Lecture 4 - Attitudes, behaviour and attitude change Flashcards
Define attitude
A relatively enduring organisation of beliefs, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols.
Outline LaPiere (1934)
- At the time there was widespread racism towards chinese
- Got Chinese p’s to vist 184 restaurants, 66 hotels, caravan parks and tourist homes
- They were only declined service once
- In 72 restaurants, service was ‘very good’
- Then sent a questionnaire to the property owners, with 92% saying they would refuse service to a chinese person
- Shows a discrepancy between attitudes and behaviour
What were the explanations for LaPiere (1934)
The prejudice was due to social norms
The behaviour was due to buisness sense
Outline Davidson and Jacard (1979)
- LaPiere proved we cant predict specific behaviours from general attitudes
- Therefore, we need to consider specific attitudes predicting specific behaviours
- Looked at attitudes to birth control - proved that specific attitudes were the best predictor of specific behaviours
Define Cognitive dissonance
UNpleasant state of psychological tension when 2 or more cogntions are inconsistent/ dont fit together. We seek harmony in ur attitudes, beliefs and behaviours but it requires active participation of the person to achieve that.
Who derived the Selective Exposure hypothesis?
Frey & Rosch (1984(
Outline Frey and Rosch (1984)
- Gave p’s written profiles and asked them to form an attitude of whether to fire/ keep a manager
- They were then told if their choice was reversible or irreversible
- They were then given the chance to choose from consonant/ dissonant information to support their choice
- p’s mostly chose consonant, especially if choice was irreversable
What are the two studies into induced compliance?
Festinger & Carlsmith (1959)
Zimbardo et al (1965, 1977)
Define induced compliance
Inconsistency is experienced when a person is persuaded to behave in a way that is contrary to an attitude
Outline Zimbardo et al (1965,1977)
Fried Grasshoppers
- soldiers were asked (not ordered) to eat some grashoppers either from a cheerful officer or an official, stiff officer.
- Before hand they had been given a speech about the nutritional value in grasshoppers and the fact that they might have to eat them in the field
- After eating, they were asked how much their liking for grashoppers hda changed
- Those with a nasty officer said they liked it more, because they didnt like him enough to ‘do it for him’ - they had to convince themselves that they liked it
Outline Younger, Walker and Arrowood (1977)
Found that men and women were less uncertain and more confident post-bet, than in pre-bet
Define attitude change
Any significant modification of an individuals attitude. Peoples use of arguments to convince others that a change of mind/ behaviour is needed.
Who looked at the 3 factors that led to attitude change
Hovland, Janis and Kelley (1953)
What were the 3 factors that Hovland, Janis and Kelley (1953) looked at?
1) The Communicator (source)
2) The communication (message)
3) Audience
What are the key components of 1) THe COmmunicator?
- Experts are more persuasive than non-experts
- Popular and attractive communicators are more effective
- People who speak faster are more persuasive
- People who are familiar, close or attractive are more persuasive
