Abstract

PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY 2018, VOL. 29, NO. 4, 196–199 https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2018.1537299 COMMENTARIES On Logical and Mathematical Boxes: Does the Attitudinal Entropy Framework Expand Our Understanding of Attitudes? David S. March, Michael A. Olson, and Lowell Gaertner Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee You can catch phenomena in a logical box or a mathematical but skeptical about the explanatory insight offered by the box. The logical box is coarse but strong. The mathematical box AE framework. is fine-grained but flimsy. The mathematical box is a beautiful way of wrapping up a problem, but it will not hold the phenomena unless they have been caught in a logical box to Clarity and Alignment With Attitude Concepts begin with. — J. R. Platt (1964, p. 352) Our first concern regards the nature and clarity of the rele- People commonly understood the physical world through vant variables in the AE framework and how they align with psychological processes in ancient times, sometimes meta- established variables in attitudes research. The AE’s concep- phorically but often literally: The sun and climate were man- tual variables do harken current conceptualizations of atti- ifestations of Ra, the Egyptian sun god, and fire was the tudes but in