Category ratings as "subjective expected values": Implications for attitude formation and change.

Abstract

Interprets an S's rating of an object along a category scale as the "expected value" of a distribution of subjective probabilities that the object belongs to each of the scale categories. Several implications of this interpretation are discussed: (a) A theoretical relation is established between the category rating of an object and the subjective uncertainty associated with this rating. (b) A quantitative description is derived for the relation between beliefs about an object and evaluations of the object on a category scale. (c) The manner in which several pieces of information about an object are combined to produce an evaluation of the object is considered. It is argued that the process is neither summative nor averaging, but rather is similar to concept identification in that the information presented is used to circumscribe the set of scale categories (concepts) to which the object is likely to belong, with the object being assigned to the most representative of these categories. Empirical evidence in support of these implications is reported. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1973 American Psychological Association