Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence
Lord, Ross and Lepper had people with strong opinions for or against the death penalty read descriptions of two studies on whether it deters crime, one appearing to support each participant's view and one appearing to contradict it. Both groups judged the study matching their view as more convincing and better conducted and moved in its direction, so the two groups ended further apart. The authors explained this as people accepting supportive findings with little scrutiny and picking apart unwelcome ones. Reading depth: abstract only; no sample size or effect size used.
Lord, Ross and Lepper had people with strong opinions for or against the death penalty read descriptions of two studies on whether it deters crime, one appearing to support each participant's view and one appearing to contradict it. Both groups judged the study matching their view as more convincing and better conducted and moved in its direction, so the two groups ended further apart. The authors explained this as people accepting supportive findings with little scrutiny and picking apart unwelcome ones. Reading depth: abstract only; no sample size or effect size used.
Written from the abstract, 2026-10-31.
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Lord, C. G., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1979). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(11), 2098-2109. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.37.11.2098 https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.37.11.2098