1.

Attitudes
GORDON W. ALLPORT

Excerpted from an article in C. Murchison (Ed.), courage, obstinacy, generosity and humility,
Handbook of Social Psychology, Clark University as well as the units of affective organization
Press, Worcester, Mass., 1935, with permission of the which are here called "sentiments." I cannot
author and the publisher. see how progress in social psychology can be
made without a more discriminating
The concept of attitude is probably the most distinctive terminology (1933, p. 219).
and indispensable concept in contemporary American
social psychology. No other term appears more It is undeniable that the concept of "attitude" has
frequently in experimental and theoretical literature. Its become something of a factotum for both
popularity is not difficult to explain. It has come into psychologists and sociologists. But, in spite of all the
favor, first of all, because it is not the property of any animadversions of critics, the term is now in nearly
one psychological school of thought, and therefore universal use and plays a central rle in most of the
serves admirably the purposes of eclectic writers. recent systematic, studies in social psychology. It is
Furthermore, it is a concept which escapes the ancient therefore a concept which students must examine
controversy concerning the relative influence of with unusual care.
heredity and environment. Since an attitude may
combine both instinct and habit in any proportion, it HISTORY OF THE CONCEPT OF ATTITUDE
avoids the extreme commitments of both the
instinct-theory and environmentalism. The term Like most abstract terms in the English language,
likewise is elastic enough to apply either to the attitude has more than one meaning. Derived from
dispositions of single, isolated individuals or to broad the Latin aptus, it has on the one hand the
patterns of culture. Psychologists and sociologists significance of "fitness" or "adaptedness," and like its
therefore find in it a meeting point for discussion and by-form aptitude connotes a subjective or mental
research. This useful, one might almost say peaceful, state of preparation for action. Through its use in the
concept has been so widely adopted that it has virtually field of art, however, the term came to have a quite
established itself as the keystone in the edifice of independent meaning; it referred to the outward or
American social psychology. In fact several writers (cf. visible posture (the bodily position) of a figure in
Bogardus, 1931; Thomas and Znaniecki, 1918; statuary or painting. The first meaning is clearly
Folsom, 1931) define social psychology as the preserved in modern psychology in what are often
scientific study of attitudes. referred to as "mental attitudes"; and the second
meaning in "motor attitudes." Since mentalistic
As might be expected of so abstract and psychology historically precedes response
serviceable a term, it has come to signify many things psychology, it is only natural to find that mental
to many writers, with the inevitable result that its attitudes are given recognition earlier than motor
meaning is somewhat indefinite and its scientific status attitudes. One of the earliest psychologists to employ
called into question. Among the critics (e.g., Bain, the term was Herbert Spencer. In his First Principles
1927-1928; McDougall, 1933; Symonds, 1927), (1862) he wrote:
McDougall has been the most severe:
Arriving at correct judgments on disputed
American social psychologists and sociologists questions, much depends on the attitude of
have recently produced a voluminous mind we preserve while listening to, or taking
literature concerning what they call "social part, in the controversy: and for the
attitudes"; the term is used to cover a preservation of a right attitude it is needful
multitude of facts of many kinds including that we should learn how true, and yet how
almost every variety of opinion and belief and untrue, are average human beliefs (Vol. 1,
all the abstract qualities of personality, such as pp. 1, i).
 Similarly in 1868 Alexander Bain wrote: perception, recall, judgment, thought, and volition,
the central importance of the subjects' preparedness
The forces of the mind may have got into a became universally recognized. In Germany, where
set track or attitude, opposing a certain most of the experimental work was done, there arose
resistance as when some one subject a swarm of technical expressions to designate the
engrosses our attention, so that even during a varieties of mental and motor "sets" which influence
break in the actual current of the thoughts, the subjects' trains of thought or behavior during the
other subjects are not entertained (p. 158). experiment. In addition to the Aufgabe, there was the
Absicht (conscious purpose), the Zielvorstellung (or
Somewhat later, when psychologists were idea of the goal), the Bezugsvorstellung (idea of the
forsaking their exclusively mentalistic point of view, relation between the self and the object to which the
the concept of motor attitudes became popular. In self is responding), the Richtungsvorstellung (or idea
1888, for example, N. Lange developed a motor of direction), the determindierende Tendenz (any
theory wherein the process of a perception was disposition which brings in its train the spontaneous
considered to be in large part a consequence of appearance of a determined idea), the Einstellung, a
muscular preparation or "set." At about the same time more general term (roughly equivalent to "set"), the
Miinsterberg (1889) developed his action theory of Haltung (with a more behavioral connotation), and
attention, and F&6 (1890) maintained that a balanced the Bewusstseinslage (the "posture or lay of
condition of tension in the muscles was a determining consciousness"). It was perhaps the lack of a general
condition of selective consciousness. In 1895 Baldwin term equivalent to "attitude" that led the German
proposed motor attitudes as the basis for an experimentalists to discover so many types and
understanding of emotional expression, and later forms.
