Attitudes Flashcards
three components of attitude
cognitive, affective, and behavioural
cognitively based attitude
attitude based primarily on people’s beliefs about the properties of an attitude object
— quickly classify + and - of objects
affectively based attitude
attitude based more on people’s feelings and values than on their beliefs about the nature of an attitude object
— stems from people’s values (religious and moral beliefs) or conditioning
classical conditioning
phenomenon whereby a stimulus that elicits an emotional response is repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus that does not, until the neutral stimulus takes on the emotional properties of the first stimulus
operant conditioning
phenomenon whereby behaviours we freely choose to perform become more or less frequent, depending on whether they are followed by a reward or punishment
behaviourally based attitude
attitude based on observations of how one behaves toward an object
— aka self-perception theory
people form attitudes from behaviour only when
- initial attitude is weak or ambiguous
- no other plausible explanations available
explicit attitudes
attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report
— more rooted in recent experiences
implicit attitudes
attitudes that exist outside of conscious awareness (involuntary and uncontrollable)
— more rooted in childhood experiences
when do attitudes predict spontaneous behaviours?
when attitudes are highly accessible to people
what is attitude accessibility?
strength of the association between attitude object and person’s evaluation of the object, measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about the object
theory of planned behaviour
idea that people’s intentions are the best predictors of their deliberate behaviours, which are determined by their attitudes toward specific behaviours, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control
how does specific attitudes work?
more specific the attitude toward the behaviour → better the attitude can be expected to predict the behaviour
subjective norms
people’s beliefs about how others they care about will view the behaviour in question
perceived behavioural control
people’s intentions are influenced by the ease with which they believe they can perform the behaviour
how do attitudes change?
attitudes often change due to social influence but can also change due to cognitive dissonance
yale attitude change approach
study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages
- source of communication
- nature of communication
- nature of audience
source of communication
__& __ speakers? __ effect?
- credible & attractive speakers → more persuasive
- sleeper effect → information from low-credibility source becomes more persuasive with passage of time
nature of communication
__, __, back to back speeches
- messages that do not seem to be designed to influence people → more persuasive
- two-sided argument > one-sided argument
- back to back speeches w delay → primacy effect; first message more persuasive
- back to back speeches w/o delay → recency effect; last message more persuasive
nature of audience
- distracted audience → more persuasive
- lower intelligence, moderate self-esteem, ages of 18-25 → more persuasive
- western cultures → personal messages
- others → contextually appropriate messages
elaboration likelihood model
model explaining two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change
- central route
- peripheral route
when does central route of persuasion work?
people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication
how are people influenced by peripheral route?
people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead swayed by surface characteristics
what is motivation determined by?
& which route should be used?
personal relevance of topic
- high personal relevance → central route
- low personal relevance → peripheral route
when to use which route of persuasion?
based on type of issue & minority group
- issue is complex and hard to evaluate, unable to pay close attention to arguments → peripheral route
- issue is simple and easy to understand → central route
- crafting messages for minority groups → use central route
which route is more persuasive?
central route, people more likely to
— maintain attitude over time
— behave consistently with attitude
— resist counter persuasion
how to utilise fear-arousing communication?
moderate amount of fear + specific messages on how to reduce the fear → more motivated to analyse the message carefully and their attitudes via central route
fear-arousing communication
persuasive message that attempts to change people’s attitudes by arousing their fears
heuristic-systematic model of persuasion
explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change
— systematically processing the merits of the arguments
— using mental shortcuts or heuristics
what happens when there is overwhelming fear?
people become defensive, deny the importance of the threat, and are unable to think rationally about the issue
use what for which moods & which attitudes
good & bad mood; cog & affective attitude
- good mood → content with heuristics cues
- bad mood → sharpens skepticism and increased attention to message quality
- cognitively-based attitude → change with rational arguments
- affectively-based attitude → change with emotional appeals
how does heuristic-systematic model of persuasion work?
use emotions as heuristics to determine our attitudes → “i feel good sitting on the couch” → “i like this couch” → increased likelihood to buy couch
how does body movements influence attitude change?
Briñol and Petty’s (2003) headphone study on whether shaking or nodding one’s head while listening to a persuasive communication influenced the likelihood of persuasion
- strong arguments → nodding heads > shaking heads → nodding heads increased feelings of confidence
- weak arguments → shaking heads > nodding heads → nodding heads gave people more confidence that the arguments they heard were weak and unconvincing, making them less convinced
define advertising and how it works
advertising — concerted effort to change the way that consumers think about and act toward a certain product
- make product personally relevant
what is subliminal advertising?
words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may nevertheless influence judgements, attitudes, and behaviours
does subliminal advertising work?
- no evidence that subliminal messages encountered in everyday life have regular influence on people’s behaviour
- might work under carefully controlled laboratory conditions
how does culture affect advertising?
persuasive communication work best when they are tailored to the attitude they are trying to change and the expectations and thinking styles of target audience
- western cultures → independence and individualism
- asian cultures → interdependence and collectivism
attitude inoculation
making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by initially exposing them to small doses of arguments against their position
how does attitude inoculation work?
- those who have been inoculated less likely to change their attitudes
- being inoculated with weak arguments → time to think about limitations of those arguments → able to contradict stronger attack against attitude
how does product placement work?
you do not realise that someone is trying to influence attitudes and behaviour → do not generate counterarguments → more vulnerable to influence
how to resist peer pressure?
- can use inoculation with emotional appeals and equip with ways to combat those pressures
- eg. role-play a situation where a friend calls him a loser for not smoking a cigarette and teach him to respond by saying, “I’d be more of a loser if I did it just to impress you.”
reactance theory
idea that when people feel their freedom to perform a certain behaviour is threatened, an unpleasant state of resistance is aroused, which they can reduce by performing the prohibited behaviour
