Yale University

How affectively-based and cognitively-based attitudes drive intergroup behaviours: the moderating role of affective-cognitive consistency.

TitleHow affectively-based and cognitively-based attitudes drive intergroup behaviours: the moderating role of affective-cognitive consistency.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsZhou, Jie, John Dovidio, and Erping Wang
JournalPloS one
Volume8
Issue11
Paginatione82150
Date Published2013
ISSN1932-6203
AbstractThe moderating role of affective-cognitive consistency in the effects of affectively-based and cognitively-based attitudes on consummatory and instrumental behaviors was explored using two experimental studies in the intergroup context. Study 1 revealed that affectively-based attitudes were better predictors than cognitively-based attitudes regardless of affective-cognitive consistency for consummatory behaviors (e.g., undergraduates' supportive behaviors toward government officials). Study 2, which investigated task groups' supportive behaviors toward an immediate supervisory group, found that for these instrumental behaviors cognitively-based attitudes were better predictors than affectively-based attitudes only when affective-cognitive consistency was high. The present research also examined the mechanism by which affective-cognitive consistency moderates the relative roles of affectively-based and cognitively-based attitudes in attitude-behavior consistency. Results indicated that attitude-behavior consistency is eroded primarily because of the weaker relationship of affective or cognitive components to behaviors than to general attitudes. The reciprocal implications of research on attitudes and work on intergroup relations are considered.
DOI10.1136/bcr-2013-201184
Alternate JournalPLoS ONE

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