ATTITUDES:
Gordon Allport: “the concept of attitudes is probably the most distinctive and indispensable
concept in contemporary social psychology”
PHASES:
1920s: how best to measure attitudes and how these measurements relate to behaviour
1950s: focus on understanding dynamics of change in people's attitudes
1980s: cognitive and social structure and function of attitudes and attitude systems
2000s – present: dominated by social neuroscience. Exploring neural underpinnings of cognitive
function and structure of attitudes
Whether an attitude represents a single unitary construct or whether comprised of different
components
- Louis Thurstone:
o One-component attitude model – Defining the attitude as the effect for or against
a psychological object. the degree of positive or negative affect associated with an
object
- Gordon Allport:
o Two-component attitude model – attitudes comprise both an affective dimension
and mental readiness. Attitude is defined as a mental and neural state of readiness,
organised through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the
individual's response to all objects and situations with which it is related.
o An attitude is a private event. Its existence is unobservable and can only be
inferred.
- 1960s
o Three-component attitude model – comprising cognitive (thought), affective
(feeling), and behavioural (actions) dimensions of attitudes.
o Relatively permanent – a momentary feeling is not an attitude. Persist across time
and situation
o Limited to socially significant events or objects
o Generalisable and involve some degree of abstraction
Attitudes exist because they are useful, they serve a function
- Attitude: statue is despicable because it glorifies an oppressor
- Feeling: I am so angry right now at seeing this statue here
- Attitudes save cognitive energy
o Similar to the cognitive miser and motivated tactician from chapter 2
- Russell Fazio:
, o Primary function: object appraisal, irrespective of whether the attitude is positive
or negative
- Attitudes provide an orientation for the person toward an object
Cognitive consistency theories:
- Focus on inconsistencies among people's beliefs
- Two thoughts are inconsistent when they appear to contradict each other
- This state of mind is bothersome. This disharmony is known as dissonance
- People are motivated to change one or more contradictory beliefs so that belief system as
a whole is in harmony the outcome is restoration of consistency
- Fritz Heider’s balance theory
o Focus on three elements (Person – P, another person – O, attitude/topic - X
o If these elements are consistent, balance is achieved
o Balance assessed by counting number and relationships between elements
o Relationship between any two elements can be positive or negative
o Eight possible combinations of elements
o Balanced combinations: all positive or one positive
o Imbalanced combinations: all negative or one negative
o Balance is restored in manner requiring least effort
- Pratkanis and Greenwald’s sociocognitive model
o Defines an attitude as a person's evaluation of an object of though
o Similar to Thurnstone’s single component model because of focus on evaluation
▪ Difference between affect and evaluation.
▪ Affect = emotional reaction
▪ Evaluation = particular kinds of thoughts and beliefs associated with
object
▪ Evaluative dimension of objects is a central focus on research on prejudice
▪ Attitude object consists of three structures:
• Label and role of object
• Evaluative summary (Heuristic)
• Supportive knowledge structure (schematic)
Decision making:
- Information integration theory, Norman Anderson
o Use cognitive algebra to construct our attitudes towards objects
o Mentally average out information to form impression
- Automatic Judgement, Patricia Devine
o People's attitudes are underpinned by implicit and automatic judgements of which
they are unaware
o Less influenced by social desirability bias
o More reliable measure of attitudes
,Formation:
- Direct experiences
o Explanations for this include:
▪ Mere exposure effect
• Mere exposure to an effect is likely to affect how we evaluate it
• Strongest during initial exposure and when information is limited
• Also works indirectly (bad impression of those who are close to
someone you have a bad attitude towards)
▪ Classical conditioning
• Degree of liking something will change if it is paired with other
stimuli which are positive or negative
▪ Instrumental/operant conditioning
• Attitudes followed by positive reinforcement are more likely to be
strengthened than attitudes followed by punishment
▪ Social learning theory
• A social learning process that does not rely on direct reinforcement
• Observe outcomes and responses to the attitudes of others and
based on this we choose to model the attitudes or not
• Parents exert a strong influence on the general attitudes of their
children rather than on their specific attitudes
▪ Self-perception theory
- Vicarious experiences
- Cognitive processes and thought
Measuring attitudes:
- Some measure attitudes directly/ explicit attitudes
o The Likert scale. Directly ask people how they feel about certain objects.