writers, such as Giddings (1896) and Mead
(1924-1925) expanded still further the r61e of motor Then came the lively controversy over the place
attitudes in social understanding. of attitudes in consciousness. The Wrzburg school
was agreed that attitudes were neither sensation, nor
In recent years it is uncommon to find explicit labeling imagery, nor affection, nor any combination of these
of an attitude as either "mental" or "motor." Such a states. Time and again they were studied by the
practice smacks of bodymind dualism, and is therefore method of introspection, always with meager results.
distasteful to contemporary psychologists. In nearly all Often an attitude seemed to have no representation in
cases today the term appears without a qualifying consciousness other than a vague sense of need, or
adjective, and implicitly retains both its original some indefinite and unanalyzable feeling of doubt,
meanings: a mental aptness and a motor set. Attitude assent, conviction, effort, or familiarity. (Cf. Fearing,
connotes a neuropsychic state of readiness for mental 1931; Titchener, 1909.)
and physical activity.
As a result of the Wrxburg work all
Attitudes in Experimental Psychology psychologists came to accept attitudes, but not all
believed them to be impalpable and irreducible mental
Perhaps the first explicit recognition of attitudes elements. Marbe's conception of the
within the domain of laboratory psychology was in Bewusstseinslage as an "obvious fact of
connection with a study of reaction time. In 1888 L. consciousness, whose contents, nevertheless, either
Lange discovered that a subject who was consciously do not permit at all of a detailed characterization, or
prepared to press a telegraph key immediately upon are at any rate difficult to characterize" became a
receiving a signal reacted more quickly than did one particular bone of contention. In general, the
whose attention was directed mainly to the incoming followers of Wundt believed that attitudes could be
stimulus, and whose consciousness was not therefore accounted for adequately as feelings, particularly as
directed primarily upon the expected reaction. After some blend of striving and excitement. Clarke (1911),
Lange's work, the task-attitude, or Aufgabe, as it came a pupil of Titchener, found that attitudes in large part
to be called, was discovered to play a decisive part in are represented in consciousness through imagery,
nearly all psychological experiments. Not only in the sensation, and affection, and that where no such
reaction experiment, but in investigations of states are reported there is presumably merely a
decay or abbreviation of these same constituents. the introspectionist, is disinclined to pursue it further.
The tendency of experimental orthodoxy is to admit
However they might disagree upon the nature of the crucial part played by attitudes in all mental
attitudes in so far as they appear in consciousness, all operations, but to consign them to the mysterious
investigators, even the most orthodox, came to admit limbo of "motivation" and there to leave them.
attitudes as an indispensable part of their psychological
armamentarium. Titchener is a case in point. His It was the influence of Freud, of course, that
Outline of Psychology in 1899 contained no reference resurrected attitudes from this obscurity and endowed
to attitude; ten years later, in his Textbook of them with vitality, identifying them with longing,
Psychology, several pages are given to the subject, and hatred and love, with passion and prejudice, in short,
its systematic importance is fully recognized: with the onrushing stream of unconscious life.
