5- Attitudes and Behaviors

Question 1

Attitudes

Answer 1

thoughts & feelings about given topic/person

ABC model of attitudes

• Affective component = emotionally how you feel about something
• Behavioral component = how you act towards that thing
• Cognitive component = how you think about that thing

Interplay b/w what you do and how you feel

• attitude can affect behavior but behavior can affect attitude
• cognitive dissonance theory
• –if you put more effort into it, then you will value it more

ex) debate team taking opposite side than beliefs- may change beliefs

Question 2

Theories of Attitude

Answer 2

1) Functional Attitudes theory- Attitude has 4 functions-Knowledge, Ego-expressive, adaptive, Ego-defensive

Knowledge- If you show your attitude to someone, you summarize yourself to them; knowing one’s attitude can help predict their behavior
Ego-expressive- express who you are; solidarity/like-mindedness w/ others; self-identity; attitudes express your identity more- ex- political activist
Adaptive- if we have attitudes that conform to a group, we will likely be accepted into the group- evolutionarily helpful
Ego-defensive- defense mech; protect self-esteem
ex) struggle with math, say math is dumb

2) Learning Theory
-Skinner- operant conditioning
you are rewarded for expressing attitudes that conform to the group and punished for expressing attitudes that don’t conform

• -Direct contact- children learn what is sweet fast
• -Instruction from there
• -Observation
• Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, Observational Learning

Question 3

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Answer 3

3) Elaboration: how likely you are to fully engage in an argument being made by someone else
ex) public speaker- how likely are you to think about their msg

Central Route Processing or Peripheral Route Processing
Central- actually thinking about msg
Peripheral- thinking more about the person making the argument- is person engaging, attractive– this is why celebrities are used in commercials

Question 4

Social Cognitive Theory

Answer 4

4) Bandura
- people learn how to behave and shape attitudes based on others’ behaviors
- Behavioral, personal, and env factors

Your environment greatly affects the way you think and act