Definition of Attitude

Originally meant as indicating physical properties such as a position of the body, figure, or statue. Later, in aeronautics, it refers to orientation of an aircraft relative to the horizon. Leaning Stance Position Direction

A more current definition of attitude --A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor *

* From: Eagley and Chaiken (1993). The Psychology of Attitudes.

Components of Attitudes
A) Affective (Emotional) B) Behavioral C) Cognitive (Thinking)

Process

Observable

Inferred

Observable
Cognition

Stimuli

Attitude

Affect Behavior

Evaluation

Basic factors that influence persuasion

WHO
Communicator Variables Examples: Credibility Attractiveness Status

What
Message Variables Examples: Single personal example versus factual Fear appeals

To Whom
Audience Variables Examples: Knowledge Personality (e.g., self-esteem) Pre-existing attitudes Gender

One-sided versus two-sided arguments

Repetition

Campaign For and Against Adding Fluoride to Drinking Water

Dont Put Rat Poison in Your Drinking Water

Text (in favor of fluoride)

versus

(Against fluoride)
Factual approach Which approach would be the most effective? Emotional approach

Campaign to Make Homes More Energy Efficient

Text (in favor of energy conservation in homes)

Factual approach

Emotional approach

Which approach would be the most effective?

Fear Appeals
Do they work?
Create a lot of fear in the message (within ethical limits)

Influence of other factors Self-esteem

Personal relevance
Give audience additional information on how to deal with their fear (e.g., where to go, when, why) Perception of control

Examples of Fear Mesages

Drunk driving Drug Use Seat Belt Use Skin Cancer Condom Use Why May They Not Work? Odds of negative outcome (low) Time frame may be long between behavior and negative outcome

Abiliity fo control behavior (e.g., habit, addiction)

Traditional Persuasion Techniques

A) Greater rewards lead to more responses

B) Greater punishment leads to less responses

C) Use of "credible" sources (experts, authority figures)

D) Use of conformity paradigms (e.g., Asch, Sherif)

Some Weaknesses of Traditional Persuasion Approachs

A) Effects not very strong

B) Short-term effects

C) Limited to less important issues

Leon Festinger

THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE (1957)

BASIC HYPOTHESIS The existence of dissonance, being psychologically uncomfortable, will motivate the person to try and reduce the dissonance and achieve consonance

Attitude

Behavior inconsistent with the attitude

Creation of dissonance

Attitude: Im not going to smoke cigarettes anymore) Behavior: Smoke cigarettes

Some Options
1) Change behavior (e.g., Throw pack away)
2) Change cognitions (e.g., Smoking isnt all that bad; I dont really smoke that much)

3) Add supporting cognitions (e.g., Smoking relaxes me it helps

me think better

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE FESTINGER & CARLSMITH (1$ - $20 Study)

Perform boring task

Asked to tell participant that the task was interesting

$1

$20

Rate task

Which group rated the task as more interesting after lying, those paid $1 or $20? Key is lack of sufficient external justification for ones behavior

TOY STUDY
Children rate desirability of toys

Told not to play with the most desirable toy

MILD THREAT

SEVERE THREAT

Children did not play with the desired toy

Children rate the desirability of the toys a 2nd time after not playing with the desired
Which group viewed the desirable toy most attractive?

ATTITUDES REGARDING MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

Original belief = No

Asked to give speech opposite of their attitude (for legalization)

Speech watched by research team

Told speech taped and would be shown to high school students

More positive views of legalization

Attitudes regarding marijuana legalization

More Cognitive Dissonance Occurs When:

1) Choice is involved 2) Commitment has been made 3) Individuals are responsible for any consequences of their behavior (and if the consequences could be anticipated) 4) Negative consequences are believed to be likely to occur

5) Ones self-concept is involved

SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY
DARYL BEM

Internal States (e.g., So-called private stimuli, physiological) Gross evaluation (e.g., I feel happy; I feel sad

Use of external social cues for precise discriminations (e.g., other peoples behavior or ones own actions, statements, thoughts)

Attitudes formed

SELF-PERCEPTION STUDY

Attutude survey (on environmental issues

Behavioral survey (what people actually did about environmental issues

Attitude survey (on environmental issues

WEAK

STRONG

Those with weak initial environmental attitudes had their attitudes affected by their responses to the behavior questionnaire

Do Changing Attitudes Lead to Changes in Behavior?