Without the painstaking labors of the experimentalists
Behind everything lies a cortical set, a nervous attitudes would not today be an established concept in
bias, perhaps inherited and permanent, the field of psychology, but also without the influence
perhaps acquired and temporary. This of psychoanalytic theory they would certainly have
background may not appear in consciousness remained relatively lifeless, and would not have been
at all; or it may appear as a vague, conscious of much assistance to social psychology which deals
attitude (passive imagination), or again as a above all else with full-blooded phenomena. For the
more or less definite plan, aim, ambition, explanation of prejudice, loyalty, credulity, patriotism,
intention (active imagination). Whether and the passions of the mob, no anemic conception of
conscious or not, the nervous disposition attitudes will suffice.
determines the course of consciousness (1916,
Section 119). Attitudes in Sociology

The meagerness with which attitudes are For a number of years sociologists have sought to
represented in consciousness resulted in a tendency to supplement their cultural concepts with a psychology
regard them as manifestations of brain activity or of which might express in concrete terms the
the unconscious mind. The persistence of attitudes mechanisms through which culture is carried. At first,
which are totally unconscious was demonstrated by under the influence of Bagehot, Tarde, and Baldwin,
Mller and Pzecker (1900), who called the a somewhat vaguely postulated instinct of imitation
phenomenon "perseveration." The tendency of the (or suggestion) was thought adequate. Somewhat later
subject to slip into some frame of mind peculiar to the basis was sought in a more varied native
himself led Koffka (1912) to postulate "latent equipment of men. It is interesting to note that of the
attitudes." Washburn (1916) characterized attitudes as first two textbooks in social psychology, both
"static movement systems" within the organs of the published in the year 1908, the one, by Ross, marks
body and the brain. Other writers, still more the demise of the "simple and sovereign" psychology
physiologically inclined, subsumed attitudes under of imitation-suggestion, and the other, by McDougall,
neurological rubrics: traces, neurograms, incitograms, marks the commencement of the still more vigorous
brain-patterns, and the like. social psychology of instincts.

Psychoanalytic Influence The instinct-hypothesis did not satisfy social

scientists for long, for the very nature of their work
The contribution of the Wrzburger and of all forced them to recognize the importance of custom
other experimental psychologists was in effect the and environment in shaping social behavior. The
demonstration that the concept of attitude is instinct-hypothesis has precisely the contrary
indispensable. The discovery that attitudes are to a emphasis. What they required was a new
large degree unconscious, however, tended to psychological concept which would escape on the one
discourage them from a further study of the problem. hand from the hollow impersonality of "custom" and
Once a phenomenon has been driven, as it were, to "social force," and on the other from nativism. Being
take refuge in nervous tissue, and identified with committed to some psychological doctrine and
cortical sets and brain fields, the psychologist, at least dissatisfied with instincts they gradually adopted the
concept of attitude. numerous possible values for any single attitude. The
iconoclast may direct his attacks quite at random
The case of Dewey may be taken as fairly typical. upon all the established social values, or the Philistine
In 1917 he professed to see in the doctrine of instincts may accept them all uncritically. To a large extent, of
an adequate basis for asocial psychology. Five years course, new social values are created by the attitudes
later (1922) he no longer found instincts suitable and which are common to many men, but these attitudes
sought to replace them with a concept that would themselves depend upon preexisting social values.
Hence in the social world, as studied by the
. . . express that kind of human activity which sociologist, both values and attitudes must have a
is influenced by prior activity and in that sense place. Primarily it falls to the ethnologist and
acquired; which contains within itself a certain philosopher to examine values; but it is social
ordering or systematization of minor elements psychology which is "precisely the science of
of action; which is projective, dynamic in attitudes."
quality, ready for overt manifestation; and
which is operative in some subdued The authors draw a distinction between attitudes
subordinate form even when not obviously of temperament and of character; the former include
dominating activity (p. 41). what psychologists have been accustomed to speak of
as instincts and innate aptitudes; the latter are the
To express this complex type of mental organization he acquired operations of the socialized mind-the plans,
chose "habit," but admitted as its equivalent either interests, and sympathies which characterize the
"disposition" or "attitude." average citizen. The authors admit likewise a
distinction between natural attitudes (toward the
The credit for instituting the concept of attitude as physical environment), which are of slight interest to
a permanent and central feature in sociological writing social psychology, and the social attitudes proper
must be assigned to Thomas and Znaniecki (1918), which are far more numerous and which constitute
who gave it systematic priority in their monumental the distinctive subject-matter of the new science.
