CAUSAL UNCERTAINTY BELIEFS AND DIAGNOSTIC INFORMATION-SEEKING

This study examined the extent to which chronic causal uncertainty bel iefs influence diagnostic information seeking. Situational factors int ended to increase the excitation level of causal uncertainty beliefs a nd the intensity of goal-directed behavior also were investigated. Par ticipants expected to interview either a gender in-group or a gender o ut-group member, and half of them expected to be held accountable for their understanding of the interviewee. For out-group conditions, thos e accountable participants who possessed chronically accessible causal uncertainty beliefs revealed the greatest preference for diagnostic i nformation. For in-group conditions, no differential pattern of inform ation seeking as a function of chronic causal uncertainty beliefs or g oal importance were found Results are discussed in terms of a recent m odel of motivated social cognition proposed by G. Weary and J. A. Edwa rds (1996).