Attitudes

Page 1: Introduction

  • Topic: Social Psychology

  • Focus: Attitudes

  • Location: NYU London

  • Period: Spring 2025

  • Sessions: 9 & 10

Page 2: Key Questions

  1. How do attitudes shape our behavior?

  2. How do we change our attitudes?

  3. How do others persuade us to change our attitudes?

  • Main Themes:

    • Attitudes & Behavior

    • Persuasion

    • Cognitive Dissonance

    • Overview of Attitudes

Page 3: Overview

  • Topics Covered:

    • Attitudes & Behavior

    • Influence of Attitudes on Behavior

    • Persuasion and Cognitive Dissonance

    • Definition of Attitudes

Page 4: Definition of Attitudes

  • Definition:

    • An attitude is a psychological tendency expressed by evaluating a particular entity with favor or disfavor (Eagly & Chaiken, 1998).

  • Types of Attitudes:

    • Explicit Attitudes: Consciously accessible and easy to report.

    • Implicit Attitudes: Unconscious associations between objects and evaluative responses.

Page 5: The ABC of Attitudes

  • Components of Attitudes:

    • Affective: Feelings associated with the attitude (e.g., happiness from recycling).

    • Behavioral: Actions taken (e.g., regularly recycling).

    • Cognitive: Beliefs held (e.g., belief that recycling is responsible).

  • Source: Fishbein & Ajzen (1975)

Page 6: Attitudes and Behavior

  • Study by Richard LaPiere (1930s):

    • Road trip with a Chinese couple resulted in courteous treatment at 184 establishments.

    • Follow-up correspondence revealed 92% of establishments would not serve Chinese customers.

    • Conclusion: Suggests a gap between attitudes and actual behaviors.

Page 7: Theory of Planned Behavior

  • Key Variables Affecting Attitude-Behavior Link:

    • 1. Attitude Toward Behavior: Stronger attitudes influence behavior.

    • 2. Subjective Norms: Support from valued others.

    • 3. Perceived Behavioral Control: Belief in one's ability to perform the behavior.

  • Source: Fishbein & Ajzen (1975)

Page 8: Components of the Theory of Planned Behavior - Part 1

  • Illustrative Statements:

    • “Most of my friends do not smoke.”

    • “Smoking is bad for me.”

    • “I’m going to give up smoking.”

Page 9: Components of the Theory of Planned Behavior - Part 2

  • Addition of Perceived Behavioral Control:

    • “I’m capable of giving up.”

Page 10: Exercise

  • Task: Describe a behavior explained by the Theory of Planned Behavior, including components such as attitudes, subjective norms, intentions, and perceived behavioral control.

Page 11: Interim Summary

  • Summary of Key Points:

    • Attitudes consist of affective, behavioral, and cognitive components.

    • Attitudes influence behavior through intentions filtered by perceived subjective norms.

    • Intentions can enhance perceived behavioral control.

Page 12: When Do We Change Our Attitudes?

  • Topics Covered:

    • Cognitive Dissonance

    • Post-decisional Dissonance

    • Dissonance & Culture

Page 13: Cognitive Dissonance Theory

  • Key Insights from Festinger (1957):

    • Individuals strive for consistency among beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.

    • Inconsistency leads to cognitive dissonance, which motivates re-alignment efforts.

    • Methods to achieve alignment:

      • Change behavior to align with attitude

      • Change attitude to suit behavior

Page 14: Defining Cognitive Dissonance

  • Definition:

    • An internal state resulting from inconsistencies between two or more attitudes or between attitudes and behavior.

    • Effect: Discrepant behavior leads to lowered self-worth and changes in thoughts and feelings.

Page 15: Festinger & Carlsmith Study (1959)

  • Participants: 71 male Stanford University students.

  • Procedure: Perform a boring task, then persuade others it was enjoyable. Participants received either $20 or $1 for their efforts.

  • Dependent Variable: Self-reported enjoyment of the task.

Page 16: Findings from cognitive dissonance study

  • Conclusion:

    • Greater dissonance (small payment) led to more attitude change and altered behavioral intentions.

Page 17: Post-decisional Dissonance

  • Concept of Buyer’s Remorse:

    • Regret felt post-decision.

    • Dissonance encourages thinking positively about the chosen alternative, while downplaying rejected options.

  • Source: Brehm (1956)

Page 18: Mechanisms of Post-decisional Dissonance

  • Concept:

    • It’s a strategy to reduce attitudes for alternatives not chosen.

Page 19: Summary on Cognitive Dissonance

  • Key Points:

    • Cognitive dissonance arises from inconsistencies between attitudes or between attitudes and behaviors.

    • It is generally easier to change attitudes rather than behavior.

    • Cultural differences exist; Westerners often experience more cognitive dissonance than East Asians, especially related to self-esteem.

Page 20: Ways Others Persuade Us to Change Attitudes

  • Topics Covered:

    • The Source of Information

    • The Message Content

    • Real-life Persuasion Examples

Page 21: The Source of Persuasion

  • Factors Increasing Persuasiveness:

    • Communicators who are attractive

    • Communicators who share similarities (values/beliefs) with the audience

    • Experts or confident communicators who present clearly

Page 22: The Message of Persuasion

  • Effectiveness Factors:

    • Positive and happy messages can enhance persuasion (Sinclair et al., 1994)

    • Emotional appeals through fear can draw attention; however, excessive fear may disengage the audience (Das et al., 2003; Shehryar & Hunt, 2005)

Page 23: Petty et al. (1981) Study on Persuasion

  • Participants: 145 undergraduate students.

  • Independent Variables:

    • Argument Quality (strong vs weak)

    • Source Expertise (expert vs non-expert)

    • Personal Relevance (high vs low)

  • Dependent Variable: Attitudes measured on multiple dimensions.

Page 24: Findings on Personal Relevance

  • Key Insight:

    • Messages with high personal relevance are generally more persuasive.

Page 25: Findings Related to Source Credibility

  • Key Insight:

    • Sources are more persuasive in low personal relevance contexts.

Page 26: Techniques in Persuasion

  • Techniques Explained:

    • Foot-in-the-door: Start with a small request, followed by a larger one.

    • Bait-and-switch: Advertised low price but product is unavailable.

    • Pre-giving: Sending unsolicited gifts before requesting donations.

Page 27: Effective Advertising

  • Insight:

    • Advertising is effective in changing attitudes through both peripheral and central routes.

    • The message source and quality significantly influence attitude shifts.

Page 28: Take-Home Message

  • Key Concepts to Remember:

    • Attitudes

    • Attitudes & Behavior

    • Cognitive Dissonance

    • Persuasion

Page 29: References

  • Brehm, J. W. (1956). Post-decision changes in desirability of alternatives.

  • Cialdini, R. (2001). Influence: Science and Practice (4th ed.).

  • Eagly & Chaiken (1998). Handbook of Social Psychology.

  • Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance.

  • Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior.

  • LaPiere, R. T. (1936). Type rationalization of group antipathy.

Page 30: Additional References

  • Olson, et al. (2001). The heritability of attitudes.

  • Petty, et al. (1981). Personal involvement as a determinant of argument-based persuasion.

  • Schifter & Ajzen (1985). Intention, perceived control, and weight loss.

  • Tormala, et al. (2006). Impacts of source credibility on persuasion.