Individual Differences in Three Aspects of Evaluation: The Motives to Have, Learn, and Express Attitudes

We report seven studies that introduce and validate two unique aspects of evaluation that supplement the original Need to Evaluate (NE) scale (Jarvis & Petty, 1996). Whereas the original scale focused on the tendency to have attitudes, the two new scales focus on the tendencies to learn and express attitudes. Although the new scales are correlated with the original scale and each other, each new scale is shown to be related in a unique way to other relevant scales, and most importantly. to predict different outcomes. Study 1 develops the new learning and expressing aspects of evaluation. Study 2 establishes the factor structure of these new dimensions and distinguishes them from the having aspect identified in the original NE scale. Study 3 demonstrates the convergent and discriminant validity of the two new NE scales in relation to relevant existing individual differences. Study 4 shows that the new NE-learning and expressing scales can predict people's preference for different roles in an impending group discussion. Study 5 shows that the NE-expressing scale predicts attitudes in a paradigm where people generate persuasive arguments and Study 6 shows that the NE-learning scale predicts attitudes in response to an external message using evaluative language. Finally, Study 7 shows that the original NE scale predicts above and beyond the two new scales in accounting for people's tendencies to have and possess attitudes toward various social and political issues.

Automated summary

These seven studies introduce and validate two unique aspects of evaluation, supplementing the original Need to Evaluate (NE) scale. The new scales focus on learning and expressing attitudes, showing unique relationships with other relevant scales and predicting different outcomes. Overall, the studies demonstrate the predictive accuracy of the new NE scales in different contexts and their ability to go beyond the original scale in predicting attitudes towards various issues.