Attitude Formation

Attitudes


  

Evaluations of various aspects of the social world The extent to which we hold positive/negative reactions to issues, ideas, persons, etc. More enduring than passing preferences Highly resistant to change Long history of psychological study


e.g., Allport, 1924

Why are attitudes important?



Attitudes strongly influence two major aspects of our lives:



Social thought the way we think about social information Social behavior e.g., protesting, voting, interpersonal relations We hold attitudes about virtually all topics Range from major to minor issues

Attitudes are pervasive:

 

We have attitudes about

Attitude formation
 

Most attitudes become solidified during teen years and early adulthood Social learning: Acquiring new information, forms of behaviour, and attitudes from other persons We are influenced by the people around us:


friends, family, co-workers, etc. coClassical conditioning Instrumental conditioning Observational learning

Types of social learning:

  

Classical conditioning
 

Based on association One stimulus becomes a signal for a second stimulus E.g., Pavlov s dogs: bell eventually became a signal for food and produced salivating Attitudes may form in a similar fashion

Classical conditioning


Initially, the bell is paired with food to produce salivating Eventually, the food is no longer required to produce salivating Similarly, a certain person may be paired with a negative reaction by a parent, leading to the child becoming upset Eventually, the negative reaction is no longer required to make the child upset

Classical conditioning
Initially  Parent s reaction = unconditioned stimulus  Upset child = unconditioned response Over time  Person X = conditioned stimulus  Upset child = conditioned response

Classical conditioning
food bell parent s negative reaction salivating

person X

child upset

Classical conditioning
food bell parent s negative reaction salivating

person X

Child upset

Classical conditioning


The initial conditioning behavior must occur several times Classical conditioning can occur unconsciously (i.e., without awareness) subliminal conditioning E.g., during a TV commercial: photos of positive images flashed for a very brief period of time Over time, the product in the commercial becomes paired with positive feelings

Instrumental learning
  

Also called operant conditioning Rewards and punishments Strengthening of responses that lead to:
 

positive outcomes avoidance of negative outcomes

Instrumental learning


If a child is praised for holding a certain attitude, they will be more likely to continue holding this attitude On the other hand, punishment leads to rejecting attitudes Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement

Instrumental conditioning


Explains why:


Children may have attitudes about topics they do not fully understand (e.g., politics) Children and adults hold similar attitudes up until teen years Subsequently, teens begin to evaluate attitudes independent of parents reactions

Observational learning
 

Learning by example Attitudes may be transmitted unintentionally by parents Child may observe their parent smoking, which may lead to a positive attitude towards smoking Child may overhear a certain attitude being conveyed by a parent that they were not meant to hear

Observational learning
 

Attitudes also learned from media Individuals want to imitate the people around them, or people they look up to Observational learning is evident in trends


E.g., attitudes towards clothes, etc.

Social comparison
 

  

Festinger (1954) We compare ourselves to others in order to determine whether our view of social reality is correct or incorrect If our attitudes match those of others, then we must be correct (desirable) Thus, we often change our attitudes to conform with those of other people (e.g., friends) Occurs even if you had no previous experience with the topic

Maio, Esses, & Bell (1994)

   

Participants learned of a (fictitious) group of people the Camarians Told that many Camarians were applying to immigrate to Canada Received either positive or negative ratings of Camarians from England raters After receiving negative ratings, participants less likely to give positive ratings of Camarians or support their immigration Why? Participants motivated to be similar to England raters (want to be correct)

Cultural factors: The study of Values



Cultural differences in attitudes are often examined by focusing on cultural values: values:


principles of life that include moral beliefs and our standards of conduct

Differ from attitudes in that they are broader, more abstract Like attitudes, values convey what is important in our lives

Values


Ten types (Schwartz, 1992):

Power Achievement Hedonism Stimulation Self-direction SelfUniversalism Benevolence Tradition Conformity Security

E.g., value of security relates to various attitudes (e.g., war, gun control, expectations of privacy, etc.)

