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THINK
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Chapter
6
Attitudes: Making
Evaluations About
The World
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Attitude Defined
• The term “attitude” refers to a tendency to
evaluate a person, object, or idea with
some degree of approval or disapproval
• An evaluation of a specific stimulus with
parts
 Affective component
 Behavioral component
 Cognitive component
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The ABCs of Attitude
• Affective
 Emotional based component (how one feels)
• Behavioral
 Action based component (what one does)
• Cognitive
 Knowledge based component (what one
knows)
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
How do Attitudes Develop?
(continued)
• Attitudes can vary in tone (positive or
negative) and strength (mild to passionate)
• Attitudes can also be ambivalent
 Have you ever felt "mixed emotions?"
 This might be a time when your attitude was
both positive and negative at the same time
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Table 6.1: How do You
Categorize Your Attitudes?
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Attitude Formation
• Implicit attitudes
 Form without our conscious awareness
 May occur almost automatically
• Explicit attitudes
 An attitude that one recognizes and can
control
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Attitude Formation (continued)
• What factors determine whether an
attitude is implicit or explicit?
 Rudman (2004)
-
Early experiences
Affective experiences
Cultural biases
Cognitive consistency principles
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Attitude Formation (continued)
• Affective component of an attitude
 What feelings or emotions are evoked by the
stimulus?
• Behavioral component of an attitude
 What actions do you intend to take (or not
take)?
• Cognitive component of an attitude
 What do you think or know about the
stimulus?
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The ABCs of the BP Oil Spill
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Classical Conditioning
• When two stimuli are paired together, they may
come to elicit the same response
• Ivan Pavlov and his salivating dogs
 Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and unconditioned
response (UCR)
 Conditioned stimulus (CS) and conditioned response
(CR)
• How is this important in the formation of
attitudes?
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Classical Conditioning (continued)
• The mere exposure effect
 Objects become better liked with repeated
exposure
 We like things more when they are familiar to
us
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Classical Conditioning (continued)
• The name-letter effect
 The tendency to show a preference for the
letters in our own name and stimuli that
contain those letters
 Who should get a better grade in this class,
Antwan or Frank? Bella or Della?
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Operant Conditioning
• Using reinforcement or punishment to strengthen
or weaken a particular behavior (B.F. Skinner)
• Types of operant outcomes
 Positive reinforcement or positive negative
reinforcement
 Positive punishment or negative punishment
• Which type of operant outcome is the most
misunderstood?
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Observational Learning
• Watching others (models) engage in
behaviors and then repeating those
actions (Albert Bandura)
• Can explain how we acquire attitudes,
fears, opinions, or specific behaviors
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Observational Learning
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Assessing Attitudes
• Sometimes we know a person’s attitudes
from their behaviors, but this is not always
reliable
• Self-report measures
 Questionnaires that ask us to describe our
own attitudes or opinions
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Assessing Attitudes (continued)
• Attitudes are easier to assess if they are
explicit versus implicit
• A person may not even be aware of their
own implicit attitudes
• Observation is another way to gauge
attitudes, but it can also be inaccurate
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Assessing Attitudes (continued)
• Implicit Association Test (IAT)
 Uses a bit of deception to assess implicit
attitudes
 Can examine attitudes toward such topics as
race, religion, and even politics
 Some argue that the IAT only measures
associations, and not actual attitudes
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Do Attitudes Influence Behavior?
• The short answer is "sometimes"
• When attitudes do not predict behavior
 LaPiere (1934) – restaurant owners stated
they would allow Chinese patrons, but six
months later did not
 Corey (1937) – university students stated that
they felt cheating was wrong, but 76%
cheated on a difficult exam
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Do Attitudes Influence Behavior?
(continued)
• Many factors may cause attitudes and
behaviors to be inconsistent
• How attitudes do influence behavior
• Optimistic attitudes improve immune
functioning
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
• Cancer patients with positive attitudes live
longer than those with negative attitudes
• The theory of planned behavior
 Attitudes, social norms, and perceived control
all lead to behaviors
 Sometimes behaviors are a result of careful,
thoughtful deliberation
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Do Attitudes Influence Behavior?