study of Polish peasants. Before this time the term had
made only sporadic appearances in sociological Following closely in the same vein of thought,
literature, but immediately afterward it was adopted Faris (1925) proposed additional refinements. He
with enthusiasm by scores of writers. would distinguish between conscious and unconscious
attitudes, between mental and motor attitudes,
According to Thomas and Znaniecki the study of between individual and group attitudes, and between
attitudes is par excellence the field of social latent and kinetic attitudes. Park (see Young, 1931),
psychology. Attitudes are individual mental processes who is likewise in essential agreement with this school
which determine both the actual and potential of thought, suggests four criteria for an attitude:
responses of each person in the social world. Since an
attitude is always directed toward some object it may 1. It must have definite orientation in the world of
be defined as a "state of mind of the individual toward objects (or values), and in this respect differ from
a value." Values are usually social in nature, that is to simple and conditioned reflexes.
say they are objects of common regard on the part of
socialized men. Love of money, desire for fame, 2. It must not be an altogether automatic and
hatred of foreigners, respect for a scientific doctrine, routine type of conduct, but must display some
are typical attitudes. It follows that money, fame, tension even when latent.
foreigners, and a scientific theory are values. A social
value is defined as "any datum having an empirical 3. It varies in intensity, sometimes being
content accessible to the members of some social predominant, sometimes relatively ineffective.
group and a meaning with regard to which it is or may
be an object of activity (p. 21). There are, to be sure, 4. It is rooted in experience, and therefore is not
numerous attitudes corresponding to every social simply a social instinct.
value; there are, for example, many views or attitudes
regarding the church or the state. There are also Bernard (1930) has recently prepared a synthesis of
the conceptions found in current sociological writing: ATTITUDES AS A FORM OF READINESS

Social attitudes are individual attitudes Let us now consider a representative selection of
directed toward social objects. Collective definitions and characterizations of attitude.
attitudes are individual attitudes so strongly
interconditioned by collective contact that they [An attitude is] readiness for attention or
become highly standardized and uniform action of a definite sort (Baldwin,
within the group .... The attitude is originally 1901-1905).
a trial response, i.e., interrupted, preparatory
or substitute behavior arising within an Attitudes are literally mental postures, guides
incompleted adjustment response, but it may for conduct to which each new experience is
become the permanent set of the organism. It referred before a response is made (Morgan,
ranges from concrete muscular response to 1934, p. 47).
that which is abstract, inner or neural . . . .
Attitudes form the basis of all language and Attitude - the specific mental disposition
communication. In them is implicit all finished toward an incoming (or arising) experience,
social behavior and through them practically whereby that experience is modified, or, a
all social adjustment is consummated . . . . condition of readiness for a certain type of
Public opinion is the highest form of collective activity (Dictionary of Psychology, Warren,
attitudes. 1934).

Conclusion An attitude is a complex of feelings, desires,

fears, convictions, prejudices or other
This brief review of the history of the concept of tendencies that have given a set or readiness
attitude has established three important facts: to act to a person because of varied
experiences (Chave, 1928) .
1. After the breakdown of intellectualistic
psychology the phenomena of "determination" came . . . a more or less permanently enduring
slowly but certainly to be admitted to unquestioned state of readiness of mental organization
standing in experimental psychology. Attitudes came which predisposes an individual to react in a
into fashion. characteristic way to any object or situation
with which it is related (Cantril, 1934).
2. Under the influence of psychoanalytic theory
the dynamic and unconscious character of attitudes From the point of view of Gestalt psychology
became more fully recognized. a change of attitude involves a definite
physiological stress exerted upon a sensory
3. In sociological writing there was a gradual field by processes originating in other parts of
turning of interest to attitudes considered as the the nervous system (Khler, 1929, p. 184).
concrete representations of culture.
An attitude is a tendency to act toward or
The effect of these three convergent trends within the against something in the environment which
past fifteen years has been the creation of a vigorous becomes thereby a positive or negative value
doctrine of attitudes, which today is bearing most of (Bogardus, 1931, p. 62).
the descriptive and explanatory burdens of social
psychology. Whether the concept is being overworked By attitude we understand a process of
to such an extent that it will be discarded along with individual consciousness which determines
the past shibboleths of social science remains to be real or possible activity of the individual
seen. It seems more probable that the ever increasing counterpart of the social value; activity, in
number of critical and analytical studies will somehow whatever form, is the bond between them
succeed in refining and preserving it. (Thomas and Znaniecki, 1918, p. 27).
