4. Social 4

Introduction to Attitudes

• Definition: An attitude is defined as a tendency to think, feel, or act positively or negatively towards objects in our environment (Masorene Banaji, 2010).

• Key Elements:

  • Attitudes reflect feelings of positivity or negativity.

  • Can be directed towards people, ideas, behaviors, or physical objects.

• Importance: Understanding attitudes helps predict behaviors based on how an individual feels about a certain situation or object.

Types of Attitudes

Explicit Attitudes

• Description: Attitudes that can be consciously accessed, reported, and controlled.

• Examples: Attitudes towards products like iPhones are explicit since individuals can evaluate and state their preferences.

• Characteristics:

  • Consciously controlled and easily articulated.

  • Can be influenced by social desirability.

Implicit Attitudes

• Description: Evaluative responses that are automatic and occur outside conscious awareness.

• Characteristics:

  • Difficulty in self-reporting; they can't be easily articulated.

  • Formed through early developmental experiences, more subconscious.

  • Sensitive to current emotional contexts.

• Measurement: Commonly measured through the Implicit Association Test (IAT).

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

• Setup: Involves categorizing words/images quickly into two categories (e.g., insects, flowers, pleasant, unpleasant) with varied pairing for measurement of implicit attitudes.

• Function: Difficulty or error rates in categorization can indicate implicit biases (e.g., towards social groups based on ethnicity).

• Applications: Used to assess various social attitudes including racial bias, gender associations, and more.

• Results from Project Implicit (2022):

  • Data show significant biases in various attitudes based on gender, physical appearance, and race.

  • Trends indicate most respondents reflect higher biases towards certain groups.

Attitude Dimensions and Predictions of Behavior

Specificity vs. Generality

• Specific Attitudes: Better predict specific behaviors.

• Example: Attitude towards attending a specific Taylor Swift concert vs. general opinion about her music.

Accessibility

• High Accessibility: Attitudes that are frequently considered are easier to recall and can more accurately predict behavior (e.g., recent news about a celebrity).

• Low Accessibility: Attitudes that are not frequently considered are less likely to influence decision-making.

Strength of Attitude

• Strong attitudes are more predictive of behavior than weak attitudes.

• Example: Strong ethical concerns about climate change lead to more consistent eco-friendly purchasing decisions.

Cognitive Dissonance

Definition

• Dissonance is the discomfort experienced when behaviors contradict attitudes.

• Resolution Strategies:

  • Change behavior to align with attitudes.

  • Change attitudes to align with behaviors.

Key Studies on Dissonance

1. Stanford Experiment Reflection:

   • Participants rated a boring task as enjoyable after lying about it for minimal compensation (e.g., $1).

   • Results showed significant attitude shifts for low monetary reward participants compared to high reward ($20).

   • Conclusion: Less justification for the behavior (lying) leads to greater attitude adjustment to resolve dissonance.

2. Grasshopper Study:

   • Participants given fried grasshoppers by mean vs. nice experimenters had differing levels of attitude change based on perceived intentions and rewards for the behavior.

   • Findings highlighted how the context of the experimenter influenced the need to reduce cognitive dissonance.

Current Applications and Research in Attitudes

• Relevance of COVID-19: Recent studies exploring attitudes towards vaccination showed that predicting vaccine acceptance relies heavily on attitudes towards vaccinations specifically, not vaccines in general.

• Changing Implicit Attitudes: Exposure to positive images of activities (like exercise) has shown potential to alter implicit attitudes, although translating that to behavioral changes remains complex.

Summary and Future Directions

• Understanding attitudes involves differentiating between explicit and implicit types, as well as exploring their dimensions (specificity, accessibility, strength).

• Cognitive dissonance demonstrates a powerful mechanism by which behaviors can inform and transform attitudes.

• Future research continues to unveil the complexities of attitudes, particularly in social behaviors and public health.