ATTITUDE STABILITY AND ATTITUDE STRENGTH - ONE IS ENOUGH TO MAKE IT STABLE

The temporal stability of attitudes toward socially relevant and irrel evant issues was examined as a function of different dimensions of att itude strength. Attitude strength was found to be a three-dimensional structure consisting of Generalized Attitude Strength (defined by amou nt of experience with the attitude object, certainty, importance, vest ed interest, frequency of thinking about the attitude object, self-rep orted and working knowledge); Internal Consistency (defined by evaluat ive-cognitive and evaluative-affective consistency); and Extremity (de fined by affective and evaluative extremity). The temporal stability o f an attitude was moderated by only one dimension of attitude strength . The specific dimension that moderated stability was different for di fferent issues. Generalized Strength appeared to contribute to tempora l stability of an attitude by supporting its cognitive component.