Soc 319: Sociological
Approaches to Social
Psychology
Thursday February 26, 2009
Attribution Theory (cont’d)
& Attitudes
I. Attribution Theory
A. What is It?
1. Naïve scientist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImCQNq8rtWc&fe
ature=related
B. Dispositional vs. Situational Attributions
1. Subtractive Rule
C. Covariation Principle (Kelley)
1. Three sources of behavior
a. Actor
b. Object
c. Context
C. Kelly Covariation (cont’d)
2. Sources of information for making
attribution
a. Consensus
b. Consistency
c. Distinctiveness
3. Examples
Kelley’s
Cube
(e.g.,
McArthur,
1972)
Is Joe the Comedian funny? Is Mary easily amused? Or is tonight a special
event?
Consensus
Distinctiveness Consistency
Attribution
Low
Few people
laughed
Low
Mary laughs at
everyone
High
Mary always
laughs at Joe
Actor (86%)
High
Everyone
laughed
High
Mary rarely
laughs
High
Mary always
laughs at Joe
Object (61%)
Low
Few people
laughed
High
Mary rarely
laughs
Low
Mary rarely
laughs at Joe
Context (72%)
The laughter is
due to traits of
Mary.
The laughter is
due to Joe’s
comedic skills.
The laughter
reflects
time/place.
D. Sources of Bias in Making
Attributions
1. Correspondence bias (Jones 1979)
a. Explanations
2. Actor-observer effect (“You fell, I was
pushed”)
a. Explanations
3. Self-serving bias (“I’m good, you’re
lucky”)
a. Explanations
E. Attributions for Success and
Failure
1. Dimensions
a. Locus of control
b. Stability
2. Combinations
a. Internal/stable = Ability (your ability at logic &
reasoning)
b. Internal/unstable = Effort (how many hours you
studied the LSAT guide)
c. External/stable = Task difficulty (how difficult
the test is)
d. External/unstable = Luck
Attributions for Success and Failure
Locus of Control
Internal
External
Stable
Ability
Task
difficulty
Unstable
Effort
Luck
Source: Weiner et al., 1972
F. Consequences of Success & Failure
Attributions
1.
Such attributions may affect subsequent
achievement behaviors and motivation; future
achievement expectancies; persistence at similar
tasks; pride or shame felt following success or
failure.
a. Optimistic attribution style. Negative outcomes
attributed external, unstable and specific causes;
and positive outcomes to internal, stable, global
causes.
b. Pessimistic attribution style. Negative outcomes
attributed to internal, stable, and global forces.
(I’m a bad person); positive events in terms of
external, unstable, and specific causes.
I. Attitudes
A. Definitions
1. General: “an attitude is a predisposition to
respond to a particular object in a generally favorable
or unfavorable way.”
2. Tripartite approaches to attitude
a. Affective: + or - evaluation (like/dislike) of
object

“Cigarette smoke is smelly and disgusting.”
b. Behavioral: predisposition to respond or a
behavioral tendency towards the object.

“I do not and would never smoke.”
c. Cognitive: beliefs about object

“Smoking causes cancer and emphysema.”
B. Why attitudes are important
 Among most “distinctive and indispensable” topics in
social psych (Allport 1954).
 An important indicator of social and normative
change.
 Early social psychological research presumed
attitude towards a given object must influence actions
towards that object.

e.g., political polls, marketing polls, fertility aspirations.
 The relationship between attitudes and behaviors
varies:

Strength of relationship contingent on properties of
attitude, person, and social context.
C. How we develop attitudes
1. Instrumental conditioning
a. Bennington College study (Newcomb
1943)
2. Classical conditioning
3. Observational learning
Degree of Political Conservatism
Political Attitudes of Bennington
College Women (Newcomb, 1943)
76
74
72
70
68
66
64
62
60
58
56
Fall 1935
Fall 1936
Fall 1937
Fall 1938
Presidential Election 1960
60
50
40
% Votes 30
Other Women
Bennington
20
10
0
Kennedy
Candidates
Nixon
D. Measurement of Attitudes
1. Direct or self-reported measures
a. Single items
b. Likert scale
c. Semantic differential (Osgood, Suci,
Tannenbaum 1975)
2. Indirect methods
a.Wrong number technique
b. Lost letter technique
Examples of self-reported attitude
scales
 Semantic differential (evaluation, potency, activity)
 “Smokers are…
Good +3 +2 +1 0 -1 -2 -3 Bad
Clean +3 +2 +1 0 -1 -2 -3 Dirty
 Likert scale: Please indicate whether you strongly
agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree,
or disagree strongly.”


“I believe that cigarette smoking should be banned
from all public places.”
“Americans should be free to smoke whenever and
wherever they like.”
E. Structure of attitudes
1. Vertical structure
2. Horizontal structure
Structure of Attitudes
Vertical Structure ↓
Primitive Belief:
I follow God’s
teachings
Horizontal
Structure→
Premarital sex
causes pregnancy.
Teen pregnancies
ruin girls’ lives.
The Bible says
premarital
sex is wrong.
Premarital sex is
wrong
Premarital sex
leads to promiscuity.
Promiscuity spreads
STDs.
F. How Attitudes Change Over Time
 1. Age effect: how one’s chronological age
affects some attitude (e.g., maturation or
developmental effects)
 2. Cohort effect: how membership in a birth
cohort affects some attitude (e.g., how
boomers and Gen Xers differ)
 3. Period effect: how a historical moment
affects some attitude, for all people at that
moment (e.g. if 2002 differs from 2000, it
could be a “9-11” effect)
Are Baby Boomers really more politically
liberal the Gen Xers (or Gen Y)?
Anti-war protest, 1968
Important questions to ask
 Were Baby Boomers more likely than members of
other birth cohorts to also protest in 1978, and 1988,
and 1998…. It yes, then we would believe they are a
distinct cohort.
 Were most protesters in 1968 teenagers? If not, then
perhaps protests were a period effect.
 Are most protests in 1968, and 1978… and 2006 led
by young adults? If yes, then we would say
participation in protests reflects an age effect.
Approval/Disapproval of Gay
Marriage (2005), by Age