Rethinking attitudes and social psychology–Issues of function, order, and combination in subject-side and object-side assessments in natural settings

TY - JOUR

T1 - Rethinking attitudes and social psychology–Issues of function, order, and combination in subject-side and object-side assessments in natural settings

AU - Potter, Jonathan

AU - Hepburn, Alexa

AU - Edwards, Derek

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020, © 2020 Taylor & Francis.

PY - 2020/7/2

Y1 - 2020/7/2

N2 - This paper overviews limitations in both the way attitude function has been conceptualized in social psychology, and in the empirical basis for the claims made. We suggest that the premise that attitudes are expressed for cognitive/motivational reasons is an untested artefact of the methodological procedures commonly used. In contrast, an investigation of ‘attitudes’ in the wild (assessments, evaluations, judgements) is offered as an alternative pathway to address questions of function. The analytic core of the paper is the analysis of a collection of interactional examples where an Object-side assessment (e.g. ‘this soup is lovely’) is issued in combination with a Subject-side assessment (e.g. ‘I love this soup’). We investigate what is achieved by combining O-side and S-side assessments: why use an O-side assessment and then an S-side assessment? Or, why use an S-side assessment and then an O-side? We show that (a) O-side and S-side assessments support different actions; (b) the combination manages world and speaker issues in a single package; (c) the combination of O-side and S-side can be hearably complete; (d) O-side first, S-side second can be a resource for building (on) affiliation; (e) S-side first, O-side second can be a platform for continued dispute. Programmatic work on the function of assessments is proposed.

AB - This paper overviews limitations in both the way attitude function has been conceptualized in social psychology, and in the empirical basis for the claims made. We suggest that the premise that attitudes are expressed for cognitive/motivational reasons is an untested artefact of the methodological procedures commonly used. In contrast, an investigation of ‘attitudes’ in the wild (assessments, evaluations, judgements) is offered as an alternative pathway to address questions of function. The analytic core of the paper is the analysis of a collection of interactional examples where an Object-side assessment (e.g. ‘this soup is lovely’) is issued in combination with a Subject-side assessment (e.g. ‘I love this soup’). We investigate what is achieved by combining O-side and S-side assessments: why use an O-side assessment and then an S-side assessment? Or, why use an S-side assessment and then an O-side? We show that (a) O-side and S-side assessments support different actions; (b) the combination manages world and speaker issues in a single package; (c) the combination of O-side and S-side can be hearably complete; (d) O-side first, S-side second can be a resource for building (on) affiliation; (e) S-side first, O-side second can be a platform for continued dispute. Programmatic work on the function of assessments is proposed.

KW - Assessments

KW - assessment combinations

KW - assessment function

KW - attitudes

KW - conversation analysis

KW - discursive psychology

KW - functional attitude theory

KW - object-side

KW - social psychology methods

KW - subject-side

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081304315&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85081304315&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2020.1725952

DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2020.1725952

M3 - Article

SN - 1478-0887

VL - 17

SP - 336

EP - 356

JO - Qualitative Research in Psychology

JF - Qualitative Research in Psychology

IS - 3

ER -