SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

• Attitude


  An enduring evaluation, positive or negative, of people, objects, or ideas
• Types of attitudes


  • Cognitively Based Attitudes
  • Affectively Based Attitudes
  • Behaviorally Based Attitudes
• Cognitively Based Attitudes


  Attitudes based primarily on people's beliefs about the properties of an attitude object
• Affectively Based Attitudes


  Attitudes based more on people's feelings and values than on their beliefs about the nature of an attitude object
• Behaviorally Based Attitudes


  Attitudes based on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object
• Self-Perception Theory


  People infer their attitudes from their behavior only under certain conditions
• Explicit attitudes


  Attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report
• Implicit attitudes


  Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious
• Attitude accessibility


  The strength of the association between an attitude object and a person's evaluation of that object
• Theory of Planned Behavior


  Idea that people's intentions are the best predictors of their deliberate behaviors
• The more specific the attitude toward the behavior in question, the better that attitude can be expected to predict that behavior
• Subjective norms


  People's beliefs about how others they care about will view the behavior in question
• Perceived behavioral control


  Intentions influenced by the ease with which people believe they can perform the behavior
• When attitudes change, it is often due to social influence
• Counter-attitudinal advocacy


  Saying becomes believing
• Yale Attitude Change Approach


  1. Examines the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitude in response to persuasive messages

  2. Focuses on who (the source of the communication) said what (the communication itself) to whom (the audience)
• A problem with the Yale Attitude Change approach is that it does not define the conditions under which one aspect of a communication should be emphasized over others
• Central route to persuasion


  When people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication, they are most persuaded by logically compelling facts
• Peripheral route to persuasion


  When people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead swayed by surface characteristics, they are persuaded by things peripheral to the message like how long it is or who is delivering it
• Elaboration likelihood model


  An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change: central and peripheral
• The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion specifies when people will be influenced by what the speech says (i.e., the logic of the arguments) and when they will be influenced by more superficial characteristics (e.g., who gives the speech or how long it is)
• Central route to persuasion


  • When people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication
  • Most persuaded by logically compelling facts
• Peripheral route to persuasion


  • When people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead swayed by surface characteristics
  • Persuaded by things peripheral to the message like how long it is or who is delivering it
• Attitude change that is temporary and susceptible to further change occurs in the Peripheral Route
• Personal relevance of the topic


  How important is the topic to a person's well-being? More personally relevant, pay more attention
• When relevance is low


  Less motivation to pay attention to arguments, more attention to who is presenting
• We can be swayed more by who delivers a persuasive message than by the strength of the message itself, such as when consumers buy certain products because a so-called "influencer" posts about them
• When unable to pay close attention, people are swayed more by peripheral cues like the status or likeability of the communicator
• People who base their attitudes on a careful analysis of the arguments


  • More likely to maintain this attitude
  • More likely to behave consistently with this attitude
  • More resistant to counterpersuasion
• Fear-arousing communications


  Persuasive messages that attempt to change people's attitudes by arousing their fears
• Strong amounts of fear fail if they overwhelm people, causing them to become defensive, deny the importance of the threat, and unable to think rationally about the issue
• How to achieve long-lasting attitude change with fear-arousing communications

  1. Try to create enough fear to motivate people to pay attention but not so much that they tune out

  2. Include specific recommendations about how to reduce the fear
• Heuristic-systematic model of persuasion


  An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change: systematically processing the merits of the arguments or using mental shortcuts or heuristics
• Heuristics


  Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently, often using emotions as a heuristic when using the peripheral route
• The problem with using the "how do I feel about it?" heuristic is that it can lead to mistakes if people misattribute their feelings to the wrong source
• Emotion and different types of attitudes

  It is best to "fight fire with fire" - use rational arguments to change cognitively-based attitudes, and emotional appeals to change affectively-based attitudes
• Body posture and movements can influence positive or negative feelings and affect attitude change
• Describe how advertising changes people's attitudes


  Most think it works on others but not them, but people are more influenced by advertising than they think, and advertising can change attitudes
• Emotional approach to attitude change


  When there is little difference between brands, associate the product with excitement, youth, attractiveness
• Laboratory evidence for subliminal influence


  Subliminal flashes of words can influence product choice, but requires a controlled environment with correct illumination, no distractions, and right distance from screen