Attitudes

Attitude - a predisposition to respond in a favorable or unfavorable manner toward a specific class of social objects

Three components:

cognitive - beliefs about the attitude object/ criterial (attributes that define a category) and non-criterial (attributes that falsely define a category);

affective - emotions or feelings about the attitude object lead to positive or negative evaluation of the att. obj.; conative - behavioral component/ "the predisposition to respond", behaviors reflect beliefs and feeelings.

Functional Hypothesis: we hold onto an attitude as long as it serves a function (Smith, Bruner, White (1956)) and Katz)

Major functions attitudes serve:

1. Object Appraisal - the knowledge function/ attitudes serve as a frame of reference helping us to size up an event or object. Without attitudes every new situation would have to be approached from scratch. With attitudes we have already developed categories (cognitive economy).

2.Social Adjustment function - attitudes help us to discriminate ourselves from others and to identify with a group and to gain group approval ( the social demand function).

3. Externalization - ego-defensive function/ our attitudes often help us to deal with inner psychological problems to protect ourselves from disturbing self-knowledge. Projection and displacement, repression and denial.

4. Value-expressive function (Katz) attitudes help in the expression of our own self concept and are a central part of our self-concept.

Attitudes and Attitude Change

Is there a relationship between attitudes and behavior? Can we predict how someone will behave if we know his/her attitudes?

LaPiere - Chinese couple taken to hotels and restaurants throughout the USA, the couple was served; later wrote and asked what their policies were toward serving Chinese, the majority said that they did not serve Chinese. LaP. concluded that there is no relationship between atts and behavior (problems?)

Geen - posed as a representative of a publishing firm needed to take pictures that would be published in college texts . Ss were shown photos of two people varying in intimacy: "equality in a public situation and fairly intimate heterosexual relationship". For each pose there was a version with 2 whites or a white and a black. Ss were asked "how willing are you to pose" and if they were willing they were to sign release form. In one condition, the release said that the photos would be used in texts in the Peace Corps in Africa; in the other condition, they would be used in the US (widely distributed).

One week later, Ss completed an attitude scale and their behavioral responses were compared with their attitudes towards African Americans.

Findings?

Behavior is complex and multidetermined; Weigle and Newman propose that when looking at the att-beh relationship, one must have several behavioral measures relevant to the particular attitude - specific behaviors and specific attitudes

Fishbein says that we have to consider "multiple act criteria"; many behaviors taken together reflect a particular attitude.

Fishbein and Ajzen (1974) had Ss check which of 100 religious behaviors they engage in; then Ss took an attitude scale on religion. Found:

In another study on atts. toward environmental quality, Ss were given different opportunities to demonstrate their pro-environmental attitudes:

1)surveys given

2)3 months later Ss were contacted and given 3 opportunities to participate in a variety of env'tal projects

Findings: "att-beh correspondence increased as the scope of the behavioral measure is broadened"

Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen)

Behaviors are carried out for reasons, people think about consequences and make deliberate choices. To facilitate behavioral prediction:

1)att. measures should focus on the beliefs and feelings about engaging in a particular behavior rather than beliefs and feelings about objects

2)attempt to specify other variables which should be measured along with attitudes toward the act; personal and social norms pertinent to the behavior and the person's motivation to comply with these norms

The behavioral intention is based on the att. toward performing the behavior (evaluation or feeling about the behavior); social norm or pressures to perform or not to perform; perceived behavioral control - capability of carrying out the behavior; motivation to comply with social norms

Manstead, Profitt, and Smart (1983) 200 pregnant women/ attitudes toward breast feeding and their probability of breast feeding;

1) behavioral beliefs

2) evaluation of the consequences of ....

3) what does your husband think, your mother, your friends with babies?

4) what do you intend doing?