Norms regarding proper behavior in a given situation (& consequences)

Availability or absence of alternatives

Extraneous events

Factors Affecting The Consistency of Attitudes and Behaviors

ATTITUDES Specific Strength Accessibility Role of personal experience

BEVAVIOR Range of behaviors assessed

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

Central Processing Peripheral Processing

In-Depth Thought; Detailed Analyses of Information

Lazy Thinking; Superficial Analyses of Information

Ability (IQ, knowledge base, distracters, message complexity)

Motivation (e.g., personal relevance)

~ ELM Detail ~
Motivation to Process? (e.g., relevance, need for cognition, responsibility
Yes Ability to Process? (e.g., knowledge, distractions, message comprehensibility) Yes

Message
No Peripheral Cues Present in Message? (e.g., attractive source, emotional content) Yes Peripheral Processing

No Keep initial attitude

Nature of Cognitive Processing

Favorable thoughts Unfavorable thoughts Neutral thoughts

Cognitive Structure Change (e.g., new thoughts stored in memory)

Central positive attitude change Central negative attitude change

Relatively permanent attitudes, More predictive of behavior

Issue: To institute a comprehensive university exit exam

STUDY OF ELM MODEL

Low
Low argument quality High argument quality

Status of Presenter
Low High

Relevance
High

Relevance
Low High

If high perceived relevance exists, argument quality is most important

~THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR~

Beliefs
Behavioral Beliefs (beliefs about the likely consequences of a behavior and the evaluation of the consequences Attitude toward the behavior (the specific attitude toward a behavior, favorable or unfavorable)

Normative Beliefs (beliefs about the expectations of other people and the motivation to comply with these expectations)

Subjective norms (beliefs about how other people will view a behavior; social pressure)

Behavioral Intention

Behavior

Control Beliefs (beliefs about the existence of factors that may help or hinder the performance of a behavior and the perceived power of these factors)

Perceived behavioral control (ease with which people believe they can perform the behavior)

Actual behavior control

Predicting the use of birth-control pills; An example

Beliefs
Behavioral Beliefs (beliefs about the likely consequences of a behavior and the evaluation of the possible outcomes My taking the pill regularly will reduce my chances of becoming pregnant: Extremely unlikely _____________________ Extremely Likely Reducing my chances of becoming pregnant is: Extremely bad _______________________ Extremely good

Normative Beliefs (beliefs about the expectations of other people and the motivation to comply with these expectations)

My close friends believe that I should __________________________________ I should not

take birth control pills.

On average, I really care what my close friends thinks I should do. Not at all _________________________________ Very much

Control Beliefs (beliefs about the existence of factors that may help or hinder the performance of a behavior and the perceived power of these factors)

I forget to do some very important activities. Very rarely _______________________________ Very often My forgetfulness would make it very difficult for me to remember to take birth control pills Definitely not true _______________________ Definitely true

Attitude toward the behavior (the specific attitude toward a behavior, favorable or unfavorable)

For me, taking birth control pills regularly is: Extremely valuable_______________________ Worthless

Subjective norms (beliefs about how other people will view a behavior; social pressure)

Most of my close friends are using birth control pills Definitely untrue _______________________ Definitely true

Perceived behavioral control (ease with which people believe they can perform the behavior)

For me to be able to take a birth control pill on a regular basis would be: Impossible ___________________ Possible

B ~ BI = w1AB + w2 SN + w3 PC

 I plan on taking birth control pills regularly

Behavioral Intention

Definitely not true ______________________ Definitely true I will make every effort to take birth control pills regularly Definitely not true ______________________ Definitely true Behavior

Regularly taking birth control pills or not

~ Some Shortcomings the Theory of Planned Behavior ~

Role of past behavior and habits Focus on the prediction of individual behavior; what about the role of others (e.g., cooperation), obtaining resources not possessed by an individual Assumption that people engage in elaborate cognitions before behaving Role of self-identity and/or moral obligations

Attitude Inoculation
Small (weak) doses of arguments against ones position

Larger, stronger arguments given later

Less likely to change ones attitudes (more able to fight off the stronger attack; received an inoculation earlier)

Advertising --- Product Placement

Quite frequent (e.g., greater than 40 products displayed in the move Iron Man)

Why can this approach work?

Defenses are down (do not recognize our attitudes are being manipulated) Failure to generate counterarguments

Reactance Theory
Persuasion messages, if too strong, can lead to a boomerang effect Why? Belief than our freedom is being threatened DO NOT write on these walls under any circumstances** Versus PLEASE DONT write on these walls ** Significantly more graffiti writing on walls with the stern message