Social Judgement Theory

There are five principles of Social Judgment Theory.

• Principle 1. We have categories of judgment by which we evaluate persuasive positions.
• the latitude of acceptance (zone of positions we accept);
• the latitude of non-commitment (zone of positions we neither accept nor reject); and
• the latitude of rejection (zone of positions we reject).
• Principle 2. When we receive persuasive information, we locate it on our categories of judgment.
• Principle 3. Our level of "ego-involvement" affects the size of our latitudes.
• Principle 4. We tend to distort incoming information to fit our categories of judgment.
• Principle 5. Small to moderate discrepancies between our anchor positions and the one advocated will cause us to change; large discrepancies will not.

http://www.as.wvu.edu/~sbb/comm221/chapters/judge.htm