The stability of values



There are typically no sex differences in values The same values are found across cultures


e.g., Schwartz s ten values

People s value preferences tend to remain constant over time

Values, behaviour and culture

 

Values predict attitudes, which predict behaviour Like attitudes, values can be culturally transmitted via social learning and shaped by social comparison at home/school/by friends E.g. Western cultures value individualism more so than Eastern cultures

Canadian/American differences


Canadians value equality more so than freedom, Americans are opposite but both values are regarded highly in both countries Canadians are more communitarian (community(community-minded) than Americans

Canadian trends


Temporal trends: Canadians values are shifting towards

  

(1) higher individualism, (2) devaluing of institutions, and (3) greater diversity (i.e., more diverse set of values, and greater acceptance of diversity)

However, these changes are very gradual, and more traditional values are still most popular

Genetic factors: Are attitudes inherited?



We typically think of physical characteristics such as height, eye color, etc. as inherited However, thought occurs within the brain, and brain structure is genetically influenced Studies have demonstrated that there is in fact a small genetic component in attitudes

Attitudes: Twin studies



 

The attitudes of identical twins are more common than those of non-identical twins or nonunrelated people Also true for twins raised apart Some attitudes are more heritable than others:


attitudes involving relatively basic topics (e.g., music) are more heritable than those involving more cognitive or abstract ideas (e.g., equality) more resistant to change more likely to influence behavior

Highly heritable attitudes are:

 

Personality factors
  

Personality traits tend to have a strong genetic component How does personality relate to attitudes and values? Roccas et al. (2002):

Personality trait Agreeableness Extraversion Conscientiousness Openness to Experience

Correlates with Benevolence, Tradition Achievement, Stimulation Achievement, Conformity SelfSelf-direction, Universalism

Other personality traits related to attitudes:



RightRight-wing authoritarianism
   

Deference to established authority Think in terms of in-groups and out-groups inoutNegative attitudes towards out-groups outSupport traditional values Desires superiority, dominance for their iningroup Negative attitudes towards out-groups outDo not value equality

Social dominance orientation



 

Summary: Attitude formation



Attitudes are evaluations of various aspects of the social world, which influence thought and behavior Attitudes may be formed via classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, observational learning, or social comparison Once formed, attitudes tend to be highly resistant to change Cultural, genetic, and personality factors are all highly relevant to attitudes Next lecture: Attitudes and behavior

Topic 1: Attitudes

Attitudes and Behaviour

Lecture #2 of 3 Kevin M. Williams July, 2005

Attitudes and behaviour

 

Why is it important to study attitudes? Presumably, attitudes are a strong predictor of actual behaviour but does scientific research support this claim?

Attitudes predict behaviour:



Research has demonstrated that attitudes predict a multitude of behaviours, including:

     

churchchurch-going behaviour (Rokeach, 1968) contraceptive use (Sheeran et al., 1999) classroom cheating (Whitley, 2001) voting (Britt, 2003) dieting (Conner et al., 2003) sexual assault (Malamuth, 2003)

When attitudes don t predict behaviour:



 

Other researchers have argued that attitudes do not predict behaviour (e.g., Wicker, 1969) e.g.: LaPiere (1934) Traveled around the US with a Chinese couple, stopping at restaurants, hotels, etc. (250 locations in total) Received polite service from almost every location

When attitudes don t predict behaviour:



Afterwards, LaPiere wrote back to these establishments and asked them if they would offer service to Chinese visitors Of those that responded, over 90% stated that they would NOT serve Chinese customers Thus, attitudes clearly unrelated to behaviour in this example

When attitudes don t predict behaviour:



Similar findings have been made in subsequent studies (e.g., Wicker, 1969) Attitudes unrelated to:


ProPro-environmental behavior (Kasapoglu and Ecevit, 2002) Risky sexual behavior (Shearer et al., 2005)

Attitudes and behavior



So when and how do attitudes actually predict behavior? There appear to be two important factors:
 

(1) aspects of the situation (2) aspects of the attitudes themselves

When attitudes predict behaviour: Situational factors



Situational constraints:


 

Factors that prevent us from expressing attitudes in overt behavior Situations where me must be polite Places where we are expected to be quiet, respectful Situations where it is important for us to make a certain impression

Situational constraints


There are many examples of situations that constrain our behaviour:

In each of these examples, society dictates that we act in a certain manner, and we may not be able to reveal our true attitudes

Choosing situations


Situations influence the attitude-behaviour attitudelink, but our attitudes predict the situations we enter into We tend to prefer situations where we are free to express our attitudes openly We prefer to surround ourselves with other people who share our attitudes

