Social PsychologyChapter 16

Why Study Attitudes?

Attitudes are important because they: strongly influence our social thought

help to organize and evaluate stimuli (e.g., categorizing stimuli as positive or negative)

presumably have a strong affect on behavior help to predict people’s behavior in wide range of

contexts (e.g., voting, interpersonal relations)

4.5

Attitudes

How are attitudes formed? Do attitudes influence behavior? How are attitudes changed?

4.4

Definition

Evaluations of any aspect of our social world. Automobiles Abortion President Bush

Attitude StructureA

ffec

t

BehaviorC

ognition

Gun Control

Affect: “Guns make me sick!”

Behavior: “I vote for gun controlwhenever possible.”

Cognition: “Guns in the house increase the likelihood of childrenaccidentally shooting themselves.”

Attitude Formation

social learning- acquire attitudes from others classical conditioning- learning based on

association subliminal conditioning- without awareness

instrumental conditioning- learn to hold the “right” views

observational learning- learning by observing actions of others and exposure to mass media

Attitude Formation (con’t)

social comparison- compare ourselves to others to determine if our view of reality is correct attitudes are shaped by social information from

others we like or respect genetic factors- inherited general dispositions

(e.g., see world in a positive or negative light) highly heritable attitudes and gut-level preferences

(music) are especially influenced

Summary Attitudes are evaluations of any aspect of our

social world Attitudes are often learned Attitudes are also formed through social

comparison New research suggests attitudes are

influenced by genetic factors

Attitude-Behavior Link

Attitudes do not always predict behavior LaPiere (1934) found that virtually all businesses

served Chinese couple courteously, yet most owners held negative attitudes

Sun-worshippers know the dangers of exposure to the sun, yet they tan anyway“looking good” attitude takes precedence over

attitudes toward personal health

Forward

LaPiere Study

100%

8%

99%

9%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Restaurants Hotels, Motels

Did Serve Would Serve

Would you serve Chinese people?

Back

Attitude Change

Dissonance Theory

Persuasion

Elaboration-Likelihood Model

Attitude Formation & Change

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Festinger and Carlsmith study

$20Told next persontasks were funand interesting

$1

BoringTasks

Told next persontasks were funand interesting

Asked how much they

enjoyed experiment

Festinger & Carlsmith Study Results

0

5

10

15

20

25

Enj

oym

ent

of t

he T

ask

ControlCondition

$1 Condition $20 Condition

Reward Conditions

Cognitive Approach to Attitude Change Persuasion

efforts to change attitudes through various kinds of messages.

Early persuasion research focused on: The communicator (source) What they said (message) How they said it (channels) Who was listening (audience)

Research suggests there are two routes through which information is processed The Elaboration-Likelihood Model

Elaboration-Likelihood Model

Messageunimportant,uninteresting

Heuristicprocessing

Nonverbalcues

important

Argumentstrength

unimportant

Messageimportant,interesting

Systematicprocessing

Nonverbalcues

unimportant

Argumentstrength

important

Peripheral Route

Central Route

Figure 16.10 Overview of the persuasion process

Factors Influencing Information Processing

We tend to use systematic processing when: we are strongly motivated

accuracy motivation impression motivation defensive motivation

we have a high ability to do so We tend to use heuristic processing when:

we are unmotivated we lack the ability to systematically process info

Competing Collaborating

Avoiding

Accommodating

Compromising

Concern for Other’s Goals

Low High

Con

cern

for

You

r G

oals

High

Low

DistributiveDimension Integrative

Dimension

Factors That Influence Strategy Selection

Skills Willingness of other participant Perception of future relationship Attributions about others’ behavior

Person Perception:Forming Impressions of Others

Effects of physical appearance Cognitive schemas Stereotypes Prejudice and discrimination Subjectivity in person perception Evolutionary perspectives

Attribution Processes: Explaining Behavior

Attributions Internal vs. External Kelley’s covariation model

Biases in attributions Fundamental attribution error Defensive attribution Self-serving bias

Cultural influences