The Curvilinear Relationship Between Attitude Certainty and Attitudinal Advocacy
Abstract
Do people advocate more on behalf of their own attitudes and opinions when they feel certain or uncertain? Although considerable past research suggests that people are more likely to advocate when they feel highly certain, there also is evidence for the opposite effect-that people sometimes advocate more when they experience a loss of certainty. The current research seeks to merge these insights. Specifically, we explore the possibility that the relationship between attitude certainty and attitudinal advocacy is curvilinear. Consistent with this hypothesis, we find evidence for a J-shaped curve: Advocacy intentions (and behavior) peak under high certainty, bottom out under moderate certainty, and show an uptick under low (relative to moderate) certainty. We document this relationship and investigate its potential mechanisms in three studies by examining advocacy intentions and the actual advocacy messages participants write when they feel high, moderate, or low certainty.
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Those seeking to mobilize may be overconfident in their messaging acumen, leading to messages that impose more objectivity and expressions of morals and judgment.
“First, those seeking to mobilize (e.g., organizations) may be overconfident in their messaging acumen.Such certainty leads to messages that impose more objectivity and expressions of morals (moralization) and judgment (Cheatham & Tormala, 2017).”
From How to study democratic backsliding (2024) · cites this paper as Cheatham & Tormala, 2017
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ResultAttitudes and attitude strength as precursors to object attachment
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- Authors
- Cheatham, L. B., & Tormala, Z. L.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cheatham, Lauren B.
- ORCID
- Tormala, Zakary L.
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-11-12
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3-16
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2418227039
- Semantic Scholar
- 8e4fb200d79328dd2bdf7a5274256dd6b9ef8347
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 20.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ACR North American Advances
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychology of Social Influence
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence
- Keywords
- attitude certainty, advocacy intentions, curvilinear relationship, J-curve, loss of certainty
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attitude, Female, Humans, Male, Persuasive Communication, Intention, Uncertainty
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