Aspects of attitudes: Attitude origins



Aspects of attitudes themselves also affect when attitudes influence behavior Attitude origins: origins:


Attitudes formed on the basis of direct experience (as opposed to ones we may overhear from other people) are more likely to influence behavior Attitudes with these origins are stronger and more accessible (easier to bring to mind)

Attitude strength
 

Attitude strength: strength:



Stronger attitudes are more likely to predict behavior Intensity (strength of emotional reaction) Knowledge (of the attitude object) Importance (extent to which the person cares deeply about the attitude and is personally affected by it)

Several components to strength:

  

 

Vested interest is related to importance (i.e., relevance, important personal consequences) Higher vested interest = more likely to influence behavior

Attitude specificity


Attitude specificity: specificity:



extent to which attitudes are focused on specific objects or situations rather than on general ones

Attitudes predict behaviors to the extent that the two are measured at the same level of specificity E.g., going to religious services is more strongly associated to service-going attitudes than to servicegeneral attitudes towards religion

Triandis Attitude-Behaviour Model Attitude

Attitudes contain three components, which influence one s intention to act: 1) Perceived consequences of action (C):


Will be the effects of my action be positive? Will this action produce positive emotions? e.g., Do I have a social obligation to act?

2) Affect evoked by the action (A):



3) Social factors (S):



Triandis Attitude-Behaviour Model Attitude

These three aspects are summed to predict Behavioural Intention (I):

Consequences (C) + Affect (A) + Social Factors (S)

Behavioural Intention (I)

How attitudes influence behaviour



  

Theory of planned behaviour: individuals behaviour: consider the implications of their actions before deciding to perform various behaviors Also called the theory of reasoned action A rational process that is goal-oriented and goalfollows a logical sequence We consider our behavioral options, evaluate the consequences/outcomes of each, and reach a decision as to how to act or not to act This decision is reflected in our behavioral intentions (our intentions to act a certain way)

Theory of planned behavior: Example



You are considering getting a piercing or tattoo You will likely ask three questions to yourself:


1) what are my attitudes towards this behavior? 2) how will other people react to this behavior? (subjective norms) 3) how easy/difficult will this behaviour be to accomplish? (perceived behavioural control)

Theory of planned behavior

Attitudes

Subjective norms Perceived control

Behavioral Intentions

Behaviour

Attitudes and immediate behaviours



What about when we don t have time to consider these factors or we act impulsively? Attitude-toAttitude-to-behaviour process model


a more automatic process

The process is initiated when a situation activates an attitude thus the attitude becomes more accessible

Attitude-toAttitude-to-behavior process model



E.g., you typically don t think about your attitude towards panhandling until you are confronted by a panhandler Once activated, the attitude influences your perceptions of the attitude object Knowledge of social norms is also activated (i.e., you may politely so sorry, no change to the panhandler rather than yell and swear at them) Together, the newly-accessed attitude and the newlysocial norms influence behavior

Gender or culture differences in the attitudeattitude-behaviour link?

  

Limited evidence Blanchard et al. (2003): Exercise behaviour For students of European heritage, the attitudeattitudebehaviour link is stronger for females For students of African heritage, the attitudeattitudebehaviour link is stronger for males More research is necessary

Summary: Attitudes and Behaviour



Although attitudes tend be strongly related to behaviour, the link is not always that clear When attitudes influence behaviour depends on:
 

Aspects of the situation The attitudes themselves

How attitudes influence behaviour is explained by:

 

the theory of planned behaviour the attitude-to-behavior process model attitude-to-

Next lecture: how attitudes can be changed, and what happens when our attitudes differ from our behaviour

Topic 1: Attitudes

Attitude Change and AttitudeAttitude-Behaviour Discrepancies

Lecture #3 of 3 Kevin M. Williams July, 2005

Persuasion


Evidence suggests that attitudes are very stable and resistant to change Persuasion = attempts to change someone s attitudes but what makes a persuasion effective?

