Chapter 4 Attitudes and Attitude Change PDF

Chapter 4 Attitudes and Attitude Change Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Nature and Origin of Attitudes Attitude: a. Integration of all the positive or negative thoughts and emotions that occur when people evaluate themse...

Chapter 4 Attitudes and Attitude Change Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Nature and Origin of Attitudes Attitude: a. Integration of all the positive or negative thoughts and emotions that occur when people evaluate themselves, other people, objects or issues. b. Attitudes can be positive, negative, or neutral. c. Definition of attitudes also includes mental events – the memory of past experiences with attitude objects, images and other thoughts. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0 a. The ABC of attitudes refers to the three components of attitudes: affective, behavioral and cognitive. i. The affective component refers to the emotions created by the attitude object, and is most often measured by attitude measures. drivesmanybehaviours ii. Behavioral component reflects the actual behavior associated with the attitude. iii. The cognitive component the thoughts, knowledge and beliefs people have about the attitude object. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  Attitudes States 1. Attitudes once created can exist at the explicit or implicit level. i. An explicit attitude we are aware of, can state our opinion about, assessed by self-report measures. cultural Em ffrom ii. ΔImplicit attitudes are involuntary, held without awareness, and are uncontrollable, cannot be not assessed by self-report measures. repcultural knowledgebecame partofmemory Often unrelated to explicit attitudes Difficult to change. Assessed by measures such as the Implicit Association Test Can predict behavior, good prediction when explicit and implicit measures are both used. 6-0 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. Do Attitudes Predict Behavior? only maybe Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  When Attitudes Predict Behavior Contrary evidence: Study by LaPierre (1934) – Demonstrated an inconsistency between people’s attitudes and behavior. negativeexplicitattitudes 40 ofestablishmentswouldn'tletAsiansinside Review by Wicker (1969) – Concluded people’s attitudes make poor predictors of behavior, and Mischel (1969) concluded that personality traits and other internal states were also poor predictors of behavior. whatyouthink is goingoninside ofyou yourbehaviour has little to nopredictive Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  When Attitudes Predict Behaviour The Theory of Reasoned Action Under certain conditions, attitudes can predict behaviors quite well; see text pages 119 – 120. Conditions when attitudes predict behavior is given the Theory of Reasoned Action – When people have the time to think about how they will act, the best predictor of people’s planned behavior is the person’s intention to do the behavior. thinkingbringsissuesassociated w behaviouraccesable haveintentionslikelihoodyou willdoit is high Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  When Attitudes Predict Behaviour The Theory of Reasoned Action What predicts people’s intentions to act on their attitudes? Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Theory of Reasoned Action A*S*P = Intentions ifanyoftheseis at O behavioural intentionsarereallylowweak 2 3 behaviouralefficacy Best Predictor See text page 119 for examples of Reasoned Action. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0 When Does Behavior Predict Attitudes? Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  When Behavior Causes Attitude Change: The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger, 1957) Cognitive dissonance: A feeling of discomfort or tension caused by the realization that 1. one’s behavior is inconsistent with one’s attitudes, 2. Or, one holds two conflicting attitudes. E.g. Girl math: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibk0onHd7_c have to appreciatethere's an inconsistency Otherwise no dissonance Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive dissonance is experienced when we do something stupid, threatens self-esteem or immoral. Such behaviors violate our own self-standards or self-guides. Dissonance produces tension or discomfort which motivates us to reduce the tension in some way. Tension reduction occurs by changing the inconsistent attitude, adding supportive cognitive elements, or justifying the behavior. girl math Whatever we do balance or consonance is achieved. Ratio.ciiianEeIm it ion Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  Reducing Dissonance 1. Selective exposure to attitude consistent information (bolstering). Bolstering adds attitude- consistent cognitions reducing the ratio of consistent to inconsistent information. 2. Post decision dissonance buyingsomethingexpensive 3. Immoral behavior Insufficient justification 4. Counter-attitudinal advocacy nojustificationfor Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Decisions, Decisions, Decisions A. Post-decision dissonance – Dissonance is inevitably aroused after a person makes a decision in which they had options and the decision is permanent. – Reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating rejected alternatives. excentuationeffects – Once the choice is made, confidence grows in the decision. – Brehm (1956); Knox & Inkster (1968) askedpplb4bettingon horsewhatsthelikelihood of themwinningAfter they madethebet the belie Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. thatthey'llwin increase 6-0 dramatically  The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Decisions, Decisions, Decisions The Decision to Behave Immorally – Should I reuse an essay from another class? – Don’t feel like going to work, call in sick. – Engage in ‘quiet quitting’ – Sneak a peak at someone else’s test – When presented with a moral dilemma, any decision made will evoke dissonance. Why? – A decision either way will change and bolster an existing value system and change attitudes to reduce dissonance. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Psychology of Insufficient Justification Festinger & Carlsmith (1959): – Participants were paid $20 or $1 to lie to a fellow student. – Role of incentives for advocacy – What would learning theory predict? 1 havea Should – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korGK0yGIDo cogdis saysthosepaid 1 hasto justifytheiractions Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0 – Those who had insufficient external justification (i.e., paid $1) changed their attitudes to make themselves feel like they were telling the truth. ifyouwantsomeonetodo something they t wanttogivethem aminima – Counterintuitive findings insufficientjustification creates dissonance Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  Rushing to do Evil, and then Justifying Our Evil Doing According to dissonance theory, when we hurt someone (like lying to them), we come to dislike that person as a way of justifying our cruelty. When we do something stupid or immoral, we come to see those behaviors as not so bad. We rationalize or explain away our behavior engaging in self-justification efforts. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance B. The Justification of Effort Self-justification efforts can be extended beyond immoral or foolish behavior. The more effort we put into anything e.g., gaining membership in group, staying in unfulfilling relationships, initiation activities, the more we like come to like the group, value the relationship, enjoy the activity. The suffering leads to liking effect. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  Justification of Effort Effect 1. Justification of Effort: The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain – self-justification effects. Aronson & Mills (1959); Axom & Cooper tookfemaleswhohadtroublelosing (1985) weight gavethem a series of psycho task weekfor6weeks challenging thosewhodid demandingtasklost weight What becomemindfulof whathowmuchyou're eatin Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance The Psychology of Insufficient Justification 1. Counter-Attitudinal Advocacy: the process that occurs when a person states an opinion or attitude that runs counter to his or her private belief or attitude. – When you can’t find external justification for your behavior, you will attempt to find (or create) internal justification. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Evidence for Motivational Arousal The theory of cognitive dissonance is a motivational theory. There is evidence to show that discomfort and arousal do motivate the individual to change his or her attitude or behavior. Often this motivation is a self-esteem threat or challenges to our self-schema. Zanna & Cooper (1974), text page 142. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Avoiding the Rationalization Trap Rationalization Trap Dissonance reduction can lead to a succession of self-justification efforts that ultimately results in a chain of stupid or immoral actions. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0  Avoiding the Rationalization Trap Self-Affirmation Theory (Steele, 1988) Doing immoral behaviors makes us look foolish and incompetent – a direct self-esteem threat. – Δ People will reduce the impact of a dissonance- arousing threat to their self-concept by: a focusing on and affirming their competence on some other dimension unrelated to the threat, e.g. doing something nice for someone, temporarily boosts self-esteem. b Reminding people of their moral values. c Self-affirmation works well with those with high self-esteem Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0 End of Chapter 4 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. 6-0