Yale Researcher Finds You Become Who You Say You Are

How people describe their attitudes affects the strength, quality and stability of those attitudes, according to a study by a Yale researcher.

Speaking about one’s attitudes in a way that makes them feel strong can create the belief that they are, in fact, strong, said Gregory Walton, assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study.

“Our research suggests that people come to be who they say they are,” Walton said.

In his research, Walton and Mahzarin Banaji, psychology professor at Harvard University, conducted one study to test how linguistic form influences perceptions of others’ attitudes. Two other more critical studies show how language shapes one’s attitudes.

“It would seem that we ought to know our own attitudes – how much we like chocolate, certain computers, or the outdoors,” Banaji said. “To discover that our attitudes are plastic, but in predictable, lawful ways, is exciting.”

Walton said their research suggests that we construct our attitudes on the spot, moment by moment. “When asking the question, ‘What do I like?’ we use cues in the immediate context to figure out what we like and how much we like it,” he said.

In one test, the researchers asked people on Yale campus to identify a favored dessert. Then, later in the study, some people were asked to fill in the blank in a linguistically strong sentence (e.g., “I am a ____-eater.”) while others were asked to fill in the blank in a linguistically weaker sentence (e.g., “I eat ___ a lot.”) As predicted, those who completed the linguistically strong sentence reported liking that dessert more.

“People who completed the stronger version inferred from the strength of the statement that their attitude was strong,” Walton said. “A subtle change in the format of self-descriptions can influence attitudes, and does so despite the rich information based on experience we have about our own attitudes.”

The stability of attitudes may be true when we view them at the broadest, highest level, the researchers said. At the more micro level, attitudes and preferences are more likely to be shaped by what our immediate environment suggests in a variety of ways. The feeling that our attitudes are stable is just that – just a feeling, even an illusion, the researchers said.

Citation: Social Cognition, Vol. 22: 193-213, June, 2004