Abstract

PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY 2018, VOL. 29, NO. 4, 213–217 https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2018.1537339 An Analysis of the Scientific Status and Limitations of the Attitudinal Entropy Framework and an Initial Test of Some of Its Empirical Predictions Pieter Van Dessel , Jan De Houwer , Sean Hughes , and Ian Hussey Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Dalege, Borsboom, van Harreveld, and van der Maas (this explanation: It is assumed to deal with the nature and issue) describe a novel framework for the conceptualization operation of the mental system, most prominently of attitudes that draws on principles from statistical mechan- (changes in) the entropy of mental representations. We ics. A core idea in their framework is that systems are often believe, however, that the main contribution of the characterized by randomness (i.e., entropy) and that there is framework lies at the descriptive level and at the func- both heuristic and predictive value in applying the idea of tional level of explanation. entropy to the study of attitudes and related phenomena. First, the concept of entropy is descriptive in nature. We applaud their initiative: The attitudinal entropy frame- Boltzmann entropy describes the consistency between the work provides an intriguing new