PYC3701 - Chapter 5: Attitudes

Social psychologists use the term attitude to refer to

people’s evaluation of almost any aspect of the world

Some attitudes appear to be quite stable and resistant to change

while others may be unstable and show consider able variability depending on the situation

We may hold some attitudes with great certainty

while our attitudes toward other objects or issues may be relatively unclear or uncertain

The study of attitudes is central to

the field of social psychology because attitudes are capable of coloring virtually every aspect of our experience

Even when we do not have strong attitudes toward a specific issue

related values can influence what atti tudes we form

Research findings indicate that attitudes toward such novel issues are shaped by long-term values— eg.religious beliefs

predict the formation of these new attitudes—rather than the extent to which the public possesses scientific knowledge on the topic

the tendency to evaluate stimuli as positive or nega tive— something we favor or are against—appears to be an

initial step in our efforts to make sense out of the world

Responding to a stimulus in terms of our attitudes—on an immediately evaluative basis

produces different brain wave activity than when a response is made on a nonevaluative basis

Our brains operate differently depending on

whether we are engaged in rapid evaluative perception or a more thoughtful examination of our world

explicit attitudes

conscious and reportable

implicit attitudes

less controllable and potentially not consciously acces sible to us.

A method for assessing implicit attitudes

the Implicit Association Test (IAT) (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwarz, 1998).

>> The IAT is based on the fact that we may associate various social objects more or less readily with positive or negative descriptive words

Although the IAT is viewed by some investigators as an important way to “get inside your head,” a criticism that has been leveled at this test is that it

* really assesses commonly known connections between social groups and various attributes, even though the respondent might not actually endorse the validity of those connection
* research has revealed that the IAT is susceptible to deliberate faking
* people are often aware of and surprisingly accurate in predicting their IAT responses

Because implicit measures may be assessing familiarity with the culture rather than an individual’s actual attitudes

the meaning of IAT scores remains controversial

comparing implicit and explicit attitudes indicates that

they reflect distinct evaluations of the world around us, and implicit attitudes can predict some behaviors better than explicit attitude measures

Social psychologists view attitudes as important because

they often do influence our behavior

>> This is especially likely to be true when attitudes are strong and accessible

Attitudes can also affect important behavioral choices that have

long-term consequences

>>so it is important to understand how they influence decision making

One important means by which our attitudes are formed is through the process of social learning

In other words, many of our views are acquired by inter acting with others, or simply observing their behavior. Such learning occurs through several processes that are outlined

basic principle of psychology that when a stimulus that is capable of evoking a response—the unconditioned stimulus—regularly precedes another neutral stimulus

the one that occurs first can become a signal for the second—the conditioned stimulus

>> To use this method for creating attitudes, you need to know what your potential audience already responds positively toward

Classical conditioning can affect attitudes via two pathways

the direct and indirect route

direct route

The more generally effective and typical method used

>> positive stimuli (e.g., images of different women) are repeatedly paired with the product, with the aim being to directly transfer the affect felt about the women to the brand

for indirect conditioning process to work

people need not be aware that this memory link is being formed, but they do need to feel positively toward the unconditioned stimulus

classical conditioning contribute to shaping our attitudes

even though we are not aware of the stimuli that serve as the basis for this kind of conditioning

subliminal conditioning

classical conditioning that occurs in the absence of conscious aware ness of the stimuli involved.

mere exposure

having seen an object before, but too rapidly to re member having seen it—can result in attitude formation

what creates a sense of familiarity and results in more positive attitudes?

repetition

the illusion of truth effect

more positive attitudes developed following exposure to either weak or strong arguments—when little detailed message processing occurred

during instrumental individuals learn which views are seen as the “correct” attitudes to hold

because of the rewards received for voicing those attitudes by the people they identify with and want to be accepted by

instrumental conditioning

differential rewards and punishments

The desire to fit in with others and be rewarded for holding similar attitudes can be

a powerful motivator of attitude formation and change

One way that social psychologists study the extent to which our reported attitudes depend on

the expected audience is by varying who we believe will learn our attitude position

our attitude expression can depend on

the rewards we have received in the past and those we expect to receive in the future for expressing particular attitudes

observational learning

can operate even when direct rewards for acquiring or expressing those attitudes are absent

observational learning occurs when

individuals acquire attitudes or behaviors simply by ob serving others

mechanism of social comparison

our tendency to compare ourselves with others in order to determine whether our view of social reality is correct or not

