Attitudes toward the physically disabled: beliefs and their evaluation.
The composition and structure of attitudes toward the physically disabled were studied using Fishbein's theoretical framework and methodology in which an individual's attitude toward any object is assumed to be (1) a function of his beliefs about the object, and (2) the evaluative aspects of these beliefs. This is stated algebraically as: [Formula: see text]. The subjects for the study were 52 workers employed in a large public construction company in Israel. They were asked to state their beliefs about the characteristics of physically disabled persons. Using the Semantic Differential Technique, the most frequent beliefs expressed were used to construct (a) a scale which measured the evaluative aspect of the belief, and (b) a scale to measure the probability dimension of each belief. In addition, an obtained measure of attitude towards disabled persons was elicited, and in order to test the validity this scale the Attitude Towards Disabled Persons was also given. The estimated attitude score for each subject was obtained using the above formula. A correlation of r = .91 (p < .01) between the Fishbein attitude score and the obtained attitude score was found. The correlations between the Fishbein attitude score and the ATDP was r = .78 (p < .01). These correlations provide support for the main hypothesis. In addition, the study demonstrated the advisability of assessing attitudes towards the physically disabled as they relate to specific roles that the disabled person has in various life areas and not as a general attitude.
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D011336:Probability; D011594:Psychometrics; D012659:Semantic Differential