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Attitudes Why are attitudes important? Attitudes influence 3 major aspects of our lives: Social thought – the way we think about social information Social feelings – many of our likes and dislikes Social behavior – e.g., protesting, voting, interpersonal relations Attitudes are pervasive: We hold attitudes about virtually all topics Functional Approach – Katz (1960) Utilitarian – Helps the person to achieve rewards and gain approval from others Knowledge – Helps the person to structure the world so that it makes sense Ego defense – Helps the person create or maintain a positive sense of oneself Value-expressive – Helps the person express important aspects of the self-concept Early Definition An ATTITUDE is a learned evaluative response, directed at specific objects, which is relatively enduring and influences behavior in a generally motivating way. (Allport, 1935) Current Definition Social psychologists define an attitude as an enduring evaluation, positive or negative, of people, objects, or ideas. (Eagly and Chaiken, 1998) 3 Components of Attitudes Affective Cognitive Behavioral Affectively based attitudes are based more on people’s feelings and values than on their beliefs. Their function may be value-expressive. Affectively based attitudes may result from either classical conditioning or operant conditioning. Cognitively based attitudes are based primarily on a person’s beliefs about the properties of the attitude object. Their function is knowledge or utilitarian. Behaviorally based attitudes are based on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object Their function is knowledge or utilitarian. Dual Attitudes Explicit attitudes are attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report. Implicit attitudes are attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious. How do we measure attitudes? Attitudes are hypothetical constructs, abstract concepts that cannot directly be observed We Infer attitude usually by one of several methods Overt behavior (Head Movements, Eye Contact, The lost letter technique) Self-reports (Attitude scales) Covert or implicit methods (IAT) Self-report Methods Interviews One-items rating scales Attitude scales L.L. Thurstone (1928) published an article in the American Journal of Sociology entitled “Attitudes can be measured” He developed the first scaling method (Thurstone’s Method of Equal-Appearing Intervals) Method of Summated Ratings or Likert Scaling Rene Likert (1932) developed the most commonly used method It is based on responding to several statements about an issue or object using several “levels of agreement” ex. Strongly agree to Strongly disagree Semantic Differential Scale Osgood’s Semantic Differential: an attitude scale which includes various subscales that measure the connotative meaning of the attitude object. These subscales are bipolar and respondents are asked to check along the line between the two bipolar opposites: (e.g. good ___ ___ ___ ___ ___bad). 3 elements of meaning to all concepts: evaluation (good/bad), potency (strong/weak) and activity (active/passive). Problems with Self-report Measures S-R assume that (1) people know what their attitudes are and (2) they will report them honestly The first assumption is often doubtful Social desirability responding affects honest Ambivalence Covert Measures of Attitudes- An approach to measuring attitudes in which the measurement technique is disguised in some way Physiological measures (Facial Electromyography) Bogus Pipeline Implicit measures (IAT) Attitude Formation How do we develop our attitudes? Socialization is the gradual acquisition of language, attitudes, and other socially approved values through reinforcement, observation and other learning processes Attitude Formation Theories Genetic influence Mere Exposure - Zajonc Classical Conditioning – Pavlov Operant Conditioning – Thorndike, Skinner Social learning or observation – Bandura Self-Perception theory - Bem