L5 Notes

Attitudes : Attitudes A general and enduring positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, or ideas. Three components: Affective Behavioral Cognitive Studies of attitude-behavior link LaPiere (1934) Corey (1937)


Attitude-Behavior Link : Attitude-Behavior Link Behavior: Specific vs. general Davidson & Jaccard (1979): Behavior measured: Use of birth control pills Measured attitude toward: Birth control Birth control pills Using birth control pills Using birth control pills in the next 2 years


Attitude-Behavior Link : Attitude-Behavior Link Person: Self-monitoring High I would probably make a good actor. I’m not always the person I appear to be. I can deceive people by being friendly when I really dislike them. In order to get along and be liked, I tend to be what people expect me to be rather than anything else. Low My behavior is usually an expression of my true inner feelings. I have never been good at games like charades or improvisational acting. I can argue only for ideas that I already believe. I find it hard to imitate the behavior of other people.


Attitude-Behavior Link : Attitude-Behavior Link Situation: Norms Beliefs about how one should behave in a given situation. Smith (1977): Involvement Sivacek & Crano (1982): Drinking age change


Attitude-Behavior Link : Attitude-Behavior Link Attitude: Direct experience Regan & Fazio (1977) Freshmen assigned temporary housing vs. permanent Behaviors: sign petition, write administration, etc. Strength/Accessibility Fazio et al. (1989) Measure time took to rate consumer items Allowed to choose items to take home


Cognitive Dissonance Theory(Festinger, 1957) : Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1957) When a person’s thoughts or actions are inconsistent, he/she will want to reduce the tension between them. Ways to reduce dissonance: Generate consistent cognitions Change discrepant cognition to more consistent


Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) : Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) Perform dull tasks. Asked to tell next participant task was fun. $1 $20 Afterwards rated how much they enjoyed the experiment.


Aronson & Mills (1959) : Aronson & Mills (1959) Screening process: None Mildly unpleasant Extremely unpleasant Afterwards listened to ongoing group discussion. Rated liking for group


Festinger, Riecken, & Schachter (1956) : Festinger, Riecken, & Schachter (1956) Infiltrated doomsday cult led by Marian Keech. Post-decision regret Choosing between alternatives: Ones not choose have some features you desire One chosen has some features you do not want Enhance value of chosen alternative and devalue rejected options.


Elaboration Likelihood Model(Petty & Cacioppo, 1979) : Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1979) Two routes to persuasion: Central Route Message content Determined by motivation and ability to process Peripheral Route Surface cues or heuristics Occurs when less motivated or able to process > personal involvement, > central route


Slide11 : Motivated and able to understand. Irrelevant, un- willing, unable to understand. Receives and elaborates on message. Uses heuristics. If accepted, long-term change. Easily persuaded by other message. Persuasive message. Peripheral Central Audience Route Result


Summary : Summary Attitudes have three components: affective, behavioral, and cognitive. Attitudes do predict behavior – sometimes. When people experience cognitive dissonance, they are motivated to change their attitudes to be more in line with their behavior. According to the ELM, persuasion occurs through either thoughtful information processing or reliance on simple cues associated with the message.


Review of Chapter 13 : Review of Chapter 13 What are the common themes? Affective, cognitive, and behavioral Judgments often not accurate Applying your knowledge: Predict behavior from attitude Change someone’s attitude