Attitudes and attention

In this study we investigated these questions using eye-tracking and a two alternative forced food-choice task after measuring subjective values (attitude extremity) and their accompanying accessibility, certainty, and stability. Understanding this basic decision-making process is key if we are to gain insight on how to combat societal problems like obesity and other issues related to diet. We found that participants allocated more attention to items with lower attitude accessibility, but tended to choose items with higher attitude accessibility. Higher attitude certainty and stability had no effects on attention, but led to more attitude-consistent choices. These results imply that people are not simply choosing in line with their subjective values but are affected by other aspects of their attitudes. In addition, our attitude accessibility results indicate that more attention is not always beneficial.
Source: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research