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19522304Chapter 5AttitudesStructure and function of attitudes à A short history of attitudes - Attitude: An enduring organisation of beliefs, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols OR - A general feeling or evaluation about some person, ob...

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Anja Hinz 19522304

Chapter 5 Attitudes Structure and function of attitudes à A short history of attitudes • Attitude: An enduring organisation of beliefs, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols OR • A general feeling or evaluation about some person, object or issue. • There were three main phases in the history of attitude research: 1. A concentration on attitude measurements related to behaviour. (1920's and 1930's) 2. A focus on the dynamics of change in an individual's attitudes. (1950's and 1960's) 3. A focus on the cognitive and social structure and function of attitudes and attitude systems. (1980's and 1990's) à Attitude structure • One of the most fundamental psychological questions that can be asked about attitudes is whether they are a unitary construct or whether they have a number of different components. • There are three different views regarding how many components attitudes consist of: o The one-component attitude model (preferred by Thurstone) defines attitudes as “the affect for or against a psychological object”. This means your attitude is whether you like or dislike the object you are faced with. o The two-component attitude model (which originated in Allport's theory) includes the above idea of positive or negative affect, but includes a new dimension – mental readiness. o The three-component attitude model (rooted in ancient philosophy) includes thought, feeling and action – the trichotomy of human experience. It states that an attitude consists of cognitive, affective and behavioural components. So each attitude is made up of a cluster of feelings, likes, dislikes, behavioural intentions, thoughts and ideas. à Attitude functions • Attitudes exist because they have different functions, such as knowledge, instrumentality (a means to an end), ego defence (protecting your self-esteem) and value expressiveness (allowing people to display the values that define them). • An attitude saves energy because we don't need to figure out from scratch how to relate to the object in question. à Cognitive consistency • Cognitive-consistency theories are a group of attitude theories that stress that people try to maintain internal consistency, order and agreement among their various cognitions. • These theories also emphasise cognitions, which are the knowledge, beliefs, thoughts and ideas people have about themselves and their environment. • An example of a cognitive-consistency theory is the cognitive dissonance theory and the balance theory. • Consistency theories state that people will change their thoughts to make sure that there is no inconsistency or disharmony (dissonance) between their thoughts.

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The Balance Theory was derived from Heider and Gestalt psychology (which explains that psychological phenomena are made up of interacting forces). o The Balance Theory states that people prefer attitudes that are consistent with each other over those that are inconsistent. o It focuses on the P-O-X unit of the individual's cognitive field. o P represents a person, O another person and X and attitude, object or topic. o The relationships between components can be positive or negative, so this takes into account how the Person feels about the Other person, how the Person feels about X and how the Other person feels about X. o This triad is considered balanced if there is an odd number of positive relationships. o There are 8 different combinations, of which 4 are balanced. So for example, if P likes X, but doesn't like O and O doesn't like X, there is only 1 positive relationship in the triad, so it is balanced. o (Think of it this way – if you don't like someone, you don't mind if you like something that they don't. But if you like someone and you like something they don't, there's a bit more friction.) o If the triad is imbalanced, the person may feel compelled to restore balance. o All the possible combinations are seen on p.152 if you need further clarification.

à Cognition and evaluation • The Sociocognitive model is an attitude theory that highlights an evaluative component. • An attitude is defined as “a person's evaluation of an object of thought”. • An attitude object (e.g. a shark) is represented in memory by: o An objective label: This helps to make sense of the world and deal with the environment. E.g. “A big sea creature with sharp teeth”. o The rules for applying that label: e.g. “It eats other fish and sometimes people” o An evaluative summary of that object: This serves as a heuristic, or a simple strategy for appraising an object. E.g. “It is scary and should be avoided”. o A knowledge structure supporting that evaluation: This serves as a schematic which organises and guides memory for event and action. E.g. “It is a scientifically and fictionally well-documented threat to humans”. à Decision making and attitudes • Information Processing is the evaluation of information. • In relations to attitudes, the means by which people acquire knowledge, form and change attitudes. • According to the Information Integration Theory, we use cognitive algebra to construct our attitudes from information we receive about attitude objects. • Cognitive algebra is when we work out the net value of something by weighing up the positive and negative components of it. Can attitudes predict behaviour • Studies have shown that less than 9% of the variability in a behaviour is accounted for by an attitude, which doesn't mean much statistically.

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Anja Hinz 19522304 à Beliefs, intentions and behaviour • There are various things that may prevent attitudes from turning into behaviours, such as the extent to which the attitude is accessible, whether the attitude is expressed publicly or privately, and whether the individual identifies strongly or weakly with a group that accepts that attitude. • For example, someone may have the attitude that alcohol is a bad form of recreation, but may indulge in alcohol anyway because their peers would not accept their attitude. • A better predictor of actions is the interaction between attitudes, beliefs and behavioural intentions. • For this, we need to establish how strong and how valuable the person's beliefs are – some beliefs will carry more weight than others towards the final act. • Belief strength has a probability estimate ranging from 0 to 1. • The value of belief is rated from -2 to +2. These two values are multiplied to give you the resulting probability of the action. •

