Prepared by Robert Gass & John Seiter
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
1
WHAT IS AN ATTITUDE?
Definition: An attitude is “a psychological tendency that is
expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some
degree of favor or disfavor “(Eagly & Chaiken 1993, p. 1)
Attitudes :
 are learned predispositions to respond
 tend to correspond with behavior
 are evaluative, e.g., favorable or unfavorable
 vary in degree or intensity
 are directed toward something
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
2
EXPLICIT ATTITUDE MEASURES
Likert scales
 Known as “equal appearing interval” scales
 5-7 scale points
 Ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree
 Uncertainty regarding the neutral point
Example of a Likert-Type Scale Item
The death penalty should be abolished.
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
strongly
moderately neutral/
moderately strongly
agree
agree
not sure disagree
disagree
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
3
EXPLICIT ATTITUDE MEASURES
Semantic Differential Scales
 Based on the connotations of
words
 Relies on bipolar adjectives
(antonyms)
 5-7 scale points
 Respondent checks the
“semantic space” between the
antonyms
 Uncertainty regarding the neutral
space
Sample scale items from
McCroskey’s Ethos Scale
Kanye West
expert ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ inexpert
unselfish ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ selfish
timid ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ bold
tense ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ relaxed
trained ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ untrained
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
4
VISUALLY ORIENTED SCALES
“Smiley face” scale
Visual analog scale (VAS)
How much do you favor
establishing a federal handgun
registry?
strongly
oppose
strongly
favor
Which face best reflects your attitude
toward establishing a federal handgun
registry?
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
5
PITFALLS IN MEASURING ATTITUDES
Social Desirability Bias
 Respondents may provide the “socially correct” response
Non-Attitudes
 Respondents may make up opinions so as not to appear
uninformed
Mindfulness
 Respondents may not be aware of their own attitudes
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
6
IMPLICIT ATTITUDE MEASURES
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
 Respondents are quicker to identify adjectives that reflect their
attitudes, slower to identify adjectives contrary to their attitudes
Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP)
 Respondents are primed with a positive or negative image (for example
a liked or disliked politician)
 Respondents then rate a neutral stimulus (Chinese character)
 Evaluations of the primed stimulus are misattributed, e.g., projected
onto the neutral stimulus
Evaluative Priming
 Response times, for example pressing a key, are faster for attitude
congruent words than attitude incongruent words
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
7
OTHER WAYS OF MEASURING ATTITUDES
Appearances
 Clothing, artifacts, and other appearance cues
 Risk of faulty sign reasoning
Associations
 Memberships, affiliations, social networks
 Segmentation; soccer moms, NASCAR dads, millenials, etc.
Behavior
 Actions, habits, lifestyles
 “thin slices” of behavior can be revealing
Physiological measures
 Galvanic skin response, facial electromyography, fMRI
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
8
THEORY OF REASONED ACTION (TRA)
Developed by Fishbein & Ajzen in the 1970’s
The TRA is a “rational” model of persuasion
It presumes people are rational decision makers
It presumes people make use of available information
Behavioral intentions are the best predictor of actual
behavior
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
9
THEORY OF REASONED ACTION
Adapted from Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes
and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
10
ILLUSTRATION OF THE TRA
Ned has begun drinking heavily since he started college
Attitude toward the behavior: “I think drinking is ruining my health
and it caused me to get fired from my job.”
Subjective Norm component: “I know my friends and family would
like me to stop drinking.”
Intention: “I intend to stop drinking altogether.”
Behavior: Ned attends his first AA meeting the next day
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
11
THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR (TPB)
An extension of the TRA
The TpB adds the additional element of perceived behavioral
control (self-efficacy)
 Internal factors might prevent or reduce control (lack of knowledge,
lack of skill)
 External factors might prevent or reduce control (limited time or
resources)
Intentions correlate more strongly with actual behavior when
there is perceived behavioral control
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
12
PERSISTENCE OF ATTITUDES
Attitudes formed via central processing are more
enduring
 increasing a person’s motivation to attend the message
will increase central processing
 improving a person’s ability to attend to a message will
increase central processing
Attitudes formed via peripheral processing are more
short-lived
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
13
ASSOCIATIVE NETWORKS
Attitudes exist in
associative networks
Persuaders seek to
establish connections
among attitudes
The goal is to link their
product, brand, idea to
favorable attitudes
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
14
MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATIONS
Brands and Branding
 brands are matched with idealized
lifestyles
 Cause-related marketing and
Corporate social responsibility
(CSR)
Sloganeering
 Symbols are appropriated and
paired with brands
 Slogans foster favorable
associations.
