Introduction to attitudes Flashcards
Lesson 2
What is an attitude (from a function approach)?
Fazio, 1990: attitudes are stable, object-related associations stored and then evoked in memory.
Stable, long-lasting associations stored in memory that can be recalled when needed.
Suggests that attitudes are built up and stored over time based on experiences.
What is an attitude (from a constructive approach)?
Feldman & Lynch, 1988: attitudes as temporary evolutions of an object constructed at a particular time in a particular context.
Attitudes are temporary constructions that form in response to specific situations.
People create their attitude at the moment, based on the immediate context, rather than recalling pre-existing opinions.
Why do psychologists care about attitudes?
Understanding attitudes helps predict behaviour -> explains why people behave the way they do in various situations.
Definitions of attitudes from a functional approach
“…a general and enduring positive or negative feeling about some person, object or issue” (Petty & Cacioppo, 1996, p.7).
“…a relatively enduring organisation of beliefs, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events, or symbols”.
Ajzen (2001) - attitudes help people achieve psychological goals and needs, meaning that certain attitudes are stored because they serve practical purpose.
What are functional theories of attitudes?
Ajzen (2001): certain attitudes are stored in memory because it serves psychological goals and need.
Katz (1960) outlined those specific functions.
What psychological functions did Katz (1960) outline for the functional theory of attitudes?
Knowledge function:
- Information: understanding the environment, search for meaning.
- Helps us organise and predict the social world.
Value-Expressive function:
- Self-image: displays of what we see as important.
- Help us express cherished ideas.
Social-adjustive function:
- Self-protection: provide a barrier against harsh realities.
- Helps us protect ourselves from acknowledging threatening self-truths.
Utilitarian function:
- Usefulness: maximise benefits and minimise costs to the individual.
- Helps us guide approach/avoidance behaviour.
What are the two functional theories of attitudes and what were they intended to do?
- Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) - Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975.
TRA was later developed to improve predictive power, and became…
- The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) - Ajzen, 1991.
Models intended to:
- Predict behaviour towards an attitude object.
- Explain when behaviour and attitudes don’t match.
Outline TRA
Behaviour is a function of two aspects:
- Attitudes: general orientation towards the behaviour - what they think of the behaviour.
- Subjective norms: influence of people in one’s social environment - what others think of the behaviour.
These impact behaviour intentions towards that behaviour.
What does culture have to do with TRA?
The balances of the components (attitude and subjective norms) can depend on your culture.
Trandis (1995) argued:
- In cultures that are individualist (often Western), attitudes determine behaviour more than norms do.
- But in cultures that are collectivist (other parts of the world), norms determine behaviour more than attitudes.
Limitations of TRA
TRA doesn’t ake into account:
- that people have little power over their behaviour (external factors prevent people from acting on intentions).
- people may believe they have little power over their behaviour.
- not all behaviour is volitional (under conscious control) e.g. deeply ingrained habits, lack of resources, external obstacles.
Problems for the TRA
Behavioural intent does not always lead to action - there can be a gap between intention and actual behaviour called intention-behaviour gap.
Assumes human beings are rational (act on logical evaluations of consequences) - people often act based on emotions or irrational factors.
Assumes people can consciously control their behaviour - behaviours often influenced by automatic processes or unconscious factors.
Doesn’t include a person’s prior experience with the behaviour - can strongly influence how likely someone is to engage in a behaviour again.
Factors other than intention may mediate control - emotion, stress, environmental cues.
Outline the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)
Extended model of TRA - added concept on perceived behavioural control (the belief about how easy or difficult it is to perform the behaviour) - acknowleding that people may not always have full control over their actions.
To predict behaviour there are three components:
- Whether the person intends to do something (attitude).
- How much the person feels social pressure to do it (subjective norm).
- Whether the person feels in control of the action in question (perceived behavioural control)
What is the constructive approach to attitudes?
Argues:
- That people compute on the spot accoridng to the contextual goals - people do not have a stable, pre-formed attitude about things, people form attitudes on the spot based on the context they are in and the information available at the moment.
- Means attitudes are fluid - driven by specific goals and motivations.
- For situated learning and cognition: suggesting that goals generate temproary motivations.
Challenges the idea that attitudes are stable over time (functional approach).
What are the contextual factors of the constructive approach?
Contextual factors may have an impact on the formation of attitudes (Payne et al. 1992).
These include:
- The complexity of the content.
- The character of other options in the choice set - people may compare different choices.
- The framing of the questions that aims to elicit a preference.
The representation or display of the choice set.
Challenging TPB from a constructive approach
Looked at how people develop attitudes to food. Findings suggest that attitudes towards products are often constructed on the spot based on how these products are presented at the time of purchase.
Studied meat purchases and found that while people may have stable attitudes towards certain types of eat, the actual purchase decision is influenced by in-the-moment cues, such as packaging and presentation.
Criticised TPB (restricted validity) - says this is significant because TPB is the dominant paradigm in food industry research - and this research suggests it may not be the correct predictor of food consumers’ purchase patterns.
In other words:
- TPB assumes consumer behaviour comes from stable attitudes via the model.
- So, advertising can affect what people buy via their attitudes.
- But this research shows that attitudes can be interferred with by in-the-moment attitudes.
- In-the-moment attitudes: buy-one-get-one-free; pretty packaging, brand loyality, next to competing item, familiarity.