The attitude, or preparation in advance of the adjustments toward certain acts. They relate
actual response, constitutes an important not to the past nor even primarily to the
determinant of the ensuing social behavior. present, but as a rule, to the future.
Such neural settings, with their accompanying Sometimes, of course, it is a hypothetical
consciousness, are numerous and significant in future . . . . The "attitude" is primarily a way
social life (F. H. Allport, 1924, p. 320). of being "set" toward or against things
(Murphy and Murphy, 1931, p. 615).
An attitude is a mental disposition of the
human individual to act for or against a It is not difficult to trace the common thread
definite object (Droba, 1933). running through these diverse definitions. In one way
or another each regards the essential feature of
[An attitude] denotes the general set of the attitude as a preparation or readiness for response.
organism as a whole toward an object or The attitude is incipient and preparatory rather than
situation which calls for adjustment overt and consummatory. It is not behavior, but the
(Lundberg, 1929). precondition of behavior. It may exist in all degrees of
readiness from the most latent, dormant traces of
[Attitudes] are modes of emotional regard for forgotten habits to the tension or motion which is
objects, and motor "sets" or slight, tentative actively determining a course of conduct that is under
reactions toward them (Ewer, 1929, p. 136). way.

An attitude, roughly, is a residuum of

experience, by which further activity is A Definition of Attitudes
conditioned and controlled .... We may think
of attitudes as acquired tendencies to act in It is not easy to construct a definition sufficiently
specific ways toward objects (Krueger and broad to cover the many kinds of attitudinal
Reckless, 1931, p. 238). determination which psychologists today recognize,
and at the same time narrow enough to exclude those
When a certain type of experience is types of determination which are not ordinarily
constantlyrepeated, a change of set is brought referred to as attitudes. The definitions considered
about which affects many central neurons and above contain helpful suggestions, and yet none alone
tends to spread over other parts of the central is entirely satisfactory. The chief weakness of most of
nervous system. These changes in the general them seems to be their failure to distinguish between
set of the central nervous system temper the attitudes, which are often very general, and habits,
process of reception . . . . In terms of the which are always limited in their scope.
subjective mental life these general sets are
called attitudes (Warren, 1922, pp. 360 f.). Any attempt at a definition exaggerates the degree
of agreement which psychologists have reached, but
An attitude is a disposition to act which is built is justified if it contributes toward securing greater
up by the integration of numerous specific agreement in the future. The following definition has
responses of a similar type, but which exists the merit of including recognized types of attitudes:
as a general neural "set," and when activated the Aufgabe, the quasi-need, the Bewusstseinslage,
by a specific stimulus results in behavior that interest and subjective value, prejudice, stereotype,
is more obviously a function of the disposition and even the broadest conception of all, the
than of the activating stimulus. The important philosophy of life. It excludes those types of readiness
thing to note about this definition is that it which are expressly innate, which are bound rigidly
considers attitudes as broad, generic (not and invariably to the stimulus, which lack flexibility,
simple and specific) determinants of behavior and which lack directionality and reference to some
(G. W. Allport, 1929). external or conceptual object. An attitude is a mental
and neural state of readiness, organized through
We shall regard attitudes here as verbalized or experience, exerting a directive or dynamic
verbalizable tendencies, dispositions, influence upon the individual's response to all
objects and situations with which it is related. disagree in the modus operandi of reform. Two
people equally well disposed toward the church may
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ATTITUDES differ in their sacramental, liturgical, esthetic, social,
Protestant, or Catholic interpretation of the church. Is
An attitude characteristically provokes behavior the degree of positive or negative affect aroused by
that is acquisitive or avertive, favorable or unfavorable, the concept of "God" as significant as the qualitative
affirmative or negative toward the object or class of distinctions involved in theistic, deistic, pantheistic,
objects with which it is related. This double polarity in agnostic, intellectualistic, or emotional attitudes?
