effects revealed that when a subject had a disagreeing counselor, they changed their attitude rating away from their original position. On the subjective confidence scale, there was a Time x Counselor Judgment interaction, F (1,85) = 4.73, p \u3c .03. A post hoc analysis revealed that subjects who had agreeing counselors increased their confidence ratings. On the empirical scale there was a Time x Similarity x Nature of Influence interaction, F (1,85) = 6.81, p \u3c .01. A post hoc analysis revealed that in the empirical context, subjects who had a similar counselor changed their attitude rating away from their original position. These results were interpreted as partially supporting Goethal\u27s (1976) attributional analysis of similarity, and Strong\u27s (1968) interpersonal influence model