attitudes

• Attitude


  People's evaluation of almost any aspect of the social world
• Explicit attitudes


  Consciously accessible attitudes that are controllable and easy to report
• Implicit attitudes


  Unconscious associations between objects and evaluative responses
• Classical Conditioning


  1. One stimulus becomes a signal for a second stimulus

  2. The initial conditioning behavior must occur several times

  3. Can occur unconsciously (i.e., without awareness)
• Instrumental Learning

  1. Rewards – a stimulus that increases the chances of the behaviour

  2. Punishment – decreases the chances of the behaviour occurring

  3. Positive reinforcement- adding a rewarding stimulus

  4. Negative reinforcement – removal of aversive stimulus
• Observational Learning


  1. Learning by example

  2. Observing the behaviour in reproducing what was observed
• Social Comparison


  1. We compare ourselves to others in order to determine whether our view of social reality is correct or incorrect

  2. If our attitudes match those of others, then we must be correct (desirable)
• Genetics


  • Attitudes involving relatively basic topics (e.g., music) are more heritable than those involving more 'cognitive' or abstract ideas (e.g., equality)
  • Highly heritable attitudes are: more resistant to change and more likely to influence behavior
• Personality traits


  • Agreeableness correlates with Benevolence, Tradition
  • Extraversion correlates Achievement, Stimulation
  • Conscientiousness correlates with achievement, conformity
  • Openness to experience correlates with self-direction, universalism
• Cognitive Component


  Refers to perceptions, thoughts, beliefs and knowledge about the qualities of an object or event
• Affective Component


  Refers to the feelings, sentiments and emotions associated with perception
• Behavioural Component


  Refers to the intentions and actions in relation to objects, situations and events
• Functions of Attitudes


  • Knowledge function
  • Affective function
  • Behavioural function
  • Value expressive function
  • Social Adjustment function
  • Instrumental function
  • Self-Esteem function
  • Ego-defensive function
  • Impression Motivation function
• Pluralistic ignorance


  When we collectively misunderstand what attitudes others hold, and believe erroneously that others have different attitudes than ourselves
• Vested interest


  An important factor in determining attitude intensity is vested interest
• Attitude certainty


  • Attitude clarity and attitude correctness (feeling one's attitude is the valid one to hold)
  • When a person learns that others share one's attitudes, it acts as justification for that attitude and increases certainty
  • The more often you are asked to report your attitude, the more it will facilitate clarity and thereby certainty
• Attitude specificity


  The extent to which attitudes are focused on specific objects or situations rather than on general ones
• There is evidence that behaviour cannot be so simply predicted by attitudes, which questions the usefulness of the concept of attitudes
• Theory of planned behaviour


  The decision to engage in a particular behavior is the result of a rational process in which behavioral options are considered, consequences are evaluated, their ability to perform the behaviour is considered and a decision is reached to act or not to act
• Relevance - Our image on a prejudiced group may be different from the reality
• Situation - If our personal attitudes run contrary to prevalent social norms, we may be inclined to follow the actions of the crowd
• Theory of planned behaviour

  • Also called the 'Theory of Reasoned Action'
  • The decision to engage in a particular behavior is the result of a rational process in which behavioral options are considered, consequences are evaluated, their ability to perform the behaviour is considered and a decision is reached to act or not to act
  • Individuals consider the implications of their actions before deciding to perform various behaviors
  • Behaviour is a rational process that is goal-oriented and follows a logical sequence
  • The decision to act is reflected in our behavioral intentions (our intentions to act a certain way)
  • Intention-behaviour relationship is stronger when there is a plan for how intentions will result in behaviour
  • An implementation plan is a plan for how to implement our intention and considers our attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control
• Attitude to Behaviour Process Model


  • Tries to explain instances when we don't have time to consider these factors or we act impulsively
  • When we have time to engage in careful, reasoned thought, we can weigh all the alternatives and decide how we will act
  • When we don't have time a more automatic process occurs. The process is initiated when a situation activates an attitude – thus the attitude becomes more accessible. E.g. formation of a habit where responses become relatively automatic
• Attitudes are resistant to change but they do change
• Change in attitudes


  • Occurs as a result of internal and external forces
  • Methods of attitude change are of interest commercially (advertisements) and in implementing new social policies (reduction of prejudices)
  • Attitudes can be changed through learning, persuasion and brain washing
  • Attitudes are organized and changed according to principles of consistency
  • Different attitudes perform different functions, their relative resistance to change may be related to the importance of the function
  • Consider social influence (conformity, obedience and compliance) as means of attitude change
• Persuasion


