6. Attitudes Flashcards
What are attitudes?
- An evaluation of a person, object or idea
- Can be - or +
- Comprised of 3 components: affective, cognitive, behavioral
Where do attitudes come from?
- Affectively based attitude: based primarily on people’s emotions and feelings about the attitude object
- Cognitively based attitude: based primarily on a person’s beliefs about the properties of an attitude object
- Behaviourally based attitude: based primarily on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object
Difference between explicit and implicit attitudes
- Explicit attitudes: we can consciously endorse and easily report; are likely rooted in rencent experiences
- Implicit attitudes: involuntary, uncontrollable, at times unconscious; tend to be rooted in long-term experiences. Difficult to measure
What is the relation between attitudes and behavior?
- People’s attitudes are poor predictors of their behavior
- Attitudes will predict spontaneous behaviors only when they are highly accessible to people because people are more likely to be thinking about the attitude when they are called upon to act
- The more direct experience people have with an attitude object, the more accessible their attitude will be
- Deliberate behaviors (those that people think intently about) can be predicted quite well
Explain the theory of planned behavior
- Maintains that the best predictor of people’s deliberate behavior is their intention
The best predictors are: - Attitudes towards the specific behavior (not general attitude); the more specific the attitude toward the behavior in question, the more likely that the attitude will predict the behavior
- Perceptions of subjective norms regarding that behavior; beliefs about how other people they care about will view the behavior in question (ex: my friend really wants me to go)
- Perceived behavioral control regarding the behavior; the ease with which people believe they can perform the behavior
Attitude toward the behavior + subjective norm + perceived behavioral control -> behavioral intention -> behavior
Difference between persuasion and compliance
Persuasion involves the change of attitude, whereas compliance is the change of behavior, even for a short period
Explain persuasive communication (Yale attitude change approach)
- Communication advocating a particular side of an issue
The effectiveness of the communication depends on:
- The source of the communication: perceived credibility (how much you trust this person), perceived attractiveness (halo effect)
- The nature of the communication: intentionality (how relatable the message is, the message can’t be designed to influence them), two-sided perspective (neutrality), primacy/recency effect (order in which the arguments are presented, serial positioning)
- The nature of the audience: distractedness (you don’t want them to pay attention to weaknesses), receptiveness, cultural differences
Explain the elaboration likelihood model
There are two ways in which persuasive communication can cause attitude change
- Central route: occurs when people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication (strength of the argument)
- Peripheral route: occurs when people do not pay attention to the arguments, but are instead swayed by surface characteristics
- People who take the central route are more resistant to counter-persuasion
What is fear-arousing communication?
- Persuasive message that attempts to change people’s attitudes by arousing their fears
- Emotions play a very strong role (affectively based attitudes); positive attitudes can also easily persuade us
- A moderate level of fear followed by recommendations to enable change is the most effect way to use fear-arousing communication
Explain advertising and attitude change
- When a product is advertised, sales tend to increase
- The type of ad that works best depends on the basis of the attitude:
- For cognitively based attitudes, using rational arguments and personal relevance works best
- For affectively based attitudes, using emotion is best
- Individuals vary on how important cognitively based and affectively based messages are to them
- People react more favourably to ads that match their attitude type
Cultural differences in advertising
- Individualistic cultures: tend to favor advertising that stresses independence (ex: It’s easy when you have the right shoes)
- Collectivist cultures: more likely to be persuaded by advertising that stresses interdependence (ex: The right shoes for your family)
What is attitude inoculation?
- The process of making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by exposing them to small doses of the arguments against their position
- Doing so allows people to develop their own counterarguments and thus strengthen their attitude
What is product placement?
- Persuasion method whereby advertisers place their product into the script of a movie or television show
- Forewarning people that someone is about to try to change their attitude is an effective strategy against attitude change
Explain cognitive dissonance
- Feeling of discomfort caused by the realization that one’s behavior is inconsistent with one’s attitudes or that one holds 2 conflicting attitudes
- Most often occurs whenever we do something that makes us feel unintelligent or immoral
- The discomfort from cognitive dissonance motivates us to take one of the following 3 steps to reduce it: change the attitude, change the behavior, change the cognition (rationalize - explain away the inconsistency or reduce the importance of the inconsistency); (NOT CHANGE THE AFFECT)
What is post-decision dissonance?
- Dissonance that is inevitably aroused after a person makes a decision (chooser’s remorse)
- Typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives
- The more permanent and less revocable the decision, the greater the need to reduce dissonance
What happens when faced with the decision to behave immorally?
- When presented with a moral dilemma (ex: to chear or not to cheat on a test), the decision made will evoke dissonance, and result in more extreme attitudes
- Ex: cheaters grow more lenient toward cheating, while resisters develop stricter attitudes toward cheating
What is the justification of effort?
- Tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain (ex: group membership, hazing)
- Related to the self-esteem approach
What is counter attitudinal behavior?
- Sometimes, we find ourselves stating an opinion that runs counter to our private belief or attitude
- In trying to understand why we have done so, we look toward external sources to justify our behavior
If none are found, we must look inward:
- External justification: a person’s reason or explanation for dissonant behavior that resides outside the individual; less likely to engage in this behavior again
- Internal justification: the reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself; more likely to engage again
- Related to attribution theory
- Counter-attitudinal advocacy can help tackle social problems
What is the power of mild punishment?
Insufficient punishment is the dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting in the individuals devaluing the forbidden activity or object
What happens in the aftermath of bad deeds?
- According the dissonance theory, when we hurt someone, we come to dislike or hate that person as a way to justify our cruelty (ex: dehumanizing the victims of war)
- A lot of people end up double-downing on their behavior when they go through the justification process
What is the hypocrisy paradigm?
- Sometimes, peropl aren’t aware that they are behaving in a manner that is inconsistent with their stated values
- By bringing this to their attention through hypocrisy induction, dissonance is aroused and this can lead to attitude and behavior change
- Especially effective for people with high self-esteem
What is self-afirmation theory?
- When typical strategies for reducing dissonance fail, one can find relief through self-affimation; when we can’t get rid of dissonance by changing our behavior, cognition or attitude, we’ll just ignore the dissonance
- Self-affirmation: affirming their competence on some dimension unrelated to the threat
- It’s about distracting yourself, moving yourself from feeling that dissonance
Culture and dissonance
- Independent self-affirmation diminished the need for dissonance reduction among European-Canadians
- An interdependent self-affimation diminished the need for dissonance reduction amont East Asians
