attitudes Flashcards
attitude
an organisation of beliefs, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols
1 component model
at attitude consists of a affect towards or evaluation of an object
2 component model
an attitude consists of a mental readiness to act buy also guides our evaluative responses
3 component model
an attitude consists of cognitive (thoughts/beliefs), affective (feeling/emotions) and behavioural (past/future) components
example of 3 component model
Zanna and Rempel 1988
attitude features
- a target object, they refer to something
- an evolution of the object e.g. good-bad
attitudes develop from
- thoughts and beliefs about an object (cognitive)
- emotional reactions to an object (affective)
-behavioural reaction to the objects (behavioural)
Katz four functions of attitude
- knowledge - provide information about our environment in the form of mental shortcuts
- utilitarian/instrumental - minimise damage/loss and maximise gains
- value-expressive - provide a social role by communicating social values
- ego-defensive - protects one self confidence by resisting damaging truths
theory of reasoned action
Fishbein and Ajzen 1975
our knowledge about an object determines our attitude
what we know about the object is our beliefs
attitudes are a product of a series of beliefs
mere exposure
Zajonc 1968
mere exposure to a novel object can induce a positive attitude
participants did a study about learning a foreign language
briefly presented a Chinese character
had to suggest whether character had positive or negative meaning
each character presented either 0, 1, 2, 5, 10 or 25 times
the more times participants aw a character, the more favourable their rating of its meaning
evaluative conditioning
Janis, Kaye and Kirschner 1965
study of the effects of drinking soft beverages while trying to be persuaded
participants read a persuasive message
those drinking the soft drink were more persuaded
instrumental conditioning
Insko 1965
responses on a survey were more positive when attitudes had been previously conditioned by earlier and apparently unrelated telephone calls where opinions were reinforced by the caller saying ‘good’
observational learning
if a significant other express an attitude or behaves in a way that attracts a favourable response, you will be more lilt to acquire that attitude or behaviour
self-perception theory
Bem 1972
people derive attitudes about themselves based on there own behaviour
e.g. if you helped an old lady across the road, you may consider yourself to be a helpful person
