I&G Attitudes

Question 1

What are attitudes?

Answer 1

“an attitude toward any concept is simply a person’s general feeling of favorableness or unfavorableness for that concept”

Attitudes are relatively stable.
Everyone has different attitudes.

Question 2

What are the different components of attitudes?

Answer 2

Affect
Behaviour
Cognition

Question 3

What is affect?

Answer 3

Based primarily on people’s feelings and values related to the attitude object

“The thought of eating meat makes me feel sick”

Question 4

What is behaviour?

Answer 4

Based on an observation of how one behaves toward an attitude object
“I recycle, so I must have a positive attitude toward environmental issues”

Question 5

What are cognitions?

Answer 5

Based primarily on a person’s beliefs about the properties of an attitude object

“I like this vacuum cleaner because this one picks up more dirt”

Question 6

Where do attitudes come from?

Answer 6

Experience
Social roles & norms (how you are expected to behave)
Classical & operant conditioning (associate behaviour with a consequence)
Observing people in the environment (observing those you like/ respect VS those you don’t like/respect.

Question 7

Measuring attitudes- explicit measures??

Answer 7

To find out a persons attitude- can ask them how positive/ negative their feelings are towards a particular thing- known as a measure of explicit attitudes.

Explicit attitudes are a deliberate, controlled, and conscious appraisal process of an object and its evaluation

e.g. have a questionnaire- answers range from extremely negative…… extremely positive

Question 8

When measuring explicit attitudes- what are possible disadvantages/ discussion points?

Answer 8

Method- will work better for some attitudes more than others.
Can have social desirability bias in responses- want to present a desirable image.

Question 9

What are implicit attitudes?

Answer 9

Implicit attitudes are an automatic, unconscious, and intuitive association between a attitude object and its evaluation

Automatic and unconscious association we have learnt about how things are associated in the world

Question 10

What are ways to get around social desirability bias- when using explicit measures to measure attitudes?

What is a way of measuring this?

Answer 10

Use implicit measures instead!

Implicit association test.

Question 11

What do you do in the Implicit Association test

Answer 11

Measures how quickly you react to different stimuli.

E.g. for cats & dogs- asked to say which is better.

Aksed- to categorise stimuli related to cats & dogs- then categorise stimuli that have emotional tone (words related to pleasant/ unpleasant/ positive/ negative words)

Idea- the more strongly you associate two concepts- the quicker you will be when they are paired with the same key than opposite. keys.

Found people’s responses on test predict behaviour- when people associate two concepts together- (captured by reaction times)- it predicts behaviour.

Question 12

What does the implicit association test show?

Answer 12

People have reliable implicit biases- measures which concepts learned in world are associated.

E.g. people show implicit bias towards associating thinner bodies with positive concepts.

Biases predict more automatic parts of people’s behaviours & how they will react when being more spontaneous.

Question 13

Are attitudes useful in predicting behaviour?- Give reading example

Answer 13

Undergraduate students (N=137) completed various measures about binge drinking (including attitudes) and reported frequency of binge drinking one month later (N=109). Attitude was a significant predictor of behaviour (Norman 2011).

People often behave according to their attitudes (often enough that they’re a useful predictor), but not always.

Question 14

What are some examples of attitude & behaviour inconsistency?

Answer 14

Young people’s attitudes toward texting and driving had no correlation with whether they actually texted while driving
Atchley et al., 2011

People generally report positive attitudes to pro-environmental behaviours, but most people do not behave in ways consistent with their attitudes
Gupta & Ogden, 2009

Possible cause of inconsistency (social desirability bias)

Question 15

When do attitudes best predict behaviour?

Answer 15

When social influences on attitudes are minimized

Reduce socially desirable responding (to get a more valid measure)

When the level of specificity of attitudes and behaviours matches

General attitudes predict behaviours in general

Specific attitudes predict specific behaviours

When attitudes are strong (about something you know lots about)

When explicit measures are used to predict deliberate behaviours, and implicit measures to predict automatic behaviours

Question 16

Who was the Theory of Reasoned Action by?

