Attitudes and Behaviour

Question 1

What are attitudes/structure

Answer 1

Attitudes entail evaluating whether something, an event situation or object is liked/disliked. Attitudes shape behaviour.

Question 2

Theory of attitudes function who and describe

Answer 2

Katz 1960 = attitudes have functions. It is the function of an attitude that influences its content and thus shapes behaviour accordingly. 4 functions: Knowledge, Ego-Defensive, Utilitarian, Value-Expressive

Question 3

Early&Chaiken 1993 name their model and describe

Answer 3

Multi-Component model of attitudes. attitudes are made of three components: cognitive, affective and behavioural. Depending on the stimuli, one of these dimensions may take over and will be more influential in shaping the behaviour.

Question 4

What are strong attitudes shaped by

Answer 4

Personal direct experience and a subject area of high personal interest

Question 5

Cognitive dissonance theory who and describe

Answer 5

Cognitive dissonance = because people seek cognitive consistency= when thoughts, beliefs, emotions are not aligned, it pushes us to change our attitudes and thus behaviour. = Festinger 1957 cognitive dissonance theory

Question 6

What is a mediating factor between attitudes and behaviour = main theory and two supporting studies

Answer 6

Theory of planned behaviour = Fishbein 1991 = INTENTION mediates. Intention is shaped by attitudes, social norms and perceived behavioural control. Thus, measuring intention and predict behaviour.

Connor&Sparks found this to explain 50% of the variance in behaviour prediction.

Thaker et al 2021 = covid vaccine intention were predicted by perceived self-efficacy, attitudes and social norms.

Question 7

What is missing from existing models ?

Answer 7

Emotional aspects of attitudes & spontaneous behaviour are not well explained, also ignores individual differences of influence = mood, learning difficulties, physiological factors..

Question 8

Role of social context in attitude change

Answer 8

Terry&Hogg 1966 = attitudes that reflect normative properties of a group are more likely to produce behaviour in accordance.

Question 9

Cognitive consistency theory who and describe

Answer 9

Heider 1946 = three elements are needed to create balance/consistency : one person, another person, and the attitude. Positive evaluations for all or at least two of these components = consistency, but if one is negative = unbalance. Unbalance will lead to attitude change , especially if the person involved likes the other person involved in the imbalance.

Question 10

How do we measure attitudes and how these measures can predict behaviour

Answer 10

Explicit measures / direct = Likert scale
Implicit measure / indirect = Implicit tasks

Explicit measures are more useful to predict intentional behaviour than spontaneous. For the latter better to use implicit measures.