Attitudes and Stereotypes

What is an attitude?

an attitude is a learnt, stable and relatively enduring evaluation of a person, object,

event or idea that can affect an individual’s behaviour (positive or negative)

Functions of attitudes?

Attitudes can function in different forms it includes Explicit Attitudes and Implicit Attitudes.

Explicit Attitudes?

are where people openly state their attitude and behave in a way

that reflects this attitude. e.g:

Attitude: Exercise is good for my health

Action: Visit the gym often

Implicit Attitudes

are involuntary, uncontrollable and sometimes unconscious. It is

possible for individuals to be unaware that they hold a particular attitude until their

actions reveal it. e.g:

Attitude: Moths are harmless

Action: A person freaks out and runs away from the moth

Your behaviour goes against your attitudes involuntarily and unconsciously unaware of

their particular attitude until an actions reveal it.

Tripartite model of attitude structure

Psychologists have proposed various theories and models explain/describe

what attitudes are, how often they are formed and the circumstances under

which they may change. The most influential model is the tripartite model – this model proposes that any attitude has three related components – the effective, behavioural and cognitive, referred to as the ABC’s of attitudes

The Affective Component

refers to the emotional reactions or feelings an individual has towards an object, person, group, event or issue. This can be positive (I love rap music), negative (I hate rap music) or neutral (I don’t really mind rap music either way)

The Behavioural Component

refers to the way in which an attitude is expressed through our actions

The Cognitive Component

refers to the beliefs we have about an object, person, group, event or issue. Our beliefs are linked to what we know about the world, and they develop with our experiences throughout our lives. Some beliefs may be factual, some may be based on superstitions, some may not be proven (e.g. do aliens exist?)

Consistency between components

The tripartite model of attitude proposes that all three components must be present

before it can be said that an attitude exists.

e.g. you avoid spiders (behavioural), because you are terrified of spiders (affective)

because you believe that spiders can harm you (cognitive).

Inconsistency between the components

Some psychologists believe that sometimes a person’s behaviour does not always

reflect the attitude they hold – that is inconsistent with the affective and cognitive

components

e.g. you hate watching cricket (affective) because you believe it takes FAR too long

(cognitive), but you go watch a match because your friends are going (behavioural)

Theory of Cognitive Dissonance definition

def- cognitive dissonance is the unpleasant feeling of psychological tension that comes when we perceive that out attitudes are inconsistent with our behaviour.

The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance extra stuff that is still important (2 paragraphs)

People experience cognitive dissonance when they behave in a way that is contradictory to their attitude. Cognitive dissonance happens when there is inconsistencies between the three components.

Cognitive dissonance leads to the motivation to reduce the dissonance, the stronger

the discrepancy (difference) between thoughts, the greater the motivation to reduce it.

Depends on how important it is to you.

Ways that cognitive dissonance is reduced?

1. Rationalisation can reduce such discomfort by explaining away the discrepancy

in question, as when people who take up smoking after previously quitting

decide that the evidence for it being harmful is less than they previously thought.

2. Reduction – where the person stops or reduces doing the thing that causes them

dissonance.

3. Avoidance – where a person avoids the things that causes them dissonance

completely.

Magnitude as a factor of Affecting Cognitive Dissonance (how strong an attitude is and the strength of the inconsistencies)

• A strong attitude is an attitude that is usually thought about, well-known and

easily accessible. It tends to be personally relevant and have a strong underlying

emotional component

• The stronger the attitude, the more likely it is that it will be stable and consistent

over time, be resistant to change, and influence behaviour

• Stronger attitudes are more likely to predict behaviour than weaker attitudes.

Responses to cognitive dissonance

a) Changing existing beliefs

b) Change behaviour

c) Reducing the importance of the beliefs

Example of Cognitive dissonance

Imagine confronting a sunbather with the information that excessive sun exposure is

the leading cause of skin cancer. The two thoughts – ‘sunbathing can cause cancer’

and ‘I am sunbathing’ – will cause the discomfort of cognitive dissonance.

Consequently, they will be motivated to reduce it.

2. Change their behaviour (relating to example)

They change their behaviour. Upon acquiring the additional information, they

might stop sunbathing.

1. Change their existing belief (relating to example)

They change their existing belief. They might decide to deny the evidence showing a link between sun exposure and skin cancer.

3. Reducing the importance of the belief ? (relating to the example)

Reduce the importance of the belief. They might think that sun exposure is

necessary for the body to produce vitamin D, which is important for bone health,

among other benefits. Therefore, they may decide that a little sunbathing is good

for their health.

Criticisms/Limitations/Strengths of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• It has advantage of being testable by scientific means (experiments)

• We cannot physically observe cognitive dissonance, and therefore we cannot objectively measure it (re: behaviourism). Consequently, the term cognitive dissonance is somewhat subjective.

• There is also some ambiguity (vagueness) about the term ‘dissonance’ itself.

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance, what is the experimenter’s name and date this study was published?

Festinger and Carlsmith, 1959

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance Aim of experiment?

Aim: Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) investigated if making people perform a dull task

would create cognitive dissonance through forced compliance behaviour.

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance method of experiment?

In their laboratory experiment, they used 71 male students as participants to

perform series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in peg board for an hour)

They were the paid either $1 or $20 to tell a waiting participant (a confederate) that the

tasks were really interesting. Almost all of the participants agreed to walk into the

waiting room and persuade the confederate that the boring experiment would be fun.

What is a laboratory experiment include?

Laboratory experiment is a experimental method that involves having a controlled space where researchers change one factor to see how it affects another. It has low ecological validity and therefore cannot relate to real life setting

What is a confederate?

an actor that already knows the true intentions of experiment

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance result of experiment?

Results: When the participant were asked to evaluate the experiments, the participants

who were paid only $1 rated the tedious task as more fun and enjoyable than the

participants who were paid $20 to lie.

Study: Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance conclusion of experiment?

Conclusion: Being paid $1 is not sufficient incentive for lying and so those who were

paid $1 experienced dissonance. They could only overcome that dissonance by coming

to believe that the tasks really were interesting and enjoyable. Being paid $20 provides a

reason for turning pegs, and there is therefore no dissonance.