Introduction

As pointed out in other chapters in this volume, resistance to new technologies can take several forms. A prerequisite for most of these forms is a negative attitude towards the technology. Therefore, to predict public resistance to new technologies, it is crucial to know people's attitudes (e.g. Williams & Mills 1986; Eurobarometer 1989; Daamen, van der Lans & Midden 1990; Miller 1991). Surveys are important instruments for assessing public attitudes to new technologies. Unfortunately, responses to specific items may be changed dramatically by the characteristics of the questionnaire. For instance, it has been demonstrated in numerous studies that answers to a survey item may either assimilate towards or contrast away from (the central tendency in) responses to preceding items (for reviews see Schuman & Presser 1981; Hippler & Schwarz 1987; Tourangeau & Rasinski 1988). The topic of this chapter is assimilation effects in surveys on technology perceptions.

An early example of an assimilation effect in a survey comes from Salancik & Conway (1975). They demonstrated that attitudes towards being religious were affected by responses to earlier questions about religious behaviour: Subjects in two conditions had to indicate whether statements of pro- and anti-religious behaviours applied to them (e.g. ‘I attend a church or synagogue’; ‘I use the expression “Jesus Christ”’). In one condition, Salancik and Conway inserted ‘on occasion’ in the pro-religious behaviour statements and ‘frequently’ in the antireligious statements.