Subjective Experience Versus Content of Information in the Construction of Attitude Judgments

Experienced ease of thought generation was found to affect the impact of thought valence on attitude judgments. Participants generated either three or seven arguments that were either in favor or opposed to a specific issue. After generating three arguments, which was experienced as easy, participants' reported attitudes reflected the implications of their arguments, but this was not the case after generating seven arguments, which was experienced as difficult. In contrast, yoked participants who had read the arguments generated by the first group and consequently had lacked the subjective experience in thought generation were influenced more strongly by having been exposed to seven arguments rather than three. The results suggest that individuals use their subjective experience that accompany thought generation for the construction of their attitudes.

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