ABSTRACT
This chapter considers more carefully the matter of whether information integration is a summative or an averaging process. A summative model of cognitive organization has been proposed by H. Peak and M. J. Rosenberg as well as by M. Fishbein. The congruity model of cognitive organization and change proposed by Osgood and his colleagues has often been interpreted as an extension of cognitive balance theory that generates quantitative predictions of the effects of cognition upon others. Incongruity, like imbalance, is apparently assumed to be an aversive cognitive state that gives rise to cognitive reorganization in order to eliminate the unpleasantness. Direct evidence for the validity of congruity principles in describing cognitive organization is surprisingly limited. However, since a general understanding of the determinants and effects of the assertion constant is necessary in order to evaluate the usefulness of congruity theory as a formulation of cognitive organization, certain considerations are worth mentioning at the time.
