W3 Beliefs and Behaviors Flashcards
Define attitude ( Allport, 1935)
“A mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related”.
Define attitude (Eagly &Chaiken, 1933)
= “a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor”.
Components of an attiude?
Affective component (feelings, emotions) “I like/dislike eating kiwi fruit”.
Cognitive component (beliefs, thoughts) “eating kiwi fruit is good/bad of my health”.
Behavioural component (actions, intentions) “I want to eat a kiwi fruit”.
Synergistic relation = “i don’t like kiwi but it’s healthy, so i want kiwi”
Attitude predicts behavior? (LaPierre, 1934)
1/184 restaurants actually refused service to Richard LaPierre and a Chinese couple. 92% of restaurants said that they would not accept Chinese customers when asked (via letter) 6 months later. 92% expressed a negative attitude but only one of the restaurants showed behavior represented by that negative attitude. LaPierre concluded that attitudes do not predict behavior.
Principles of Compatibility (when do attitudes predict behavior)
Each attitude + behavior has five elements = (AACTT Presseau et al., 2019) Action. Actor. Context. Target. Time.
The correspondence between attitudes and behavior will be greatest when both are measured at the same degree of specificity.
Attitude strength
Accessibility = accessibility attitudes can be recalled from memory more easily (Eagly & Chaiken (1998)
Temporal stability = Strong attitudes are resistant to change and, thus, stable over time (Petty & Krosnick (1995))
Basis of attitudes
Attitudes based on feelings are less likely to change over time
Personal importance
When something is important you put more effort into the attitude, topics that are more important to you tend to predict behaviour better.
Holland et al. 2002 Attitudes
= Attitudes are (inset your favorite definition). Attitudes typically have a relatively weak association with behaviour. The relationship between attitudes and behaviour depends on: Correspondence between (measures of) attitudes and behaviour. + Attitude strength.
The Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975)
Behavioral intention(1) + Subjective Norm(2)
The Theory of Reasoned Action Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975
Behavioral Intention (1)
are assumed to capture the motivational factors that influence behavior and to indicate “how hard people are willing to try, or how much effort they would exert to perform a behaviour”.
The Theory of Reasoned Action Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975
Subjective Norm (2)
What important others think about you performing the behavior. 2 components: 1- Beliefs about whether important others approve or disapprove of your performing the behavior. (My flat mates think that we should recycle our waste plastic.)
2- Motivation to comply (What my flat mates think is not important to me).
Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991)
Attitude/Subjective norm/Perceived control => intention => behavior
Perceived behavioral control (Planned behaviour)
People’s perceptions of their ability to perform a given behavior. Similar to self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977). (“I am confident that I could recycle 80% of my waste plastic over the next three months”)
Limitations of Planned Behavior
= Intentions do not always translate into behavior. The Intention-Behaviour Gap (Sheeran, 2002)
= the sufficiency assumption = The influence of other variables should be fully mediated by the specified social-cognitive variables. Are there additional variables that predict intentions and behaviour?
= Do people really engage in such a complex decision-making process?
Prediction is not the same as explanation.
