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ATTITUDES

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WHAT IS ATTITUDE?

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• Attitudes is a positive or negative evaluation of an objects, people, or ideas.

• Beliefs are pieces of information about something, facts or opinion

ATTITUDES vs BELIEFS

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• Attitudes are believed to be formed through behavioral, affective and cognitive process.

ATTITUDES

Behavioral process

Affective process

Cognitive process

Attitude

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Types of Attitudes

• Implicit Attitudes

• Explicit Attitudes

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Implicit Attitudes

• Automatic and nonconscious evaluative responses

• Implicit Association Test (IAT) has been developed to measure implicit attitudes

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Explicit Attitudes

• Controlled and conscious evaluative responses

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ATTITUDE FORMATION

• Classical Conditioning

• Operant Conditioning

• Observational Learning

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Classical Conditioning• A type of learning in

which, through repeated pairings, a neutral stimulus comes to evoke a conditioned response

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Operant Conditioning

• A type of learning in which people are more likely to repeat behaviors that have been rewarded and less likely to repeat behaviors that have been punished

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Observational Learning

• A type of learning in which people are more likely to imitate behaviors if they have seen others rewarded for performing them, and less likely to imitate behaviors if they have seen others punished for performing them

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ATTITUDE STRENGTH

• Not all attitudes are equally strong

• Strong attitudes resist change

• The components of a strong attitude that make it unlikely to change are commitment and embeddedness

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• People are more committed to a strongly held attitude.

• A strongly held attitude is more embedded in (connected to) additional features such as individual’s self-concept, values and social identity.

ATTITUDE STRENGTH

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• Being committed to a particular attitude causes people to review relevant information in a biased fashion an to intensify their opinions. All this leads them to dismiss evidence that goes against their initial attitudes.

ATTITUDE STRENGTH

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ATTITUDE STRENGTH

Figure 4.1:Why strong attitudes resist changeCommitment – on quality of strong attitudes – shields attitudes against contradictory information, whereas embeddedness-a second quality of strong attitudes –anchors them to a variety of other change-resistant features of the self

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ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR CONSISTENCY

• Knowledge

• Personal Relevance

• Attitude Accessibility

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• Knowledge

– The more knowledge we have about something, the more likely it is that our pertinent attitudes and actions will be consistent with one another.

ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR CONSISTENCY

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• Personal Relevance

–One’s attitude on a topic will be a better predictor of one’s deeds when the topic is personally relevant

ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR CONSISTENCY

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• Attitude Accessibility

–An attitude is accessible to the degree that it springs to mind quickly.

–A highly accessible is likely to stimulus actions that are consistent with it.

ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR CONSISTENCY

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• Attitudes aren’t the only factors that influence actions

• Attitudes influence action by a person’s behavioral attention.

ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR CONSISTENCY

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• Theory of planned behavior– Stating that the best predictor of behavior is

one’s behavioral intention, which is influenced by one’s attitude toward the specific behavior, the subjective norms regarding the behavior and one’s perceived control over the behavior.

ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR CONSISTENCY

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Attitude(One’s evaluation of the specific behavior

in question)

Subjective Norm(One’s perception

that important others will approve of the

behavior )

Perceived Behavioral Control

(One’s perception of how difficult it would

be to perform the behavior)

Behavioral Intention

(One’s aim to perform behavior)

BEHAVIOR

Figure 4.2 : The theory of planned behavior

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ATTITUDE CHANGE

• Attitude changes involve:-Adopting attitudes to fit the needs

-Modifying and interest at present

-Relinquish

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• Attitude cannot be changed by simple education

• Acceptance of new attitude depends– On who is presenting the knowledge– How it is presented– How the person is perceived– The credibility of the communicator– The conditions by which the knowledge

was received

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• Attitude change when

–Cognitive change occurs

–Affective change occurs

–Behavioral change occurs

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Why do we change our attitude?

• To improve quality of life

–Physically – healthy

–Spiritual – happier

–Better socialization

• Resolution of social conflict

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• To solve a number of long-standing social problems

–e.g. racial discrimination, prejudice

• To give a good image to other people

Why do we change our attitude?

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• When we receives new info from others or media

• Through direct experience with the attitude

Why do we change our attitude?