Social Psychology - Attitudes

Front 1

3-Component View of Attitudes

Back 1

- Affective: feelings
- Behavioural: action tendencies
- Cognitive: beliefs
- (Rosenberg & Hovland, 1960)

Front 2

Krosnick, Betz, Jussim, & Lynn (1992)

Back 2

- Showed pictures of a stranger
- Subliminally showed negative or positive images
- Those shown positive images like stranger more
- Rated strangers personality and looks better

Front 3

Zajonc (1986)

Back 3

- Participants shown 12 Chinese characters
- 25, 10, 5, 2, 1 or none
- Characters liked more the more seen
- Mere exposure effect

Front 4

Mita et al (1977)

Back 4

- 2/3 preferred mirror picture of themselves over regular
- 61% of close friends preferred regular
- Mere exposure effect

Front 5

Self-Perception Theory

Back 5

- People may infer their attitudes from previous behaviour
- (Bem, 1972)

Front 6

Chaiken & Baldwin (1981)

Back 6

- Questionnaire framed to suggest participants did perform pro-environment behaviours frequently
- Reported more favourable attitudes toward environment (when attitudes weak)

Front 7

Object Appraisal Function

Back 7

- Attitudes are energy saving devices
- Makes judgements faster and easier to perform
- Need for closure increases desire to form attitudes

Front 8

Utilitarian Function

Back 8

- Attitudes help us maximize rewards and minimise costs

Front 9

Social Adjustment

Back 9

- Attitudes help us identify with people we like and
to dissociate from people we dislike

Front 10

Ego-Defensive Function

Back 10

- Attitudes help to protect self-esteem

Front 11

Value-Expressive Function

Back 11

- Attitudes help express our self-concept and
central values

Front 12

4 Key Manifestations of Strong Attitudes

Back 12

- Persistent
- Resistant
- Influence information processing
- Guide behaviour
- (Krosnick & Petty, 1995)

Front 13

LaPiere (1934)

Back 13

- College Prof traveled round U.S. with Chinese couple
- 250 Hotels - Only ONE turned them away
- Follow up letter 6 months later, 92% said they would NOT serve Chinese couple
- Attitudes unrelated to behaviour?

Front 14

Measurement Correspondence

Back 14

- For attitudes to predict behaviour, both must be measured at the same level of specificity
- Davidson and Jaccard (1979) Birth Control Study:
General: r = .08

Somewhat specific: r = .32
Very specific: r = .57

Front 15

Theory of Reasoned Action

Back 15

- Attitude + Subjective Norm = Intention = Behaviour

Attitude:
- Belief that behavior leads to outcome
- Evalutation of outcome

Subjective Norm:
- Normative beliefs about how others view behaviour
- Motivation to comply with norms

- (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975)

Front 16

Theory of Planned Behaviour

Back 16

- Theory of Reasoned Action + "Perceived Behavioural Control"
- Improved prediction accuracy
- Explains deliberate behaviour but not spontaneous
- (Ajzen & Madden, 1986)

Front 17

MODE Model

Back 17

- Dual-processing model: Attitudes can guide behaviour in 2 ways:
1. Conscious fashion: planned, motivation and opportunity necessary
2. Automatic fashion: spontaneous, highly accessible attitudes necessary
- (Fazio, 1990)

Front 18

Domain of Behaviour

Back 18

- Relation between attitude and behaviour depends on the domain
- Strong relation: political party and voting
- Weak relation: blood donation and donating blood
- (Kraus, 1995)

Front 19

Self-Monitoring

Back 19

- Extent to which people vary their behaviour across social situations
- High self-monitors: influenced by situational cues
- Low self-monitors: consistent, rely on own values
- (Snyder, 1982)

Front 20

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Back 20

- When behaviour and belief are inconsistent
- Causes an aversive state, motivated to reduce
- Change beliefs or behaviour
- (Festinger, 1957)

Front 21

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)

Back 21

- Dull motor task, tell next participant it's "really interesting"
- Those paid $1 rated it as more enjoyable than those paid $20
- Due to cognitive dissonance

Front 22

Brinol & Petty (2003)

Back 22

- Participants listened to arguments on headphones
- More likely to agree if nodding

Front 23

Cacioppo, Priester & Berntson (1993)

Back 23

- Chinese Characters viewed during arm flexion rated more positively than those viewed during arm extension

Front 24

Reactance

Back 24

- Prohibiting behaviour makes it more attractive
- Forbidden fruit

Front 25

Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett (1973)

Back 25

- Drawing activity for children
- Expected reward reduces interest 2 weeks later
- Activity = intrinsic motivation
- Reward = extrinsic motivation