  Efforts to change attitudes through the use of messages focused primarily on the characteristics of the communicator and the audience
• Factors in attitude change (Yale Model of Persuasion)


  • Source (who)
  • Message (what)
  • Audience (To Whom)
• Source factors


  • Credibility: source must appear trustworthy and qualified
  • Expertise: source must appear highly trained in the area
  • Similarity: people are more likely to respond to people who are similar to themselves
  • Attractiveness: the more attractive the source the more likely we are to identify with him or her
  • Intentions/motives: the source is more likely to be persuasive when his/her intentions are viewed as good
  • Status: Sources of higher status are perceived as more credible than those of a lower status
  • Race: we are more likely to identify with persons of a similar racial background
  • Religion: we are more likely to identify with persons that hold religious beliefs that are similar to us
• Message factors


  • Speech style: fast speaking people are quite often seen as more confident in the subject
  • Messages that do not appear to try to change attitudes are more persuasive
  • One sided may be more effective with people who are unfamiliar with an issue while two sided may be more persuasive with better educated people who are initially opposed to the communicator's views
  • Communication discrepancy – discrepancy between person's attitude and the message
  • Explicit conclusions that have clarity
  • Appeals to fear: Fear appeals elicit a feeling of fright or danger in an audience by creating stark warnings, publicizing fearful outcomes or detailing explicit results
• Audience factors


  • Intelligence
  • Personality
  • Gender and Age: women and younger people are more likely to be persuaded than men and older people
  • Persuadability
  • Self-esteem: people with lower self-esteem are more likely to be persuaded than those with higher self esteem
  • Distraction can make people more likely to be persuaded
• Sleeper Effect


  The persuasive impact of a message can increase over time, despite an initial lack of credibility in the source. As time passes, people forget the course but the persuasive influence of the message grows
• Elaboration likelihood model and heuristic-systematic model

  • Persuasion can occur in two ways, differing in the amount of cognitive effort or elaboration they require
  • Systematic Processing— involves careful consideration of message content and ideas: Central Route (to persuasion) — attitude change resulting from systematic processing of information presented in persuasive messages that requires effort
  • Heuristic Processing —involves the use of simple rules or mental shortcuts: Peripheral Route (to persuasion) — attitude change in response to peripheral persuasion cues, e.g., expertise or status, more automatic
• Resisting Persuasion


  • Selective Avoidance and Selective Exposure: People have a tendency to direct attention away from information that challenges existing attitudes, which increases resistance to persuasion. In addition, people seek information consistent with their attitudes (selective exposure)
  • Forewarning: Advance knowledge that one is about to become the target of an attempt at persuasion increases resistance to the persuasion that follows. Provides opportunity to develop counterarguments
  • Actively defend attitudes: Generate counterarguments to refute opposing position. Inoculation: Exposure to weaker arguments opposed to one's attitudes, along with arguments that refute these counter attitudinal positions, can strengthen people's original attitudes
  • Psychological Reactance: Negative reactions to threats to one's personal freedom. Often increases resistance to persuasion and can even produce negative attitude change or that opposite to what was intended
  • Ego depletion: Our capacity to engage our willpower and effortful thinking has been reduced because of prior expenditures of limited resources, making us more vulnerable to persuasion
  • Cognitive Dissonance: An (unpleasant) internal state which results when individuals notice inconsistency between two or more attitudes or between their attitudes and their behavior. Can result in attitude change when we cannot justify a discrepancy
• Attitude Measurement


  • Directly: direct questioning and observation
  • Indirectly: project attitudes into the ambiguous situation
• Direct Measures


  • Likert Scale: Typically a set of statements about a topic, representing both pro- and anti- views. Respondents indicate their level of agreement with each statement on a 5 or 7 point scale
  • Thurstone Scale: A list of statements is prepared and rated by judges in terms of how favourable or unfavourable they are with respect to the chosen topic
• Indirect Measures


  • Implicit Association Test (IAT): assesses implicit attitudes by measuring one's associations with various social objects more or less readily with positive or negative descriptive words
  • Physiological Measures: Galvanic Skin Response, Pupillary Dilation, Electromyography, Event Related Potentials, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Behavioural Measures: Observation of people's behaviour without their awareness
  • Projective Measures: Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test