PSY 321
Attitudes & Behavior
Dr. Sanchez
1
What is an attitude?
2
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 don’t know the players.
5
Components of Attitudes:
Tripartite View
Cognitive
Affective
Attitude
Behavioral
6
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)
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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.
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Why People Have Attitudes




Value-Expressive function: Express who
we are
Ego-defensive function: Protect SelfEsteem
Instrumental function: Obtain awards,
avoid punishments
Knowledge function: understand people
and events
9
How Attitudes Are Measured:
Self-Report Measures
 Attitude
Scale: A multiple-item
questionnaire designed to measure a
person’s 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
 Facial
Electromyograph (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
implicit attitudes.
 Implicit
Association Test (IAT):
Measures the speed with which one
responds to pairings of concepts.
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pleasant
unpleasant
toxic
16
Rutgers
Princeton
17
Rutgers
or
pleasant
Princeton
or
unpleasant
happy
18
Rutgers
or
pleasant
Princeton
or
unpleasant
19
Interpreting Reaction Times
 Faster
responding 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
20
Findings IAT
 Self
over 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?
23

•
•
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.
25
Origins of Attitudes:
Social Experiences

Affectively Based Attitudes
based on people’s feelings of an attitude
object (not on beliefs)

Sources of Affectively Based Attitudes
values
mere exposure
classical conditioning
26
Origins of Attitudes:
Social Experiences

Affectively Based Attitudes
based on people’s 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 people’s 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?
30
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 people’s 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 1
(mothballs)
Stimulus 2
visits to granny
Stimulus 1
(mothballs)
Pleasurable
Feelings
Pleasurable
Feelings
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Got Milk?
35
Affectively Based Attitudes:
Classical Conditioning
Stimulus 1
Milk
Stimulus 2
Supermodel
Stimulus 1
Milk
Pleasurable
Feelings
Pleasurable
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 people’s observations of how
one behaves toward an attitude
object
 Sources
of Beh. Based Attit.
Bem’s Self-Perception Theory
Operant Conditioning
38
Self-Perception Theory
What are your attitudes about
liberal politicians?
Behavior
Attitude
“Now that I think
about it, I only vote
for conservatives.”
“I guess I don’t
like liberal
politicians.”
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Origins of Attitudes:
Social Experiences
 Behaviorally
Based Attitudes
based on people’s observations of how
one behaves toward an attitude
object
 Sources
of Beh. Based Attit.
Bem’s 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
Pos or Neg
Attitude
toward the
Object
Behavior
Toward
An Object
+ Reinforcement or
Punishment
e.g., playing
with a child of
another
race
+ reinforcement
- parents’ approval
Punishment - parents’
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 women’s 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
Measure
Attitude-Behavior
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
47
Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
(Ajzen & Fishbein)
Behavioral
Intention
Behavior
48
Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
Specific
Attitude
Subjective
Norms
Perceived
Behavioral
Control
Behavioral
Intention
Behavior
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Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
Specific
Attitude
Subjective
Norms
Perceived
Behavioral
Control
Behavioral
Intention
Behavior
50
Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
Specific
Attitude
Subjective
Norms
Perceived
Behavioral
Control
Behavioral
Intention
Behavior
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
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Predicting Planned Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
Specific
Attitude
Subjective
Norms
Perceived
Behavioral
Control
Behavioral
Intention
Behavior
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!!
55
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 one’s
own outcomes and self-interests?
 Is the issue related to deeply held
philosophical, political, and religious
values?
 Is the issue of concern to one’s
close friends, family, and social ingroups?
57
Factors That Indicate the
Strength of an Attitude
 How
consistent is the person’s
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
 How
accessible is the attitude to
awareness?
58
Strength & Accessibility
(Fazio)***



we can measure the strength of a person’s
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!
 One
Key Factor
Spontaneous Behaviors
Planned/Deliberative Behaviors
60
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
63
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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