Review your homework
GREEN PEN USING THE MARK SCHEME
PLEASE ADD A MRI (MY RESPONSE IS)
COMMENT
Attitudes
Home learning
 You play in a team that is is a lower division than
your opponents in the next round of the FA cup.
 One of your team mates is doubtful that your team
will win.
 Using the information about persuasive
communication, write notes on how you would
persuade your team mate that it is possible to beat
that team.
Due in next lesson
Home learning
 Next topic will be aggression
 Use the website and your books to devise a series of
questions which total 15 marks (You can not use past
examination questions!)
 Write the answers on one page and the questions on
another. Please email both sheets to me by Friday.
Outcomes
 All will learn to define and describe an ‘attitude’ and
what it is made up of
 All will be able discuss the influences on formation of
an attitude and influences on behaviour
 All will be to describe how you can change attitudes
through cognitive dissonance and persuasive
communication
TASK:
DEVISE YOUR OWN DEFINITION OF AN
ATTITUDE.
Definitions for attitude
Based on the three definitions, what are the common
threads?
 Can be positive or negative
 Stable or enduring
 Focused on an item or situation
 Subjective, evaluative or based on beliefs
Examine the clip, are attitudes changing?
Where do attitudes originate from?
 Past experiences
 Socialisation and Social learning
 Media
 Any others?
Components of Attitudes – Triadic
Model
 Cognitive

The information that you have about the object
which contribute to your beliefs.
 Affective

Your feelings about the object. Helps to determine
the direction of your predisposition for behaviour.
 Behaviour

Your intended behaviour toward the object.
THE TRIADIC MODEL
COGNITIVE
AFFECTIVE
BEHAVIOURAL
Triadic Model
 What is the triadic model? Who devised it?
 Examiners tip: Marks are often lost because
candidates are not able to discuss an attitude in
terms of its components.
 Make notes from page 157 and 158
The Triadic Model of Attitudes
 According to this model our beliefs are formed
through past experiences and what we have
learned from others.
 Behaviour may not always be consistent with
attitude (i.e. fitness training).
 A person is likely to behave in a way that
reveals their attitude.
Attitudes and Behaviour
 La Piere (1934) took a Chinese couple to dinner in
251 restaurants in the USA. They were refused
service at one establishment. After a short period
the author wrote and asked if the restaurants
would serve Chinese people - 92% said “no”.
 This demonstrates an inconsistency between
attitude and behaviour.
The social norm
 If the attitude of those around a person is positive,
it is likely that they will also develop a positive
attitude.
 For example, if a group of girls have positive
attitudes about participating in football, a new girl
who joins their group is likely to develop a similar
attitude.
 In adolescence, peers have greater influence on
attitudes than adults.
Attitudes in Sport
 Research has found that in general, attitudes
towards Physical Education are very positive,
though behaviour does not always support this.
Girls generally hold more positive views about PE
than boys, though they tend to participate less.
 Smoll and Schutz (1980) found that girls were
more positive about aesthetic activities (dance,
gymnastics, etc), while boys were more positive
about activities that were physically challenging.
They also found that attitudes changed with time.
Definitions page 159
 Stereotype
 Discrimination
 Prejudice
Prejudice
 Prejudice is an extreme form of attitude - it is
judgmental and often inflexible based on irrational
and / or incomplete stereotypical views
 Write down 2 examples of prejudice in sport.
Stereotypes
 Stereotypes: A belief held by a collection of people
about traits shared by a certain category of person.

In sport there are many stereotypes:
White men can’t jump.
 Black people are better sprinters than whites.
 Women’s cannot play football or rugby well.
 You can be too young or old to play at international level.


The history of the Olympic Games
Measuring attitudes
Thurston Scale
Likert Scale
Osgood’s Semantic
Differential scale
CHANGING ATTITUDES
 There are two ways of changing attitudes used particularly in
sport. These are:  Persuasive communication
 Cognitive dissonance
Changing attitudes
 Persuasive Communication - this is only effective if
people listen to, understand, accept it, and retain it.
PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION
An active, non-coercive attempt to reinforce, modify or change the attitude of others.
The Persuader
The person attempting the
change (coach, team manager,
teacher, captain)
The Receiver
The person whose attitude the
persuader is trying to change
The Message
The quality of the message the
persuader is giving
THE PERSUADER
 Their status with who they are communicating with.
 Their popularity amongst the group they are communicating with.
 Their credibility from past experiences of communication.
 Their social and cultural background can affect their status and
credibility if there is a wide difference.
THE MESSAGE
 The accuracy of the message – is it obviously correct?
 Is the message stated with confidence and enthusiasm?
 The clarity of the message – is the argument well constructed
and logical?
 Is the message factual, appealing to the receiver intellect?
THE RECEIVER
 Are they ready for the message? Can they understand it?
 How strongly held is the current attitude, how persuadable is the
receiver?
 Are they motivated to change or open to the possibility?
SUMMARY
Although persuasive communication seems to be a common sense
way of getting individuals such as elite performers to adopt more
positive attitudes it can fail in the light of strongly held beliefs, this
is where a more focused approach, such as one based on the
ideas of cognitive dissonance theory can be more successful.
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY
• Developed in 1957 by Festinger.
• According to this theory, individuals like to be
consistent in what they do, feel and believe.
• This theory results in individuals having
contradictory thoughts about something or someone
which creates an attitude relating to the triadic
model.
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY
Definition:
Tension resulting from having
contradictory thoughts or beliefs
about something or someone.
Eg: a rugby player might believe that
aerobics is too ‘girlie’ so the coach tells
him that some of the fittest people do it
to improve stamina.
This attack on the player’s beliefs causes a
change in attitude and the player now
does aerobics to keep fit.
Other methods used by coaches include:
•pointing out the benefits to health
•making the activity fun & enjoyable
•allowing easy initial success
•using the examples of role-models
•using reinforcement
•attributing the reasons for success internally
EXAM STYLE QUESTION
Most elite performers have positive attitudes to their preparation and
performance.
a.What is meant by the term ‘attitude’ and how might an elite performer have
developed such a positive attitude?
(4 marks)
b. Using an example from sport and with reference to the triadic model, discuss
how a negative attitude could be altered
(3 marks)
Attitudes summary
 Attitudes cannot predict behaviour but do influence
behaviour.
 Attitudes are influenced by those around us.
 Attitudes can be changed by persuasion and by
creating cognitive dissonance
Prove it review
 All will learn to define and describe ‘attitude’ and how it
is made up
 All will be able to describe cognitive dissonance and
persuasive communication
 Most will be to evaluate the cognitive dissonance and
persuasive communication
 Most will be able to explain prejudice and give examples