A critique of "Fears as attitudes."

Blanchard, Edward B.; Elkin, Thomas E.

doi:10.1037/h0034969

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

1973

DOI: 10.1037/h0034969

|View full text |Cite

A critique of "Fears as attitudes."

Edward B. Blanchard¹,

Thomas E. Elkin²

Abstract: The recently published study by Suinn, Jorgensen, Stewart, and McGuirk on the proposition that "fears are attitudes" is criticized on two grounds: (a) inadequate and incorrect data analysis and (b) unjustified conclusions drawn from the results. It is further shown that the converse of their proposition, namely, that attitudes are like fears, has more heuristic value and several important implications for social psychology.

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...

Citation Types

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Year Published

1973

Publication Types

Select...

Article1

Relationship

Self Cite0

Independent1

Authors

Journals

Cited by 1 publication

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Rejoinder to "A critique of 'Fears as attitudes.' "

Suinn¹

1973

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Blanchard and Elkin employed alternative statistical procedures to those of Suinn, Jorgensen, Stewart, and McGuirk and arrived at different conclusions. The legitimacy of the original analysis is reasserted, and some problems with the alternatives are pointed out. Blanchard and Elkin wrote from a theoretical position which favors studying social psychological problems rather than clinical problems. This stance is not shared by the present author. Blanchard and Elkin (1973) have criticized the Suinn, Jorgensen, Stewart, and McGuirk (1971) research on statistical and theoretical grounds. This rejoinder systematically evaluates each of the criticisms.Blanchard and Elkin offered alternatives to the statistical analyses employed in the original research and drew alternative conclusions. Their first point was that the absolute magnitude of change in approach scores was lower for the experimental group than for the control group, C-2; presumably, this discrepancy in scores supports their conclusion that within-group differences were larger than between-group differences. This conclusion, however, is based only on inspection, not statistical testing. Reexamination of Table 1 in the original article (p. 275) shows that the more sophisticated inference on po demonstrated that statistically significant changes occurred only for the experimental group and not for the control samples.Blanchard and Elkin proceeded to cite / values for the control groups, C-2 and C-l, suggesting that both values are "significant" by a one-tailed test. Ordinarily, of course, one-tailed tests are not used in examining data on control groups where the experimenter cannot predict whether systematic, directional changes will occur. Some confusion may have been generated by an error in the original article. In Table 1 of that article, all / tests were said to be one-tailed. In fact, a onetailed test was used only for the experimental groups, as justified by the directional predictions which had been made for those groups.

show abstract

Rejoinder to "A critique of 'Fears as attitudes.' "

Suinn¹

1973

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Contact Info

hi@scite.ai

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA

Blog Terms and Conditions API Terms Privacy Policy Contact Cookie Preferences Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Made with 💙 for researchers

Part of the Research Solutions Family.

A critique of "Fears as attitudes."

Cited by 1 publication

References 6 publications

Rejoinder to "A critique of 'Fears as attitudes.' "

Rejoinder to "A critique of 'Fears as attitudes.' "

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About