Attitudes and Beliefs Flashcards
what are attitudes?
- An attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs and behaviours towards a particular object, person, thing or event
- Often the result of experience or upbringing, and they have a powerful influence over behaviour
- Set or collection of thoughts, feelings and behaviours on any given topic that predisposes a person to react in a predicatable manner
- While attitudes are enduring, they can also change
How do we form attitudes?
1- Leared through experience
- These tend to be more resistent to change
- Social environment, reinforcement through reward and/or punishment
- Evaluative conditioning- tactic often utilised withing advertisements
2-May have a genetic basis
- Inherited traits
- Evidence derived from studies on identical twins and non-identical twins
What are the factors influencing attitude formation?
- experience
- social roles and niorms
- classical and operant conditioning
- observing people ( parents)
Flowchart of behaviour formation
1- Your beliefs- ideas you hold to be true
2-Your values- what is important to you
3-your attitudes- how you treat others and approach situations
4-Your behaviour- how you act
What are the three components of attitude?
A- Affective- emotional, feelings
B- Behavioural- response (verbal or action)
C- Cognitive- thoughts, evaluation
What are the three witches of attitude?
CONTENT- cognitive, affective and behavioural
STRUCTURE- how this info is organised
FUNCTION- Diverse psychological needs served by attitudes i.e. self esteem
What are the functions of attitudes?
- To express our values and beliefs
- Protect ourszelves from negative feedback
- Identify with people we like
- Judgements are easier and faster to perform
What is attitude stregth?
The degree to which attitudes are stable, resistant to change and influence behaviour
What is attitude valence?
- The direction of evaluation
- Positive vs negative
- Like vs dislike
What are the theory of reasoned action and planned behaviour?
-Both theories propose that the behaviour is based on the conceot of intention
What is intention?
- Intention is the extent to which an individual is either ready to, or likely to engage in a particular behaviour
- Intention is influenced by attitudes, subjective norms, volutional control and behavioural control
- If the outcome of a behaviour is believed to be beneficial, positive and desirable, the individuals attitude will be more favourable
What is the impact of attitude on intention?
- Example, if a mother believes BF will protect her baby agaisnt infecion and is healthier for her and convenient ( positive attitude) then she is more likely to BF
- If a mother believes BF is embarassing, hurts or restricts her activity (negative attitude) then she is likely not to
What is the impact of subjective norm on intention?
- Subjective norm is percieved social pressure to engage/not engage in a certain behaviour
- Determined by normative beliefs
What is volutional control?
- The behaviour must be under the personal control of the individual to be enacted
- This is one in which the individual can decide, at will, to enact the behaviour
- In some cases a person may not have complete control in the decisions made, e.g. wearing of a condom is not completely in a womans control however she does have control in consent
What is behavioural control?
- Refers to the ease with which an intention to change behaviour can be made- less likely to change behaviour of it is percieved to be too difficult
- Making the health choice the easier choice
