7.01 Attitudes + 7.02 Leon Festinger

Attitude

a long lasting view we have about ourselves, others, objects and issues; showing if we see them positively or negatively.

What are the two functions of attitudes?

explicit + implicit

Explicit attitudes

deliberate + conscious

attitudes are shaped by a persons background or experiences (ie: an individual raised in a prejudice family may have negative attitudes towards certain ethnic groups)

ie: you can decide for yourself whether you like maths or not

Implicit attitudes

automatic + unconscious; form involuntarily

ie: bad childhood experience with insects may cause a lasting negative attitude towards insects.

Some might believe men and women are equally good at engineering but unconsciously associate engineering with men.

Attitude formation

how we develop opinions about other’s actions, thoughts and feelings.

Attitudes have a purpose, often protecting us.

ie: if we face a dangerous situation, our attitude guides our actions to keep us safe

Tripartite Model (ABC Model)

Affective, Behavioural, Cognitive

All these components must be present before it can be said that an attitude exists

Affective

feelings, emotions, preferences → “I feel scared”

Involves feelings/emotions about the attitude

Behavioural

actions, intentions → “I will avoid and scream if I see one.”

The way the attitude we have influences how we act/behave

Cognitive

beliefs, knowledge, perceptions → “I believe spiders are dangerous”

Involves persons belief/knowledge about an attitude

Theory of cognitive dissonance?

Leon Festinger

Leon Festinger

American cognitive psychologist whom proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance.

He suggested that people need their beliefs and behaviours to be consistent

When beliefs conflict it causes discomfort which people try to avoid

Consistent attitudes

you believe that good grades are required to get into your preferred uni course (COGNITIVE COMPONENT)

so you work hard in and out of your class (BEHAVIOURAL COMPONENT)

you might enjoy school (AFFECTIVE COMPONENT)

Inconsistent Attitudes

you know that dental hygiene is important (COGNITIVE COMPONENT)

you feel anxious due to the sound of a dental drill (AFFECTIVE COMPONENT)

So you refuse to go to the dentist (BEHAVIOURAL COMPONENT)

Strength of dissonance

The level of dissonance depends on how much we value a belief and how inconsistent our beliefs are.

Personal beliefs + important values cause stronger dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance occurs in the purchasing decisions we make on a regular basis. Such as; if you are on a diet and want ice cream, reading the nutritional label can help reduce your comfort.

People like to believe they make good choices; when a purchase turns out badly it conflicts with this belief.

Strength of dissonance - diagram

Forced compliance behaviour

When someone has to do something they don’t want to do, it creates a conflict between their thoughts (I didn’t want to do this) and actions ( I did it) = FORCED COMPLIANCE

Since the action cant be changed. they reduce the conflict by changing their attitude about what they did; i.e.. giving an oral presentation they didn’t want to do.

what are the three effects of cognitive dissonance on behaviour?

1. Avoidance

2. Reduction

3. Rationalism

Avoidance

people are inclined to avoid encountering situations and new info could increase cognitive dissonance

Reduction

to experience a balance between reality and their life expectations; people continuously reduce cognitive dissonance

Rationalism

individuals experiencing cognitive dissonance tend to rationalise, or justify their behaviours

What is meant by magnitude as a factor affecting cognitive dissonance?

The level of discomfort from cognitive dissonance depends on its magnitude (how strong or intense the conflict is). The magnitude of cognitive dissonance is influenced by two.

Magnitude depends on which two factors?

• Value of Conflicting Beliefs: The more important or valuable one of the conflicting beliefs is to a person, the greater the dissonance will be. For example, if someone highly values honesty but lies, the conflict between their action and belief will cause significant discomfort.

• Tolerance for Dissonance: This is the maximum amount of discomfort a person can handle before they feel the need to reduce it. People have different thresholds for how much dissonance they can tolerate. Once their threshold is exceeded, they will feel a strong need to reduce the discomfort by changing their beliefs or actions.

Change belief

Instead of admitting they were wrong, the committed members reinterpreted the evidence. They convinced themselves that their strong faith had saved the world from destruction??

Behavioural adjustment

i.e: the smoker might cope with the dissonance by quitting smoking altogether.

Change perception

Instead of feeling guilty or overwhelmed, you adjust your perception and acknowledge that you're doing the best you can given your situation.

Cognitive consequences of forced compliance (Festinger + Carlsmith, 1995)

Aim of the study

Investigated if making people perform a dull task would create cognitive dissonance through forced compliance behaviour.

Participants

71 male students from a the Introductory Psychology class at Stanford University, were selected by convenience sampling.

In this course, students are required to spend a certain number of hours as subjects (Ss) in experiments.

What type of sampling?

convenience

Materials

• Spools on a tray

• Square pegs on a board

• Tape recorder

• Self-report measure with four questions using rating scales

Independent variable

the amount of reward used ($1 or $20) to encourage the participants to make a statement conflicting with their personal belief

Dependent variable

strength of attitude.

method

- Students were told some of them would be interviewed and were encouraged to be honest.

- Participants performed tasks for an hour and a half while the experimenter took notes to make the tasks seem important.

- Afterward, the experimenter explained there were two groups: one with no prior introduction and another where a student falsely described the tasks as enjoyable.

- The experiment had three conditions: Control, One Dollar, and Twenty Dollars.

- Control: Participants waited to see if a student wanted to talk to them.

- One Dollar and Twenty Dollars: Participants were asked to tell the next participant the tasks were fun, with payments of $1 (15 AUD) or $20 (300 AUD), respectively. Most agreed.

- Participants were then taken to meet a female confederate pretending to be the next participant.

- Participants talked to her about the experiment, conveying positive points from a sheet of paper.

- The interviewer then asked about their perception of the tasks, their learning experience, the experiment's importance, and their willingness to join similar experiments in the future.

findings

The experiment supported Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance.

findings → belief change

- Participants given $1 to lie about enjoying the experiment experienced the most cognitive dissonance.

- To reduce discomfort, they changed their belief and convinced themselves the tasks were more enjoyable than they initially thought.

- Participants offered $20 did not experience much cognitive dissonance.

- The large incentive justified their behaviour, so they had less need to change their beliefs.

findings - post-experiment attitudes

- Participants paid $1 had more positive beliefs about the experiment after the deception was revealed than those paid $20.

- This suggests that without external justification, individuals change their beliefs to align with their actions to reduce cognitive dissonance.

strengths

Can be tested scientifically.

This experiment presented the opportunity for alternative studies, providing similar results, resulting in strong reliability.

limitations

- Explicit attitudes were measured using rating scales, not implicit attitudes, so unconscious thoughts and emotions weren't recorded.

- Deception was used to prevent participants from knowing the true purpose, so they couldn't give informed consent.

- The experiment is argued to have poor validity since the tasks used are unlikely to occur in real life.