Attitudes vs. Actions Versus Attitudes vs. Attitudes

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 36, Heft 3, S. 347-354

Abstract

Although the survey interview is sometimes thought of as a separate world devoid of the demands of the "real world," one can develop questions which simulate real life situations & their attendant pressures. These questions can elicit the same inconsistencies evident in the comparison of measured actions. In a 1969 cross-section sample of 640 white Detroit residents, 13%, 41% & 52% agreed, respectively, to job discrimination (1) in principle, (2) if necessary for the harmony of the firm, & (3) if the majority of white workers favor it. These inconsistencies apparently resulted from R's trying to reconcile 2 or more positively held values which had been set in conflict by the survey questions, & which are also probably in conflict in everyday situations. AA.