- Indirect measurement
o Social desirability bias is limited
o More accurate
o Physiological measures – not specific. Can indicate intensity of feeling but not
whether that feeling is positive or negative
o Measuring overt behaviour – unobtrusive (not as reliable)
- Bogus pipeline technique
o Convince participant they cannot hide their true attitudes
o Direct and indirect
o Connected to machine and are told it measures strength and direct of emotions
implying there is no point in lying
o Often believe it's true and will tell the truth
- Implicit attitudes
, o Attitudes people are not aware of
o Bias in language use
▪ More likely to talk in abstract terms about undesirable characteristics of
members of an outgroup
o Attitude priming
▪ Implicit association test
▪ Participate in activities which prime accessible attitudes/schemas about
objects
▪ Followed by activities which demonstrate how these attitudes change
behaviour
Behaviour:
- Studying attitudes is useful because it may help with predicting behaviour
- If you can change attitudes, you can change behaviour
- However, there are inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviour
o Richard LaPiere’s hospital study
▪ Only verbal reaction to a symbolic situation can be secured by the
questionnaire. May indicate what the responder would actually do when
confronted with the situation symbolised in the question, but there is no
assurance that it will.
- No one-to-one match between attitudes and behaviour
o Attitude accessibility
o Public versus private expression
o Group identification for normative attitudes
- Theory of reasoned action – Ajsen and Fishbein
- Link attitudes to behaviour and intentions
o Premised on the argument that better prediction of behaviour on the basis of
attitude depends on an account of attitudes, beliefs and behavioural intentions and
the connections of all of these result in subsequent actions
o Some beliefs will carry more weight than others in determining behaviour
o Ask specific questions rather than general ones
o The closer the question was to the actual behaviour, the more accurately the
attitude predicted behaviour
o General attitudes are better at predicting multiple acts rather than single acts
o Single acts are influenced by a variety of factors, not just personal attitudes
o Includes following four components:
▪ Subjective norm: product of what a person thinks others believe.
Significant others provide direct or indirect information about what the
proper thing is to do
▪ Attitude towards behaviour (based on persons beliefs about target
behaviour and how these beliefs are evaluated)
Gordon Allport: “the concept of attitudes is probably the most distinctive and indispensable
concept in contemporary social psychology”
PHASES:
1920s: how best to measure attitudes and how these measurements relate to behaviour
1950s: focus on understanding dynamics of change in people's attitudes
1980s: cognitive and social structure and function of attitudes and attitude systems
2000s – present: dominated by social neuroscience. Exploring neural underpinnings of cognitive
function and structure of attitudes
Whether an attitude represents a single unitary construct or whether comprised of different
components
- Louis Thurstone:
o One-component attitude model – Defining the attitude as the effect for or against
a psychological object. the degree of positive or negative affect associated with an
object
- Gordon Allport:
o Two-component attitude model – attitudes comprise both an affective dimension
and mental readiness. Attitude is defined as a mental and neural state of readiness,
organised through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the
individual's response to all objects and situations with which it is related.
o An attitude is a private event. Its existence is unobservable and can only be
inferred.
- 1960s
o Three-component attitude model – comprising cognitive (thought), affective
(feeling), and behavioural (actions) dimensions of attitudes.
o Relatively permanent – a momentary feeling is not an attitude. Persist across time
and situation
o Limited to socially significant events or objects
o Generalisable and involve some degree of abstraction
Attitudes exist because they are useful, they serve a function
- Attitude: statue is despicable because it glorifies an oppressor
- Feeling: I am so angry right now at seeing this statue here
- Attitudes save cognitive energy
o Similar to the cognitive miser and motivated tactician from chapter 2
- Russell Fazio:
, o Primary function: object appraisal, irrespective of whether the attitude is positive
or negative
- Attitudes provide an orientation for the person toward an object
Cognitive consistency theories:
- Focus on inconsistencies among people's beliefs
- Two thoughts are inconsistent when they appear to contradict each other
- This state of mind is bothersome. This disharmony is known as dissonance
- People are motivated to change one or more contradictory beliefs so that belief system as
a whole is in harmony the outcome is restoration of consistency
- Fritz Heider’s balance theory
o Focus on three elements (Person – P, another person – O, attitude/topic - X
o If these elements are consistent, balance is achieved
o Balance assessed by counting number and relationships between elements
o Relationship between any two elements can be positive or negative
o Eight possible combinations of elements
o Balanced combinations: all positive or one positive
o Imbalanced combinations: all negative or one negative
o Balance is restored in manner requiring least effort
- Pratkanis and Greenwald’s sociocognitive model
o Defines an attitude as a person's evaluation of an object of though
o Similar to Thurnstone’s single component model because of focus on evaluation
▪ Difference between affect and evaluation.
