PSY 321
Attitudes & Behavior
Dr. Sanchez
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What is an attitude?
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What is an Attitude?
A positive, negative,
or mixed reaction to a person,
object, or idea, expressed at
some level of intensity (e.g.,
love, like, dislike, detest)
3
Four Possible Reactions to
Attitude Objects
Cacciopo, et al. 1997
4
Attitudes are Pervasive
There are few things in which we
truly feel neutral
When switch on a game (e.g. tennis
match) you quickly pick sides, even
if you dont know the players.
5
Components of Attitudes:
Tripartite View
Cognitive
Cognitive
Attitude
Attitude
Affective
Affective
Behavioral
Behavioral
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Components of Attitudes
COGNITIVE
beliefs about attitude object (pos & neg)
AFFECTIVE
emotions and feelings the object triggers (pos
& neg)
BEHAVIORAL
reaction toward the object (pos & neg
actions) 7
Attitude Object: DENTIST
COGNITIONS
Dentists are friendly.
Dentists are expensive.
AFFECTS
Dentists make me feel anxious.
I like dentists.
BEHAVIORS
I visit the dentist twice a year.
I am a very cooperative patient.
8
Why People Have Attitudes
Value-Expressive function: Express who
we are
Ego-defensive function: Protect Self-
Esteem
Instrumental function: Obtain awards,
avoid punishments
Knowledge function: understand people
and events
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How Attitudes Are Measured:
Self-Report Measures
Attitude
Scale: A multiple-item
questionnaire designed to measure a
persons attitude toward some
object.
e.g., Likert Scale
1 = not at all; 3 = somewhat; 5 = very
much
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How would you respond to these
questions?
Old Fashioned Racism
I would mind if a Black family moved
next door
Whites are more intelligent than
Blacks
Old Fashioned Sexism
Women should stay home and not
worry about having a career
Men should be in charge of all major
decisions 11
How Attitudes Are Measured:
Self-Report Measures
Bogus Pipeline: A phony lie-detector
device that is sometimes used to get
respondents to give truthful answers
to sensitive questions.
12
How Attitudes Are Measured:
Covert Measures
Observable behavior
Measures of arousal
FacialElectromyograph (EMG): An
electronic instrument that records
facial muscle activity associated with
emotions and attitudes.
13
The Facial EMG
When people hear a message they agree with, there is increase in
depressor and zygomatic muscles and decrease in corrugator and
frontalis muscles.
14
How Attitudes Are Measured:
The Implicit Association Test
(IAT)
Based on notion that we have
Based on notion that we have
implicit attitudes.
Implicit
Association Test (IAT):
Measures the speed with which one
responds to pairings of concepts.
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pleasant unpleasant
toxic
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Rutgers Princeton
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Rutgers Princeton
or or
pleasant unpleasant
happy
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Rutgers Princeton
or or
pleasant unpleasant
19
Interpreting Reaction Times
Fasterresponding to positive words
when Rutgers is paired with pleasant
= positive implicit attitude toward
Rutgers
Faster
responding to positive words
when Princeton is paired with
pleasant = positive implicit attitude
toward Princeton
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Findings IAT
Selfover Other
White over Black
Young over Old
Males with Careers over Women with
Careers
Women with Family over Men with
Family
Limitations of IAT?
21
Explicit & Implicit Correspondence
Average correspondence is .24
22
Where do attitudes
come from?
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GENES: Twin studies
high correlations on attitude
strength and content for
identicals raised together OR
apart!
significantly lower for
fraternals
24
Genetic
Influences on
Attitudes
Olson et al., 2001.
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Origins of Attitudes:
Social Experiences
Affectively Based Attitudes
based on peoples feelings of an attitude
object (not on beliefs)
Sources of Affectively Based Attitudes
values
mere exposure
classical conditioning
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Origins of Attitudes:
Social Experiences
Affectively Based Attitudes
based on peoples feelings of an attitude
object (not on beliefs)
Sources of Affectively Based Attitudes
values
mere exposure
classical conditioning
27
Origins of Attitudes:
Social Experiences
Affectively Based Attitudes
based on peoples feelings & values of an
attitude object
Sources of Affectively Based Attitudes
values
mere exposure
classical conditioning
28
Mere Exposure
The tendency to develop more
positive feelings toward objects
& individuals the more we are
exposed to them.
29
Mere Exposure:
Mita and colleagues (1977)
Photographed women
students on campus
Showed Ps picture &
mirror image of print
Which do you like
better - regular or
mirror image print?
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Mere Exposure:
Mita and colleagues (1977)
2/3 of Ps preferred
the mirror print
61% of their close
friends preferred the
actual picture
Ps were more exposed
to mirrored image so
like them more
31
Origins of Attitudes:
Social Experiences
Affectively Based Attitudes
based on peoples feelings & values of an
attitude object (not on beliefs)
Sources of Affectively Based Attitudes
values
mere exposure
classical conditioning
32
Classical Conditioning
The case whereby a stimulus that elicits
an emotional response is repeatedly
experienced along with a neutral
stimulus that does not, until the neutral
stimulus takes on the emotional
properties of the first stimulus
33
Affectively Based Attitudes:
Classical Conditioning
Stimulus
Stimulus 11 Stimulus
Stimulus 22 Pleasurable
Pleasurable
(mothballs)
(mothballs) visits
visits to
to granny
granny Feelings
Feelings
Stimulus
Stimulus 11 Pleasurable
Pleasurable
(mothballs)
(mothballs) Feelings
Feelings
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Got Milk?
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Affectively Based Attitudes:
Classical Conditioning
Stimulus
Stimulus 11 Stimulus
Stimulus 22 Pleasurable
Pleasurable
Milk
Milk Supermodel
Supermodel Feelings
Feelings
Stimulus
Stimulus 11 Pleasurable
Pleasurable
Milk
Milk Feelings
Feelings
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Where Do Attitudes Come From?