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Specific attitudes o Also, the more specific the attitude you investigate, the better the chances of making accurate predictions regarding behaviour. o For example, investigating “The attitude of women towards using birth control pills in the next two years” is a much better predictor than “The attitude of women towards birth control.” o Meta-analysis is a statistical procedure that combines data from different studies to measure the overall reliability and strength of specific effects. General attitudes o Fishbein and Azjen argued that we can predict behaviour from more general attitudes, but only if we use a multiple-act criterion (a general behavioural index based on an average or combination of several specific behaviours). o For example, participating in a recycling project depends on many factors, even the weather. o However, everyone who participates should be environment-conscious – a general attitude. Reasoned action o The Theory of Reasoned Action is Fishbein and Ajzen's model of the links between attitude and behaviour. A major feature is the proposition that the best way to predict a behaviour, is to ask whether the person intends to do it. o This model comprised three broad processes (belief, intention and action) and includes the following components: § Subjective norm: This is a product of what the individual thinks others people believe. § Attitude towards the behaviour: This is a product of the individual's beliefs about the target behaviour, and how they evaluate these beliefs. § Behavioural intention: An internal declaration to act. § Behaviour: The action performed. o Usually actions will be performed if the person's attitude is favourable and the social norm is favourable. o This model emphasises the rationality of human behaviour and their conscious control.

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Planned behaviour: the role of volition o The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TRA) is a modification of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), and states that predicting a behaviour from an attitude measure is improved if people believe they have control over that behaviour. o So, like the TRA, it acknowledges the influence of subjective norm and attitudes towards behaviour on behavioural intention, but includes a third influence: the individual's perceived behavioural control. o Behavioural intention then translates into behaviour. Habit is also a predictor of future behaviour as it can automatically move people to action. o In health psychology, Protection Motivation Theory suggests that adopting a healthy behaviour requires the cognitive balancing between the perceived threat of one's illness (how likely the person thinks they might get it) and the person's capacity to cope with the health regimen. o So if someone is considering quitting smoking, there are two main cognitive processes: § threat appraisal (the chances the person thinks they have of getting lung cancer, for example) and § coping appraisal (how easy it will be and whether the person is capable of adopting healthier habits).

à Reflecting on the attitude-behaviour link • Attitudes correlate more strongly with future behaviours when: o The attitudes are accessible o The attitudes are stable over time o People have had direct experience with the attitude object o People frequently report their attitudes • Attitude-Behaviour link is stronger when relevant info is irrelevant to the actual behaviour, one sided and supportive of the attitude object, rather than two-sided à Attitude strength and direct experience • Attitudes are represented or stored in our memory. • The easier an attitude is to access, the more often we refer to them. • Accessible attitudes are also more stable over time and resistant to change (this is not ideal). • So if you are asked about yoghurt, you might think “dairy product” or you might think “health food”, depending on which attitude (or evaluation) is more accessible to you. • Using the most accessible attitude saves us time and energy. • Strong attitudes are also highly accessible, but indicate that we feel very strongly about something. Strong associations allow automatic activation of an attitude. • Automatic activation is when attitudes that have a strong evaluative link to situational cues (things that happen around us) are more likely to come automatically to mind from memory. • An attitude becomes stronger and more accessible by having direct experience with the object and having an interest in it. • So, attitudes correlate more strongly with future behaviour when the attitudes are accessible, stable over time, people have had direct experience with the attitude object and people frequently report their attitudes.

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Anja Hinz 19522304 à Moderator variables • Predictions of future behaviour can further be improved by including moderator variables (variables that qualify a simple hypothesis with a view that improves its predictive power). • This specifies the conditions in which the attitude-behaviour relationship is stronger. • This includes the situation, personality, habit, sense of control and direct experience. • Two examples of this include situational variables and individual differences. 1. Situational Variables: - Aspects of a situation/context can cause people to act in way that are inconsistent to their attitudes - The weaker the attitude, the more susceptible it is to a situational variable as salient norms overwhelm people’s underlying attitudes - Norms are generally separated from attitudes because attitudes are ‘in here’ and norms are ‘out there’ 2. Individual Variables: - It is argued that situational characteristics were more reliable predictors of behaviour that personality traits were - In resort, psychologists who believe in individual differences argue that participants who were consistent in their answers and personality scale were likely to be consistent in their behaviour across contexts that those who gave variable answers. This consistency in answers (behavioural habits) served as more accurate predictors of behaviour. 〆 Habits; the relationship between attitudes and behaviour, between intentions and behaviour were near 0 (zero) when habits were strong but were sizeable when habits were found to be weak 〆 Mood as a moderator, can be viewed as a situational or individual; angry, jurors judges more harshly; sad jurors had no effect on their judgement 〆 Cognitive biases; self-other discrepancy is also a moderator of attitudebehaviour correspondence. People expect alcohol to affect others more than they expect alcohol to affect others. 〆 Self-identity; people’s sense of self is defined by the roles they occupy in society. Self-identity is more focused on roles than on group membership Forming Attitudes • Attitude formation is the process of forming attitudes, mainly from our own experiences, the influences of others and our emotional reactions. • we form attitudes as a part of socialisation either through direct personal experience or viciously through acting with others à Behavioural approaches 1. Effects of direct experience o The more we are exposed to something, the less intensely we feel about it. o For example, after hearing a song a certain number of times, we no longer hate it or love it, but become used to it. o This is clearly seen in cases where a person strongly dislikes a situation, is fearful of something or is prejudiced. o Most of the time, it is negative emotion that is reduced. o Mere exposure effect: the effect that repeated exposure to an object results in an increased attraction for that object - It has most impact when we lack info about the issue/object/event