the direction of attitudes is often regarded as their most When one speaks of attitudes toward sex, it is
distinctive feature. It has a central place in Bogardus' obviously only the qualitative distinctions that have
definition (1931, p. 52): "An attitude is a .tendency to any intelligible meaning. What is a "serene and
act toward or against some environmental factor which benevolent mind"? Certainly not one devoid of
becomes thereby a positive or negative value." attitudes, nor yet one that is a battle-ground of
Likewise, Thurstone defines an attitude as "the affect tendencies "for" and tendencies "against." All of these
for or against a psychological object" (1932). objections to the unidimensional view argue strongly
for the recognition of the qualitative nature of
This point of view is a modern version of an attitudes.
ancient dialectic. For centuries the opposed categories
of "attraction" and "repulsion" have in one form or There is, however, one way of meeting these
another played a decisive part in psychological theory. objections, namely, by reducing attitudes to small
Empedocles assumed as the explanation of all activity enough components. If they are divided up into
the two contrasting immaterial principles of Love and artificialized units, the unidimensional conception is
Hate. The same opposed forces are prominent in the saved. The two radicals, for example, who are
psychological theories of Mantegazza, Brentano, and equally "against" the present social system, but who
Lindworsky. On a physiological plane one again differ in their policies, may conceivably be compared
encounters the dialectic of attraction and repulsion in in respect to the attraction or repulsion they show for
the opposition of the flexors and extensors each of the disputed policies. The bridge-enthusiasts
(Sherrington), in facilitation and inhibition who differ in their attitudes toward the game can be
(Mnsterberg), in resistance and conductance compared quantitatively in their attitudes for or
(Troland), in outreaching and withdrawing behavior against conversation during the play. Church-goers
(Watson), in alliance and combat (Tarde), in may be found to vary quantitatively in the degree to
acquisitive and avertive tendencies (Kempf), in adient which they favor every specific practice: baptism by
and abient responses (Holt), and in pleasure and pain. immersion, intincture, genuflection, or the use of
One recent textbook of social psychology bears the vestments. And even the man who has a neutral
subtitle, The Psychology of Attraction and Repulsion attitude may be found to have a positive and
(Smith, 1950), and the same pair of concepts underlie measurable attachment to the ideal of neutrality. If
the sociological system of Roguin (1931, 1952). It is such rigid analyses are pursued, all of the complex,
no wonder that many writers" find it possible to qualitative attitudes can be broken down and
classify all attitudes as either positive or negative. It is measured in fragments. The price one must pay for
undoubtedly true that the majority fit easily into these bi-polarity and quantification in such cases is, of
categories. course, extreme, and often absurd, elementarism.

And yet some attitudes are not readily classified. THE MEASUREMENT OF ATTITUDES
What shall one do, for example, with a detached,
impersonal, or judicial attitude, or with an attitude of The interest of American social psychologists in
neutrality? Complacency, amusement, tolerance, and fact-collecting and statistical methods has resulted in
openmindedness are not easily reduced to "affect for a rapid advance in the empirical stud) of attitudes,
or against" an object. Two bridge-players may have with the result that attitudes today are measured more
the same "degree of affect" toward the game, and yet successfully than they are defined. As has often been
differ qualitatively in their attitudes toward it. Two pointed out, the situation is not unlike that in the field
radicals may be equally in favor of change, but of intelligence testing where practicable tests are an
established fact, although the nature of intelligence is agreement. Obviously this method does not provide
still in dispute. In recent years there has been a decline a true scale of measurement, since the alternative
of interest in the measurement of intelligence items are not scaled in respect to their intensity. The
(Goodenough, 1934) and an increase of interest in the results obtained, however, can be turned readily into
measurement of attitudes. It seems as though militant a study of the percentages of students who favor each
testing, having won victories on one field of battle, has of the opinions contained in the questionnaire.
sought a new world to conquer. The numerous
methods available for measuring attitudes have been The a priori Scale
often reviewed and do not require restatement here.
