Effects of Consensus and Construal on Certainty and Attitude Stability

Abstract

We all look at the world in different ways. Construal, with two levels termed as high and low, is the approach one takes to their outlook on the world. Specifically, individuals who are likely to decipher the world in an abstract, individualistic, way are using high construal, and individuals who lean towards a concrete, collectivistic perspective are using low construal. Consensus, termed high and low, can be described as the feedback one gets that either supports or opposes an individual’s position. Consensus mainly looks at the world and society around us, while construal affects how we interpret and think about it. Our research team was curious about the effect of mindset on a person’s certainty of belief. Further, we wanted to examine the likelihood of certainty to change when categorized by different world views (either abstract or concrete) and social responses (either positive or negative), as well as individual differences between these specific cases. As researchers, we determined individual construal on the basis of hypothetical situations, looked for possible interactions with high and low consensus data, and then sought to find how those two conditions affected levels of certainty.  In the face of relevant consensus, we believed that if an individual has a higher level of construal, they will have high levels of attitude certainty, while individuals with low construal will have low stability. We found that low construal, or concrete thinking, has the most significant effect on certainty and that consensus and construal have a moderate interaction. This directs us to believe that certainty is more easily manipulated for low construal thinkers.

Keywords: construal; consensus; certainty