Used M. Fishbein's 1963 formulation relating attitude to the evaluation of attributed characteristics and belief strength in an attempt to determine how each variable contributes to predictive accuracy. 227 undergraduates and 53 high school students responded to standard characteristics attributed to Negroes and to Ideal Persons. The 2 sets of characteristics were equally useful in predicting attitude toward Negroes. In the analysis of the contribution of each element in the equation to the prediction of attitude, a pattern emerged which strongly suggested that the characteristics were of 3 types: (a) physical characteristics which define and discriminate the concept and for which attributed characteristics were crucial in prediction, (b) attributes having a strong moral or evaluative implication and for which belief strengh was critical in attitude prediction, and (c) attributes which possessed neither of these characteristics and contributed nothing to predictability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)