Hovland s Three Component Model



There are three components involved in persuasion: Source

y

The communicator The communication The audience (can be a person or group)

Message
y

Target
y

The communicator


Various aspects of the communicator increase their persuasiveness:



Credibility


expertise, trustworthiness, sincerity good looks, popularity, likeability rapid speech suggests expertise

Attractiveness


Speaks rapidly


The message


Similarly, aspects of the message increase its persuasiveness:



NonNon-obvious persuasion


seems like the goal of the message is apparently not to influence especially if the audience is knowledgeable about the issues refute an opponent s perspective e.g., use of fear is effective if the level is moderate and ways to avoid the feared situation are included

Present both sides of the issue

 

Arousing emotion


The audience


Finally, aspects of the audience are also important Research suggests that some audiences are easier to influence:
 

Low/moderate self-esteem selfYounger age groups



i.e., less than 25 yrs old

How does attitude change occur?

     

A cognitive approach The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM): Petty & Cacioppo, 1990 Persuasion can occur in either of two different ways: Central route: route:


systematic processing of information message content use of persuasion cues: information concerning the cues: status or expertise of the persuader

Peripheral route: route:



ELM: A tale of two routes



Peripheral route relies on heuristic processing: processing: mental shortcuts ( rules of thumb )
 

low cognitive effort e.g., experts can be trusted

Central route requires more cognitive effort

Central vs. Peripheral routes



Decision to use central vs. peripheral depends on our mental capacity and our motivation We tend to use the central route when:
 

 

We are knowledgeable about the subject We have sufficient ability/time to engage in careful thought We are highly motivated Issue is important to us

Applications of ELM


Persuaders tend to target the peripheral route b/c it is more conducive to attitude change


e.g., attractive spokespersons, well-dressed, wellwellwellspoken (as opposed to message content)

When a topic is unimportant, the arguments related to message/content have virtually no impact on persuasion


Because the audience is using the peripheral route

People are more easily persuaded when they are distracted



capacity to process info is limited, thus audience adopts heuristic processing

LongLong-term effects of ELM



Attitude change via peripheral route is more effective initially, but Attitudes that are changed via the central route seem to last longer than those changed via the peripheral route (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) Central route persuasion is also more resistant to subsequent change (Petty et al., 1994) Central route attitudes are more closely linked to behavior Central route attitudes are stronger

Cultural values and persuasion cues

 

Han & Shavitt, 1994 North American, European magazines contain advertisements with more individualistic slogans
  

individuality selfself-reliance competition

Eastern Asian magazines contain more collectivistic slogans

 

family/group well-being wellharmony

Ad slogans


Individualistic slogans:
  

A leader among leaders She s got a style all her own You, only better Sharing is beautiful The dream of prosperity for all of us Successful partnerships

Collectivistic slogans:
  

Do these differences matter?

 

Han & Shavitt (1994) also found that: American subjects were more persuaded by individualistic ads Korean subjects were more persuaded by collectivist ads Thus, cultural factors play an important role in persuasion

Resisting persuasion


Despite the fact that we are constantly exposed to persuasion attempts (e.g., ads) our attitudes tend to remain stable Why? Some main reasons:
    

Reactance Forewarning Selective avoidance Biased assimilation Attitude polarization

Reactance


Our negative reaction to perceiving that our personal freedom is being threatened Occurs anytime we feel that a persuader is simply trying to get us to do what they say Extreme reactance leads to negative attitude change:


we do the opposite of what the persuader is asking

   

Advance knowledge that someone is going to try to persuade us We are less likely to be persuaded if forewarning is present Being caught off guard makes persuasion more effective Why? Advance knowledge of persuasion allows us to build up our defenses :
 

Forewarning

form counterarguments recall relevant info and facts from memory

Forewarning is especially useful at resisting persuasion when the topic is personally important

Selective avoidance
    

Tendency to direct attention away from information that challenges existing attitudes e.g., changing the TV channel on when we encounter something we don t agree with The opposite also occurs: pay more attention to information that supports our views Together, these two processes are called selective exposure Not only is this method used as a defense against attitude change, but it is also a strong method of reinforcing our existing attitudes

Biased assimilation


Evaluating information that disconfirms our existing views as less convincing or reliable than information that confirms our views e.g., gun owners evaluate gun control research as poor quality; pro-gun research proas high quality People who dislike guns make the opposite evaluations, even though both parties read the same research

Attitude polarization


 

