Attitudes
JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES
VOLUME XXV, NUMBER 4, 1969
Attitudes versus Actions: The Relationship of
Verbal and Overt Behavioral Responses to Attitude Objects
Allan W. Wicker'
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Gordon Allport (1954) has described the attitude concept as
"the primary building stone in the edifice of social psychology
[p. 4 5]," and the extensive attitude literature in the past 20 years supports this contention. Stimulated primarily by the cognitive consistency theories, thousands of pages have been written recently on attitude formation and change.
One possible reason for the popularity of the attitude concept is that social psychologists have assumed that attitudes have something to do with social behavior. Cohen (1964), in the concluding chapter of his book. Attitude Change and Social Influence, states: 'The writer is indebted to the following colleagues for helpful suggestions and comments on an earlier version of this paper: Roger Barker, L. B. Kornreich, Eugene Levitt, and Lawrence Linn. Thanks are also due to Anthony Fazio and James Green who supplied unpublished studies for review, and to Dean
Bolton and Douglas Simpson for library work. Locating relevant references was facilitated by Deutscher's bibliography (1966a). This research was supported by a grant from the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and National Institute of Mental Health Grant 1 R03 MH-15798-01. Portions of this paper were presented at the Western Psychological Association Convention, Vancouver, B.C., June 20, 1969.
Now at the University of Illinois, Urbana.
41
42
ALLAN W. WICKER
Most of the investigators whose work we have examined make the broad psychological assumption that since attitudes are evaluative predispositions, they have consequences for the way people act toward others, for the programs they actually undertake, and for the manner in which they carry them out. Thus attitudes are always seen as precursors
VOLUME XXV, NUMBER 4, 1969
Attitudes versus Actions: The Relationship of
Verbal and Overt Behavioral Responses to Attitude Objects
Allan W. Wicker'
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Gordon Allport (1954) has described the attitude concept as
"the primary building stone in the edifice of social psychology
[p. 4 5]," and the extensive attitude literature in the past 20 years supports this contention. Stimulated primarily by the cognitive consistency theories, thousands of pages have been written recently on attitude formation and change.
One possible reason for the popularity of the attitude concept is that social psychologists have assumed that attitudes have something to do with social behavior. Cohen (1964), in the concluding chapter of his book. Attitude Change and Social Influence, states: 'The writer is indebted to the following colleagues for helpful suggestions and comments on an earlier version of this paper: Roger Barker, L. B. Kornreich, Eugene Levitt, and Lawrence Linn. Thanks are also due to Anthony Fazio and James Green who supplied unpublished studies for review, and to Dean
Bolton and Douglas Simpson for library work. Locating relevant references was facilitated by Deutscher's bibliography (1966a). This research was supported by a grant from the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and National Institute of Mental Health Grant 1 R03 MH-15798-01. Portions of this paper were presented at the Western Psychological Association Convention, Vancouver, B.C., June 20, 1969.
Now at the University of Illinois, Urbana.
41
42
ALLAN W. WICKER
Most of the investigators whose work we have examined make the broad psychological assumption that since attitudes are evaluative predispositions, they have consequences for the way people act toward others, for the programs they actually undertake, and for the manner in which they carry them out. Thus attitudes are always seen as precursors