Cognition, Affect, and the Prediction of Social Attitudes

Multicomponent models of attitude (e.g., Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Zanna & Rempel, 1988) postulate that attitudes are summary evaluations based on cognitive, affective, and behavioral information. In this chapter, we describe research we have conducted that has used this model to study the role of cognitive and affective information in guiding attitudes. This research has revealed that both cognitive and affective information are uniquely important in the prediction of social attitudes, but that there are differences across individuals in the degree to which they possess attitudes that are consistent with the evaluative implications of their beliefs and feelings. We also describe research that addressed questions such as the relation between individual differences in attitude structure and attitude change, and the role of value-based cognitions in understanding intergroup evaluations. We conclude by discussing questions for future research