Certainty

What it measures

The scale measures how self-assured a person feels about an attitude they hold — whether it feels firm, definite, and resistant to change, or tentative and easily swayed. Items use a semantic-differential format anchored around a specific attitude object, developed as a foundational measure within the broader literature on attitude strength.

Response format

7-point Likert scale

Scale items

• Not firm / Very firm
• Not certain / Very certain
• Not sure / Very sure
• Not definite / Very definite
• Easily changed / Not easily changed

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Internal consistency (alpha = .91) was reported in the primary study. Book chapter in Petty, R. E., & Krosnick, J. A. (Eds.), Attitude Strength: Antecedents and Consequences (1995). Five items averaged to create a unified Attitude Certainty Index. High scores indicate attitudes resistant to counter-persuasion and competitive advertising appeals; strong predictor of attitude–behavior consistency and purchase intention follow-through. α > .90 reported across social and consumer judgment paradigms.

Citation

Gross, S. R., Holtz, R., & Miller, N. (1995). Attitude certainty. In R. E. Petty & J. A. Krosnick (Eds.), Attitude strength: Antecedents and consequences (pp. 215–245). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

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