Belief, Salience, Media Exposure, and Summation Theory

This is a report of two studies which reexamine Fishbein's Summation Theory of attitude change with particular focus on the correlation between belief salience and belief strength. To test the possibility that earlier studies may have been concept bound, a partial replication of the Kaplan-Fishbein [3] study was conducted with the concept, “American Indian.” No statistically significant correlations were obtained. Examination of individual responses led to the second study which tested that possibility that weak beliefs may be salient and strong ones not salient depending upon the media sources of information about the concept. When subjects were asked to recall the media sources of their information, it was found that weakly held salient beliefs were attributed to old fashioned “western adventure” entertainment sources with significantly more frequency than strongly held salient beliefs. Implications for Summation Theory and for attitude change theories are discussed. New lines of research are suggested.