Some Limitations of Existing Scales in the Measurement of Social Attitudes

Some of the problems involved in the measurement of social attitudes are pointed out and briefly discussed, with particular relevance to the measurement of apparently “moderate” or “neutral” attitudes. The concepts of latitude of acceptance and latitude of rejection developed by Sherif and Hovland, as well as the semantic differential procedure devised by Osgood, are critically evaluated and briefly commented upon in the light of recent research conducted by the writer on attitude measurement. Finally, a suggested revision and combination of present techniques is briefly described.