Attitudes and Behaviour Flashcards
What are the 4 factors of the TPB?
attitudes PBC perceived norms (replaced subjective norms in TRA) - injunctive norms - descriptive norms
What are attitudes?
subjective evaluations about the outcome of a given action
What is perceived behavioural control?
perception of one’s ability to engage in particular behaviours
internal; skill, willpower
external; time, opportunity
What are injunctive norms?
the perception that significant others will approve of a given behaviour
What are descriptive norms?
the perceptions that significant others are also engaging in a particular behaviour
What are the two views of the attitude-behaviour relationship?
Ajzen & Fishbein
optimism; measures of attitude are strongly related to action
Wicker
pessimism; measures of attitude are unrelated or only slightly related to behaviours
Which study supports an attitude-behaviour gap?
LaPiere (1934)
Chinese couple went to restaurants
face-to-face only 1/251 establishments wouldn’t serve them
on the phone 92% said they wouldn’t allow it
* norm of politeness in face-to-face interactions
What is correspondence and why is it important?
it is making sure that the measurement is effective and specific enough, the attitude-behaviour gap can exist if correspondence is not met
Which studies show the importance of correspondence?
Weigel & Newman (1976)
a substantial attitude-behaviour correlation can only be obtained when the attitude measure has established quality and is comparable to the behavioural measures
Davidson & Jaccard (1979)
strongest attitude-behaviour correlations were found for the most specific attitude measurement; taking birth control pills in the next 2 years
What is the Theory of Reasoned Action?
Ajzen & Fishbein (1980)
attitudes and subjective norms influence behavioural intention
explicitly deals with purely volitional behaviours
What is a subjective norm?
the perception of important others opinions on whether a behaviour should be performed (normative beliefs) AND the social pressures to perform or not perform that behaviour (motivation to comply)
What is the expectancy-value framework?
subjective expected utility approaches in decision making
What is a criticism of the TPB?
it is overly rational, neglecting affective factors
What factors can cause an intention-behaviour gap?
attitude strength
ambivalence
indifference
imminence of events
How does attitude strength affect intention and behaviour?
some attitudes can be stable and consequential, others can be flexible with few important effects depends on; - durability - influence on behaviour - resistance to persuasion effects
What is ambivalence?
having both positive and negative feelings towards a construct
- approach-avoidance conflict
What is indifference?
having no opinion so masking this fact by making hastily fabricated affective judgements
How does the imminence of events affect decision making?
we are over influenced by the imminence of events, choosing impulsively when the consequences are at hand, but with restraint when they are deferred
Hernstein’s chocolate cake dilemma
What are some additional variable proposed for the TPB?
anticipated regret
moral norms
identity appropriateness
What is anticipated regret?
perceived discrepancies between what is and what might have been
What are moral norms?
actions are perceived as right or wrong regardless of personal or social consequences; Beck & Ajzen (1991)
* rejected as not applicable to a wide range of behaviours
What is identity appropriateness?
who you consider yourself to be and what someone like you would do; Sparks & Shepherd (1992)
What are the criteria for additional variables to the TPB?
behaviour specific be a causal factor conceptually independent applicable to a wide range of behaviours consistently improve prediction
What is cognitive dissonance?
Festinger (1957)
when two of one’s own cognitions conflict causing an aversive feeling
dissonance causes pressure to reduce or eliminate it by changing attitudes or behaviour
Which studies support the theory of cognitive dissonance?
forced compliance; Festinger & Carlsmith (1959)
grasshopper experiment; Zimbardo et al. (1965)
effort justification; Arsonson & Mills (1959)
What is the forced compliance experiment?
Festinger & Carlsmith (1959)
participants carry out dull tasks
then asked to tell new participants they will enjoy it
paid either $1/$20
participants paid $20 negatively evaluated the experience
participants paid $1 positively evaluated the experience to justify lying to the new participants as $1 was not enough
What is the grasshopper experiment?
Zimbardo et al. (1965)
participants are either in the attractive/unattractive experimenter condition and are induced to eat grasshoppers
participants in the unattractive condition changed their attitude and were more favourable towards eating them again to justify their actions
What is the effort justification experiment?
Aronson & Mills (1959)
women are invited to a discussion group and either have to pass a control, mild or severe initiation
participants in the severe condition gave higher ratings of enjoyment to justify their actions
What are the alternative explanations for cognitive dissonance?
self-concept involvement
impression management
self-perception theory
What is self-concept involvement theory?
Aronson
dissonance arises if behaviour which is inconsistent with self-concept
What is impression management theory?
people try to create an impression of attitude-behaviour constancy
What is self-perception theory?
participants infer their attitudes from their behaviour
How does hypocrisy induce dissonance?
the discrepancy between knowing what is currently being done and what you believe you should be doing
Which study shows the effect of hypocrisy on dissonance?
Stone et al. (1994)
combination of manipulations which induce hypocrisy
- public commitment
- mindfulness; list past failures
hypocrisy induces dissonance so behaviour is changed
What is the theory of self-affirmation?
people are motivated to deal with the threat that inconsistency poses to the perception of the self
What are the effects of self-affirmation?
systematic processing of information, greater information acceptance, changes in attitudes, intentions and behaviour
Which studies show self-affirmation?
community projects prejudice caffeine consumption sunscreen use health risks consumption/willingness to pay
What is the SA community project experiment?
Steele (1975)
participants who were called a relevant/irrelevant negative name showed greater compliance to help out with a community project in order to affirm a sense of personal integrity
What is the SA prejudice self-affirmation experiment?
Fein & Spencer (1997)
conducted during a period of bad relations with Jews
affirmation manipulation created similar ratings of Jewish and Italian candidates
no manipulation created higher personality ratings for Italians
What is the caffeine consumption experiment?
Reed & Aspinall (1998)
high caffeine, affirmed participants rated risk-confirming information as more convincing that the non-affirmed participants (reduced biased processing)
however, the high caffeine, non-affirmed participants showed greater intention to reduce consumption as the affirmed high caffeine users do not have a threatened sense of self
What is the SA sunscreen use experiment?
Jessop, Simmonds & Sparks (2009)
positive traits affirmation showed the best response to using more sunscreen, more responsive and more behaviour change
What is the SA health risk experiment?
Sherman, Nelson & Steele (2000)
participants who completed self-affirmation were less defensive and more accepting of health information
health messages can threaten self-image so self-affirmation
What is the SA consumption experiment?
Sivanathan & Pettit (2010)
wounded egos consume high-status goods for their affirmational properties
after negative feedback participants were willing to pay a much higher price for a high-status photo
