Attitudes and the “mask”
The investigations cited in this chapter offer conflicting evidence about the validity of attitude scores as predictors of behavior. One of the confusing factors is the tendency of human beings to maintain a “mask” of socially acceptable attitudes. Response to an attitude scale may or may not be truthful, depending on circumstances.
This point is made very forcefully by Sigall and Page (1971). They obtained(from white students) stereotyped attitudes about Negroes on an adjective check list in the classroom. Later individuals were brought to the laboratory for a presumably unrelated experiment, and were connected to an elaborate EMG apparatus which, they were told, was a lie detector. Most Ss accepted this. In this condition, when they were questioned about Negroes, they confessed to much more hostile feelings than on the class questionnaire. We may, therefore, have less reason for optimism that would appear on the surface. Of course it is better to have these prejudices concealed than to have open violence and suppression of minorities, but we cannot be sure that hidden attitudes may not in a time of crisis provide a basis for violent action.