SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE VERSUS CONTENT OF INFORMATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ATTITUDE JUDGMENTS

Experienced ease of thought generation was found to affect the impact of thought valence on attitude judgments. Participants generated eithe r three or seven arguments that were either in favor or opposed to a s pecific issue. After generating three arguments, which was experienced as easy, participants' rt ported attitudes reflected the implications of their arguments, but this was not the case after generating seven arguments, which was experienced as difficult. In contrast, yoked part icipants who had read the arguments generated by the first group and c onsequently had lacked the subjective experience in thought generation were influenced more strongly by having been exposed to seven argumen ts rather than three. The results suggest that individuals use their s ubjective experience that accompany thought generation for the constru ction of their attitudes.