Attitude
A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object or idea
Two ways of measuring attitudes
Direct - asking for attitudes, opinions, - Indirect, - covert
Self-report measures are susceptible to influence by (3)
- wording - context - honesty -> social desirability
Bogus Pipeline
A fake lie-detector device - increase accuracy of self-report measures and reduces social desirability bias
Examples of covert measures
- Overt behav
- Lost letter technique
- IAT
- EMG
Lost letter technique
- Milgram hid self-addressed envelopes around NYC with differing adressees (I.e John Smith or Nazi Support Group) in the 50s and counted how many returned (control vs nazi)
LaPiere hotel & restaurant study in 1934
1 out of 250 refused service - later 90 % said they would have refused service
(Researcher and Chinese American couple eating in hotels and restaurants)
Indicates that there is a mismatch between attitudes and behaviour - social desirability
1969 - meta analysis attitudes and behav corre.
only weakly correlated
1995 - Meta analysis attitudes and behav
“Attitudes predict future behaviour” under certain conditions
Factors influencing the link between attitudes and behaviour
1) context 2) strength
Context influence on attitudes and behav
1) Level of correspondence (Similarity) between behav and attitude
2) Theory of planned behav
Theory of planned behaviour
- attitudes affect behaviour as well as other factors; contextual subjective norm, and perceived behaviour control
- ^ influence the intention to perform behaviour < other factors influence this intention before leading to the actual behaviour
Ways strong attitudes are formed (4)
1) More informed
2) Direct, personal experience
3) Resistance to a personal message
4) Accessibility
When do attitudes predict behaviour?
When they are strong and specific
Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986)
Two routes - Central and peripheral
Three factors determining the route
1) The source
2) message
3) audience
Central Route of ELM
Think carefully about message; influenced by strength and quality (high likelihood of elaboration)
Peripheral Route of ELM
- Do not think carefully about message; influenced by superficial cues (low elaboration)
Heuristics - Peripheral Route (5)
1) Numbers and big words 2) corresponding values 3) famous or successful people 4) High consensus 5) sex
The source - effective speakers are determined by
credibility and likeability
Credibility is influenced by
how competent and trustworthy the speaker seems
Likeability is influenced by
similarity and physical attractiveness
Source vs message
Involvement: High vs low Argument: strong vs weak Source: Expert vs non-expert
Sleeper effect
Over time the credible source is less credible, and the less credible source seems more credible (Over time source no longer matters) - unless reminded of the source
Persuasiveness of messages determined by (5)
1) Informational strategies 2) Message discrepancy 3) Fear appeals 4) positive emotions 5) Subliminal Messages
Informational strategies (2)
1) Length - Peripheral route - longer messages; central route - better messages 2) Order - Primacy effect? Recency effect? > depends on delay
Which two conditions are ideal in preventing recency and primacy effects?
3 & 4 (Message 1 Message 2 Decision) (Message 1 - 1 week delay) (Message 2) (1 week delay) (decision)
How discrepant should the message be?
Moderately discrepant messages are most persuasive
Fear is effective in persuading people when (2)
1) Arguments are strong 2) Solutions are included - i.e sunscreen can help prevent skin cancer
Effect of positive emotions on persuasion
- peripheral route - cognitively distracted - let guard down - want to stay happy
Subliminal Messages
-/Priming only has short term effects
Which personality trait is most easy to persuade?
none - persuasion is determined by match between message and audience
Factors influencing the match between audience and message (3)
1) Need for cognition - Individual difference -> some people like to think, some people don’t 2) Self-monitoring -> High SM influenced by image -> Low SM persuaded by information 3) Forewarning & resistance
Inoculation Hypothesis
Exposure to weak versions of a persuasive argument increases later resistance to that argument
Psychological reactance
People will react negatively to threats against their right to make their own choices
Original Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Holding inconsistent cognitions arouses psychological tension that people become motivated to reduce
Festinger & Carlsmith (1959)
- Boring task 1 hour -> tell the next participant it was fun (control vs $1 vs $20) -> later and unrelated -> rated the experiment (People believe the lie more strongly if they only receive a small reward compared to none or a large reward)
cultural influences on cognitive dissonance.
In Western cultures, individuals are expected to make decisions that are consistent with their personal attitudes and to make those decisions free from outside influences.
In East Asian cultures, however, individuals are also expected to make decisions that benefit their ingroup members
“new look” of cognitive dissonance and how it expands upon the original
theory
According to Cooper and Fazio, four steps are necessary for both the arousal and reduction of dissonance
First, the attitude-discrepant behavior must produce unwanted negative consequences
- feeling of personal responsibility for the unpleasant outcomes of behavior.
third necessary step in the process is physiological arousal
- A person must also make an attribution for that arousal to his or her own behavior
self-perception theory
The theory that when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-insight by observing their own behavior.
impression-management theory
which says that what matters is not a motive to be consistent but a motive to appear consistent.
theories of self-esteem
According to Elliot Aronson, acts that arouse dissonance do so because they threaten the self-concept, making the person feel guilty, dishonest, or hypocritical, and motivating a change in attitude or future behavior