SALIENCE OF ANTIABORTION BELIEFS AND COMMITMENT TO AN ATTITUDINAL POSITION - ON THE STRENGTH, STRUCTURE, AND PREDICTIVE-VALIDITY OF ANTIABORTION ATTITUDES

The role of beliefs in attitude formation and the impact of commitment to an attitude on its predictive validity were studied in the context of anti-abortion attitudes. Undergraduates (N = 152), identified as p ro-choice or pro-life, expressed their beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and restriction preferences with respect to making abortion illegal. In addition, they indicated their commitment to their positions and th eir willingness to distribute a pro- or anti-abortion petition. Salien t beliefs-identified in a pilot study-were found to predict attitudes, intentions, restriction preferences, and petition choice significantl y better than nonsalient beliefs. Salient beliefs also discriminated s ignificantly between pro-choice and pro-life respondents, providing us eful information about the cognitive underpinnings of anti-abortion at titudes. In addition, accuracy of predictions increased significantly with commitment, even when attitude extremity was statistically contro lled. These findings support the summation theory of attitude (Fishbei n, 1963) and demonstrate the importance of attitude strength in determ ining the structure and predictive validity of attitudes.