Attitudes toward Computers, Science, and Technology

Abstract

A comparative study of the structure of attitudes toward computers, science, and technology was carried out with 320 university students equally distributed by country (Italy and the United States), by field of study (humanities, psychology, science, and engineering), and by gender. The instrument used was a Likert-type scale of 56 statements. First, individual items were analyzed for cross-national differences. Then items showing a range of values within both national groups were analyzed by factor analysis to reveal the latent dimensions underlying the set of items. We extracted three factors that, together, accounted for 39% of the variance: attribution to the computer of negative effects, both at an individual psychological level (Factor 1) and at a social psychological level (Factor 2); and the attribution to science, to technology, and to the computer of positive effects at an instrumental and organizational level (Factor 3). Attitudes toward computers, science, and technology were generally more positive than negative in both countries. Nevertheless, against this background of cross-national similarity, sociocultural factors produced attitudinal differences. In particular, the nationality of the subjects made the greatest difference, whereas gender showed a less important influence than did field of study.

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