Chapter 7 - Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency

• What Are Attitudes and Why Do People Have Them?

• How Attitudes Are Formed

• Consistency

• Do Attitudes Really Predict Behavior?

• Beliefs and Believing

Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency

• Jack Kevorkian – Assisted suicide

• What attitudes about life are expected from a medical doctor?

• What attitudes about life did Dr. Kevorkian espouse?

• How do these seemingly contrary attitudes represent consistency?

Attitudes and Beliefs

• Attitudes– Global evaluations toward some object or

issue

• Beliefs – Information about something; facts or

opinions

Dual Attitudes

• Implicit attitude– Automatic evaluative response

• Explicit attitude– Conscious evaluative response

• Some attitudes are not shared with others

• We may not be aware of all our own attitudes

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

• Measures implicit attitudes– Those we are unwilling or unable to report– Attitudes about stigmatized groups

Implicit Association Test

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Why People Have Attitudes

• Attitudes help us deal with complex world

• Attitudes are evaluations (like or dislike)– Initial evaluations are immediate and

unconscious

• Attitudes are helpful in making choices

Is Bad Stronger Than Good?Optimism, Pessimism – and Life and Death

• Being optimist is healthier than being pessimistic– Optimism effects appear weaker over time

than pessimism

• Cancer study (Schulz, et al., 1996) – Pessimists were more likely to die– Optimism made no difference

How Attitudes Are Formed

• Mere-exposure effect– Exception - If you dislike something

initially, repeated exposure will not change that attitude

• Zajonc (1968)

• Stimuli may be presented at subliminal level

How Attitudes Are Formed

• Classical Conditioning– Can form both explicit and implicit attitudes– Develop a positive attitude toward the

conditioned stimulus– Helps explain prejudiced attitudes

• Negative information in the media linked to social groups

– Advertisers link celebrities and products

How Attitudes Are Formed

• Operant Conditioning– Develop a positive attitude toward

something being reinforced

• Social Learning– Learn attitudes acceptable through

observation

How Attitudes Are Formed?

• Polarization - Attitudes become more extreme as we think about them– Especially true in strong initial attitude– Evaluate evidence in a biased manner

• Accept evidence that confirms attitude

• Accept evidence from ingroup members

Consistency

• Commonalities in theories about consistency– Specify conditions required for consistency

and inconsistency– Assume inconsistency is unpleasant– Specify conditions required to restore

consistency

Balance Theory

• P-O-X Theory– Person – Other Person – Attitude Object

• Relationships among P-O-X– Sentiment relationships– Unit relationships

Balance Theory

• Individuals prefer balanced to unbalanced – Unbalanced – motivated to change

Critique of Balance Theory

• Assumes symmetry of relationships

• Doesn’t consider strength of relationships

• Only accommodates situations involving three elements

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• Cognitive dissonance refers to unpleasant state when attitude and behavior are inconsistent– Causes people to rationalize their behavior

and bring their attitude into line with actions

• Festinger & Carlson (1959)

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• Effort Justification – (Aronson & Mills, 1959)– People seek to justify and rationalize any

suffering or effort they have made

• Greater choice is necessary for dissonance

• Dissonance is marked by unpleasant arousal

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• While people have desire to be consistent in their own private mind, they have stronger desire to be viewed consistent by others

• Self-presentation plays a role in cognitive dissonance

Food for Thought Would You Eat a Bug or a Worm?

• Eat a worm? Change your attitude!(Comer & Laird, 1975)

• Sometimes people will choose to suffer an expected consequence, but only if they change their beliefs and attitudes.

Consistency

• Drive for consistency – Rooted in our biology– Strengthened by learning and socialization

• Consistency involves both automatic and conscious parts of the mind

Do Attitudes Really Predict Behavior?

Attacking Attitudes

• A – B Problem– Inconsistency between attitude (A) and

behavior (B)

• Link between attitudes and behavior is weak

The Social Side of SexA-B Inconsistency and Erotic Plasticity

• Gender gap in A-B consistency

• Men’s attitudes predict their sexual behavior much better than women– Women’s sexual responses are specific to

the person and the situation so general attitudes are not as relevant

Defending Attitudes

• Predictions of behavior based on attitudes is best when– Measures of attitude are very specific– Behaviors are aggregated over time and

situations– Attitudes are consciously prominent and

influence thought regarding the choice– Attitudes come to mind easily

Beliefs and Believing

• Believing is automatic; understanding requires controlled, conscious thought

• Duplex mind– Automatic system – uncritical and

accepting - believing– Conscious system – can override and

change belief to disbelief

Belief Perseverance

• Once beliefs form – resist to change– Despite bogus evidence, continue to

believe

• Opposite theory – Reduces belief perseverance

Belief and Coping

• Coping– Attempt to deal with trauma and return to

effective functioning in life

• Assumptive worlds – Beliefs about reality– World is benevolent– World is fair and just– I am a good person

Belief and Coping

• Coping Strategies– Self blame – “I made a mistake.”

• Allows sense of control– No explanation for misfortune

• More likely to feel vulnerable

Cognitive Coping

• Beliefs that need to be restored after trauma– Downward comparison

• Things could be worse– Restore self-esteem and control– All things have a higher purpose

Religious Belief

• Provides social support, sense of meaning, direction and fosters development of virtues

• Help people cope

• Appeal to superordinate reduces dissonance

• Cognitive level - beliefs may be inconsistent

• Emotional level - may elicit fear and guilt

Irrational Belief

• People who hold irrational beliefs – Tend to be more anxious– Cope less well with terminal illness– Are more likely to be depressed over time– Possess lower levels of self-esteem

• Often maintained despite contradictory evidence

What Makes Us Human?

• Humans have more complex attitudes

• Pressure for consistency– We seek and ask for explanations

• Humans can hold dual attitudes

• Beliefs help people cope with misfortune