Week 2 - Attitudes Flashcards
Attitude
A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object or idea
Two ways of measuring attitudes
Direct - asking for attitudes, opinions, - Indirect, - covert
Self-report measures are susceptible to influence by (3)
- wording - context - honesty -> social desirability
Bogus Pipeline
A fake lie-detector device - increase accuracy of self-report measures and reduces social desirability bias
Examples of covert measures
- Overt behav
- Lost letter technique
- IAT
- EMG
Lost letter technique
- Milgram hid self-addressed envelopes around NYC with differing adressees (I.e John Smith or Nazi Support Group) in the 50s and counted how many returned (control vs nazi)
LaPiere hotel & restaurant study in 1934
1 out of 250 refused service - later 90 % said they would have refused service
(Researcher and Chinese American couple eating in hotels and restaurants)
Indicates that there is a mismatch between attitudes and behaviour - social desirability
1969 - meta analysis attitudes and behav corre.
only weakly correlated
1995 - Meta analysis attitudes and behav
“Attitudes predict future behaviour” under certain conditions
Factors influencing the link between attitudes and behaviour
1) context 2) strength
Context influence on attitudes and behav
1) Level of correspondence (Similarity) between behav and attitude
2) Theory of planned behav
Theory of planned behaviour
- attitudes affect behaviour as well as other factors; contextual subjective norm, and perceived behaviour control
- ^ influence the intention to perform behaviour < other factors influence this intention before leading to the actual behaviour
Ways strong attitudes are formed (4)
1) More informed
2) Direct, personal experience
3) Resistance to a personal message
4) Accessibility
When do attitudes predict behaviour?
When they are strong and specific
Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986)
Two routes - Central and peripheral
Three factors determining the route
1) The source
2) message
3) audience
Central Route of ELM
Think carefully about message; influenced by strength and quality (high likelihood of elaboration)
Peripheral Route of ELM
- Do not think carefully about message; influenced by superficial cues (low elaboration)
Heuristics - Peripheral Route (5)
1) Numbers and big words 2) corresponding values 3) famous or successful people 4) High consensus 5) sex
The source - effective speakers are determined by
credibility and likeability
Credibility is influenced by
how competent and trustworthy the speaker seems
Likeability is influenced by
similarity and physical attractiveness
Source vs message
Involvement: High vs low Argument: strong vs weak Source: Expert vs non-expert
Sleeper effect
Over time the credible source is less credible, and the less credible source seems more credible (Over time source no longer matters) - unless reminded of the source