cours 9

• Attitudes


  An organized state of mental or neural readiness, obtained through experience, which exerts a directive or dynamic influence on the response of an individual to all objects and situations to which it refers
• Attitudes


  A psychological tendency expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor
• Attitudes


  An organized state of mental or neural readiness, obtained through experience, which exerts a directive or dynamic influence on the response of an individual to all objects and situations to which it refers
• Attitudes


  The core is evaluation
• Tri-component model of attitude


  Attitude = combination of affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses
• Behavior as part of attitude anticipates the research question of whether attitudes can predict behavior
• Recent research showed the primacy of the affective factor
• Attitudes


  A psychological tendency expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor
• Affective component


  More easily accessible to the individual
• When affective and cognitive components regarding presidential candidates are in conflict


  Affect is a better predictor of voting behavior
• Attitudes


  The core is evaluation
• Unidimensional definition of attitude


  Attitude = affect towards a person/object/issue
• Explicit measures


  Likert scales, Semantic differential, etc.
• Implicit measures


  Not necessarily available to you, e.g. Implicit Association Test, Evaluative movement measurement, Electromyogram, Galvanic skin response, Linguistic measures
• Likert Scales


  Psychometric response scales used in questionnaires to measure attitudes, opinions, or perceptions
• Tri-component model of attitude


  Attitude = combination of affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses
• Semantic Differential Scale


  Measures attitudes, opinions, or perceptions using bipolar adjectives
• Likert scales use statements that respondents may agree or disagree with, while semantic differential scales use pairs of adjectives at either end of a scale
• Semantic differential scales can capture more nuanced responses, allowing respondents to grade their responses within the continuum of the bipolar adjectives
• Behavior as part of attitude anticipates the research question of whether attitudes can predict behavior
• Likert scales might be easier for respondents to understand and complete as they involve expressing agreement or disagreement
• Recent research showed the primacy of the affective factor
• Problems with explicit measures


  • People do not always tell the truth (social desirability)
  • Reactivity (possibly never thought about the topic, so that the measurement leads to the formation of an attitude)
  • Human introspective ability is limited
• Affective component


  More easily accessible to the individual
• Countermeasures for problems with explicit measures


  • Guaranteeing anonymity
  • Unobtrusive measurement
  • Bogus-Pipeline technique
• When affective and cognitive components regarding presidential candidates are in conflict


  Affect is a better predictor of voting behavior
• Implicit measures


  Implicit Association Test, Evaluative movement measurement, Electromyogram, Galvanic skin response, Linguistic measures
• Unidimensional definition of attitude


  Attitude = affect towards a person/object/issue
• Implicit Association Test (IAT)


  1. Faces appear, participant must press a key if the face is old, another if young

  2. Words appear, one key if positive, another key if negative

  3. Words or faces appear, one key if positive word or young face, another key if negative word or old face

  4. One key if positive word or old face, another key if negative word or young face
• Explicit measures


  Likert scales, Semantic differential, etc.
• IAT value


  Reaction time for stereotypical pairing (negative & old / positive & young) - Reaction time for non-stereotypical pairing (negative & young / positive & old)
• IAT demo tests


  • Sexuality (Gay-Straight IAT)
  • Ethnicity (Black-White IAT)
  • Age (Young-Old IAT)
  • Weight (Fat-Thin IAT)
• Implicit measures


  Not necessarily available to you, e.g. Implicit Association Test, Evaluative movement measurement, Electromyogram, Galvanic skin response, Linguistic measures
• Validity of implicit measures

  • IAT values predict amygdala activity, voting behavior, attitudinal decisions, job intentions, suicide attempts, etc.
• Likert Scales


  Psychometric response scales used in questionnaires to measure attitudes, opinions, or perceptions
• Susceptibility of implicit measures to influence


  • IAT values change easily depending on context, motivational state, cognitive factors
• Unclear psychological meaning of implicit measures of attitudes
• Functions of attitudes


  • Evaluation of a stimulus as good or bad -> Information on whether approach or avoidance is appropriate
  • Instrumental
  • Cognitive economy
  • Ego-defense
  • Value expression, self-actualization
• Semantic Differential Scale


  Measures attitudes, opinions, or perceptions using bipolar adjectives
• Unidimensional structure of attitudes


  Positive and negative elements lie at opposite ends of a dimension