Of course, they do
make such judgements (Choy and Dodd (1976) even found judges willing to
assess, on the basis of brief speech samples, the happiness of the children's
marriages) but, as the confidence ratings indicate, they may not be very
comfortable with them. This is a useful cautionary note for those engaged in
such studies to bear in mind, especially since subjects often seem willing to
make ratings along any lines suggested to them by investigators. At the same
time, however, it is worth emphasizing that, with regard to the difficulties
often involved in generalizing from attitudes to behaviour (Fishbein, 1980), a
number of field studies have shown that attitudinal prejudices towards
non-standard dialect speakers have been reflected behaviourally (e.g. in
lack of co-operation with such speakers; see Bourhis and Giles, 1976; Giles
et al., 1975; Giles and Farrar, 1979).