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)
Evaluation
Process
Stimuli
Observable Inferred
Attitude
Cognition
Affect
Behavior
Observable
WHO
Communicator
Variables

Examples:

Credibility

Attractiveness

Status

Message
Variables

Examples:

Single personal
example
versus factual

Fear appeals

One-sided versus
two-sided
arguments

Repetition
Audience
Variables

Examples:

Knowledge

Personality
(e.g., self-esteem)

Pre-existing
attitudes

Gender
Basic factors that influence persuasion
What To Whom
Text (in favor
of fluoride)
versus
Factual
approach
Emotional
approach
Campaign For and Against Adding Fluoride to Drinking Water
(Against
fluoride)
Dont Put Rat
Poison in Your
Drinking Water
Which approach would be the most effective?
Text (in favor
of energy
conservation
in homes)
Campaign to Make Homes More Energy Efficient
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)
Give audience additional
information on how to
deal with their fear (e.g.,
where to go, when, why)
Self-esteem
Personal relevance
Perception of control
Influence of other
factors
Examples of Fear Mesages
Drunk driving

Drug Use

Seat Belt Use

Skin Cancer

Condom Use
Odds of negative outcome (low)

Time frame may be long between behavior and negative outcome

Abiliity fo control behavior (e.g., habit, addiction)
Why May They Not Work?
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
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
Leon Festinger
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
Attitude: Im not going to smoke cigarettes anymore)
Behavior: Smoke cigarettes
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 2
nd
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
Attitudes regarding marijuana legalization
More positive
views of
legalization

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
More Cognitive Dissonance Occurs When:
SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY
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
DARYL
BEM
Attutude
survey (on
environmental
issues
WEAK STRONG
Behavioral
survey (what
people actually
did about
environmental
issues
Attitude
survey (on
environmental
issues
Those with weak initial environmental
attitudes had their attitudes affected by
their responses to the behavior
questionnaire
SELF-PERCEPTION STUDY
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 Role of
Strength personal
Accessibility


Range of behaviors
assessed
BEVAVIOR
experience
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)

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
Message
Motivation to Process?
(e.g., relevance, need for
cognition, responsibility
Peripheral Cues
Present in Message?
(e.g., attractive source,
emotional content)
Peripheral
Processing
Ability to Process? (e.g.,
knowledge, distractions,
message comprehensibility)

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
No
Yes
No
Yes
~ ELM Detail ~
Relatively permanent attitudes,
More predictive of behavior

Keep initial
attitude
Yes
Low High
Low argument
quality
High argument
quality
Relevance Relevance
Low High High Low
STUDY OF
ELM
MODEL
If high perceived relevance exists, argument quality is most
important
Status of Presenter
Issue: To institute a comprehensive university exit exam
Behavioral Beliefs (beliefs about the
likely consequences of a behavior
and the evaluation of the
consequences
Normative Beliefs (beliefs
about the expectations of
other people and the
motivation to comply with
these expectations)
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)
Attitude toward the behavior (the
specific attitude toward a behavior,
favorable or unfavorable)
Subjective norms (beliefs
about how other people will
view a behavior; social pressure)
Perceived behavioral control
(ease with which people believe
they
can perform the behavior)
Behavioral
Intention
Behavior
Actual behavior
control
~THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR~
Beliefs
Behavioral Beliefs (beliefs
about the likely consequences
of a behavior and the
evaluation of the possible
outcomes
Normative Beliefs (beliefs
about the expectations of
other people and the
motivation to comply with
these expectations)
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)
Predicting the use of birth-control pills; An example
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
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
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
Beliefs
Attitude toward the behavior
(the specific attitude toward a
behavior, favorable or
unfavorable)
Subjective norms (beliefs
about how other people will
view a behavior; social pressure)
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
Most of my close friends are using birth control pills
Definitely untrue _______________________ Definitely true
For me, taking birth control pills regularly is:
Extremely valuable_______________________ Worthless
B ~ BI = w1AB + w2 SN + w3 PC
Behavioral
Intention
I plan on taking birth control pills regularly
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
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
~ Some Shortcomings the Theory of Planned Behavior ~
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