Attitudes
Tri-Component Model
Attitudes and Behaviour
Attitude Formation
Limitations of the Tri-Component
Model
 Does a person’s attitude ALWAYS enable us to predict their
behaviour?
 La Piere – 1934 – Conducted an experiment on people’s
attitudes and behaviour toward the Chinese race in America
 All but one establishment accepted the couple as
customers/tenants
 However, when La Piere sent a questionnaire to the visited
establishments, 50% said they would turn a person of Chinese
race away
 Concluded that attitude does not always determine behaviour
Learning Activity 8.4
 7. Identify two limitations or criticisms of the research
method
 8. Identify a key ethical issue relevant to the research
 CAN YOU NAME SOME CIRCUMSTANCES OR
CONDITIONS THAT MAY RESULT IN OUR BEHAVIOUR
NOT MATCHING OUR ATTITUDE?
Strength of the Attitude
 Strong attitude = Usually thought about, well known and easily
accessible…
 It is often personally relevant and emotive to the individual
 More likely to be consistent over time, resistant to change and
influence behaviour
 Do you think someone’s exposure or knowledge on a certain topic
would effect the strength of their attitude?
 Direct vs Indirect experience
 SAME SEX MARRIAGE & WOMEN IN SPORT
 WHAT DO YOU FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT?
Accessibility of the Attitude
 Similarly to the strength of an attitude, the more accessible an
attitude is to an individual, the more likely it will predict
behaviour
 One way to identify the accessibility of an attitude is through
the speed in which an individual can state it…(Fazio & Williams
1986)
 VOLUNTEER – ONE WORD – ONE RESPONSE
Social Context of the Attitude
 Do you think that where you are, who you are with and
other social circumstances influence your behaviour, no
matter what your attitude is?
 Who has a part time job? Retail?
 Felt pressured into something?
Perceived Control Over the
Behaviour
 Definition: Perceived control is the belief an individual has
that they are free to perform or not perform behaviour
linked to an attitude and a belief that they can actually
perform that behaviour (Ajzn & Fishbein, 2002)
 Define perceived control in YOUR OWN WORDS – If you
are having trouble, read the example in your text book
 Complete Learning Activity 8.7
Factors Influencing Attitude
Formation
 Attitudes are formed!
 Learning – Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning
and Modeling
Classical Conditioning
 Classical conditioning is a simple form of learning which
occurs through repeated association of two different
stimuli
 Stimulus = event which may trigger a response – i.e. A gun
shot may trigger fright (scream, jump, duck for cover etc.
 Some stimuli do not trigger a response – but we can be
conditioned to change/activate a response to a particular
stimulus through classical conditioning
Pavlov’s Dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI
Operant Conditioning
 Operant conditioning is a kind of learning which is based
on the assumption that we tend to repeat behaviour which
has a desirable consequence or result, and tend not to
repeat behaviour which has an undesirable consequence or
result
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA
 Activity: Are you as smart as a pigeon?
Modelling
 Modelling occurs when someone uses observation of
another persons actions and their consequences to guide
their future thoughts, feelings or behaviour…
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHHdovKHDNU&feat
ure=related
Repeated Exposure
 Attitudes can also be formed through simply being
exposed to an object, person, group, event or issue
repeatedly…
 Mere exposure effect – The increase in liking for an
attitude, object, person, group, event or issue as a result
of being repeatedly exposed to it
How do these learning processes
effect attitude?
 Classical Conditioning – The pairing and consequent
association of two stimuli that is essential for learning to
occur and attitudes to form
 Operant Conditioning – Reinforcement strengthens our
attitude, punishment weakens our attitude
 Modelling – Media and social relationships – you see your
parents or people you idealise being complimented for a
particular attitude, you are more likely to adopt it
 Complete Learning Activity 8.8
Cognitive Dissonance
 Psychological tension or discomfort when the way in
which we actually behave is different from the way we
believe we should behave
 What do we do to decrease the unpleasant psychological
feeling?....
 If someone you really liked and saw a future with broke up
with you, how would you change your attitude?
 Instead of changing the attitude, what else can we change
to decrease cognitive dissonance?
Cognitive Dissonance
 Simply reducing the importance we give our attitudes
towards the behaviour will avoid dissonance
 “Playing strenuous sport is not such a good idea, and I
probably get enough exercise in daily activities anyway”
 Or we can add new elements to the situation to support
our belief in the attitude or behaviour
 “I don’t play sport because I have a bad knee”