David Myers11e

Behavior and Attitudes

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Chapter FourAttitude is a leaning toward or against some

attitudinal object

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Attitude

Favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something or someone How well do attitudes predict behavior?When does our behavior affect our attitude?Why does our behavior affect our attitudes?Changing ourselves through action.

ABCs of attitudes: (know them!)Affect (feelings)Behavior…tendencyCognition (belief - thinking)

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How Well Do Our Attitudes Predict Our Behavior?People’s expressed attitudes hardly predicted

their varying behaviorsStudent attitudes toward cheating bore little

relation to the likelihood of their cheatingAttitudes toward the church were only modestly

linked with worship attendance on any given Sunday

Self-described racial attitudes provided little clue to behaviors in actual situations

Ps told to assign a task (pos or neg) to themselves or partner…engaged in “moral hypocrisy”. How so? (Batson et al., ‘97)

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How Well Do Our Attitudes Predict Our Behavior?

When Attitudes Predict BehaviorWhen social influences on what we say are

minimal Implicit

Implicit association test (IAT) (Greenwald, ’02) Caution! - reliability and validity may be

questionable (Arkes & Tetlock, ‘04)

Implicit biases are pervasive People differ in implicit bias People are often unaware of their implicit biases

Explicit

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How Well Do Our Attitudes Predict Our Behavior?When Attitudes Predict Behavior

When other influences on behavior are minimal - many situational influences!

Think of some that influence your class attendance So look at averaging and aggregating them all.

When attitudes specific to the behavior are examined E.g. costs and benefits for jogging Theory of planned behavior (Ajzen & Fishbein)

- Behavioral intentions

When attitudes are potent Self-awareness

use a mirror for each student during the exam? Forge strong attitudes through experience

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When Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? Behavior -> attitudesRole Playing

Role Set of norms that defines how people in a given

social position ought to behave Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford’s prison study

Abu Ghraib controversy

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When Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? When Saying Becomes Believing

When there is no compelling external explanation for one’s words, saying becomes believing Remember self-perception theory?

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When Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

Tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request Perceived ‘free will’ also necessary. Low-ball technique

Tactic for getting people to agree to something. People who agree to an initial request will often still comply when the requester ups the ante Used by some car dealers

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When Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? Beh-> attitudesEvil and Moral Acts

Wartime Actions and attitudes feed on each other When evil behavior occurs we tend to justify it as

right Peacetime

Moral action, especially when chosen rather than coerced, affects moral thinking

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When Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? Interracial Behavior and Racial Attitudes

Racial behaviors help shape our social consciousness By doing, not saying racial attitudes were changed

Legislating morality (supreme court and Coleman report) Why was forced bussing such a failure? (S. Cook) No “perceived choice or equal status”

Social MovementsPolitical and social movements may legislate

behavior designed to lead to attitude change on a mass scale

-should we pledge allegiance to the flag? Sing the national anthem?

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Why Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes?Self-Presentation: Impression Management

Assumes that people, especially those who self-monitor their behavior hoping to create good impressions, will adapt their attitude reports to appear consistent with their actions

Cognitive Dissonance ( self-justification) beliefs don’t fit…a need for consistency and logic

Self-perception theory We observe our own behavior and make self-

attributions

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Why Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes?Self-Justification: Cognitive Dissonance (L Festinger)

Tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions To reduce this tension, we adjust our thinking

Is smoking dangerous? A revision of attitudes after no weapons were found (2003)?

Engage in “selective exposure” what is that? Is it more or less likely to happen in the world of the internet?

Insufficient justification Reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one’s behavior

when external justification is “insufficient” - which was more interesting? The $1 or $20 dollar payment?

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Why Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes?Self-Justification: Cognitive Dissonance

Dissonance after decisions Deciding-becomes-believing effect (J. Brehm)

-”choice influences preference” Value of what we chose is enhanced after we buy it. Do children and monkeys do it too?

Can breed overconfidence

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Why Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes?- a simpler theory --

Self-Perception Theory (D. Bem, ‘72)When we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer

them much as would someone observing us, by looking at our behavior and the circumstances under which it occurs Expressions and attitude Overjustification and intrinsic motivations (Deci &

Ryan) Can being paid for work undermine intrinsic

motivation? Do we undermine intrinsic interest in education by

giving grades? And testing?

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Why Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes?Comparing the Theories

Self-Perception Theory (explains attitude formation)

Dissonance Theory (explains attitude change)Dissonance as Arousal

“self-affirming” reduces threats to our integritySelf-Perceiving when Not Self-ContradictingChanging Ourselves Through Action

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