Chapter 4

Attitudes
Attit
Attitudes:
d : E l ti
Evaluating th
the
Social World

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 1

Chapter Outline

„ Attitude Formation
„ Attitude Functions

„ Link between Attitudes and Behavior

„ Persuasion

„ Cognitive Dissonance
Attitudes

„ Attitudes: evaluations of
Attitudes: various
aspects of the social world
„ The study of attitudes is a major topic
within the field of social psychology
„ They represent a very basic component of
social cognition
g
„ They often influence behavior, especially
when they are strong, accessible, and long-
long-
standing
t di
Attitude Formation

„ How Attitudes Develop

„ Social Learning:
Learning: the process through which
people acquire new information, forms of
behavior, or attitudes from other persons

„ We will cover three learning processes that

are important to the development of
attitudes
„ Classical Conditioning
„ Instrumental Conditioning

„ Observational Learning
Attitude Formation

„ How Attitudes Develop

„ Classical Conditioning
Conditioning:: learning in which one
stimulus becomes a signal for the presentation of
another stimulus (learning by association)

„ Subliminal Conditioning:
Conditioning: classical conditioning of
attitudes by exposure to stimuli that are below
individuals’ threshold of conscious awareness
Attitude Formation
„ How Attitudes Develop
„ Instrumental Conditioning
Conditioning:: learning in which
responses (e(e..g., attitudes) that lead to positive
outcomes or which avoid negative outcomes are
strengthened
„ Observational Learning:
Learning: learning in which
individuals
d d l acquire new forms f off behavior
b h ( .g.,
(e.
(e
attitudes) as a result of observing others
„ Media exposure can influence attitude formation
„ Third-Person Effect
Third-
„ Social Comparison
Attitude Functions
„ Attitudes serve manyy functions
functions..
„ The Knowledge Function:
Function: attitudes aid in the interpretation of
new stimuli and enable rapid responding to attitude attitude--relevant
information (in ways that maintain them)
„ The Identity or Self
Self--Expression Function
Function:: attitudes can permit
the expression of central values and beliefs and thereby
communicate personal identity
„ The Self
Self--Esteem Function:
Function: holding particular attitudes can help
maintain
i t i or enhance
h f li
feelings off self
self-
lf-worth
th
„ The Ego
Ego--Defensive Function:
Function: claiming particular attitudes can
protect people from unwanted or unflattering views of
themselves
„ The Impression Motivation Function
Function:: people can use attitudes to
lead others to have a positive view of themselves themselves.. When
motivated to do so, the attitudes people express can shift in
order to create the desired impression on others
Attitude Formation and
Functions
„ What are your thoughts?
„ What are examples of attitudes that people
learn from the media?
„ Are there problems with learning attitudes from the
media?
„ If so,
so what are they?
„ What functions do your attitudes serve?
„ Are p people
p always y aware of whyy theyy hold the
attitudes that they do?
„ What are consequences of not being aware of these
functions?
Link between Attitudes and
Behavior
„ Role of the Social Context
„ Social attitudes do not always predict
behavior
„ LaPiere (1934
1934)) found that the actions of business
owners did not match their attitudes
„ Businesses gave the Chinese couple traveling with him
very good service
„ But, they expressed negative attitudes in written
responses to LaPiere, saying that they would not offer
service to Chinese customers
Link between Attitudes and
Behavior
„ When and Why Do Attitudes Influence
Behavior?
„ Situational constraints that affect attitude
expression
„ People’s assumptions about the attitudes of others
and what they think others will think of them can
be better predictors of behavior than their actual
attitudes
„ D
Due t pluralistic
to l li ti ignorance
i , people
l can be
b wrong about
b t
what attitudes they think others hold
„ Strength of attitudes
„ Strong attitudes are better predictors of behavior
than are weak attitudes
Link between Attitudes and
Behavior
„ When and Why Do Attitudes Influence
Behavior?

„ Attitude extremity
„ An important factor in determining attitude
intensity is vested interest
„ Role of personal experience
„ Direct experience with an attitude object/issue
results in a stronger link between the attitude and
behavior
„ Attitudes formed by direct experience are more accessible
„ Accessible attitudes are more likely to determine
behavior
Link between Attitudes and
Behavior
Link between Attitudes and
Behavior
„ How Do Attitudes Guide Behavior?
„ Attitudes arrived at through reasoned thought
„ Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Azjen, Azjen
1980)): the decision to engage in a particular
1980
behavior is the result of a rational process in which
behavioral options are considered, consequences or
outcomes of each are evaluated, and a decision is
reached to act or not to act
„ That decision is reflected in behavioral intentions, which
strongly influence overt behavior
Link between Attitudes and
Behavior
„ How Do Attitudes Guide Behavior?
„ Theory of Planned Behavior
Behavior:: in addition to attitudes
toward a given behavior and subjective norms
about it, individuals also consider their ability to
perform the behavior (perceived behavioral control)
„ This theory is an extension of the theory of reasoned
action
„ Behavioral intentions are determined by attitudes toward
a behavior,
behavior subjective norms,
norms and also perceived
behavioral control
Link between Attitudes and
Behavior
„ How Do Attitudes Guide Behavior?
„ Attitudes and spontaneous behavioral
reactions
„ Attitude-to-
Attitude- to-Behavior Process Model (Fazio,
1989)): emphasizes the influence of attitudes and
1989
stored knowledge of what is appropriate in a
given situation on an individual
individual’ss definition of the
present situation, which then influences overt
behavior
„ E
Events
t automatically
t ti ll trigger
ti attitudes
ttit d and
d social
i l norms
 Link between Attitudes and
Behavior
„ What are your thoughts?
„ What is an example of a particularly strong
attitude that yyou hold?
„ What accounts for pluralistic ignorance, people’s
false belief that others have different attitudes
than they do?
„ Can you think of an example where your attitude
was inappropriate because you had the wrong
perception of a situation?
Persuasion

