Attitudes without objects: evidence for a dispositional attitude, its measurement, and its consequences

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Attitude Research

Background:

• Individual differences in attitude formation are recognized, but a specific trait for evaluative positivity/negativity was not well-defined.
• Existing research often focuses on situational factors influencing attitudes, overlooking stable individual predispositions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate the construct of dispositional attitude.
• To develop and assess the psychometric properties of the Dispositional Attitude Measure (DAM).
• To examine the relationship between dispositional attitude and other psychological traits, and its predictive power for novel attitudes.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 16-item Dispositional Attitude Measure (DAM) across four studies.
• Assessment of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factor structure, and various forms of validity (convergent, discriminant, predictive).
• Correlational analyses with affect traits, curiosity, preexisting attitudes, and theoretically unrelated traits.
• Regression analyses predicting novel attitude valence, controlling for Big 5 personality traits and optimism.

Main Results:

• The DAM demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability.
• DAM scores positively correlated with positive affect and curiosity, and negatively with negative affect.
• Dispositional attitude significantly predicted the valence of new attitudes, independent of other established traits.

Conclusions:

• Dispositional attitude is a valid and reliable psychological construct representing an individual's tendency towards positive or negative evaluations.
• Attitudes are influenced not only by stimulus properties but also by the evaluator's dispositional traits.
• This construct has significant implications for understanding attitude formation, persuasion, and behavior prediction.