The present abbreviated account, which confines itself The so-called a priori scale is essentially a test
to three methods, may be supplemented by the more devised on the basis of logical rather than empirical
complete summaries of Bain (1930), Droba (1982, considerations. It is an economical method, widely
1934a), Katz and Allport (1931), Fryer (1931), used, and easy to apply, but in recent years it has
Murphy and Murphy (1931), Stagner (see Black, been severely criticized. There are various forms of
1933, pp. 115127), Sherman (1932), and Symonds the a priori scale, but they are all alike in that their
(1931). scoring is arbitrary. Sometimes the author presents a
series of questions, each of which may have, say, five
The Census of Opinions alternative answers from which the subject must
select one. These alternative answers are conceived
The simplest method for determining how by the author to lie on a single continuum and to be
common an attitude (really an opinion) may be in a equally spaced from the most favorable to the least
certain population is by counting ballots or by favorable. To each item the author arbitrarily assigns
tabulating answers to a questionnaire. Roughly, this a value of 1, 2, 8, 4, or 5, according to his opinion of
method may be said to "measure" the range and its significance. Another variation allows the subject
distribution of public opinion, although it does not, of to place in rank order all of the alternatives according
course, determine the intensity of the opinion of any to his preference; these rank orders are then treated
given individual upon the issue in question. The as though they were equal intervals in the scale. The
application of this method may be illustrated by statistical pitfalls of a priori scales have been pointed
reference to a recent poll, widely reported in the out by Thurstone (1927-1928).
newspapers, concerning pacifistic and militaristic
attitudes among 22,627 students in seventy colleges. As an example of a widely used scale of this type
Thirty-nine per cent of these students declared that may be mentioned the test for "social distance"
they would participate in no war whatsoever, 33 per devised by Bogardus (1925a, 1925b, 1927). In this
cent would take part only if the United States were test the subject is asked the degree of intimacy he
invaded, and 28 per cent were ready to fight for any would willingly sanction between himself and
cause that might lead the nation to declare war. A critic members of various races. The degrees of intimacy
might remark that such a result expresses only "verbal" listed in one form of the test together with their "scale
opinion, or at the most merely temporary attitudes, values" are as follows:
which would change under the pressure of
propaganda. Whatever may be the force of this 1 to close kinship by marriage
objection, it applies equally to all of the methods now 2 to my club as personal chums
existing for determining the strength and nature of 3 to my street as neighbors
personal attitudes. 4 to employment in my occupation in my
country
A far more elaborate census of students' attitudes 5 to citizenship in my country
was made by Katz and Allport (1981). In this study 6 as visitors only to my country
4248 students in Syracuse University responded to a 7 would exclude from my country
questionnaire containing many hundreds of items. The
students did not write their opinions, but under each The weakness of the scale becomes at once
topic checked one of several alternative opinions with apparent when it is realized that the distance between
which they felt themselves to be most closely in each of these degrees of intimacy is not necessarily
comparable. The psychological difference between 1. Specify the attitude variable to be measured.
relationship in marriage and in a club is likely to be far
greater than that existing between club relations and 2. Collect a wide variety of opinions relating to it,
neighborly relations. It becomes therefore misleading from newspapers, books, or from individuals.
to assign equally progressing arithmetical units to
unequal attitudinal differences. Another difficulty arises 3. Assemble on cards approximately one hundred
in the assumption that each higher degree of intimacy such typical opinions.
necessarily implies all those that are lower; but there
are cases where admission to neighborly relations, for 4. Require at least 200-300 judges to sort these
example, is less distasteful than admission to one's cards into piles (eleven being a convenient and
occupation. commonly employed number), each pile representing
equidistant degrees of the attitude according to each
The Psychophysical (Rational) Scale judge's estimation.

The most significant event in the history of the 5. Calculate the scale value for each of the items
measurement of attitudes was the application of by computing the median of the scale values assigned
psychophysical methods by Thurstone. To apply to it by the judges, and the dispersion of the
psychophysical methods it is necessary first to judgments around the median.
conceive of an attitude as a "degree of affect" for or
against an object or a value with which the scale is 6. Retain such statements as have small
concerned. If this assumption is granted, it becomes dispersions, and are on the whole equally spaced.
possible to study the degree of favor or disfavor which Give approximately equal representation to each of
each subject in a population has toward certain objects the intervals secured. Clarity and brevity of wording
or values, such as the church, war, moving pictures, or may furnish additional bases for selection.
government ownership. Within the past few years a
large number of such scales have been devised and 7. In applying the scale, the subject checks every
made available for general use (Thurstone and statement with which he agrees, and his score is the
associates, 1929). mean scale-value for all the statements he has
endorsed.
