The Journal of Social Psychology, 2012, 152(3), 1–13 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Populism vs. Elitism: Social Consensus and Social Status as Bases of Attitude Certainty RADMILA PRISLIN EMILY SHAFFER 5 MARISA CROWDER San Diego State University ABSTRACT. This study examined the effects of social consensus and social status on attitude certainty that is conceptualized multi-dimensionally as perceived clarity and cor- rectness of one’s attitude. In a mock opinion exchange about a social issue, participants 10 were either supported (high consensus) or opposed (low consensus) by most of the confederates. They were informed that their opinion (high status) or their opponents’ opin- ion (low status) had the alleged psychological significance indicative of future success. Post-experimental attitude clarity was significantly greater when attitudinal position was associated with high rather than low status. Attitude correctness was interactively affected 15 by social status and social consensus. Supporting the compensatory effect hypothesis, atti- tude correctness was comparable across the levels of social consensus as long as they were associated with high status, and across the levels of social status as long as they were associated with high social consensus. Keywords: attitude certainty, attitude strength, social status, social consensus 20 AN ATTITUDE COUNTS FOR LITTLE if it is not accompanied with the certainty necessary to make it consequential. Attitude certainty refers to the sub- jective sense of conviction about an attitude (Abelson, 1988; Festinger, 1950, 1954; Gross, Holtz, & Miller, 1995). The higher the certainty about one’s atti- tude, the more likely the attitude is to inform behavior (Berger & Mitchell, Q2 25 1989; Bizer, Tormala, Rucker, & Petty, 2006), information processing (Chaiken, Lieberman, & Eagly, 1989; Tormala, Rucker, & Seger, 2008), withstand persua- sive attacks (Bassili, 1996; Tormala & Petty, 2002), and persist over time (Bassili, Address correspondence to Radmila Prislin, San Diego State University, Department of Psychology, 5500 Campanile Dr., San Diego, CA 92182-4611, USA; rprislin@sunstroke. sdsu.edu (e-mail). 1