Lecture 6 - Attitude + Attitude change Flashcards
Define attitude.
Attitude -
“tendencies to evaluate an entity with some degree of favour or disfavour, ordinarily expressed in cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses”
(Eagly & Chaiken, p. 155)
Attitudes are evaluations inferred from feelings, beliefs
and/or behaviors
Describe how attitudes work, so like what is the three-component view of attitude?
(see relevant powerpoint, slide 4, part 1)
Describe cognitive dissonance theory.
Cognitive dissonance theory -
We experience dissonance whenever we are aware of acting in a way that is inconsistent with our attitudes.
A key way to reduce dissonance is to bring one’s attitudes into line with one’s actions.
Attitudes should therefore generally be consistent with behaviour.
Proposed by: Leon Festinger (1957)
Describe LaPiere (1934) evidence towards cognitive dissonance theory.
LaPiere (1934)
PROCEDURE
- White professor who travelled across USA with a young Chinese couple
- Stopped at 251 establishments (e.g., hotels, restaurants)
- Received well in 250
6 months later: mail questionnaire
> (“Will you accept members of the Chinese race as guests in your establishment?”)
RESULTS
- 128 replies: 92% said ‘no’
Describe Kutner, Wilkins & Yarrow (1952) evidence towards cognitive dissonance theory.
Kutner, Wilkins & Yarrow (1952)
PROCEDURE
- Two white women and one black woman visited 11 restaurants
- Admitted and served in each restaurant
- Later asked each restaurant whether they would accept a table reservation for a group including a black person
RESULTS
6 said ‘no’, 5 said ‘yes’
Describe DeFleur and Westie (1958) evidence towards cognitive dissonance theory.
DeFleur and Westie (1958)
PROCEDURE
- Measure of racially prejudiced attitudes given to 250 white college students
- Twenty-three highest- and 23 lowest-scoring participants selected
- Behavioural measure: willingness to be photographed with a black person of opposite sex
- Photographic release form
scores ranged from 0 to 7
RESULTS
Correlation between attitudes and behaviour: .40
Describe the theory of reasoned action (TRA).
Fishbein and Ajzen (1975)
see relevant powerpoint, slide 14, part 1
Describe the 4 determinants of intentions.
Determinants of intentions:
- Attitude to behaviour
> Behavioural beliefs
e.g., “Voting for party X in the next General Election will help to protect the NHS” (likely–unlikely)
> Outcome evaluations
e.g., “Protecting the NHS is …” (good–bad)
- Subjective norm
> Normative beliefs
e.g., “Most of my friends think that I [should–should not] vote for party X in the next General Election”
> Motivation to comply
e.g., “In general I like to do what most of my friends expect me to do” (agree–disagree)
What is a limitation of the TRA (theory of reasoned action)?
The TRA has problems in predicting behaviours that require resources, cooperation, and skills (i.e., behaviours that are not completely under ‘volitional control’).
So:
Ajzen extended the TRA -
Added the construct of perceived behavioural control.
(see relevant powerpoint, slide 17, part 1)
In the TRA ((theory of reasoned action) describe Ajzen’s extension, PBC (perceived behavioural control)
Perceived behavioural control -
- Indirect, via intentions
> You do not generally form intentions without taking some account of how much control you have over the behaviour in question
- Direct
> Sometimes your intention to behave in a certain way does not result in the behaviour
> Often the reason for this is a lack of control over the behaviour
> If PBC is accurate and therefore reflects this lack of control, it will help to predict behaviour
See relevant powerpoint for study questions and references.
(slides 19 + 20, part 1)
Describe Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) study.
Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)
PROCEDURE
- Participant performed boring tasks
- Participants in experimental conditions were then invited to help by telling the ‘next participant’ that the tasks were interesting
- These participants were offered $1 or $20 for giving this help
- Participants in the control condition did not have to ‘lie’ and were offered no money
- All participants were later asked to evaluate the experimental tasks
RESULTS
- £1.00 experimental, most positive evaluation of the task.
- £20.00 experimental, middle positive evaluation of the task.
- Control, lowest positive evaluation of the task.
Describe three ways in which you can induce cognitive dissonance.
- Getting people to engage in counter-attitudinal behaviour (induced compliance or ‘forced’ compliance)
> Later research showed that what is dissonance-arousing is the sense that you are personally responsible for bringing about undesirable consequences - Getting people to make choices between alternatives that are roughly equal in attractiveness
> e.g., consumer decisions - Exposing people to information that is inconsistent with their attitudes and/or behaviour
> e.g., health education
Describe the Petty, Cacioppo and Goldman (1981) study.
Petty, Cacioppo and Goldman (1981)
Motivation to process
PROCEDURE
- Participants listened to message advocating ‘senior comprehensive examinations’ under one of two conditions:
> university considering introducing these exams next year (high involvement)
> university considering introducing these exams next decade (low involvement)
- Message was either
> strong (high argument quality)
> or weak (low argument quality) - Message had been produced by
> either local high school class (low expertise)
> or “Carnegie Commission on Higher Education” (high expertise)
RESULTS
- In low involvement condition, source expertise (but not argument quality) affected attitudes
- In high involvement condition, argument quality (but not source expertise) affected attitudes
EXAMPLES OF:
- Strong arguments
> Prestigious universities have comprehensive exams to maintain academic excellence
> Average starting salaries are higher for graduates of schools with the exams - Weak arguments
> The risk of failing the exam is a challenge most students would welcome
> The difficulty of the exam would prepare one for later competitions in life
See relevant powerpoint for study questions and references.
(slides 19 + 20, part 2)
