6 - Attitudes & Behaviour

Question 1

What is an attitude, attitude object & how can they be explicit & implicit?

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

How do implicit measures use response time paradigms to assess attitudes and what is evaluative priming?

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

What are the 3 components attitudes are based in (structure/components)?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What are the 5 functions of attitudes?

Answer 4

• 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.

Question 5

Affective Routes to Attitudes Formation: Describe the mere exposure effect and evaluative conditioning.

Answer 5

• 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.

Question 6

How does direct behavioural influences impact attitude formation?

Answer 6

Interaction with att. object is either positive or negative and leads to formation.

Question 7

What are the 3 properties of persuasion framework?

Answer 7

Source -> Message -> Recipient -> Context/Situation

Question 8

What are the implications of dual-process models of attitude change?

Answer 8

1. Amount and kind of att change depend on shallow/deep processing.
2. Factors influencing att. change & manner of influence is contingent on the processing route (shallow/deep).

Question 9

Describe the different processing routes of the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the consequences each on attitude change?

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

What influences route selection?

Answer 10

Motivation - gaol, value relevance, accountability, need for cognition (trait)
Capacity - ability, distraction.

Question 11

What message characteristics did Petty & Cacippo (1984) show to be influential on persuasion in the central route of att. change processing?

Answer 11

Argument quality

Question 12

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?

Answer 12

Quantity - length equals strength - & familiarity of argument.

Pallak (1983) - physical attractiveness, likeableness led to stronger persuasion.

Question 13

How did Laham et al (2004) show that valanced behaviour (push/pull) can affect attitudes?

Answer 13

Foraging Task - push or pull stimuli.

Pts had more positive implicit att formed to pulled than pushed stimuli.

Question 14

What is cognitive dissonance & how Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) use the induced compliance paradigm ($1-v-$20) to study its effect on attitudes?

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

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?

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

What is the post-decision or free-choice paradigm? And how did Brehm (1956) show its use in reducing dissonance? (toaster/kettle)

Answer 16

• 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.

Question 17

According to Oullette & Wood, how are intentional, habitual and uncontrollable behaviours effected by attitudes?

Answer 17

Intentional: atts indirectly impact via intentions.

Habitual: atts have little impact, past behaviour is a better predictor

Uncontrollable/Spontaneous: atts directly impact behaviour.

Question 18

What is the Theory of Reasoned Action / Planned Behaviour?

Answer 18

The model that says both attitudes & norms combine to predict intention, which in turn predicts actions/behaviour.

Question 19

What is the Match: principle of compatibility? (TACT model: target, action, context)

Answer 19

More elements of the TACT model match, i.e. more specific the attitude change is, the more likely it will be successful.

Question 20

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?

Answer 20

Found that explicit prejudice correlated w/ verbal friendliness. & implicit prejudice correlates w/ non-verbal friendliness.

Question 21

Describe how assimilation and contrast is used by people to reinterpret & counter attitude-inconsistent information.

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

What is inoculation?

Answer 22

Preparation, or protection, of one’s attitudes prior to them being challenged. e.g. prepared defence against persuasion.

Question 23

How do intentions and attitudes relate & impact behaviour, according to the Theory of Reasoned Action?

Answer 23

Attitudes are a source of intention, which in turn produce behaviour. Intentions are the single most important predictor of behaviour.

Question 24

What is the difference between superficial and systematic processing, in relation to attitudes & intentions?

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

When do attitudes influence action: accessbility & correspondence.

Answer 25

Accessibility: if an attitude is salient, or accessible, right before an action is taken in relation to it, behaviour more likely to correspond with the attitude.

Correspondence: only when an att corresponds to a particular behaviour can it be expected to influence it. i.e if the att is too general, it may not work - e.g. atts toward the environment-recycling is not likely to influence the choice of car purchase.

Question 26

How do implicit and explicit attitudes differ in their prediction of behaviours?

Answer 26

Implicit attitudes are especially good predictors of less controllable sorts of behaviours, i.e. taste preference of coke/Pepsi, whilst explicit attitudes are good predictors of more controllable actions, i.e. brand preference of coke/pepsi.