Chapter 6

Attitudes

Chapter Outline

The Nature of Attitudes Attitude Organization Cognitive Consistency The Relationship Between Attitudes and

Behavior The Reasoned Action Model

Attitude

A predisposition to respond to a particular object in a favorable or unfavorable way.

A person’s attitudes influence the way in which he or she perceives and responds to the world.

Three Components of Attitude

1. Beliefs or cognitions - An object label, rules to apply the label, and a set of cognitions associated with that label.

2. Evaluation - A direction (positive or negative) and an intensity (very weak to very strong).

3. Behavioral predisposition - A predisposition to respond or a behavioral tendency toward the object.

Functions of Attitude

Heuristic or instrumental function– Attitudes provide a simple and efficient

means of evaluating objects. Schematic or knowledge function

– Attitudes about a category provide us with a basis for making inferences about its members.

Attitude Organization

Attitudes are usually embedded in a cognitive structure, linked with other attitudes.

Two types of structures: – Vertical structures signify that a minor

belief is derived from or dependent on a primitive belief.

– Horizontal structures exist when an attitude is linked to more than one set of underlying beliefs.

The Structure of Attitudes

Cognitive Consistency

The elements of a cognitive structure are called cognitions.

A cognition is an individual’s perception of personal attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

Consistency among a person’s cognitions (beliefs and attitudes) is widespread.

Balance Theory

Two types of relationships may exist between elements: – Sentiment relations - evaluations directed

toward objects and people– Unit relations - the association between

elements.

Balance Theory

Balance theory assumes that people will try to restore balance among their attitudes.

An imbalanced state is one in which two of the relationships between elements are positive and one is negative or in which all three are negative.

Balanced Cognitive Systems & Resolution of Imbalanced Systems

Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Dissonance theory deals with consistency between behaviors and attitudes.

There are two common situations in which dissonance occurs:

1. After a decision.

2. When one acts in a way that is inconsistent with their beliefs.

Postdecisional Dissonance

The Dissonance Effect

The greater the reward or incentive for engaging in counter attitudinal behavior, the less the resulting attitude change.

This is because there is no need to change your attitude the $ negates the dissonance.

Conversely, the lesser the reward the greater the attitude change since you have a reason to alleviate the dissonance of saying the boring task was fun.

The Incentive Effect

The greater the incentive for engaging in counter attitudinal behavior, the greater the resulting attitude change.

Which is Going to Occur?

Dissonance is more likely when:– People choose (or think they choose)

whether or not to engage in the behavior. Only occurs in some situations:

– A person must be committed to a belief or course of action

– Person must believe he or she acted voluntarily and is thus responsible for the outcome of the decision.

Relationship Between Attitudes and Behavior

Four variables:

1. The activation of the attitude.

2. The characteristics of the attitude.

3. The correspondence between attitude and behavior.

4. Situational constraints on behavior.

Is consistency Inevitable?

Many of our cognitions never come into contact with each other

Another reason for inconsistency is some of our behavior is mindless (e.g. smoking)

Third reason inconsistency occurs is each belief, attitude, or self-perception is embedded in a larger structure of consistent, related attitudes, beliefs, and self-perceptions.

People vary in the strength of their preference for consistency.

Activation of the Attitude

When an attitude is activated, it is brought from memory into conscious awareness.

An attitude is usually activated by exposure of the person to its object, particularly if the attitude was originally formed through direct experience with the object (e.g. a stereotype).

The more accessible an attitude is, the greater its influence on categorizing and judging objects.

More accessible more likely to guide future behavior

Characteristics of the Attitude

1) Affective-Cognitive Consistency - – The greater the consistency between

cognition and evaluation, the greater the strength of the attitude-behavior relation.

– E.g. “capital punishment is necessary to protect society” is consistent with “I support capital punishment”

Do attitudes predict behavior?

2) Direct Experience– Attitudes based on direct experience are more predictive of

subsequent behavior.– Best predictor of future behavior is past behavior– An attitude is a summary of a person’s past experience– The greater the strength of an attitude the greater it’s effect

on behavior. E.g. vote for candidate– The relevance of an attitude –the extent to which the issue or

object directly affects the person—is important for its strength– Time? The longer the time between measurement of the

attitude and that of behavior the more likely the attitude will change

3) Attitude-Behavior Correspondence

Attitudes are more likely to predict behavior when the two are at the same level of specificity

Italian, probably likes Italian food, but green noodles with clam sauce? Not so much…

The greater the degree of correspondence, that is, the number of elements that are the same in the two measures, the better we can predict behavior from attitudes. (e.g. an action (eating), an object or target (green noodles and red clam sauce), a context (in your home), and a time (tomorrow night)

Attitude-Behavior Correspondence

Every behavior involves a target, action, context, and time.

In order to predict behavior from attitude, the measures of attitude and behavior should involve the same elements.

The larger the number of elements in common, the greater the correlation between attitude and behavior.

Correlations of Attitude Measures that Vary in Correspondence with Behavior

Researchers these measures of attitudes toward birth control from 244 women: 1. general attitude toward birth control2. attitude toward birth control pills3. attitude toward using pills4. attitude toward using pills in the next 2 years.

The behavioral measure was actual use of pills during the 2-year period.

As correspondence increased from 0 to 3 elements, correlation between attitude and behavior increased.

Correlations of Attitude Measures that Vary in Correspondence with Behavior

The Influence of Attitude and Situational Constraints on Behavior

Situational Constraint

Refers to an influence on behavior due to the likelihood that other persons will learn about the behavior and respond positively or negatively to it.

Situational constraints often determine whether our behavior is consistent with our attitudes.

The greater the agreement among others about how we should behave, the greater the situational constraint imposed on persons whose attitudes are different

The Reasoned Action Model

Based on the assumption that behavior is rational. This model incorporates several factors that have been

shown to affect the consistency between attitudes and behavior.– Behavior is determined by behavioral intention. – Behavioral intention is influenced by attitude

(positive or negative feelings about engaging in a behavior) and subjective norm (individual’s perception of other’s beliefs about whether a behavior is appropriate or not).

– Subjective norm is one form of situational constraint

The Reasoned Action Model

Determining Attitude from Beliefs and Evaluations

Consequences of joining the Unification Church

Belief Evaluation Product

Gain a sense of purpose +3 +3 +9

Have one’s physical needs provided for

+3 +1 +3

Loss of relationship +2 -2 -4

Loss of some personal freedom

+1 -3 -3

Attitude +5

Determining Subjective Norm - Normative Beliefs and Motivation to Comply

Significant othersNormative

beliefsMotivation to comply

Product

Parents -3 +2 -6

Friends +3 +2 +6

Cindy -3 +3 -6

Sum -6

Assessment of the Model

Perceived behavior control takes into consideration that behavior may be affected not only by intentions but also by whether we have the resources or the ability needed to carry out the intention.