ABSTRACT
How do people form attitudes? This question has concerned social psychologists ever since the construct of attitudes was introduced by Thomas and Znaniecki (1918) and elaborated on by Gordon Allport (1935). The second half of the twentieth century witnessed the emergence of numerous models of attitude formation and change. After the Second World War, attitude formation was largely conceived to follow general learning processes such as classical and operant conditioning (Berkowitz & Knurek, 1969; Hovland & Rosenberg, 1960; Insko, 1965; Staats & Staats, 1958; Verplanck, 1955). Findings obtained from this domain of research suggest that attitudes are largely shaped by the context. According to this view, the actor plays a rather passive role. Attitudes unwittingly emerge as a by-product of learning and socialization.
