Salience of Initial Ratings and Attitude Change in the "Forbidden Toy" Paradigm

Abstract

The effects of level of initial attitude salience and severity of threat on attitude change were assessed utilizing the forbidden toy paradigm. Second and third grade children were warned to refrain from playing with a preferred toy, using either a mild or severe threat. Initial attitude salience was varied by having a second experimenter either show the subjects their initial rating during the temptation period or not. A significant interaction between threat and salience was obtained when derogation scores were analysed. With mild threat, increased salience led to increased derogation of the forbidden toy. With severe threat, increased salience had no effect on derogation.