attitudes and attitude change Flashcards
what is an attitude?
lasting organisation of beliefs/feelings/behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects/events/symbols
what does the Three Component Model of attitudes consist of?
affective
cognitive
behavioural
what is affective in the Three Component Model?
expression of feelings towards an attitude object
what is cognitive in the Three Component Model?
expression of beliefs about an attitude object
what is behavioural in the Three Component Model?
overt actions/verbal statements concerning behaviour
which dimensions can attitudes hold?
simple or complex
who proposed the function of attitudes?
Katz
what are the functions of attitudes?
knowledge function
utilitarian function
ego-defensive
value expressive
what is the knowledge function?
organise and predict the social world, provides meaning and coherence
what is the utilitarian function?
help people achieve positive outcomes and avoid negative outcomes
what is the ego defensive function?
protecting your self esteem from a harmful world
what is the value expressive function?
facilitate own core values and self concept
which four theories suggest where attitudes come from?
mere exposure effect
classical conditioning
instrumental conditioning
self perception theory
who proposed the mere exposure effect?
Zajonc
what is the Mere Exposure effect?
repeated exposure of a stimulus enhances preference for a stimulus
what is classical conditioning?
attitudes learnt from others- repeated association means an object goes from being a neutral stimulus to providing a response
what is instrumental conditioning?
attitudes learnt from others: behaviour followed by positive consequences is more likely to be repeated, and this attitude is likely to survive
who provided evidence for instrumental conditioning?
Insko- ppts reported a more favourable attitude towards a topic if they received positive rather than negative feedback on the same attitude a week prior
who proposed self perception theory?
Bem
what is self perception theory?
gain knowledge of ourselves by making self attributions, can infer our attitudes from our behaviour
what are the three techniques to reveal attitudes?
self report and experimental paradigms
physiological measures
measures of overt behaviour
why do we want to know about attitudes?
they predict behaviour
they form the core of self concept
what is the issue with measuring attitudes?
can be a mismatch, eg) people know smoking is unhealthy but still want to continue
what does research suggest about the relationship between attitudes and behaviour?
attitudes do predict behaviour, but this relationship is weaker than envisaged
what did LePiere’s research suggest about attitudes and behaviour?
study on racial prejudice
Chinese couple visited 250 restaurants/coffee shops/hotels and received service 95% of the time without hesitation
in response to a letter of enquiry after, 92% of establishments said they wouldn’t accept members of the Chinese race
what did Wicker’s research suggest about the relationship between attitudes and behaviour?
attitudes only weakly correlated with behaviour: in a meta analysis the average correlation was .15
what did Gregson and Stacey’s research suggest about the relationship between attitudes and behaviour?
small positive correlation between general attitudes and alcohol consumption
what impacts how well attitudes predict behaviour?
how strong the attitude is
whether it is formed through direct experience
how it is measured (how specific the questions are/how closely the questions relate to the behaviours)
what did Haddock et al find out about behaviour relating to general experience?
attitudes towards assisted suicide were influenced by people’s experience of direct encounters
who proposed the theory of planned behaviour?
Ajzen
what is the theory of planned behaviour?
people make decisions as the result of a rational thought process
what is the intention behind a behaviour impacted by according to the theory of planned behaviour?
attitude towards the behaviour (positive/negative)
subjective norm (social expectations)
perceived behavioural control (control over actions)
who proposed cognitive dissonance?
Festinger
what is cognitive dissonance?
unpleasant state of psychological tension generated when a person has 2+ inconsistent cognitions
people then strive to reduce dissonance
what happened in Festinger’s study?
ppts took part in a boring counting study
told to lie to the next ppt and say the experiment was fun
would either receive nothing, £1 or £20
then asked for their true opinion `
what were the results of Festinger’s study?
those given nothing said it was boring
those given £1 said they enjoyed it
those given £20 said they didn’t really enjoy it
this is because the £20 felt justification for their lying, whereas £1 felt dissonance so changed their behaviour
how can we reduce cognitive dissonance?
change behaviour
change cognition
add a new cognition
which dual process models highlight the power of persuasion?
elaboration likelihood model
heuristic systematic model
who proposed the elaboration likelihood model?
Petty and Cacioppo
who proposed the heuristic systematic model?
Chaiken
what is the elaboration likelihood model?
central route= when the message is followed closely, considerable cognitive effort (analytical, takes time)
peripheral route= when an argument is not well attended to= peripheral cues (temporary changes)
these pathways are independent
what is the heuristic systematic model?
systematic processing= when the message is attended to carefully- scan and consider possible arguments
heuristic processing= use cognitive heuristics
these pathways can be activated at the same time
how does research on attitudes affect attempts to reduce smoking behaviour?
which warning is more effective: ‘smoking seriously harms you and others around you?’ or ‘smoking kills’
it depends- if smoking is a source of self esteem for someone, the smoking kills message may make them want to smoke more. however, if this isn’t the case, this won’t happen