5) 6 weeks following, behavior was measured

Finding: behavioral belief and social norms correlated with actual behavior

Abelson = "we are very well trained and good at finding reasons for what we do , but not very good at doing what we find reasons for". Will an attitude inferred from past behavior better predict future behaviors than an attitude formed on the basis of non-behavioral experience with the attitude object? Research has found that attitudes based on direct behavioral experience with the attitude object are more predictive of subsequent behaviors:

Direct Experience

the method through which someone forms an attitude is a crucial determinant in attitude-behavior consistency;

Cornell Housing Study (Regan and Fazio) - students put into temporary quarters for 2 mos. (dorm lobbies); took attitude measures and behavioral measure. Findings?

Effect of Pornography on changing attitudes - asked Ss to estimate the numbers of US adults performing several sexual acts following exposure to massive amounts, intermediate amounts, or no porno movies. Findings?

Individual differences - the extent to which attitudes reflect past behaviors differs for individuals. High vs. low self-monitors.

Low self-monitors exhibit greater att-beh consistency. Individuals who consider their behavior to reflect their attitudes ; who infer their atts from their past behaviors and whose past behaviors have been sufficiently consistent to allow a clear inference to be drawn will express atts. that are strongly predictive of their behavior. Ss who fail to meet one or both of these criteria will manifest low att-beh relationships.

Attitude Accessibility

If an attitude is accessible, it is more likely to affect behavior. If it is in working memory. How do we make an attitude accessible?

Schema accessibility - concepts that are most likely to influence judgments are those that are accessible

People interpret new information in ways consistent with their beliefs and attitudes (selective attention);

Watergate hearings - McGovernites paid more attention

other issues / How do you think direct experience correlates with this?

Fazio and Williams (1986) the analyze your reasons study.

Interviewed Ss about political candidates; attitude accessibility was measured by how long it took people to answer. 2 months later the Ss received a letter with questions concerning the candidate's performance in a debate. One day after the election, asked how they voted.

Findings: the relationship between actual behavior (voting) and attitudes was stronger for Ss whose attitudes were more accessible.

The evidence "to support the idea that underlying attitudes predict behavior " is weak; however, the behavior to attitude relationship is strong. Theories of attitude change demonstrate that we will change our attitudes to be consistent with "freely performed behaviors".

THEORIES OF ATTITUDE CHANGE

a ) Consistency Theories of Attitude Change

Critical condition for attitude change is to introduce inconsistency between a given attitude and a behavior or an attitude and another attitude. Sensitize the individual to the inconsistencies.

General idea - people tend to want to maintain coherence or consistency among their beliefs, feelings, and actions.

1) Balance Theory (Fritz Heider) perception of consistency between the person/ the other/ and the attitude object (POX)

2) Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger)

Cognitions exist in three relationships:

1. Consonant (consistent)

2. Dissonant (inconsistent)

3. Irrelevant

I am a patriot. I am a soldier.

I am a pacifist. I am a soldier.

I am a patriot. I like chocolate.

Core - dissonance is a negative drive state which occurs whenever one holds two or more cognitions that are inconsistent (the opposite of one follows from the other). Dissonance occurs when the outcome of an event is aversive, the event is likely to occur, when you have freedom of action, and when you assume personal responsibility.

Since dissonance is uncomfortable, people try to reduce it by:

1. adding consonant cognitions

2. by changing one or both cognitions to make them more consistent (increasing cognitive overlap)'

3. revoking the decision

4. by lowering the importance of the dissonant cognitions

"Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal"

Scher and Cooper (1989) dissonance and the motivation to reduce it comes from feelings of responsibility for the negative outcomes:

They had Ss write essays for or against their own views, the topic was to increase student fees. All Ss were told that their essay would be shown to a policy committee. The impact of the essays was varied:

Group 1 was told that their essays will be influential on the actions of the committee in the direction of the essay

Group 2 was told that their essay would be influential in the direction opposite that proposed by the essay.

Measured Ss attitudes toward raising fees.

Findings: ?