Answer 16

Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980

Question 17

What is the Theory of Reasoned Action model?

Answer 17

The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) suggests that a person’s behavior is determined by their intention to perform the behavior and that this intention is, in turn, a function of their attitude toward the behavior and subjective norms (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975).

Question 18

Draw the Theory of Reasoned action model

Answer 18

Behaviour
l
Behavioural intention
l
Attitudes - Subjective norms
l
A (Behavioural beliefs &Outcome evaluation) SN(Normative beliefs & motivation to comply)

Question 19

The Theory of Reasoned action

What does it say?

Answer 19

Attitudes are important predictor of behavior

We have a positive attitude to something & intend to do it- but the behaviour doesn’t actually happen.

Suggests- Attitudes influence intentions- but intentions not same as behaviour

Social norms surrounding behaviour contribute separately to how people will behave.

Suggests people will perform behaviour if have positive attitudes & if others have positive attitude towards behaviour.

Look at attitudes as a belief about something & how important the thing is to you.

Behavioural beliefs- people associate performance of behaviour with a set of outcomes.

Outcome evaluation- do you care about the outcome? What is your perceived outcome? This will influence your behaviour.
Social norms- normative beliefs- if people important to you approve of a particular action.

Question 20

What are subjective norms?

Answer 20

‘a person’s . . . perception that most people who are important to him think he should or should not perform the behavior in question’

Question 21

The influence of subjective norms depends on what?

Answer 21

Whether people you care about agree with the behaviour.

Who the people are depends on the context.

We develop beliefs of what we think is acceptable/ not depending on the group.

Will engage in behaviour if they have positive attitude towards behaviour.

For certain groups- you may have higher motivation to comply than others.

Results in higher intention to carry out behaviour.

If you think behaviour is positive & others are important and want you to do behaviour- results in higher intention for behaviour- resulting in behaviour.

Question 22

How well does the Theory of reasoned Action predict behaviour?

Answer 22

“the theory is useful for most individuals and with respect to most social behaviors”

“the theory is useful for most individuals and with respect to most social behaviors”

Adding norms helps, but there is still a gap in the model’s ability to explain and predict behaviour, especially when the behaviour is not fully under volitional control

Question 23

The Theory of planned behaviour- summary?

Answer 23

(Ajzen, 1991), behaviors are influenced by intentions, which are determined by three factors: attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.

It is also possible for external factors to directly force or prevent behaviors, regardless of the intention, depending on the degree to which a behavior is actually controlled by the individual, and the degree to which perceived behavioral control is an accurate measure of actual behavioral control.

Question 24

What is perceived behavioural control?

Answer 24

‘people’s perceptions of the degree to which they are capable of, or have control over, performing a given behaviour’ (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010, p. 64)

“the person’s belief as to how easy or difficult performance of the behavior is likely to be” (Ajzen & Madden, 1986, p. 457)

Question 25

How do researchers measure different components of the Theory of Planned Behaviour?

Answer 25

Can use Likert questionnaires

Question 26

Key reading again: Using the TPB to predict binge drinking in students
What happened in the study- what were the results?

Answer 26

Undergraduate students (N=137) completed various measures about binge drinking (attitude, subjective norm, perceived control, self-efficacy, intention, habit strength) and reported frequency of binge drinking one month later (N=109)

Attitude and self-efficacy (but not norms) predicted intentions, and both intentions and habits predicted behaviour

Norman 2011

Question 27

How well does the Theory of Planned Behaviour predict behaviour?

Answer 27

The TPB has been an extremely influential model for predicting human social behaviour and has been used to study many different behaviours, but seems especially effective at predicting eating and exercise (McEachan et al., 2011)

For health-related behaviours, the weighted mean correlation between attitudes and behaviour across multiple studies was r = .30 (Conner & Sparks, 2015)

However, remember that predicting intentions isn’t the same thing as predicting behaviour: Meta-analyses show mean intention-behaviour relationships in the range between .45 and .62 (Ajzen & Fishbein, 2006)

Question 28

What is the intention-behaviour gap?

Answer 28

Even strong intentions are translated into behaviour only about half the time.