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Anja Hinz 19522304 2. Classical conditioning: o This is when a neutral stimulus (stimulus A) causes a specific response (that is associated with stimulus B) because it is associated with the stimulus that causes that specific response (stimulus B). o The spreading attitude effect is when the response you have to something spreads like a virus. o So, if you don't like Mary, and you saw Paul talking to her, you no longer like Paul. o Then you see Paul talking to Peter and you no longer like Peter. 3. Instrumental conditioning: o Behaviour that is followed by a positive consequence is more likely to be repeated and a behaviour followed by a negative consequence is not o This can be accelerated or slowed down by the frequency, temporal spacing (time in between) and magnitude of the reinforcements o Adults attitudes can also be shaped by verbal reinforcements o Both classical and instrumental conditioning emphasize the role of direct reinforcers in how behaviour is acquired and maintained 4. Observational learning: o Some psychologists view attitude formation as a social learning process. o Observational learning (also known as modelling) is a process where a person reproduces the actions, attitudes and emotional responses performed by someone else that were positively reinforced. o The person basically copies what someone else did. à Cognitive development • This is more focused on the individual aspect of attitude formation. • Bem's Self-perception theory states that we gain knowledge of ourselves only by making self-attributions. For example, we make our own attitudes from our own behaviour. • So, we ask questions regarding our behaviours, and then make conclusions to form attitudes. • E.g. “Why do I always wear grey? I guess I think it looks good on me.” à Sources of learning 1. Parents o Correlation between specific attitudes of parents and children is positive but weak. However, the correlation between broad attitudes of parents and children is stronger 2. Media Mass (visual media play a role in attitude formation, particularly with attitudes aren't strongly held) o Media coverage doesn't only reflect public opinion but it also helps shape it so the effects of adverting on young children is quite observable Concepts related to attitudes à Values • This is a higher order concept thought to provide a structure for organising attitudes. While attitudes reflect how much we favour something, values guide our principles in life. • There are six broad classes of value orientation: (PRESTA) 1) Theoretical: An interest in problem solving. 2) Economic: An interest in economic matters, finance and money affairs. 3) Aesthetic: An interest in the arts, theatre and music. 4) Social: A concern for others, or a social welfare orientation. 5) Political: An interest in political structures and power arrangements. 6) Religious: A concern with theology, the afterlife and morals.

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Rokeach’s values: o Believed values should be conceived less in terms of interest or activities and more as performed goals (end states). He differentiated between two values: - Instrumental values (e.g. honesty and ambition) - Terminal values (e.g. equality and freedom) o Terminal values can have an influence on the way a person may feel about racial issues o By measuring one’s values, we van predict one’s attitudes towards different phenomena o Norm Feather: values are general beliefs about desirable behaviour and goals with an doughtiness quality about them o Values offer standards for evaluating actions, justifying opinions and conduct, planning behaviour, deciding between distant alternatives, engaging in social influence and presenting the self to others

à Ideology: • A systematically interrelated set of beliefs whose primary function is explanation. • It restricts thinking, making it difficult for the holder to escape from it's mould. • You get many different socio-political and religious ideologies. • Ideologies can have two main functions/characteristics: o They may assign different priorities to different values o Some ideologies are pluralistic, meaning they can deal with conflict of values, and some are monistic, meaning they cannot deal with conflict of values. • According to terror management theory, most fundamental human motivation is to reduce the terror of the inevitability of death. o Self-esteem may be central to effective terror management. - Social representations: A group of explanations of unfamiliar and complex phenomena that transform the unfamiliar things into a familiar and simple form. This is basically how we make sense of things. à Social representations • Social representations refer to collectively elaborated explanations of unfamiliarised complex phenomena that transforms them into a familiar and simple form • They may influence the evaluative tone of the attitudes ‘nested’ within them. Measuring attitudes: à Attitude scales • Thurstone scale: o This gives people several statements which they must then rank between highly favourable and highly unfavourable. o (Each question belongs to a specific item or category of the scale.) o This is then statistically analysed and the person's attitude scale is calculated using the average for each item or category. • Likert scale: o Here, respondents rank their responses to statements on a five-point scale (strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, strongly disagree). o The person's scores are summed, and the total is used as an index of the person's attitude.

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Guttman scale: o This scale possesses unidimensionality as it is cumulative (meaning, accepting one item includes all those that are less extreme). o Participants are given a set of statements, e.g. “How close they are comfortable with having people of other races”, o and are then asked to score the different races along scales starting with one extreme, e.g. “Bound to them by legal marriage” o and ending with another, e.g. “I woul...