Tendency to evaluate mixed evidence in such a way as to strengthen our initial views and make them more extreme People pick out the aspects of the evidence that confirm their existing attitudes Why? One reason: people tend to react negatively (e.g., annoyance, contempt) to information that conflicts with their own attitudes One consequence is of these negative reactions is the hostile media bias:


perceiving that the source of conflicting information is biased

Cognitive dissonance = an unpleasant internal state that results when individuals notice inconsistency between:
  

Changing our own attitudes: Cognitive dissonance

two or more attitudes, or between attitudes and behaviour i.e., being hypocritical situations in which we are forced by circumstances to say/do something that contradicts our attitudes

e.g., Induced compliance (forced compliance):



Often, behaving in ways that are inconsistent with our attitudes causes us to change our attitudes Attitude change decreases the discrepancy and thus reduces negative affect

How do we reduce dissonance?

   

There are direct and indirect modes of reducing dissonance Three direct modes of reducing dissonance: 1) actual change of attitudes/behavior so that they are consistent 2) acquiring new info i.e, that is consistent with attitudes or actions that seem inconsistent at first 3) trivialization minimizing the importance of the inconsistency by minimizing the importance of the attitude or behavior

Indirect strategies


Indirect strategies leave the discrepancy intact but reduce the unpleasant internal state i.e., making ourselves feel better while ignoring the discrepancy Indirect strategies more likely to be used when the discrepancy involves important attitudes

SelfSelf-affirmation


One indirect strategy for reducing cognitive dissonance is self-affirmation: self

restoring positive self-evaluations that are threatened by the selfdissonance

SelfSelf-affirmation is accomplished by focusing on positive selfself-attributes (i.e., good things about yourself) e.g., I broke my diet today, but I m still a healthy person in general Other indirect strategies:
  

drinking alcohol engaging in distracting activities simple expressions of positive affect (e.g., smiling)

The Less-Leads-to-More Effect Less-Leads-to

If there are strong reasons for behaving in ways that contradict our attitudes:
 

Dissonance will be low or non-existent nonNo motivation to make our attitudes match our behaviour

But, if there is no good reason for your countercounterattitudinal behaviour:

 

Dissonance will be strong Strong motivation to make our attitudes match our behaviour

Hence, the Less-Leads-to-More effect Less-Leads-to-

The Less-Leads-to-More Effect Less-Leads-toGood reason for hypocritical behaviour Low Dissonance small attitude change

No good reason for hypocritical behaviour

High Dissonance

LARGE attitude change

The Less-Leads-to-More Effect Less-Leads-to

The Less-Leads-to-More effect occurs only under Less-Leads-tocertain conditions:



Person believes they have a choice as to whether or not to perform the attitude-discrepant behavior attitudeSmall rewards lead to greater attitude change only when person believes that they are personally responsible for both the chosen course of action and any negative effects it produces Occurs only when person perceives the reward they receive as a well-deserved payment for their action, wellnot as a bribe

Using dissonance for the forces of good



 

Dissonance can be used to produce beneficial changes in behaviour e.g., promoting non-smoking, seat-belt use, etc. nonseatDissonance especially useful when used to generate feelings of hypocrisy


publicly advocating some attitude or behavior and then acting in a way that is inconsistent with this attitude or behavior

For example

Public attitude-behaviour attitudediscrepancies

January 1998 August 1998

I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

Oops.

Public attitude-behaviour attitudediscrepancies

March 2005 July 2005

I have never used steroids. Period.

Oops.

Dissonance and beneficial behaviour change



For this strategy to work, several conditions must exist:



persons in question must publicly advocate the desired behaviors must be induced to think about their own failures to show these behaviors in the past must be given access to direct means for reducing their dissonance

Does dissonance actually work in promoting beneficial behaviour?



Dissonance theories suggest that when discrepancies are public, the dissonance should be so strong that indirect methods of reducing it will not work Research has demonstrated that dissonance is effective in promoting safesafesex behavior

 

Aspects of the three main elements of persuasion communicator, message, communicator, message, and audience influence the effectiveness of persuasion The Elaboration Likelihood Model states two routes to persuasion: central or peripheral Peripheral is more effective initially, but central produces more lasting changes Cultural factors are important in persuasion We use several strategies to resist persuasion, including reactance and selective avoidance Cognitive dissonance motivates us to resolve attitudeattitudebehaviour discrepancies, using either direct or indirect strategies

Summary: Attitude change and attitudeattitude-behaviour discrepancies