Attitude polarization: theory and evidence

Abstract

Numerous experiments have demonstrated the possibility of attitude polarization.For instance, Lord, Ross & Leper (1979) found that death penalty advocates becamemore convinced of the deterrent e§ect of the death penalty while opponents becomemore convinced of the lack of a deterrent e§ect, after being presented with the samestudies. However, there is an unclear understanding of just what these experimentsshow and what their implications are. We argue that attitude polarization is consistentwith an unbiased evaluation of evidence. Moreover, attitude polarization is even to beexpected under many circumstances, in particular those under which experiments areconducted. We also undertake a critical re-examination of several well-known papers.