People might fail to act on intentions for multiple reasons (e.g. forget to act, don’t know how to act, encounter obstacles)

The existence of this gap means the TPB is better at predicting intentions than actual behaviour

Question 29

What is the TPB better at predicting?

Answer 29

Intentions- rather than actual behaviour!

Question 30

What are the problems with Theory of Planned behaviour?

Answer 30

Better at predicting rational, deliberative behaviours than at predicting spontaneous, unintentional, or habitual behaviour

Does not take into account implicit attitudes and how these can also influence our behavior

Question 31

What did the development of the “Reasoned Action Approach” do?

Answer 31

Replacement of ‘subjective norm’ with the slightly different ‘perceived norm’, which is a combination of:

Injunctive norm: perceptions concerning what should or ought to be done with respect to performing a given behaviour.

Descriptive norm: perceptions that others are or are not performing the behaviour.

Question 32

What are injuctive norms?

Answer 32

Perceptions concerning what should or ought to be done with respect to performing a given behaviour.

Question 33

What are Descriptive norms?

Answer 33

Perceptions that others are or are not performing the behaviour.

Question 34

What would the injuctive & descriptive norms on covid?

Answer 34

Injuctive norm: You should stay at home.

Descriptive norm: Most other people aren’t staying at home!

Question 35

What else is the Theory of Planned behaviour unable to do?

Answer 35

The TPB tells us which factors are important, but not whether or how they can be changed.

The TPB is about predicting behaviour, not changing it.

Question 36

What is cognitive consistency?

Answer 36

Principle of cognitive consistency- we want to maintain a consistent self image & don’t like it when we feel something about us doesn’t fit in with the rest of us.

If we behave in ways that contradict our important values- or hold opinions that contradict each other- we don’t like it & experience conflict that is unpleasant.

The more important the belief/ attitude is to our self identity- & we have the conflict- the more distressing it is to us,

Question 37

The Meat paradox

What is this?

Answer 37

“psychological conflict between people’s dietary preference for meat and their moral response to animal suffering”

You can resolve the inconsistencies through not eating meat- however lots of people will still eat meat.

People may try to reduce the conflict- e.g. through calling cows- beef- not giving it the same name to dissociate it from the animal

Question 38

When Prophecy Fails
(Festinger, Riecken, & Schachter, 1956)

What is this?

Answer 38

Marion Keech claimed that aliens from the planet Clarion revealed to her the world would end in a great flood on December 21st 1956.

Festinger and colleagues infiltrated her cult, whose members believed they would be picked up by a flying saucer before the world was destroyed.

When the flying saucer did not turn up, the believers were stunned, but did not doubt Mrs Keech. At 4am she received a message from the aliens to say the believers of the cult had saved the world because of their great faith.

Question 39

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 39

A state of emotional discomfort that people experience when they hold inconsistent attitudes or engage in behaviour that is inconsistent with their attitudes or beliefs.

Question 40

What is the Cognitive dissonance theory
(Festinger, 1957)

Answer 40

Based on the idea that we are sensitive to inconsistencies between our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours (the principle of cognitive consistency)

If there is an inconsistency (i.e. a dissonance), we experience this as aversive

This aversive experience motivates us to reduce or eliminate the dissonance/inconsistency.

Question 41

What are the causes of dissonance?

Answer 41

Insufficient justification: behaving in a way that contradicts our beliefs or attitudes, in the absence of external reward or punishment

Post-decisional dissonance: making a decision that involves rejecting options that had desirable attributes

Effort justification: choosing to put effort into a task that doesn’t turn out as well as we hoped it would

Question 42

Insufficient Justification
(Festinger & Carlsmith ,1959)

What was the experiment?

Answer 42

71 college student volunteers spent an hour performing boring and repetitive tasks.

Half of them were offered $20 (large external justification) to tell the next volunteer it was very interesting while the others were offered only $1 (small external justification) for lying.

Later, the participants were asked how much they really liked the task.

Question 43

Insufficient Justification
(Festinger & Carlsmith ,1959)

What were the results from the experiment?