GENES
Twin study
SOCIAL EXPERIENCES
affectively based
behaviorally based
37
Origins of Attitudes:
Social Experiences
Behaviorally Based Attitudes
based on peoples observations of how
one behaves toward an attitude
object
Sources of Beh. Based Attit.
Bems Self-Perception Theory
Operant Conditioning
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Self-Perception Theory
What are your attitudes about
liberal politicians?
Behavior
Behavior Attitude
Attitude
Now
Nowthat
that II think
think II guess
guess II dont
dont
about
about it,
it, II only
onlyvote
vote like
like liberal
liberal
for
forconservatives.
conservatives. politicians.
politicians.
39
Origins of Attitudes:
Social Experiences
Behaviorally Based Attitudes
based on peoples observations of how
one behaves toward an attitude
object
Sources of Beh. Based Attit.
Bems Self-Perception Theory
Operant Conditioning
40
Operant Conditioning
The case whereby behaviors
that people freely choose to
perform increase or decrease in
frequency, depending on
whether they are followed by
positive reinforcement or
punishment 41
Behaviorally Based Attitudes
& Operant Conditioning
Behavior ++ Reinforce-
Reinforce- Pos
Pos or
or Neg
Neg
Behavior
Toward ment
ment or
or Attitude
Attitude
Toward
An Punishment
Punishment toward
toward the
the
An Object
Object
.. Object
Object
e.g., playing + reinforcement
with a child of - parents approval
another Punishment - parents
race disapproval
42
Do attitudes predict
behavior?
43
The Weak Link
Between Attitudes and Behavior
Why did early work find a weak
attitude-behavior link?
44
General Attitudes and Specific
Behaviors
Must be correspondence between
level of specificity of attitude and
behavior.
For example, to predict recycling at
work, do you ask:
How do you feel about recycling?
How do you feel about recycling office
paper?
45
Correspondence of Specificity
(Davidson & Jaccard, 1979)
Study of married womens use of birth control
Ps asked a series of attitude questions - general to
specific (e.g., will U use birth control in next 2
years)
Two years later asked Ps if they had used birth
control since the interview
46
Correspondence of Specificity
(Davidson & Jaccard, 1979)
Attitude Attitude-Behavior
Measure Correlation
Att. toward birth control .08
Att. toward birth control pills .32
Att. toward using birthing control pills .53
Att. toward using birth control pills
during the next two years .57
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Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
(Ajzen & Fishbein)
Behavioral
Behavior
Intention
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Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
Specific
Attitude
Behavioral
Behavior
Intention
Subjective
Norms
Perceived
Behavioral
Control
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Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
Specific
Attitude
Behavioral
Behavior
Intention
Subjective
Norms
Perceived
Behavioral
Control
50
Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
Specific
Attitude
Behavioral
Behavior
Intention
Subjective
Norms
Perceived
Behavioral
Control
51
Will Rachel attend the COLDPLAY Concert?
Specific
Attitude
Subjective
Norms
Perceived
Behavioral
Control
52
Theory of Planned Behavior:
Subjective Norms
Fishbein
measured Ps attitudes and subjective
norms (what do your friends think) about
engaging in premarital sex
attitudes and subjective norms predicted
sexual behavior
men more influenced by subjective norms
women more influenced by own attitudes
53
Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
Specific
Attitude
Behavioral
Behavior
Intention
Subjective
Norms
Perceived
Behavioral
Control
54
Theory of Planned Behavior:
Perceived Behavioral Control
Azjen & Madden (1986)
do attitudes & subjective norms alone
predict grades?
Combination of attitudes & subjective norms
only moderately related to actual grades
must take into consideration behavioral
control!!
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Strength of the Attitude
Why do some attitudes have more
influence on behavior?
Why are some attitudes stronger
than others?
56
Determining the
Strength of an Attitude
Does the issue directly affect ones
own outcomes and self-interests?
Is the issue related to deeply held
philosophical, political, and religious
values?
Is the issue of concern to ones
close friends, family, and social in-
groups?
57
Factors That Indicate the
Strength of an Attitude
Howconsistent is the persons
behavior with attitude?
Walking the talk
How was the information on which
the attitude is based acquired?
Personal experience vs. second-hand
Has the attitude been attacked?
Stronger if attacked
Howaccessible is the attitude to
awareness? 58
Strength & Accessibility
(Fazio)***
we can measure the strength of a persons
attitude by seeing how accessible it is in
memory
if an attitude is highly accessible, then it
comes to mind quickly
if an attitude is highly inaccessible, then it
comes to mind much slower
59
Do Attitudes Predict
Behavior?
IT DEPENDS!
OneKey Factor
Spontaneous Behaviors
Planned/Deliberative Behaviors
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Attitudes & Spontaneous Behaviors
(Fazio, Powell, & Williams, 1989)
Role of accessibility in Ps attitudes &
behaviors toward consumer items
Ps rated their attitude toward several
products
61
Attitudes & Spontaneous Behaviors
(Fazio, Powell, & Williams, 1989)
Accessibility
assessed by how long it took Ps to respond
to questions about the products
Behavior
placed ten of the products in two rows of
five
Ps could take one product home
Results?? 62
Attitudes & Spontaneous Behaviors
(Fazio, Powell, & Williams, 1989)
To what extent did Ps attitudes toward
the products predict their behavior?
Depends on accessibility
attitude-behavior consistency was high
among Ps with accessible attitudes
attitude-behavior consistency was low among
Ps with inaccessible attitudes
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Next Week: Bring in an AD
Persuasion!
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Be Prepared To:
Which route of persuasion
advertisement is using?
What persuasion cues are present
in the ad?
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