The Database of Attitude Objects (DAO): An Open Access Resource for Normed Objects, People, Groups, and Ideas

Understanding how attitudes form, develop, and influence behavior has been a central focus in the behavioral sciences. However, much of attitudes research has been "content-agnostic," assuming that findings from one attitude object generalize across others. Our analysis of recent attitudes research confirms that the vast majority of studies examine a single attitude object, limiting the ability to test generalizability. While progress has been made in addressing person-generalizability, context-generalizability—particularly regarding attitude objects—remains largely unexamined. This oversight raises critical questions about whether well-established attitude processes apply uniformly across different objects. To address this gap, we introduce the Database of Attitude Objects (DAO), a publicly accessible tool that provides a curated list of 1,000 common attitude objects, normed on key psychological dimensions. The DAO enables researchers to implement topic sampling designs, reducing biases in object selection and improving generalizability claims. Additionally, the DAO provides normed data that allows for systematic investigation of heterogeneity in attitude effects. By offering a robust methodological framework, the DAO advances both the empirical study of attitudes and the practical application of attitudes research, ensuring more reliable and replicable insights into the psychology of evaluation.