Attitudes, Beliefs, and Values

Concept of Attitudes

• Psychological concept, mental and emotional entity in the person  

• Not directly observable but can only be inferred unless it is admitted  

Attitude

• A learned, global evaluation of an object (person, place, or issue) that influence thought and action  

• Attitude does not equal Behavior  

  • Guides and steer behavior in certain predictable, both emotional and irrational, ways  

  • Influences behavior  

Characteristics of Attitudes

• Are learned 

• Could be Biological Basis 

• Are Evaluations 

• Influence Thought and Action 

Attitudes are Learned

• Acquired through socialization  

  • Can be developed from early childhood  

  • Kids acquire prejudiced attitudes  

• Varying attitudes depending on cultural and social upbringing 

Biological Basis of Attitudes

Nature or Nurture: Do genes play a role in attitude formation

Attitudes are Evaluations

• Categorization followed by judgments of net value or worth  

• Involve affect and emotions, which are integral to how attitudes are formed and experienced 

• Develop intellectually by absorbing info whereas they can be acquired through reward and punishment of previous behaviors  

Influence Thought and Action

• Shape perceptions and influence judgments  

• Also influence behavior  

• Different shapes and sizes of attitudes 

  • Strong or weak/susceptible  

  • Attracted or repelled  

  • Favorable or unfavorable  

Values

Enduring ideals, guiding principles in one's life or overarching goals that people strive to obtain  

• attitudes come form values

Beliefs

Subjective probabilities that an object has a particular attribute or that an action will lead to a particular outcome  

• beliefs does not equal fact

• form from one’s attitude

Structures of Attitude

• Expectancy-Value Approach  

• Symbolic Attitude Perspective  

• Ideological Approach 

Expectancy-Value Approach

•  Attitude = sum a(i) x b(i) 

• a: strength of beliefs that an object has certain attributes (rating the strength  of the attributes  

• b: evaluation of these attributes (rating if the attributes are bad or good)  

• Multiply the numbers you get from rating the strengths and the evaluation  

Symbolic Attitude Perspective

• Focuses on the power of emotions evoked by symbols and stereotypes  

• Particularly relevant to social and political issues charged with strong emotions, sweeping statements and prejudice  

• Symbols carry certain meanings  

• People acquire effective responses to symbols early in life 

Ideological Approach

• Individuals with strong ideological positions view social and political issues differently  

• Attitudes flow from one's ideology that individuals have acquired and developed  

• Limitation:  

  • People could have multiple sets of ideological beliefs (e.g. one person can be social liberal, fiscal conservative, and religious)  

Intra-Attitudinal Consistency or Ambivalence

• Are attitudes internally consistent? 

• "intellectually I agree, but emotionally I don't"  

• "You're a hypocrite; you say one thing and do another"  

• You can't make up your mind  

Balance Theory

Four ways to resolve cognitive conflict  

• Denial  

  • Try to forget the fact/issue  

• Bolstering  

  • Strengthen your belief  

• Differentiation  

  • Differentiates your liking for the person you don't agree with their viewpoint  

• Transcendence or Integration 

  • Combine two views