The scoring values for all of these scales are
determined by combining the efforts of many judges The most useful procedure in constructing such
who have arranged all the statements included in each scales is to follow the models offered in the
scale according to their discriminable differences. If Thurstone-Chave (1929) or PetersonThurstone
judges, by and large, agree that two statements express (1933) scale. Directions for uniform wording have
about the same degree of favor or disfavor it is been suggested by Droba (1932), Wang (1932), Kulp
obviously unnecessary to keep both statements in the (1933), and Stagner (see Black, 1933, pp. 115-127).
scale; if the statements are widely different it is Further details concerning the construction and use of
possible by comparing the judges' sorting psychophysical scales may easily be traced through
the literature (Black, 1933; Dockeray, 1932;
of each statement in relation to all other statements to Thurstone, 1927-1928, 1929, 1932; Remmers,
determine its position. The final, rational scale results 1934).
when forty or fifty statements are secured whose
distance from one another on a single continuum are As revolutionary as the rational scale undoubtedly
known. This distance is essentially the discriminable is, certain criticisms must be made against the method
difference between the statements as they appear to as it is at present employed:
the standardizing group of judges. There are various
methods by which the discriminable differences may 1. As has already been indicated above, attitudes
be determined. The commonest is the "method of are not necessarily arranged naturally upon a single
equal-appearing intervals." The directions for its use continuum; they are often discrete and highly
involve the following steps: individual (cf. Katz and Allport, 1951).
 2. There is also the question whether scale values methods of testing. Unless these are kept in mind the
for statements derived from one population of judges zeal for measurement may overstep reasonable
is applicable to other populations of subjects (Rice, bounds.
1930). For example, can the judgments of adults
concerning the significance of a statement dealing with 1. Measurement can deal only with attitudes that
moving pictures be incorporated in a test that is to be are common, and there are relatively few attitudes
administered to children? that are common enough to be profitably scaled. In
forcing attitudes into a scale form violence is
3. Likert (1932-1933) has shown that the simple necessarily done to the unique structure of man's
a priori method of scoring in arbitrary units (1 to 5) mind. Attitude scales should be regarded only as the
when applied to these rational scales may yield results roughest approximations of the way in which attitudes
as reliable as do the psychophysical scores themselves. actually exist in the mental life of individuals.
The agreement between the two methods is
approximately .90. This fact may give comfort to 2. Each person possesses many contradictory
investigators who wish to avoid the more complex attitudes, and for this reason his mental set at the
procedures. moment of submitting to a scale may tell only a part
of the story. Furthermore, attitudes often change, and
Thurstone's strictures upon the logic of a priori an investigation made under one set of conditions
scales are undoubtedly sound, but they do not may not for long present a true picture of the attitudes
necessarily invalidate these scales when only practical of any given group. Stagner (see Black, 1933) reports
results are desired. Suppose, for instance, that a a meeting of farmers in a village in northern
psychologically minded chairman wishes to determine Wisconsin who, under the influence of a persuasive
at a certain meeting the temper of his audience in speaker, voted unanimously one afternoon to call a
reference to some issue under discussion. He can milk strike. The same group met in the evening to
quickly prepare and quickly (if roughly) score an a hear a speaker with opposed views. They then voted
priori scale; whereas the preparation of a more unanimously not to strike.
carefully standardized test would be impracticable and
unnecessarily fine-grained for his purposes. 3. Rationalization and deception inevitably occur,
especially when the attitudes studied pertain to the
Conclusions moral life or social status of the subject. The
difficulty of obtaining reliable information concerning
The success achieved in the past ten years in the attitudes toward sex is a case in point. So great is the
field of the measurement of attitudes may be regarded tendency to protect oneself that even anonymity is
as one of the major accomplishments of social not a guarantee. Lack of insight, ignorance, suspicion,
psychology in America. The rate of progress is so great fear, a neurotic sense of guilt, undue enthusiasm, or
that further achievements in the near future are even a knowledge of the investigator's purpose may
inevitable. But there are inherent limitations in all invalidate an inquiry.

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