ABSTRACT
The interpretation of beliefs and attitudes as subjective probabilities suggests a useful notation for referring to the cognitions. This chapter explains both beliefs and attitudes as estimates of the likelihood that members of certain categories exist, or that members of one category belong to a second. Many readers may be appalled by this apparently sterile conceptualization of an attitude. In some instances, no restriction is placed upon the number of response categories to which a subject can assign stimuli, or upon the labels he attaches to these categories. A stimulus is assigned to a category on the basis of its membership in one or a combination of other categories. The relatively low accuracy of predictions based upon the mode is of particular importance in evaluating the support for the interpretation of category ratings being proposed. The interpretation of category ratings has implications for an understanding of the dynamics of attitude change when such change is reported along a category scale.