▪ Affect = emotional reaction
▪ Evaluation = particular kinds of thoughts and beliefs associated with
object
▪ Evaluative dimension of objects is a central focus on research on prejudice
▪ Attitude object consists of three structures:
• Label and role of object
• Evaluative summary (Heuristic)
• Supportive knowledge structure (schematic)
Decision making:
- Information integration theory, Norman Anderson
o Use cognitive algebra to construct our attitudes towards objects
o Mentally average out information to form impression
- Automatic Judgement, Patricia Devine
o People's attitudes are underpinned by implicit and automatic judgements of which
they are unaware
o Less influenced by social desirability bias
o More reliable measure of attitudes
,Formation:
- Direct experiences
o Explanations for this include:
▪ Mere exposure effect
• Mere exposure to an effect is likely to affect how we evaluate it
• Strongest during initial exposure and when information is limited
• Also works indirectly (bad impression of those who are close to
someone you have a bad attitude towards)
▪ Classical conditioning
• Degree of liking something will change if it is paired with other
stimuli which are positive or negative
▪ Instrumental/operant conditioning
• Attitudes followed by positive reinforcement are more likely to be
strengthened than attitudes followed by punishment
▪ Social learning theory
• A social learning process that does not rely on direct reinforcement
• Observe outcomes and responses to the attitudes of others and
based on this we choose to model the attitudes or not
• Parents exert a strong influence on the general attitudes of their
children rather than on their specific attitudes
▪ Self-perception theory
- Vicarious experiences
- Cognitive processes and thought
Measuring attitudes:
- Some measure attitudes directly/ explicit attitudes
o The Likert scale. Directly ask people how they feel about certain objects.
- Indirect measurement
o Social desirability bias is limited
o More accurate
o Physiological measures – not specific. Can indicate intensity of feeling but not
whether that feeling is positive or negative
o Measuring overt behaviour – unobtrusive (not as reliable)
- Bogus pipeline technique
o Convince participant they cannot hide their true attitudes
o Direct and indirect
o Connected to machine and are told it measures strength and direct of emotions
implying there is no point in lying
o Often believe it's true and will tell the truth
- Implicit attitudes
, o Attitudes people are not aware of
o Bias in language use
▪ More likely to talk in abstract terms about undesirable characteristics of
members of an outgroup
o Attitude priming
▪ Implicit association test
▪ Participate in activities which prime accessible attitudes/schemas about
objects
▪ Followed by activities which demonstrate how these attitudes change
behaviour
Behaviour:
- Studying attitudes is useful because it may help with predicting behaviour
- If you can change attitudes, you can change behaviour
- However, there are inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviour
o Richard LaPiere’s hospital study
▪ Only verbal reaction to a symbolic situation can be secured by the
questionnaire. May indicate what the responder would actually do when
confronted with the situation symbolised in the question, but there is no
assurance that it will.
- No one-to-one match between attitudes and behaviour
o Attitude accessibility
o Public versus private expression
o Group identification for normative attitudes
- Theory of reasoned action – Ajsen and Fishbein
- Link attitudes to behaviour and intentions
o Premised on the argument that better prediction of behaviour on the basis of
attitude depends on an account of attitudes, beliefs and behavioural intentions and
the connections of all of these result in subsequent actions
o Some beliefs will carry more weight than others in determining behaviour
o Ask specific questions rather than general ones
o The closer the question was to the actual behaviour, the more accurately the
attitude predicted behaviour
o General attitudes are better at predicting multiple acts rather than single acts
o Single acts are influenced by a variety of factors, not just personal attitudes
o Includes following four components:
▪ Subjective norm: product of what a person thinks others believe.
Significant others provide direct or indirect information about what the
proper thing is to do
▪ Attitude towards behaviour (based on persons beliefs about target
behaviour and how these beliefs are evaluated)
