Lecture 07 Attitudes and Attitude Change Flashcards
Attitudes
Evaluation of people, objects, and ideas
Genetic Origins of Attitudes
- Identical twins share more attitudes than fraternal twins
- E.g., similar attitudes about jazz music - Indirect function of our genes
- Temperament, personality
Attitudes Components
- Affective: Emotional reaction
- Behavioral: Actions or observable behavior
- Cognitive: Thoughts and beliefs
Cognitively Based Attitudes
- Beliefs about the properties of an attitude object
- Relevant facts
- How many miles to the gallon does it get?
- Does it have side-impact air bags?
Affectively Based Attitudes
- Values: Religious, moral beliefs
- Sensory reaction: Liking the taste of something
- Aesthetic reaction: Admiring lines and color of a car
- Conditioning
Behaviorally Based Attitudes
Observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object
Self-Perception Theory
People infer their attitudes from their behavior only under certain conditions:
– When initial attitude is weak or ambiguous
– When no other plausible explanation for behavior
Dual Attitude System
- Explicit Attitudes
- Implicit Attitudes
Explicit Attitudes
Consciously endorse and can easily report
- Based on adult experiences
- Changed easily
Implicit Attitudes
Involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times
unconscious
- Based on childhood experiences
- Changed slowly
- “Trusting my gut”
Are attitudes good predictors of behaviors?
Some evidence that attitudes are not good predictors of behavior
- e.g. Chinese tourists study
Can attitudes predicting spontaneous behaviors
Attitudes will predict spontaneous behaviors only when they are highly accessible to people
- have no time to think
Attitude Accessibility
The strength of the ASSOCIATION between an attitude object and a person’s evaluation of that object, measured by the SPEED with which people can report how they feel about the object
What makes attitudes accessible?
Degree of experience people have behaving with the attitude object
- Hands-on experiences
- Second-handed experiences
Theory of Planned Behavior
- Intentions predict behaviors
- Intentions determined by their
1. Attitudes toward specific behaviors
2. Subjective norms
3. Perceived behavioral control
Subjective norms
Beliefs about how people they care about will VIEW the behavior in question
Perceived behavioral control
Intentions are influenced by the ease with which they BELIEVE they can PERFORM the behavior
Social Influence on Attitude Change
- Role playing, e.g., Stanford Prison Experiment
- Saying Becomes Believing
- Cognitive dissonance
Why does humans’ behaviors change attitudes?
- Self-presentation
- Cognitive dissonance
- Self-perception theory
Self-presentation Theory
For strategic reasons, we express attitudes that make us appear CONSISTENT
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
To reduce discomfort, we JUSTIFY our actions to ourselves
Self-perception theory
- Actions are self-revealing
- when UNCERTAIN about our feelings or beliefs, we look to our behavior, much as anyone else would
Facial Feedback Effect
Facial expressions trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness
The Yale Attitude Change Approach
- Senders
- Messages
- Receivers
Senders
- Credibility
- Attractiveness
- Sleeper effect
Sleeper Effect
Remember a message longer than they do information about the message source
Messages
- Natural
- Two-sided communication
- Primacy effect with no delay
- Recency effect after delay
Receivers
- Distracted
- Lower intelligence
- Moderate self-esteem
- Impressionable ages of 18-25
- “Western” audiences: personal preferences
- “Contextually appropriate behavior” culture: interconnectedness
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
Specifies when people will be influenced by
1. what the speech says
2. when they will be influenced by more superficial characteristics
Central Route
When people are MOTIVATED and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication
Peripheral Route
When people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead SWAYED by surface characteristics
The Motivation to Pay Attention to the Arguments
- Personal relevance of the topic
- How important is the topic to a person’s well-being?
Need for Cognition
A personality variable reflecting the extent to which people engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities
People High in the Need for Cognition
Form attitudes through central route
People Low in the Need for Cognition
Rely on peripheral cues
2 Variables that Influence Attitude Change
- Strength of the arguments
- Peripheral cue
- Personal Relevance
High Personal Relevance on Attitude Change
Strength of the arguments affects
Peripheral cue doesn’t affect
Low Personal Relevance on Attitude Change
Strength of the arguments affects a little
Peripheral cue affect a lot
When people are unable to pay close attention to the arguments, they…
…are swayed more by peripheral cues
- Status of communicator
- Liking or trusting communicator
- Being distracted
Long-lasting Attitude Change
Careful analysis ->
– Maintain this attitude
– Behave consistently with this attitude
– Resistant to counter-persuasion
Emotion and Attitude Change
Fear
Fear-Arousing Communications
– MODERATE amounts of fear work best
– Provide information on how to REDUCE fear
Why do strong amounts of fear fail?
- Overwhelm people.
- Become defensive
- Deny importance of threat
- Cannot think rationally about issue
Heuristic–Systematic Model of Persuasion
- Systematically processing the merits of the arguments
- Using mental shortcuts or heuristics
Emotion as a Heuristic
Use emotions and moods as heuristics to determine attitudes
– “How do I feel about it?”
▪ If we feel good
– must have a positive attitude about object
▪ If we feel bad
– thumbs down!
What is the used when people are in a good mood?
Heuristic
- Like the apparent expertise of a source
What is the system used when people are in a bad mood?
Systematic
- Pay more attention to message quality
Types of message or advertisement will be effective when…
…matching with types of product
- Utilitarian products
- Social identity products
How does body posture affect attitude?
Head shaking or nodding influence an attitude
Subliminal Messages
Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived
but may nevertheless influence judgments, attitudes, and behaviors
Advertising & Culture
- The Americans were persuaded most by the ads stressing independence
- The Koreans were persuaded by the ads stressing interdependence
Resisting Persuasive Messages
- Attitude Inoculation
- Being Alert to Product Placement
Attitude Inoculation
Making people IMMUNE to attempts to change their attitudes by initially EXPOSING them to small doses of the arguments against their position
Being Alert to Product Placement
When people are forewarned, they analyze what they see and hear more carefully and as a result are likely to avoid attitude change
Peer pressure
Operates on values and emotions (not cognitive-based)
– Liking and acceptance by peer group
How to make adolescents resistant to attitude change attempts via peer pressure
- Attitude inoculation
- Role-play
- Developing the ability to think independently and resist conforming
Reactance Theory
- People feel their freedom to perform a certain behavior is THREATENED
- The stronger prohibitions are, the more likely they will backfire
- Increase in interest in the prohibited activity
Boomerang Effect
Adopting the opposite attitude or behavior
