Attitudes 1

“Did you ever have to make up your mind?”

The Lovin’ Spoonful

•Attitudes

• I. What are attitudes?• II. How do we develop attitudes?• III. The link between attitudes and behavior• IV. Attitude Change• A. Case example• B. Cognitive dissonance processes

Attitudes & Persuasion

• Attitudes: A positive, negative, or mixed evaluation of people, objects, or ideas.

• Exercise

Processes in the development of attitudes

• Classical conditioning

• Instrumental/operant conditioning

• Modeling

• Direct experience

Classical conditioning

• Association between an initially neutral stimulus and a stimulus that naturally produces a strong reaction.

Operant conditioning

• You have been reinforced for expressing the “right” or correct views.

Modeling

• Modeling: We observe the behavior of others and base our beliefs on such observations. – Ex: Mother buys “Tide”

Direct Experience

• Four ways of learning are not mutually exclusive!

Link between Attitudes and Behavior

• Big question in social psychology: Can we predict behavior from people’s attitudes?

• Richard LaPiere (1934): Traveled through U.S. with Chinese couple

• Results:_________________

When are attitudes poor predictors of behavior?

• (1) Low correspondence between the attitude and the behavior (Aizen & Fishbein)

• (2) Strength of attitude is weak– (strength=more knowledge; based on

direct experience; more important; more accessible.)

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How do attitudes change?

• The case of Patricia Hearst

• Isolation

• Guilt

• Environmental control

• Voicing particular views, even if we don’t believe them, might lead to attitude change.

Cognitive dissonance theory(Festinger, 1957)

• Assumed we feel tension (dissonance) when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are psychologically inconsistent. We change our thinking to reduce this tension.

• Video clip of Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) study

Festinger and Carlsmith

• IV: $1 or $20 to lie by saying a boring task was very interesting

• DV: How much the participant reported enjoying the dull task

• Results: Ps in the _________condition said the dull task was ______enjoyable than did those in the _______condition. ______=insufficient justification for lie

Importance of Festinger & Carlsmith study

• Demonstrates self persuasion

• Contradicted long-held belief that big rewards produced attitude change

“less [money] leads to more [attitude change]” effect

Ways to Reduce Dissonance

• TECHNIQUES EXAMPLES• Change your attitude “I don’t really need to be on a

diet.”• Change your perception• of the behavior “I hardly ate any mousse.”

• Add consonant cognitions “Chocolate mousse is very nutritious.”

• Minimize the importance “I don’t care if I’m • of the conflict. overweight— life is short;

mousse is great.

• Reduce perceived choice. “I had no other choice; it was prepared for the occasion.

Insufficient justification

• Aronson & Carlsmith (1963)• Forbidden toy study• IV: Mild threat (I won’t like it) or severe threat

(will be spanked)• DV: later liking for the toy• Results: Those faced with a _____threat liked

the toy ______than those faced with a _______ threat. Those in the mild threat group had “______________for their behavior, and therefore internalized the attitude.

Insufficient justification principle works for punishment as well as rewards

• Aronson & Mills (1959)• Female students; group discussions about sex• IV: Mild initiation or severe initiation or control (no

initiation)• Heard boring tape about “secondary sex behavior in

lower animals.”• Ss in __________initiation group rated the

discussion _________than those in the _______initiation or control group.

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Four steps to dissonance arousal (Cooper & Fazio)

• The attitude discrepant behavior must produce unwanted negative consequences.

• Must feel personally responsible for unpleasant consequences.

• Must experience physiological arousal

• Must attribute the arousal to your own inconsistent behavior

Cognitive dissonance theory

• Generated a lot of research

• Explanations for effects are still being debated, but inconsistency appears to be important.