6 - Attitudes & Behaviour Flashcards
What is an attitude, attitude object & how can they be explicit & implicit?
Attitude is a mental representation of a summary evaluation of an attitude object - i.e. things, self, groups.
Explicit atts are openly & deliberately expresses.
Implicity atts are automatic & uncontrollable.
How do implicit measures use response time paradigms to assess attitudes and what is evaluative priming?
Measures assume patterns of RTs to stimuli can reveal underlying attitudes as the mind is an associate network - when stimuli activate one node, activation spreads beyond to related parts of the network…
• i.e. Fire Truck = fire + emergency + so on + so on.
When a stimulus is presented related to that node, RTs should be faster.
Evaluative Priming
For attitudes, exposure to one attitude object, responses to subsequent evaluative stimuli (pos or neg) reveal whether attitude is positive or negative.
What are the 3 components attitudes are based in (structure/components)?
Affect; emotions/feelings about att. object, e.g. fear, etc.
Behavioural; interactions with att. object, e.g. freq. use.
Cognition; beliefs about att. object, e.g. running 4 health
What are the 5 functions of attitudes?
- Knowledge: summarise experiences with att. object.
- Instrumental/Utilitarian: help guide behaviour
- Social Identity/Social Adjustive: fitting in & r/ships
- Impression Management/Value Expressive: express ideology & values.
- Self-Esteem/Defensive: protective, self-esteem, anxiety.
Affective Routes to Attitudes Formation: Describe the mere exposure effect and evaluative conditioning.
- Mere exposure effect; Repeated exposure of att. object makes it easier to process, ease feels good, positive attitude to object forms.
- Evaluative conditioning; pairing pos or neg stim with a neutral target. i.e. celebrity advertising, influencer marketing.
How does direct behavioural influences impact attitude formation?
Interaction with att. object is either positive or negative and leads to formation.
What are the 3 properties of persuasion framework?
Source -> Message -> Recipient -> Context/Situation
What are the implications of dual-process models of attitude change?
- Amount and kind of att change depend on shallow/deep processing.
- Factors influencing att. change & manner of influence is contingent on the processing route (shallow/deep).
Describe the different processing routes of the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the consequences each on attitude change?
Central Route - deep processing, high elaboration. If attitudes change they’re stronger, more stable, resistant & predictive of behaviour.
Peripheral Route - shallow, low elaboration. Att Change is weaker & less resistant.
What influences route selection?
Motivation - gaol, value relevance, accountability, need for cognition (trait)
Capacity - ability, distraction.
What message characteristics did Petty & Cacippo (1984) show to be influential on persuasion in the central route of att. change processing?
Argument quality
What message characteristics did Petty & Cacioppo (1984) find to be influential on persuasion in the peripheral route? & what did Pallak (1983) find about the source characteristics?
Quantity - length equals strength - & familiarity of argument.
Pallak (1983) - physical attractiveness, likeableness led to stronger persuasion.
How did Laham et al (2004) show that valanced behaviour (push/pull) can affect attitudes?
Foraging Task - push or pull stimuli.
Pts had more positive implicit att formed to pulled than pushed stimuli.
What is cognitive dissonance & how Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) use the induced compliance paradigm ($1-v-$20) to study its effect on attitudes?
Cog Diss: inconsistencies amongst thoughts & behaviours that is exp. as unpleasant.
Induced Compliance Task:
• Pts did ‘boring task’ then had to convince the next pts that is was fun (lying).
• Paid either $1 or $20.
• Subsq. att. to task measured
• $1 group reported greater liking of task.
• The idea is $20 was sufficient justification for behaviours, where $1 was not.
Takeaway: Attitude modified to reduce dissonance caused by att-discrep behaviour that cannot be attributed to external reward.
Aronson & Mills (1959) set up a study to show the effort justification effect - of the three groups - control, mild initiation, & severe initiation - which reported to enjoy the boring the task the most and why?
The Severe Initiation - attitudes changed to reduce dissonance caused by choosing to exert considerable effort or suffer to achieve a goal.
“I suffered so I like it” concept.
What is the post-decision or free-choice paradigm? And how did Brehm (1956) show its use in reducing dissonance? (toaster/kettle)
• Pts have long list of rated items - researcher chooses two similarly evaluated items (more or less equal).
• Pts told to choose one to take home.
• Then list of items is rated again
• Chosen item gets rated higher - spreading of alternative.
Takeaway: att. change can reduce dissonance caused by a freely made choice.
According to Oullette & Wood, how are intentional, habitual and uncontrollable behaviours effected by attitudes?
Intentional: atts indirectly impact via intentions.
Habitual: atts have little impact, past behaviour is a better predictor
Uncontrollable/Spontaneous: atts directly impact behaviour.
What is the Theory of Reasoned Action / Planned Behaviour?
The model that says both attitudes & norms combine to predict intention, which in turn predicts actions/behaviour.
What is the Match: principle of compatibility? (TACT model: target, action, context)
More elements of the TACT model match, i.e. more specific the attitude change is, the more likely it will be successful.
What did Dovidio, Kawakami & Gaertner (2002) find in their study of implicit/explicit attitudes & subsequent verbal/non-verbal behaviour of White US u/grad students attitudes (prejudice) toward white & black targets?
Found that explicit prejudice correlated w/ verbal friendliness. & implicit prejudice correlates w/ non-verbal friendliness.
Describe how assimilation and contrast is used by people to reinterpret & counter attitude-inconsistent information.
When information is close to a person’s att, they interpret it as exact - confirming their beliefs.
When it is slightly different, they interpret it is vastly different - a contrast to their attitude - & reject it.
What is inoculation?
Preparation, or protection, of one’s attitudes prior to them being challenged. e.g. prepared defence against persuasion.
How do intentions and attitudes relate & impact behaviour, according to the Theory of Reasoned Action?
Attitudes are a source of intention, which in turn produce behaviour. Intentions are the single most important predictor of behaviour.
What is the difference between superficial and systematic processing, in relation to attitudes & intentions?
Superficial processing occurs when atts guide behaviours more directly, e.g. Att: I like pie > Situation: see pie > Behaviour: Eat pie.
Systematic Processing; reqs more effort, motivation & opportunity to engage. e.g. Att: I like pie > Situation: upcoming friends party > Form Intention: I should make pie > Develop implementation intention > Carry Out Plan.
