Attitudes

Question 1

Define attitude

Answer 1

A predisposition to act in a certain way towards something or someone in a person’s environment.
No generally regarded as a trait but can be fairly enduring once an attitude towards something or someone has been formed.

Question 2

What are attitudes used to explain?

Answer 2

A pattern of behaviour or a response in a given situation

Question 3

What factors affect attitude formation?

Answer 3

Personality type
Social influences
Personal experiences
Conditioning
(norms of a social group, peers, religious beliefs, role models, media, cultural factors, education)

Question 4

Name the components of attitude that make up the triadic model

Answer 4

Beliefs (cognitive element)
Emotions (affective element)
Behaviour (behavioural element)

Question 5

Explain the cognitive element of attitude

Answer 5

Our beliefs are formed through previous experiences and what we have learned from others.
Many beliefs will be learned from parents or peers.

Question 6

Explain the affective element of attitude

Answer 6

Our emotional reaction towards something is also dependent on previous experiences.
A positive experience is likely to make us feel positive emotions to that situation

Question 7

Explain the behavioural element of attitude

Answer 7

What we end up doing.
Our behaviour is not always consistent with our attitude

Question 8

Give examples of positive attitudes (link with components of triadic model)

Answer 8

Beliefs: have parents who regularly exercise and have knowledge of benefits of exercise
Emotions: good at sport and can afford good equipment
Behaviour: regularly participates in exercise

Question 9

Give examples of negative attitudes (link with components of triadic model)

Answer 9

Beliefs: have parents with little understanding of benefits of exercise and have a sedentary lifestyle
Emotions: find sport difficult and very little success
Behaviour: no physical activity outside of school

Question 10

Name 2 methods of changing attitudes

Answer 10

1. persuasive communication
2. cognitive dissonance

Question 11

Explain persuasive communication

Answer 11

Involves communicating with people in an attempt to change their attitude.

Question 12

What is the success of persuasive communication dependent on?

Answer 12

Persuader (high status)
Recipient (willing to change)
Message (clear)
Situation (other persuaders need to be present)

Question 13

Explain cognitive dissonance

Answer 13

Involves creating an imbalance in someone’s beliefs.
When we have an imbalance we will naturally try to resolve this by allowing one of the beliefs to be more dominant