Verbal Attitudes and Overt Behavior

In his attempt to delineate the relationship between attitudes and behavior, Lawrence Linn reviews past studies, particularly their methods of measurement and discrepancies between attitudes and behavior.1 The De Fleur-Westie study2 is cited as superior to its predecessors, but Linn feels that their attitude measure does not measure the same attitude objects assessed by their behavioral measure. Linn uses the "identical" attitude objects in the questionnaire items and the observed behavior, and, to make the experiment "more real," he uses Negro experimenters. No relationship was found between attitudes and behavior for the total group. Prediction from attitudes to behavior for liberals was not possible, but prejudiced subjects behaved largely in accordance with their attitudes. However, there are certain difficulties in the Linn study. Linn criticizes the De Fleur-Westie article on two counts: (1) their method of attitude assessment ". . . may not measure the same attitude objects or situational variables involved in the willingness to pose for a picture with a Negro in various social situations," and (2) ". . . reference groups . . . are more inclusive than peers alone and furthermore should be seen as antecedent rather [than] intervening variables."3 With Linn's first point we agree. However, he does not have any data indicating that his measurement procedure is an improvement over usual techniiques. The two attitude assessment instruments he used gave the same results when related to the behavior measure. Linn's second criticism is that De Fleur and Westie take the position that an individual shifts his definition of the situation as his immediate referents change. De Fleur and Westie did find that 71.8 percent of the subjects invoked some type of reference group. All of those who did cite a reference group mentioned some type of peer group. They did not conclude from this, as Linn implies, that all important reference groups for decision-making are peers. Among other problems raised by the Linn study are: (1) the use of Negro experimenters and (2) the adequacy of the sample for the conclusions drawn. Linn maintains that his design is an improvement in that he uses Negro experimenters to increase the realness of the issue and the salience of the attitude object. A basic problem here is that there was no control group with which to compare the effects of "salience" of the attitude object. The same results might have been obtained using white experimenters. The different results obtained in the Linn study and the De Fleur-Westie study might be explained by differences in the samples used. Linn said, "The Ss in the present study as well as in the De Fleur and Westie study were young college girls. . . ."4 In the De FleurWestie study, ". . . half of each group was male. . ."5 1 Lawrence S. Linn, "Verbal Attitudes and Overt Behavior: A Study of Racial Discrimination," Social Forces, 43 (March 1965), p. 355. 2 Melvin L. De Fleur and Frank R. Westie, "Verbal Attitudes and Overt Acts: An Experiment on the Salience of Attitudes," American Sociological Review, 23 (December 1958), pp. 667673. 3 Linn, op. cit., pp. 362, 363. 4 Ibid., p. 363. 5 De Fleur and Westie, op. cit., p. 669.