Lecture 9 - Attitudes & Behaviours Flashcards
What are attitudes?
mental representation of a summary evaluation of an attitude object (stored in memory)
What do attitude objects include?
things, actions, events, ideas, self (esteem-esteem), groups (prejudice), other people (global impressions)
What are explicit attitudes?
attitudes that people openly and deliberately express (i like apples)
explicit attitudes are consciously accessible, and are revealed in explicit measures
An example of explicit measures
asking a person to report on their attitudes
e.g. self-report scales
- differential scale
- Likert scales
Explicit measures are limited by. . .
social desirability bias
implicit attitudes (may not be consciously assessed, and thus can’t be reported on)
What are implicit attitudes?
automatic, uncontrollable evaluations
might not be consciously accessible, or might be accessible but not willing to be reported
What are implicit measures?
assess implicit attitudes - these overcome motivated response biases (e.g. social desirability bias) & the limits of introspection
use response/reaction time paradigms + physiological responses
What are the 3 bases of attitudes?
1) affective - emotions / feelings about the attitude object (e.g. fear, love)
2) behavioural - an interaction that we have with the attitude object (e.g. frequent use of the attitude object)
3) cognitive - beliefs about the attitude object (e.g. the attitude object is good for my health)
What are the functions of attitudes?
1) knowledge function - to make sense of the world (to summarize our experiences w attitude objects)
2) instrumental / utilitarian function - we have/express attitudes to help guide our behaviour; achieve rewards & avoid punishments
3) social identity / value expressive function - to express their identities & values
4) impression management function - to fit into groups or relationships
5) self-esteem / defensive function - to protect the self (From low self-esteem, anxiety)
What are 2 properties of attitudes?
1) strength
2) ambivalence
What are strong attitudes?
those held with confidence / certainty, and are usually based on lots of one-sided information
strong attitudes are persistent, resistant, and are predictive of intentions and behaviour
What is an ambivalent attitudes?
contain positive and negative evaluative components & bases
People often simultaneously hold negative and positive evaluations of an attitude object. For example, one might enjoy the sensation of smoking and at the same time realize that tobacco is a danger to health
How do affective routes lead to attitude formation?
- mere EXPOSURE (familiarity) breeds liking
- repeated exposure increases the ease of processing an attitude object, & ease feels good
- EVALUATIVE CONDITIONS: pairing positive or negative stimulus w neutral stimulus (celebrity + food)
How do behavioural routes lead to attitude formation?
- DIRECT BEHAVIOURAL INFLUENCES - the valence of performing behaviour gets transferred onto attitude object
- SELF-PERCEPTION - we learn what we like from observing what we do
- COGNITIVE DISSONANCE REDUCTION - often our attitudes are inconsistent
with our behaviours and this inconsistency can be unpleasant – leading us to try to bring our behaviours and attitudes into line (by changing our attitudes).
How do cognitive routes lead to attitude formation?
REASONED INFERENCE - where you think through the facts about an object, & draw evaluative inferences about it (believing something is good for your health, & thereby choosing to like it)
What processes can result in attitude change?
1) social influence (conformity, obedience)
2) perceived norms (descriptive & injunctive)
3) cognitive dissonance reduction
4) persuasion - changing an attitude via the processing of a message about an attitude object
What is the standard persuasion frame?
source - message - recipient
The amount/nature of the attitude change depends on attributes of each of these elements, in conjunction with depth of processing