Dimensionality (Structure) of Educational Attitude Referents: Note on Validity of a Criterial Referents Theory of Attitudes
According to a criterial referents theory of social attitudes, basic attitudinal dimensions such as progressivism and traditionalism in education tend to be independent because Ss will differentiate concepts criterial, or important, to their own positions more extensively than non-criterial concepts. Data reported in the present study, however, show that progressives do not appreciably differ from traditionalists in the way they structure both criterial and non-criterial concepts, though there is some suggestion that the domain and self concepts (EDUCATION, TEACHER, ME IN MY CHOSEN OCCUPATION) may gravitate toward their respective criterial referents.