[Persistence of polarization in self-generated attitude change]

The present study examined the persistence of polarization in self-generated attitude change, and explored the possibility of an additional polarization. In Experiment 1, a judgment about a traffic accident case was made, in which the defendant tended to appear guilty. Subjects in Thought condition then made a second judgment after thinking about the case for six minutes. In Experiment 2, two months later, the Thought subjects made judgments of the case again. The results were as follows: Judgments tended to polarize after the six-minute interval, and the effect persisted to the second experiment. However, a second polarization did not occur when another interval of six minutes to think about the case was provided. Some relationship between harshness of judgment and the number of reasons given for harsh judgment was found. The results were discussed in terms of both informational influence and social comparison.