Chapter 6 - attitudes Flashcards
attitude
overall evaluation (judgement) of an
object that is based on cognitive, affective and behavioural information
in what 2 things can attitudes vary?
- Valence (emotional experience): negative, positive or neutral attitude
- Strength: mild or strong attitude
cognitive component of attitudes
Refers to beliefs, thoughts, and attributes associated with an attribute object
Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1975) expectancy–value approach
cognitive attitude
attitude towards an object is the sum of ‘expectancy X value’
Overall attitude towards table
- Function
- Look
- Comfort
Sum all these things together to get attitude
affective component of attitude
refers to feelings or emotions associated with an attitude change
Evaluative conditioning (associating feelings with attitude objects)
is when you start to like or dislike something because it gets repeatedly paired with something you already feel positive or negative about.
e.g. A brand is always shown with happy music, you start to like it because of the positive association.
Bit of subliminal priming, unconcious awereness of stimulus pairing
Mere exposure effect (associating feelings with attitude objects)
Increase in liking an object as a results of being repeatedly exposed to it
Behavioural component of attitudes
refers to past behavior we have performed (or might perform in the future) towards an attitude object.
We conclude our attitude based on our behaviour
Self perception theory
Theory assumes that when inner states are ambiguous, we infer our attitude based on our behaviour
IF WE DONT KNOW HOW WE FEEL ABOUT SOMETHING, WE LOOK AT OUR BEHAVIOR TO MAKE A CONCLUSION
Cognitive dissonance
If we behave in a way that is against our believe, we are motivated change to diminish dissonance (uncomfortable)
Difference self perception theory and cognitive dissonance
Self perception theory is about interpreting our behaviour to understand out attitude, cognitive dissonance is about resolving internal conflict
One dimensional perspective on attitudes
A perspective that perceives positive and negative elements stored along a
single dimension. People their attitude can be at the end or in between
Two-dimensional perspective
Positive and negative elements stored along separate dimensions
* Attitudinal ambivalence – when an individual both likes and dislikes an attitude object.
Function of attitude
With attitude we can classify object in our environment and it serves as a purpose for how we then act.
It provides answers to people in high need for closure
Attitudes are energy-saving devices
Give 3 reasons
o Strong attitudes guide relevant judgements and behaviour
o Weak attitudes have little effect in
judgement and behaviour processes
o Highly accessible attitudes make attitude-relevant judgements easier
IF WE KNOW OUR ATTITUDE WE CAN EASILY ACT AND JUDGE WITHOUT THINKING, IT SAVES ENERGY