„ Persuasion: efforts to change

Persuasion:
others’ attitudes through the use of
others
various kinds of messages
Persuasion
„ Communicators and Audiences (findings from
early research by Hovland, Janis, and Kelley,
1953))
1953
„ Communicators who are perceived as credible experts, are
attractive, speak rapidly, and appear confident are more persuasive
„ Messages that do not appear to try to change attitudes are more
persuasive
„ Distraction can make people more likely to be persuaded.
persuaded.
„ A two-
two-sided approach is more persuasive when the audience’s
attitude is different from the communicator’s
„ Younger people (e (e..g., between the ages of 18 and 25)
25) are more
likely to be persuaded than are older people
Persuasion
„ The Cognitive Processes Underlying
Persuasion
„ Systematic versus heuristic processing
„ Systematic Processing
Processing:: involves careful
consideration of message content and ideas
(argument strength matters)
„ Central Route ((to p
persuasion))

„ Heuristic Processing
Processing:: involves the use of simple rules
or mental shortcuts (argument strength does not
matter)
„ Peripheral Route (to persuasion)
Persuasion
„ According to the elaboration
elaboration--likelihood model
(Petty & Cacioppo, 1986
1986)) persuasion can occur
in two ways
Persuasion
„ Resisting Persuasion
„ Reactance: negative reactions to threats to
Reactance:
one’s personal freedom
„ often
ft increases
i resistance
i t t persuasion
to i and d can even
produce negative attitude change or that opposite to
what was intended
„ is one reason why hard
hard--sell persuasion attempts
often fail
„ Forewarning: advance knowledge that one is
Forewarning:
about to become the target of an attempt at
persuasion and increases resistance to the
persuasion
i that
h follows
f ll
„ Provides opportunity to develop counterarguments
Persuasion
„ Resisting Persuasion
„ Selective Avoidance
Avoidance:: tendency to direct attention
away from information that challenges existing
attitudes
attitudes, which increases resistance to
persuasion
„ In addition,, p
people
p seek information consistent with
their attitudes (selective exposure)
„ Inoculation
„ E
Exposure t arguments
to t opposed d to
t one’s
’ attitudes,
ttit d
along with arguments that refute these
counterattitudinal positions, can strengthen people’s
original
i i l attitudes
ttit d
Persuasion
„ What are your thoughts?
„ Do most voters take the central route or the
peripheral route when listening to the
persuasive messages of political candidates?
„ What determines which route people take?
„ What are the consequences
q for the p
political p
process
of taking the central route or the peripheral route?
„ Are fear-
fear-based persuasive appeals effective at
changing attitudes and related behavior?
„ What factors are important to consider when using
fear?
Cognitive Dissonance

„ Cognitive Dissonance
Dissonance:: an (unpleasant) internal
state which results when individuals notice
inconsistency between two or more attitudes or
between their attitudes and their behavior
„ Can result in attitude change
„ People are motivated to reduce cognitive dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance
„ Direct methods of dissonance reduction
reduction::
„ Change attitudes or behavior to be consistent with
each other
„ Acquire information that supports attitude or
behavior
„ Engage
g g in trivialization of the inconsistency,y,
concluding that the attitudes or behaviors are
unimportant

„ People also use indirect methods of dissonance

reduction
„ Self--affirmation
Self
Cogniti e Dissonance
Cognitive
„ Is dissonance really unpleasant?
Cognitive Dissonance

„ Is dissonance
d a universall human
h experience?
„ Dissonance is universal, but the factors that produce
it and its magnitude are influenced by cultural
factors
„ The spreading of alternatives (when making a decision
people
l tend
t d to
t downplay
d l the
th item
it th did nott choose
they h andd
promote the item that they did choose) effect was found to
be stronger for Canadian students than for Japanese
students (Heine & Lehman,
Lehman 1997
1997))
Cognitive Dissonance
„ Dissonance
sso a ce and
a d attitude
att tude cchange
change:
a ge: The
eeeffects
ects o
of
Induced or Forced Compliance
„ Dissonance and the less
less--leads-
leads-to-
to-more effect
Cognitive Dissonance
„ Whene dissonance
d sso a ce iss a too
tool for
o be
beneficial
e c a cchanges
a ges
in behavior
„ Dissonance can promote positive behavioral changes,
especially when it generates hypocrisy
hypocrisy:: publicly
advocating some attitudes or behavior and then
acting in a way that is inconsistent with these
attitudes or behavior
„ For maximum effectiveness of this tool:
tool:
„ People must publicly advocate the desired behaviors

„ People
l must be
b induced
d d to think
h k about
b their
h own failures
f l
to engage in these behaviors in the past
„ People must be given access to direct routes to
dissonance reduction
Cognitive Dissonance
„ What are your thoughts?
„ What are the factors that increase the
likelihood that someone will experience
cognitive dissonance?
„ Why are people motivated to reduce cognitive
dissonance?
„ Why may dissonance be felt more strongly in
individualist cultures than in collectivist
cultures?
„ How could dissonance be used as a tool to
promote behaviors that conserve energy and
environmental resources?