Attitudes Flashcards
Attitudes
ALLPORT (1935)
- a mental/neural state of readiness, organised via experience, exerting directive/dynamic influence on individual’s response to all related objects/situations
EAGLY & CHAIKEN (1998)
- a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity w/some degree of favour/disfavour
Attitude Measurement
- semantic differential scales (between two qualities)
- Likert scale (1 to 5 agreeance)
Psychological Importance of Attitudes
- important aspect of individual psychology as inherently involve evaluation
- the ways people evaluate social world/others has important consequences for their relationships/actions w/others
- attitudes guide decisions so have important implications on the self
Attitudes and Behaviour
- attitudes are related to behaviour but not directly; specific attitudes work in combos w/norms/control beliefs/intentions
- companies spend ridiculous money on advertising to change peoples attitudes towards their product
- political parties closely monitor opinion polls to try and gauge peoples attitudes towards them
Full Behavioural Story
- Not all attitudes should be related to behaviour; specific/strong/accessible attitudes should predict better than general/weak ones.
- Other variables are involved in the attitude-behaviour relationship (ie. theories of reasoned action/planned behaviour).
Theories of Reasoned Action/Planned Behaviour
FISHBEING & AJZEN (1975)
- attitude + subjective norm (+ perceived behavioural control) = intention = behaviour
Explicit VS Implicit
- exploring moderator/mediators of attitude/behaviour consistency is constant in social psych history
- modern approach focused on distinction between conscious speech VS subconscious association
Implicit
- implicit association test (IAT) draws on cognitive theories of associative networks
- the closer 2 concepts are, the stronger the pathway
- association strengthens w/repetition (experience)
- linked concepts are easier to sort through when appearing together/harder opposite
- individual differences in sorting task speeds reveal differences in implicit association
Unconscious Thought/Behaviour
- explicit attitude = deliberate (spontaneous) behaviour
- implicit attitude = spontaneous (deliberate) behaviour
Persuasion
- early research on what makes persuasive message focused on:
WHO: COMMUNICATOR (ie. expert > non-expert)
WHAT: MESSAGE (ie. strong argument > weak)
TO WHOM: AUDIENCE (ie. age/IQ (individual factors))
P: Elaboration Likelihood Model
- low issue involvement = superficial image processing engagement/attitudes swayed by source characteristics
- high issue importance = thought processing engagement/attituded swayed by argument quality
2 PERSUASION PATHS
1. 1 central thoughtful = enduring change
2. 2 relatively thoughtless/peripheral = fleeting change
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
FESTINGER (1957)
- people generally motivated to perceive belief/attitude/behaviour consistency
- inconsistency awareness between own thoughts/actions = dissonance; motivates attempts of re-alignment achievable via:
1. changing behaviour until consistent w/attitudes
2. changing attitudes until consistent w/behaviour
Summary
- attitudes are evaluations
- sometimes guide peoples behaviours
- moderators/mediators of behaviour/attitude relation
- different attitudes predict different behaviour
- attitudes can change via persuasion (dependent on audience) or cognitive dissonance
