Download Attitudes, Beliefs

Chapter 7 - Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency
• What Are Attitudes and Why Do People Have
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Them?
How Attitudes Are Formed
Consistency
Do Attitudes Really Predict Behavior?
Beliefs and Believing
Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency
• Jack Kevorkian – Assisted suicide
• What attitudes about life are expected from a
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medical doctor?
What attitudes about life did Dr. Kevorkian
espouse?
How do these seemingly contrary attitudes
represent consistency?
Attitudes and Beliefs
• Attitudes
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– Global evaluations toward some object or
issue
Beliefs
– Information about something; facts or
opinions
Dual Attitudes
• Implicit attitude
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– Automatic evaluative response
Explicit attitude
– Conscious evaluative response
Some attitudes are not shared with others
We may not be aware of all our own attitudes
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
• Measures implicit attitudes
– Those we are unwilling or unable to report
– Attitudes about stigmatized groups
Implicit Association Test
PLAY
VIDEO
Why People Have Attitudes
• Attitudes help us deal with complex world
• Attitudes are evaluations (like or dislike)
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– Initial evaluations are immediate and
unconscious
Attitudes are helpful in making choices
Is Bad Stronger Than Good?
Optimism, Pessimism – and Life and Death
• Being optimist is healthier than being
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pessimistic
– Optimism effects appear weaker over time
than pessimism
Cancer study (Schulz, et al., 1996)
– Pessimists were more likely to die
– Optimism made no difference
How Attitudes Are Formed
• Mere-exposure effect
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– Exception - If you dislike something initially,
repeated exposure will not change that
attitude
• Zajonc (1968)
Stimuli may be presented at subliminal level
How Attitudes Are Formed
• Classical Conditioning
– Can form both explicit and implicit attitudes
– Develop a positive attitude toward the
conditioned stimulus
– Helps explain prejudiced attitudes
• Negative information in the media linked
to social groups
– Advertisers link celebrities and products
How Attitudes Are Formed
• Operant Conditioning
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– Develop a positive attitude toward
something being reinforced
Social Learning
– Learn attitudes acceptable through
observation
How Attitudes Are Formed?
• Polarization - Attitudes become more extreme
as we think about them
– Especially true in strong initial attitude
– Evaluate evidence in a biased manner
• Accept evidence that confirms attitude
• Accept evidence from ingroup members
Consistency
• Commonalities in theories about consistency
– Specify conditions required for consistency
and inconsistency
– Assume inconsistency is unpleasant
– Specify conditions required to restore
consistency
Balance Theory
• P-O-X Theory
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– Person – Other Person – Attitude Object
Relationships among P-O-X
– Sentiment relationships
– Unit relationships
Balance Theory
• Individuals prefer balanced to unbalanced
– Unbalanced – motivated to change
Critique of Balance Theory
• Assumes symmetry of relationships
• Doesn’t consider strength of relationships
• Only accommodates situations involving
three elements
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• Cognitive dissonance refers to unpleasant
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state when attitude and behavior are
inconsistent
– Causes people to rationalize their behavior
and bring their attitude into line with actions
Festinger & Carlson (1959)
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• Effort Justification
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– (Aronson & Mills, 1959)
– People seek to justify and rationalize any
suffering or effort they have made
Greater choice is necessary for dissonance
Dissonance is marked by unpleasant arousal
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• While people have desire to be consistent in
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their own private mind, they have stronger
desire to be viewed consistent by others
Self-presentation plays a role in cognitive
dissonance
Food for Thought
Would You Eat a Bug or a Worm?
• Eat a worm?
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Change your attitude!
(Comer & Laird, 1975)
Sometimes people will choose to suffer an
expected consequence, but only if they
change their beliefs and attitudes.
Consistency
• Drive for consistency
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– Rooted in our biology
– Strengthened by learning and socialization
Consistency involves both automatic and
conscious parts of the mind
Do Attitudes Really Predict
Behavior?
Attacking Attitudes
• A – B Problem
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– Inconsistency between attitude (A) and
behavior (B)
Link between attitudes and behavior is weak
The Social Side of Sex
A-B Inconsistency and Erotic Plasticity
• Gender gap in A-B consistency
• Men’s attitudes predict their sexual behavior
much better than women
– Women’s sexual responses are specific to
the person and the situation so general
attitudes are not as relevant
Defending Attitudes
• Predictions of behavior based on attitudes is
best when
– Measures of attitude are very specific
– Behaviors are aggregated over time and
situations
– Attitudes are consciously prominent and
influence thought regarding the choice
– Attitudes come to mind easily
Beliefs and Believing
• Believing is automatic; understanding
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requires controlled, conscious thought
Duplex mind
– Automatic system – uncritical and
accepting - believing
– Conscious system – can override and
change belief to disbelief
Belief Perseverance
• Once beliefs form – resist to change
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– Despite bogus evidence, continue to
believe
Opposite theory
– Reduces belief perseverance
Belief and Coping
• Coping
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– Attempt to deal with trauma and return to
effective functioning in life
Assumptive worlds – Beliefs about reality
– World is benevolent
– World is fair and just
– I am a good person
Belief and Coping
• Coping Strategies
– Self blame – “I made a mistake.”
• Allows sense of control
– No explanation for misfortune
• More likely to feel vulnerable
Cognitive Coping
• Beliefs that need to be restored after trauma
– Downward comparison
• Things could be worse
– Restore self-esteem and control
– All things have a higher purpose
Religious Belief
• Provides social support, sense of meaning,
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direction and fosters development of virtues
Help people cope
Appeal to superordinate reduces dissonance
Cognitive level - beliefs may be inconsistent
Emotional level - may elicit fear and guilt
Irrational Belief
• People who hold irrational beliefs
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– Tend to be more anxious
– Cope less well with terminal illness
– Are more likely to be depressed over time
– Possess lower levels of self-esteem
Often maintained despite contradictory
evidence
What Makes Us Human?
• Humans have more complex attitudes
• Pressure for consistency
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– We seek and ask for explanations
Humans can hold dual attitudes
Beliefs help people cope with misfortune