Social Judgment

• Social Judgment Theory


  • Explains how individuals evaluate a new idea and belief in accordance with what they believe in
  • Individuals could either reject or accept an opinion based on their own point of view and stand
  • The success of persuasion varied depending on the message's content and the receiver's belief
• Social Judgment Theory

  Answers the question, "What facilitates and what hinders your change of opinion and attitude toward something?"
• Main Proponents of Social Judgment Theory

  • Muzafer Sherif
  • Carolyn Sherif
  • Carl Hovland
• Anchor


  • Pre-established beliefs that are deeply ingrained in you, which can be right or wrong
  • We tend to see ideas close to our anchors as more alike than they really are, therefore we accept them more easily (assimilation)
• Latitude


  • Latitude of acceptance (areas in an issue that an individual accepts)
  • Latitude of non-commitment (areas in an issue that an individual neither accepts nor rejects)
  • Latitude of rejection (areas in an issue that an individual rejects)
• Degrees of Involvement

  • High Involvement: Your acceptance of different opinions is extremely limited, and your rejection of minimal differences is higher
  • Low Involvement: Your latitude of acceptance is wide and that of rejection is low, you're more open to different opinions
• Confrontational Stance


  Aggressively showing disapproval towards an opinion, idea, or information and likely to start an argument or dispute
• Two Fundamental Factors of Social Judgment Theory

  • Communication
  • Persuasion