The magnitude of dissonance felt is a function of three variables:

1) importance of each of the cognitions

2) the number of dissonant and consonant cognitions that exist for a person at a given point in time. The greater the ratio of dissonant to consonant cognitions, the greater the dissonance felt

3) cognitive overlap - refers to the equivalence of the objects or activities represented by each cognitive element. Functionally similar objects or activities have a lot of overlap and therefore cause less dissonance. The amount of dissonance felt is inversely related to the amount of overlap.

Circumstances which cause dissonance to occur:

Free choice decision making - choosing between two attractive alternatives (buying a car). If the alternatives are nearly equal in quality, dissonance occurs after a decision is made. The less justification one has in making the choice, the greater the dissonance felt.

Lying - Festinger's famous $1/$20 study - Ss who were asked to lie about a boring task (saying it was not boring) later said they liked the task and found it interesting if they did not have sufficient external justification for lying.

Severe initiation (Aronson) when an initiate undergoes a particularly painful initiation to become a member of a group, his/her perception of the initiation is dissonant with feelings that joining the group is not worth the trouble. As a result, the person increases the attractiveness of the group (increasing consonant cognitions) and reduces his/ her negative cognitions. Through this rationalization, we become loyal members of the group. "You learn to love what you suffer for"

Aronson's severe initiation study with coeds (duck's sex lives).

Justification of effort if you work hard toward a goal it becomes increasingly attractive to you.

Justification of Cruelty derogation and dehumanization of victims (Zimbardo's study and Education of Torturers).

Justification of behavior contradictory to one's self perception cognitively minimizing personal unpleasantness .2 alternatives: internalization or externalization

Criticism of dissonance theory - it is the same thing as conflict. Festinger claims that conflict is rational and occurs prior to the making of a decision when we weigh the pros and cons of our choices and dissonance occurs only after we have made the decision and have to justify the choice:

Jecker (1964) Ss were offered the choice between two equally attractive albums

Three conditions of low conflict where Ss were told to choose but there was a good chance that they would receive both.

Three conditions of high conflict where Ss were told that there was a good chance that they would get only the one they choose.

In all conditions Ss rated the records prior to making a choice.

In each of the conflict conditions, Ss rerated the records either:

1) after they had discovered that they had received both

2) after they discovered that they only received the chosen one

3) before they were certain they would get one or both

Under what conditions did dissonance occur and what was its effect? If dissonance and conflict are the same thing, what should have happened?

3) Bem's Self-Perception Theory of Attitude Change

attitudes are not psychological entities but self descriptive statements: If I say that I like chocolate ice cream, I am simply describing my past behavior where I ate choc. ice cream.

When Ss in an experiment are asked to describe their attitudes, they attempt to describe their recent behaviors. If a person cannot find an adequate external justification for his/her behavior then s/he perceives that the behavior must reflect his/her attitudes (internal factors). The behavior occurs then the individual tries to explain to self what it means.

In the cog, diss. exps., Ss make environmental analyses to determine how closely their behavior reflects their attitudes. $1 Ss find little in their env. to explain why they said that the task was fun, thus, they concluded that the statement reflected their true feelings. The S draws an inference from own behavior. Instead of a state of tension motivating the S, the reaction is more passive.

4) Social Judgment Theory (Sherif)

our perceptions determine meaning. From this point of view, attitudes are judgments and attitude change is a perceptual judgmental process based on our perception of the communicator and the communication.

We judge a communication in terms of a subjective scale of reference. For everyone there is a range of acceptable attitudinal positions on most topics:

latitude of acceptance - if we encounter a message advocating a position within our latitude of acceptance, we change the message to fit with our own attitude (assimilation)

latitude of rejection - if a message falls outside of our lat. of acceptance and into our lat. of rejection, we contrast the communication from our own attitude. It will be judged as more extreme than it probably is.

latitudes of non-commitment - areas where we have not made up our minds. Attitude change is easiest to bring about here.

Social Judgment Theory is a perceptual approach to understanding attitude change. The basic concept behind a perceptual approach is that adjustment involves not only the person changing him/herself to conform to the demands of the environment but also changing his/her perception of the environmental demands to conform to his/her own needs (selective attention and construction).