On the mechanism of thought-induced attitude change

The process of thought-induced attitude change was examined by having subjects rate the similarity of adjective descriptions of persons (or groups) with each other and with a hypothetical ideal. Subjects either thought about or were distracted from thinking about a target stimulus for 90 seconds. Following this, subjects re-rated all pairs of descriptions. An analysis of change on similarity ratings revealed that the target stimulus moved toward the ideal while the ideal did not move as a result of thought. Support for other possibilities was not obtained.