Brand Personality
 “Breakfast of Champions”
(Wheaties)
 Associations endow brands with
human qualities; fun, sophisticated,
tough, youthful
 aspirational brands, economical
brands, authentic brands
 “Diamonds are forever”
(DeBeers)
Sponsorship
 Brought to you by…
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
15
EXAMPLE OF ASSOCIATIONS AND BRANDING
A teen admires a particular brand, image,
or lifestyle
 For example, iPhones and iTunes
A new product is paired with that brand or
lifestyle
 Ads for a new energy drink show teens
listening to their iPods while enjoying the
drink
The teen comes to equate the product
with the brand
 The energy drink seems to go with iPhones
and iTunes
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
16
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSISTENCY
People desire consistency
 People prefer a state of harmony among their attitudes, beliefs,
behaviors
Inconsistency causes psychological discomfort
The magnitude of dissonance
 The degree of psychological discomfort depends on the centrality of the
attitudes
 Greater attitude salience results in greater dissonance
People are motivated to restore consistency
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
17
PARENTING AND CONSISTENCY THEORY
A child admires Popeye
The child doesn’t like to eat
spinach
Popeye is positively associated
with spinach
This is a cognitively imbalanced
state, which should motivate the
child to change one of the
associations
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
18
BALANCED VS. IMBALANCED PSYCHOLOGICAL
STATES
Balanced psychological states
Any combination of even minus signs, or all plus signs is psychologically
comfortable
+
+
-
+
-
-
+
+
-
-
Imbalanced psychological states
+
Any combination of odd minus signs, or all minus signs is psychologically
uncomfortable
-
-
-
-
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
-
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
19
METHODS OF MAINTAINING CONSISTENCY
Denial: ignoring the inconsistency
Bolstering: adding rationalizations
Bargaining: trying to reach a psychological compromise
Differentiation: distinguishing between the conflicting and nonconflicting elements
Transcendence: looking at the larger picture
Modifying one or more attitudes: changing one or more associations
Communicating: convincing others one is being consistent
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
20
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
People seek to maintain a stable, positive, selfconcept
People rationalize their choices and actions in
light of their self-concept
Behavior that contradicts one’s beliefs or selfconcept causes dissonance
Making a decision produces dissonance or
“buyer’s remorse”
The more important the decision, the greater the
dissonance
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
21
EXAMPLE OF DISSONANCE IN ACTION
Lyle, a commuter, buys a
large, 4 X 4, SUV
Some ways Lyle could reduce
his dissonance:
Soon afterward, the price of
gasoline soars
 Convince himself the “gas guzzler”
would also be safer in a crash
Every time he fills up the
tank, he experiences
dissonance
 Take up off-road sports to justify the
vehicle’s other capabilities
 Coach a soccer team or little league
team to justify having all those
seats
 Sell or trade-in the car at a loss and
chalk it up to “experience”
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
22
THE MAGNITUDE OF DISSONANCE
Free choice paradigm
Induced compliance
 the more free choice one has in
making a decision, the more
dissonance one will suffer
 When a person is forced to
do something, little
dissonance is aroused
 The person can rationalize
the action by saying “I had no
choice”
Belief disconfirmation
 Exposure to information
contrary to strongly held beliefs
may increase adherence to
those beliefs (e.g.,
stubbornness)
Effort justification
 The greater the effort or
sacrifice involved, the greater
the dissonance
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
23
WAYS OF REDUCING DISSONANCE
Rationalizing
 which is not the same as being
rational
Any of the strategies for
maintaining cognitive
consistency
Selective exposure
 Denial
 Paying attention only to
information that supports the
choice made
 Bargaining
 Avoiding information that is
inconsistent with the choice made
Polarization of alternatives
 Exaggerating the differences
between the alternatives once the
choice is made
 Bolstering
 Differentiation
 Transcendence
 Modifying one or more
cognitions
 Communicating
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
24
PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE
Also known as “reverse psychology”
Backlash: A perceived threat to one’s freedom produces a defensive
reaction
Forbidden fruit: Outlawing something may make it even more
attractive
Examples:
 A pushy salesperson may drive customers away
 When restrictions are placed on firearms, firearm sales increase
dramatically before the ban takes effect
 A parent who criticizes a daughter’s boyfriend may drive the daughter
into the boyfriend’s arms
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
25
Playing “Devil’s Advocate”: Advocating a contrary position
shifts one’s attitudes toward the contrary position
No external incentives should be present
 The advocacy should be volitional (not compelled)
 The advocacy should be public (in writing or out loud)
The person will internalize the choice to advocate the
contrary position
The person’s attitudes will shift (partially) toward the
contrary position
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
26
COMMITMENT
Once we are committed to a course of action, it is hard to
turn back
 A car owner may “throw good money after bad” making one
repair after another
 Gamblers may double their bets every time they lose
Social customs are designed to increase commitments
 Wedding customs
 Initiation rituals
Commitments can grow legs
 People add additional justifications for their original decision
C O P Y R I G H T © 2 01 4 P E A R S O N E D U C AT I O N . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D
27