(continued)
• Factors to consider when evaluating
behaviors
 Strength of attitude
-
The stronger an attitude, the more likely we are
to behave in accordance with that position
"Direct experience with an issue makes it more
palpable – it can no longer be ignored. (Duff, p.
104)"
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Do Attitudes Influence Behavior?
(continued)
• Factors to consider when evaluating
behaviors
 Specificity
-
Very specific attitudes are more likely to be acted
on than general attitudes
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Do Attitudes Influence Behavior?
(continued)
• Factors to consider when evaluating
behaviors
 Accessibility
-
-
The degree to which a concept is active in our
consciousness
Have you ever wondered why there are so many
beer commercials on television during sporting
events, but not at other times?
Chronic accessibility
•
•
Frequent and recent exposure to a concept makes it
much more readily available
This can serve both positive and negative functions
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Do Attitudes Influence Behavior?
(continued)
• When Does Behavior Influence Attitudes?
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Leon Festinger: Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance
• When an attitude is in keeping with a
behavior then there is a consonant
relationship
• When an attitude is not in keeping with a
behavior then there is a dissonant
relationship
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Leon Festinger: Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance
• A dissonant relationship requires a third
consonant element to reduce the degree
of dissonance
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Leon Festinger: Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance
• Cognition (attitude): I love to drive my
2007 Chevrolet pickup truck
• Dissonant Element: I am driving my wife’s
2001 Daewoo Laganza
• Consonant Element: The Daewoo gets
better gas mileage
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Leon Festinger: Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance
• How can a change in attitude occur with
Cognitive Dissonance theory?
• Response to a dissonant state can be one
of the following:
 Change the attitude
 Add a consonant element
 Reduce the importance of the attitude
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Cognitive Dissonance and Selective
Exposure
• The desire to avoid dissonance also
creates behaviors that reinforce a given
attitude.
• An example of this is to selectively avoid
exposure to contrary attitudes while
seeking the exposure to consistent
attitudes
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Cognitive Dissonance and Social
Support
• In the face of cognitive dissonance
individuals may seek social support in
favor of a given attitude in order to reduce
the level of dissonance
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Post-Decision Dissonance
• “Sour grapes"
• When we have to reject one appealing
choice in favor of another, we will devalue
the option not selected
• After you chose which college to attend,
did you start to find flaws with the ones
you rejected (or that rejected you)?
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Post-Decision Dissonance
(continued)
• Does cognitive dissonance lead to attitude
change?
• A four-step model identifies what is
needed for change to occur (Cooper &
Fazio, 1984)
 Recognition that a discrepancy has negative
consequences
 Personal responsibility for an action
 Physiological arousal
 Attribution of that arousal to an action
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Fritz Heider: Balance Theory
• People desire ‘cognitive consistency’
• We feel comfortable with others who share
our attitudes (balanced state)
• We feel uncomfortable with people who do
not share our attitudes (unbalanced state)
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Fritz Heider: Balance Theory
• Balanced State
P
+
O
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
-
-
Object
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Fritz Heider: Balance Theory
• Unbalanced State
P
+
O
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
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Object
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Fritz Heider: Balance Theory
• Balanced or Unbalanced State?
P
O
-
+
Object
Balanced!
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Fritz Heider: Balance Theory
• Balanced or Unbalanced State?
P
O
+
+
Object
Unbalanced!
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Fritz Heider: Balance Theory
• Which state of balance is most likely to
lead to a change in attitude?
P
+
O
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
P
-
+
+
Object
O
+
+
Object
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Leon Festinger: Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance
• When an attitude is in keeping with a
behavior then there is a consonant
relationship
• When an attitude is not in keeping with a
behavior then there is a dissonant
relationship
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Leon Festinger: Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance
• A dissonant relationship requires a third
consonant element to reduce the degree
of dissonance
THINK Social Psychology
Kimberley Duff
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.