ABSTRACT
W. J. McGuire and C. V. McGuire’s model of the interrelations between various components of thought systems incorporates a number of themes that have been important in attitude theory and research. As an integrative scheme, the model demands our attention and illustrates the increasing scope of attitudinal and cognitive theories in the contemporary period. Rather than concentrate on a limited number of principles, this theory includes numerous principles, some obvious (utility-maximizing and sufficient-reason postulates), some less obvious but nonetheless familiar (wishful-thinking and rationalization postulates), and others subtle and less familiar (congruent-origins, positivity-bias, loose-linkage, and spatial-attenuation postulates). Although each of these principles is worthy of study, and several are quite provocative, the most impressive aspect of the McGuires’ theorizing is not the principles themselves but the creative use of the set of principles within a common framework.
