Attitudes

Social Psychology

• how individuals think, feel, and behave in social context

• explores group memberships, social influences, attitudes, prejudice, persuasion, and interpersonal relationships

• integrates scientific research, psychological theory, and empirical methods to understand how people are influenced by, and influence, the social world

Why Study Social Psychology?

• Understanding human behaviour

  • how social factors (family, peers, culture) shape actions and beliefs

• Applications in everyday life

  • improving communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution

  • designing effective health or public policy campaigns

  • crafting persuasive marketing messages

• Broader impact

  • societal issues like prejudice, inequality, and group tensions

  • foster cooperation and prosocial behaviours in communities or workplaces

• Understand why people do what they do in social contexts and to use that understanding to create positive changes at the individual, group, or social level

Attitude

• mental and emotional evaluations about objects or behaviours fundamentally shape how we perceive and respond to the world

• if attitudes underlie behaviour, then by understanding attitudes, we might be able to predict future behaviour, change behaviour

Tri-Partite Model of Attitudes

• Three interconnection components

• often consistent

  • affect = excited about eco-friendly innovations

  • cognition = believes electric cars reduce emissions and save money long term

  • behaviour = more than likely to test drive or purchase an electric car

• but can be inconsistent

  • affect = feel energised and proud when you run

  • cognition = know running helps reduce stress and improve health

  • behaviour = too tired to go for a run

• understanding attitudes requires assessing each component

• predicting behaviour - if beliefs and feelings are strongly positive, people are more likely to perform a behaviour consistent with those positive evaluations

• behaviour chance — interventions need to target one or more components. for instance, a persuasive message might change beliefs, hoping it trickles down to feelings and behaviour

Affect (feelings)

• The emotional reactions or feelings we have toward an object, person, or idea

• Feeling happy or excited when you watch a Bond film

• Shapes Beliefs

Cognition (Belief)

• the thoughts, beliefs, or knowledge we hold about the object, person, or issue

• Believing that Bond films are entertaining because of their action and intrigue

• Influences Behaviour, reinforces feelings

Behaviour (Tendencies)

• the predisposition to act or behave in a certain way toward the object or issue

• choosing to buy tickets for a new Bond movie the moment it’s out

• Reinforces Beliefs and Feelings

Attitudes are not values

• broad, abstract ideals or principles that individuals consider important in life (honesty, achievement, freedom)

• general and enduring, guiding our sense of what is most important or worthy in a wide variety of situations

• attitudes are directed at specific objects, people, or behaviours

  • value = i value equality

  • attitude = i strong support equal pay legislation

Attitudes are not opinions

• verbal or written expressions of our attitudes — what we say we believe or feel about a topic

• attitude is an internal evaluation that can remain unspoken

• sometimes opinions do not match the speaker’s true attitudes

  • opinion = i love classical music

  • attitude = internally, you find classical music relaxing and pleasing

Attitudes are not schemas

• schemas are cognitive frameworks that help us organised and interpret information — tell us what something typically is or does

• descriptive knowledge or mental blueprints for how events or categories operate

• attitudes, by definition, include an evaluation—positive, negative, or ambivalent

  • schema = knowing that beyonce is a signer, dancer, public figure

  • attitude = feeling positively about beyonce and wanting to buy tickets to her concert

Attitude-Behaviour Relationship — Predicting things

• LaPiere travelled across the US with a young chinese couple in the 1930s when anti-chinese sentiments were high. they visited 251 hotels and restaurants, then 6 months later wrote to the same establishments to ask if they would serve chinese guests. All but 1 served them, where as only 1 wrote but that they would serve them (out of 128 responses).

• Wicker (1969) found overall weak correlations between attitudes and behaviours in many studies, suggesting “attitudes do not predict behaviour well” — but there are methodological flaws such as people are different and people measure different things

• Social norms — even if you have a strong attitude about something, the desire to fit in or avoid punishment can override it

• situational constraints — resources & opportunities and time & convenience

• strength of the attitude — attitudes that are strongly held, personally relevant, or accessible in memory tend to predict behaviour more reliably

Principle of compatibility (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1974)

• an attitude is more likely to predict behaviour if both are measured at the same level of specificity

• if you want to predict whether someone will recycle plastic bottles at home for the next two weeks, measure their attitude specifically toward recycling plastic bottles at home for two weeks, not their general attitude/value towards saving the environment.

• four components to align

  • action — the specific behaviour (to recycle)

  • target — the object or focus of the behaviour (plastic bottles)

  • context — where the behaviour occurs (your home)

  • time — when the behaviour occurs (over the next two weeks)

Attitude-Behaviour Relationship — Changing things

McGuire’s chain of persuasion (1969)

• A persuasive message must clear multiple hurdles before it can change behaviour

  1. Exposure = individual must notice/attend to the message

  2. comprehension = they must understand what is being communicated

  3. yielding = they must accept or agree with the message (attitude change)

  4. retention = the changed attitude must be remembered over time

  5. action = the individual must actually act in line with the new attitude

• If any step fails, the behaviour wont change

Reasoned Action & Planned Behaviour

Theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975)

• Strongest predictor of behaviour is intention to behave

• Intention = conscious plan or decision to/to not engage in a specific behaviour

• Attitude influences behaviour indirectly by influencing intention

• But also subjective norm influences intention

• Attitude

  • overall positive or negative evaluation of performing the behaviour

  • determined by behavioural beliefs and outcome evaluations

• Subjective Norm

  • perceived social pressure to/to not perform the behaviour

  • influenced by normative beliefs and motivation to comply

Theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1985-1991)

• Extends the theory of reasoned action

• adds perceived behavioural control

• how much control (perceived and actual) a person thinks they have over performing a behaviour

• if you believe you can do something, you’re more than likely to form a strong intention to do it

Measuring Attitudes

• Ask them (self report)

  • willingness to accurately disclose = social desirability

  • ability to accurately disclose = lack of introspective insight

  • awareness = unconscious attitudes/beliefs

• Watch what they do (behaviour)

  • willingness to accurately disclose — social desirability

  • difficult to monitor and interpret

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

• Reaction-time based measure designed to detect implicit attitude — automatic or unconscious evaluations — that people might be unaware of or be unwilling to reveal in explicit self reports

• Present stimuli and have participants categorise them as fast and accurately as possible

• two stimuli, two levels each

• Shortcomings

  • A strong implicit bias does not necessarily match a person’s stated beliefs or how they act

  • influenced by cultural norms, media exposure, or recent experiences

  • IAT scores can fluctuate over time (Test-Retest Reliability)

  • extent to which IAT results predict real-world behaviors is debated (Predictive Validity)

• Example – gender/career IAT

  • Present 1 word at a time – the word could be a name or an object

  • The name could be male or female and the object could be something you would use at home or at work

  • If the word is male OR something you use at work – press the LEFT button as fast as possible

  • If the word is female OR something you use at home – press the LEFT button as fast as possible

  • Now reverse the pairings

  • If the word is female OR something you use at work – press the LEFT button as fast as possible

  • If the word is male OR something you use at home – press the LEFT button as fast as possible

  • Compare RTs with for the different pairings

  • Faster when things are ‘congruent’ – implicitly associated