Answer 43

People paid $1 said they enjoyed it the most. This is because they experienced the most dissonance

Question 44

What is insufficient justification?

Answer 44

When a person finds an internal cause for an explanation to a behaviour because there isn’t an external cause.

Behaving in a way that contradicts your beliefs (e.g. telling a lie when you think of yourself as an honest person) will not always cause dissonance; sometimes there’s a good reason!

For example, if you tell a friend they look good in an ugly outfit, your belief that it is important not to cause pain to people you like provides an external justification for having told a harmless lie.

But if there is no external justification, people are motivated to reduce dissonance by generating an internal motivation to explain their behaviour, such as changing their attitudes.

Question 45

Postdecision dissonance
(Brehm, 1956)

What was the experiment?

Answer 45

Participants rated products and were allowed to choose one as a gift.

After receiving the gift, participants re-rated the products.
Participants tended to increase the rating of the one they chose, and reduce their ratings of the ones they didn’t choose (a phenomenon known as ‘spreading of alternatives’)

Found participants rated the item they chose higher- the second time around & the products they didn’t choose as less desirable.

Question 46

What is post-decision dissonance?

Answer 46

Dissonance aroused after making a decision, typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives.

In any decision, the chosen alternative is seldom entirely positive, and the rejected alternative is seldom entirely negative.

The easiest way to reduce dissonance about whether you made the right choice is by downplaying the negative aspects of the one you chose and the positive aspects of the one you rejected, i.e. changing your attitudes.

Question 47

Effort justification
(Aronson & Mills, 1959)

What happened in this study?

Answer 47

Students volunteered to join a group that would be meeting regularly to discuss various aspects of the psychology of sex.

To be admitted to the group, they volunteered to go through a screening procedure, which was either demanding and unpleasant, mildly unpleasant, or no screening at all.

Participants then listened in on a discussion being conducted by the members of the group, which was extremely dull.

After the discussion was over, each participant was asked to rate it in terms of how much he or she liked it and how interesting it was.

Question 48

What is effort justification?

Answer 48

The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain.

If you put in a lot of effort to achieve something and the outcome is not as good as you hoped, this creates dissonance. One way of reducing this dissonance is by changing your attitudes.

Question 49

What factors experience our influence of dissonance?

Answer 49

The more important our beliefs or decisions are to us, the greater the dissonance- if its in conflict with something.

Dissonance is most powerful and most upsetting when it threatens our self-image.

Decisions cause greater dissonance when they have significant consequences and when they are not easily undone.

Question 50

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 50

Confirmation bias is our tendency to actively seek out information that confirms our pre-existing beliefs, and ignore information that contradicts them

Question 51

What methods can we use to reduce dissonance?

Answer 51

You can change your attitude or behaviour so that no conflict exists… but this can be difficult!

Try to decrease your perception of the conflict.
- Add extra info that reduces the inconsistency.
- Decrease the importance of the conflicting cognitions.

Question 52

Dealing with dissonance- adding new information

Answer 52

Acquire new information that outweighs the dissonant beliefs, or that makes the conflicting behaviour or belief seem more logical or justifiable

Seek out information that contradicts the dissonant belief, e.g. that eating meat does not contribute to global warming

Add cognitions or behaviours consistent with your attitude (attitude bolstering; Sherman and Gorkin, 1980)

Self-affirmation, or thinking about your other positive qualities

Question 53

Dealing with dissonance- reduce the importance?

Answer 53

Rationalize, e.g. “it’s okay if I only do it occasionally”

Devalue conflicting knowledge (“fake news!”)

Deny responsibility for the dissonant behaviour (Gosling et al., 2006)

Question 54

Key reading- how do students deal with dissonance about drinking?

Answer 54

Qualitative study on 19 students who had experienced memory loss from drinking in the past year

Students experienced dissonance because they viewed blackout drinking as a negative health behaviour, but continued to engage in it

Students tended to add new cognitions as a way of reducing the cognitive dissonance, e.g. “other students do this more than I do”, “it’s out of my control”

Wombacher 2019