>> to the extent that our views agree with those of others, we tend to conclude that our ideas and attitudes are accurate

Reference groups

People we value and identify with

People often adjust their attitudes so as to hold views closer to those of others who they

value and identify with

As a result of observing the attitudes held by others who we identify with

new attitudes can be formed

research findings indicate that hearing others whom we see as similar to ourselves state negative views about a group can lead us to

adopt similar attitudes—without ever meeting members of that group

>> attitudes are being shaped by our own desire to be similar to people we like

People are not troubled by disagreement with, and in fact expect to hold different attitudes from

people whom they categorize as different from themselves

it is uncomfortable to differ on important attitudes from

people who we see as similar to ourselves and therefore with whom we expect to agree

also expect to be influenced by other people’s attitude positions differentially depending on

how much they identify with those others

when we identify with a group

we expect to be influenced by those others and, in fact, are likely to take on the attitudes that are perceived to be normative for that group.

a more favorable attitude toward this product was formed when the message was framed in

terms of their own group liking a product

the attitudes we form are indeed influenced by

our identification with groups and our perception of what attitudes are held by members of those groups.

there is often a sizeable gap between attitudes and behavior

what a person says and what that person actually does when confronted with the object of that attitude may be quite different

To understand why attitudes might not straightforwardly predict behavior

we need to recognize that there are various norms that can affect the likelihood of discriminatory behavior

depend ing on the degree to which the action has social consequences or not

attitudes may be differentially related to behavior

research has focused on the factors that determine when consistency can be expected, as well as

the issue of how attitudes influence behavior

Several factors determine the extent to which attitudes and behavior correspond, with aspects of the

situation influencing the extent to which attitudes determine behavior

Attitudes that we hold with greater certainty are more strongly linked to behavior

compared to attitudes about which we feel some uncertainty

when people are induced to think that their attitudes are stable across time

they feel more certain about those attitudes and are more likely to act on them

older people are often more certain of their attitudes than are young people

due to older people placing greater value on “standing firm” or being resolute in the attitude positions they adopt, and for this reason they tend to show greater at titude– behavior consistency compared to younger people

pluralistic ignorance

where we erroneously believe others have attitudes different than ourselves

Attitude based on moral convictions can give rise to

Intense emotion and strongly predict behaviour

whether attitudes will pre dict sustained and potentially costly behavior depends on the

strength of the attitudes

The term strength captures

The extremity of an attitude

>> how strong the emotions reaction is

The degree of certainty with which an attitude is held

the sense that you know what your attitude is and the feeling that it is the correct position to hold

The extent to which the attitude is based on

Personal experience

Three factors that affect attitude accessibility

1. Strength
2. Certainty
3. Personal experience

The three factors/components of attitude strength are

Interrelated and each plays a role in the likelihood that attitudes will be accessible and affect behaviour

How attitude strength influences attitude-behaviour consistency

1. Attitude extremity, certainty or personal experience, leads to
2. Strength of attitudes and
3. Attitudes are accessible, resulting in
4. Attitude-behaviour consistency

Vested interest

The extent to which the attitude is relevant to the concerns of the individual who holds it

Vested interest typically amount to

Whether the object or issue might have important consequences for this person

The greater the vested interest

The stronger the impact of the attitude on behaviour

People with a vested interest are more likely to

Elaborate on arguments that favour their position

Attitudes based on vested interest are more like to

Be resistant to change and be an accessible guide for behaviour

vested material interests do affect attitudes and voting when

the policy is framed as having an immediate impact, but that for policies framed as having an impact only in the future, people favored and voted based on their values.

two important components of attitude certainty

1. Attitude clarity
2. Attitude correctness

Attitude clarity

Being clear about what ones attitude is

Attitude correctness

Feeling ones attitude is the valid or proper one to hold

When a person learns that others share one’s attitudes

it acts as justification for that attitude and thereby increases certainty

Clarity reflects

a lack of ambivalence about an attitude issue. The more often you are asked to report on your attitude, the more it will facilitate clarity and thereby certainty

More attitude change resulted in the

* low-clarity than the high-clarity condition (single versus repeated expression)


* low-correctness versus the high-correctness condition (low versus high consensus)

Both components of attitude certainty, when they are high

can increase resistance to a persuasive message— each independently contributing to resistance to persuasion.

