Lecture 7 Attitudes Flashcards
3 properties of attitude?
Valence - positive or negative
Strength - strong or weak, we cling onto strong ones
Complexity - the number of elements in the attitude
2 ways to measure attitude?
Explicit measures - self report, asked what You feel
- Gutman scales
- semantic differentials
- likert scales
Implicit measures - more recent - designed to measure attitudes that we might not be aware of, or not willing to report.
What is the guttman scale
Present yes no questions
They gradually increase in specificity
People will agree at the start, and you can see where they stop agreeing, to see how strong their attitude is
What is osgood’s semantic differential
Individuals were asked to choose where their position lies, on a scale between two bipolar words
Was found that the 3 dimensions which best showed people’s attitudes, cross culturally
Good bad
Strong weak - potency
Active passive - activity
What is the likert scale
Explicit way to measure attitude
Often have 5 ordered response levels…
5-7 point scales can produce higher means than a 10 point scale
People are less willing to go to 10 as its a higher number
6 point scale prevents people from sitting in the middle
What did azjen believe In terms of measuring attitude?
Believed that attitudes should be assessed by taking the product of behavioural beliefs and outcome evaluation
Measure them seperately then multiply ( on likert scale )
Behavioural beliefs - beliefs about the outcomes associated with the attitude object
Outcome evaluation - evaluations of the outcomes associated object
Theory of planned behaviour ?
Modified theory of reasoned action, saying that attitudes are not the only things that guides behaviour.
Subjective norms (what we think orders a doing, or want us to do), perceived bevhaiural control and attitudes will guide behaviour
Assumptions of implicit methods for measuring attitudes?
That attitudes can be represented by the strength of associations. Including positive and negative concepts.
So these methods assess the strength of associations among concepts and attributes
What is involved in the implication association test (IAT)?
Participants sort stimuli representing four concepts (me, not me, positive, negative) into two response categories, left or right
The higher self esteem, the less time it will take to pair me and positive, than me and negative.
Use comparative reaction times.
It’s very RELATIVE. Can’t disentangle if you view others as negative or yourself as positive..
What did karpinski find with IATs?
Found that if the stimuli in the IAT, when compared to trials where they just named “other”, and when they specified Santa, hitter or a friend….. The index varied as a function of the other
People were seen to view themselves as more negatively if compared to a friend..
Go/no go association tasks (GNAT)
An IAT variant - but a true RT task
Strength of an association with attitude object with an attribute.
Non comparative
Involves discriminating words than represent the object…
They will respond when the target word(word they think represents the object) and not respond if not
Strength of association is assessed using error rates rather than reaction times. (?)
Should implicit and explicit measures correlate?
(They don’t)
Wilson, Lindsay and schooler said explicit measurements measure our new attitudes, that change, but implicit measures old attitudes
Sometimes our implicit stuff isn’t accessible in explicit measurements either
Fabio and Olsen said there should be high correlation for mundane topics and low for socially sensitive topics, if people are able to control their responses on explicit measures. Because implicit and explicit should be the same
How do attitudes guide behaviour?
They can guide behaviour without much thought by having us focus on specific features that comply with our attitude
(Bias)
And attitudes can guide behaviour through considered intentions
When do attitudes guide behaviour?
When they’re accessible
When they’re compatible
When we believe we can control our behaviour
What kind of associations are proposed to reflect in implicit andexplicit attitudes?
Explicit - thought out, conscious and considered
Implicit - automatic, less controlled
