Attitudes

1. Attitudes

2. The Nature of Attitudes • Attitude • A relatively stable organization of beliefs, feelings and behavior tendencies toward something (attitude object) • Attitudes and Behaviors • We don’t always behave the way we feel • The correlation between attitudes and behavior is not always high • Self-monitoring • Tendency of the individual to observe the situation for cues about appropriate reaction

3. The Nature of Attitudes • Attitude Development • Much of our attitude is the result of experience • Oskamp, 1991 • Early experiences (smiles and encouragement for pleasing behaviors, punishment and disapproval for displeasing behaviors) create enduring positive and negative attitudes • Parents, teachers, friends, celebrities shape our attitudes

4. The Nature of Attitudes • Attitude Development • Bandura: Bobo the Clown How are you influenced by what you see?

5. Social Identity Theory • Tajfel & Turner (1979) • No one “personal self”, but several selves of widening circles of group membership. • Different social contexts may trigger an individual to think, feel and act on basis of his personal, family or national “level of self.” • Social identity is the individual’s self-concept derived from perceived membership of social groups (Hogg & Vaughan, 2002) • individual-based perception of what defines the “us” associated with any internalized group membership. This can be distinguished from the notion of personal identity which refers to self-knowledge that derives from the individual’s unique attributes.

6. Social Identity Theory • Group membership creates ingroup/ self-categorization and enhancement in ways that favor the in-group at the expense of the out-group. • Categorizing as group members leads them to display ingroup favoritism. • Seek positive self-esteem by separating ingroup from an outgroup • Positive distinctiveness of ‘us’ • People’s sense of who they are is defined in terms of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. • Three main variables of ingroup favoritism • Extent to which individuals identify with ingroup to internalize group membership as aspect of self-concept. • Extent to which prevailing context provides ground for comparison between groups. • Perceived relevance of comparison group, • Shaped by relative and absolute status of the ingroup. • Individuals are likely to display favoritism when an ingroup is central to their self-definition and a given comparison is meaningful or the outcome is contestable.

7. Social Identity Theory • Schoolboys were assigned to groups, which were intended as meaningless as possible. • Assigned randomly, excluding roles of interpersonal discrimination such as history of conflict, personal animosity or interdependence. • Assigned points to anonymous members of both their own group and the other group. • Conclusions • even the most minimal conditions were sufficient to encourage ingroup-favoring responses. • Participants picked a reward pair that awarded more points to people who were identified as ingroup members. In other words, they displayed ingroup favoritism.

8. Prejudice & Discrimination • Prejudice • An intolerant, unfavorable and rigid view of a group of people (Attitude) • Discrimination • An act or series of acts that denies opportunities and esteem to an entire group of people (Behavior)

9. Prejudice • Sources of Prejudice • Frustration-aggression theory (Allport, 1954) • Displacement of hostility by exploited, oppressed, or disenfranchised away from proper target and toward lower social groups • Authoritarian personality theory (Adorno et al, 1950) • Rigidly conventional, rule-following individuals hostile to those that deviate from the norms • Cognitive misers • Too much cognitive simplification, creates over-generalizations and stereotypes • Racism • Members of certain racial/ ethnic groups are innately inferior

10. Attitudes and Behavior • Heavily researched because of belief that attitudes can predict behavior • NOT supported by evidence • LaPiere (1930): attitudes & behaviors toward Orientals in 1930s California • Reported attitudes didn’t correlate with discriminatory behavior

11. Measuring Attitudes • Direct questions (Survey says…) • Difficult to assess intensity • No way to standardize answer • Projection test • LOOK INTO THIS

12. Measuring Attitudes • Attitude scales (most common) • Thurstone scale • Evaluative statements about attitude object • Wide range of positivity & negativity • Osgood’s Semantic Difference • Rate attitude object on bipolar adjective word pairs • Limitations • Social-desirability bias

13. Measuring Attitudes • Physiological changes • Arousal states associated with positive & negative attitudes • GSR • Measures perspiration • Limitation: doesn’t indicate type of emotion • Pupilary response • Hess (): subject wants to see what it like more than what it dislikes • Problems: fear dilates pupils, to, limited to visual

14. Measuring Attitudes • Physiological changes • Facial electromyogram (EMG) • Assumptions: facial expressions are innate, people learn only to control gross facial movements, unable to control slight enervation • Measures muscle enervation (tension) • Limitations: • Expensive, invasive, experiment may alter attitudes

15. Attitude Change • How and why do attitudes change? • How do we resist attitude changes we don’t want?

16. Persuasion • Pay attention to message, fully comprehend, and accept message as convincing • Resistance • Identify underlying message, recognize attention-getting techniques • Awareness of techniques & tactics

17. PersuasionAdvertising Techniques • Bandwagon: Popularity = desirability • “Everyone’s doing it!” • Celebrity Testimonial: Fame = taste • “I’m Michael Jordan & I drink Gatorade!” • Association Principle: product assoc. with qualities • “Cool, sexy people smoke Kool cigarettes!” • Emotional Appeal: Creates emotional response (fear) • “If you don’t want YOUR family threatened, get an ADT security system!” • Repetition: Repeated exposure of logo & name • Political ads immediately before election • Use of Humor: Funny is noticeable • GoDaddy commercial with Joan Rivers

18. Persuasion • Compliance tactics • Ingratiation • Harder to resist requests from people we like • Foot in the door • Giving in to an initial, small request makes it harder to resist a later, larger request • Door in the face • Refusing an initial, large request makes it harder to resist later, smaller requests • Hard to get • Appearance of demand for goods/ services decreases resistance to request

19. Attitude Change Communication Model • Each of the following manipulated in order to change your attitudes • Source • Credibility is key • Message • When interested in, more important than source • Medium of communication • Face-to-face, personal stories, writing (complex ideas) • Characteristics of the audience • Difficult to alter • Resistance because: commitment to current attitudes, shared attitudes, early childhood formation by family of attitudes

20. Attitude ChangeCognitive Dissonance Theory • Occurs when a person holds two contradictory beliefs at the same time. • “I am a good friend.” • “My boyfriend was my friend Jenny’s before I took him” • Attempt to resolve the dissonance • More power to change attitude than past behavior, so: • “Jenny wasn’t really a friend; she was more like an acquaintance.”

21. Attitude ChangeCognitive Dissonance Theory • Why act contrary to belief? • Every time we make a decision • Enticement • The greater the reward, the less cognitive dissonance • Think about: • Childbirth “It’s not that bad” • High school “High school was awesome!” • Marriage “You two should get married!”