High clarity will be more predictive of

behavior in private, but not public contexts—where correctness concerns are likely to be greater

In terms of attitude–behavior consistency

an attitude that is high on both clarity and correctness is most likely to reliably predict behavior in public and in private.

attitudes formed on the basis of direct experience with the object about which we hold a particular attitude can

exert stronger effects on behavior than ones formed indirectly

>> because attitudes formed on the basis of direct experience are likely to be stronger and be more likely to come to mind in the presence of the attitude object

Attitudes based on personal relevance are

more likely to be elaborated on in terms of supporting arguments, and this makes them resistant to change

>> personally relevant and strong, and your attitude toward it is likely to predict your behavior in the future.

Personal experience is one way to

create involvement with an issue, and people who are more involved with an issue and whose values are linked with that issue are more likely to act on their attitudes

Existing evidence suggests that attitudes really do affect behaviour and the the strengths of this link is determined by a number of factors

1. situational constraints may not permit us to overtly express our attitudes
2. Attitude extremity influences whether our attitudes translate into behavior, and this is particularly likely when a message is framed as having an immediate impact rather than one far in the future
3. attitudes that are clear and experienced as correct are more likely to affect behavior than are those that lack clarity or that we are uncertain about their correctness
4. whether we have personal experience with the attitude object or perceive it as relevant to our important values can affect the accessibility of the attitude, and attitudes that are more accessible are more likely to determine behavior compared to those that are not accessible

theory of reasoned action

Was later refined and termed the theory of planned bahviour

The theory of planned behaviour

the notion that the decision to engage in a particular behavior is the result of a rational process.

The theory of planned behaviour claims that

Various behavioral options are considered, the consequences or outcomes of each are evalu ated, and a decision is reached to act or not to act

behavioral intentions

are often good predictors of whether we will act on our attitudes in a given situation

intentions are moderately correlated with

behavior

The intention-behaviour relationship is even stronger when

People have formed a plan for how and when they will translate their intentions into behaviour

If you develop a plan for how you will translate your intention into actual behavior

you will be more likely to succeed at doing so

Implementation plan

such a plan to implement our intentions is very effective because it involves delegating control of one’s behavior to the situation

According to the theory of planned behaviour, intentions are determined by three factors

1. Attitude toward the behaviour
2. Subjective norms
3. Perceived behavioural control

Attitudes toward behaviour

People positive or negative evaluations of performing the behaviour

>> whether they think it will yield positive or negative consequences

Subjective norms

People’s perceptions of whether other will approve or disapprove of this behaviour

Perceived behavioural control

People’s appraisals of their ability to perform the behaviour

What has been used (and is useful) to predict behaviour for many setting with considerable success?

* reasoned action
* Planned behaviour ideas

According to Fazio’s attitude-to-behavior process model

* some event activates our attitude; that attitude, once activated, influences how we perceive the attitude object
* At the same time, our knowledge about what’s appro priate in a given situation (our knowledge of various social norms) is also activated.

the attitude and the previously stored information about what’s appropriate or expected

shape our definition of the event.

>> This perception, in turn, influences our behavior

According to the attitude-to-behaviour process view, events trigger our attitudes

And simultaneously, the appropriate norms for how people should typically do behave in a given situation

attitudes affect our behavior through at least two mechanisms, and these operate under somewhat contrasting conditions

1. When we have time to en gage in careful, reasoned thought, we can weigh all the alternatives and decide how we will act
2. Under the hectic conditions of everyday life, however, we often don’t have time for this kind of deliberate weighing of alternatives, and often people’s responses appear to be much faster than such deliberate thought processes can account for


1. In such cases, our attitudes seem to spontaneously shape our percep tions of various events—often with very little conscious cognitive processing—and thereby affects our immediate behavioral reactions

a person repeatedly performs a specific behavior and a habit is formed

that person’s responses may become relatively automatic whenever that same situation is encountered

Persuasion

efforts to change our attitudes through the use of various kinds of messages