Behavior and Attitudes
Social Psychology
by David G. Myers 9th Edition
Behavior and Attitudes
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Behavior & Attitude
Behavior and Attitudes
• What is the relationship between who we
are and what we do?
• Attitude: beliefs or feelings related to a
person or an event and the resulting
behavior tendency.
– You can have different attitudes towards
different things
– Researchers wonder how much of our attitude
actually affects our actions
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The ABCs of Attitudes
Behavior and Attitudes
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Behavior and Attitudes
How Well Do Attitudes Predict
Behavior?
• In 1969 Wicker found the following: Expressed
attitudes are not good predictors of behavior
– Student attitudes towards cheating bore little relation to
their likelihood to cheat
– Attitudes towards church are only moderately related to
attendance
– Self-described racial attitudes provided little clue to
behaviors in actual situations
• “It may be desirable to abandon the attitude concept”
(Allan Wicker, 1971)
– Why do you think our expressed attitudes may be so
different from our actual attitudes?
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When Attitudes Predict Behavior
Behavior and Attitudes
• Our attitudes and behaviors may differ because they are subject to
other influences.
– When social influences on expressed attitudes is minimal
• Social psychologists can’t get a direct reading on attitudes, unlike the
doctor taking getting a measure of heart beat
– We sometimes say what others want to hear
– In order to get better measures of attitude social psychologists may measure
facial muscles or wire people to a “fake” lie detector.
– When other influences on behavior are minimal
• At times it is not our inner attitude that guides us, but also the situation
we face.
• Predicting behavior is almost impossible because so many factors are
involved.
– For instance, feelings towards religion may be a poor predictor of church
attendance because church attendance is also influenced by other things
such as feelings that day, weather, worship leader, etc.
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When Attitudes Predict Behavior
Behavior and Attitudes
– When attitudes specific to the behavior are
examined
• When attitudes being examined are very broad and
behavior is very specific, you should not expect a
direct correspondence.
– Example: Your attitude towards Asians and whether or not
to help an Asian in a particular situation.
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When Attitudes Predict Behavior
Behavior and Attitudes
– When attitudes are potent
• Much of our behavior is automatic. If we are asked how our
day was we say “fine” regardless of what happened. This is
adaptive, as it frees our mind for other things.
• In novel situations, where one has to think, attitudes are more
potent.
• Self conscious people are usually more in tune with their
attitudes
• Our attitudes predict our actions if:
– Other influences are minimal
– The attitude is specific to the action
– The attitude is potent, as when we are reminded of it or made
self-conscious
– Prejudicial attitudes predict discriminatory behavior
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The Theory of Planned Behavior
Behavior and Attitudes
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
When Does Behavior Affect Attitudes?
Behavior and Attitudes
• Role-playing
– Imagine playing the role of a slave
• Saying becomes believing
–
–
–
–
People often adapt what they say to please their listeners
People tend to begin to believe what they are saying.
Saying, thus becomes believing
Higgins (1984) gave students a description of someone and
asked them to memorize it and summarize it for someone else
who was believed to either like or dislike the person. When the
student believed the person liked who they were summarizing
they tended to write a more positive description and after
writing the more positive description they also tended to like
the person better
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
When Does Behavior Affect Attitudes?
Behavior and Attitudes
• The foot-in-the-door phenomenon: the tendency
for people who have agreed to a small request to
later comply with a large request.
– Researchers asked Californians to permit the
installation of poorly written “Drive Carefully” signs on
their yards. Only 17% consented.
– However, when first asked to display a “Be A Safe
Driver” sign in their windows, 76% consented to the
ugly signs.
– See page 131 for more examples.
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When Does Behavior Affect Attitudes?
Behavior and Attitudes
• Evil and moral acts
– Evil sometimes results gradually from escalating acts
• “It is easier to find a person who has never succumbed to life’s
temptations, than one who has succumbed only once”
– Evil acts shape the self, but so do moral acts
• Our character is reflected in what we do when we think no one
is looking
– Researchers left children with an electronic robot toy. Half of
the children where given a mild threat not to play with it and the
other half were given a severe threat. Several weeks later a
different researcher leaves the children to play with the toys. Of
the 18 children who were given the severe threat 14 played with
it, but 2/3 of the children given the mild threat did not. Having
early CHOSEN not to play with the toy, children internalized
their decision.
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When Does Behavior Affect Attitudes?
Behavior and Attitudes
• Interracial behavior and racial attitudes
– If moral action feeds moral attitudes, will positive
interracial behavior reduce racial prejudice?
• After the Supreme Court decision, the % of white Americans
favoring interracial schools jumped and now includes nearly
everyone
• Social movements: society’s laws and behaviors
can have an effect on racial attitudes
– In Nazi Germany many did not believe what they said
so they had to make themselves believe what they said.
– Example: Saying the pledge of allegiance in the
mornings
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Attitudes
Behavior and Attitudes
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Why Does Behavior Affect Attitudes?
Behavior and Attitudes
• Self-Presentation: Impression
Management
– To an extent we all care about what
people think. We do not want to
look foolish. To appear consistent
we may pretend those attitudes.
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Why Do Actions Affect Attitudes?
Behavior and Attitudes
• Self-Justification: Cognitive Dissonance : Tension that
arises when one is simultaneously aware of two
inconsistent cognitions (when we decide to say or do
something that we have mixed feelings about)
– Insufficient justification effect: reduction of dissonance by
internally justifying one’s behavior when an external justification
is insufficient
– Dissonance after decisions: emphasis on perceived choice and
responsibility implies that decisions produce dissonance (we are
often torn between choices). After making decisions we usually
decrease dissonance by upgrading the chosen alternative and
Festinger
downgrading the other options.
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Dissonance and Insufficient Justification
Behavior and Attitudes
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More on Dissonance
Behavior and Attitudes
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Why Do Actions Affect Attitudes?
Behavior and Attitudes
• Self-perception theory: when our attitudes are weak or
ambiguous, we place ourselves in the position of
looking at ourselves from the outside.
• Hearing myself talk informs me of my attitudes and seeing my
actions provides me clues to how strong my beliefs are
– Expressions and attitude
• Our facial expressions can influence our attitudes
– Overjustification and intrinsic motivations
• The smallest incentive that will get people to do something is
usually the MOST effective
– Unnecessary rewards can have a hidden cost. Giving people a
reward to do something they already love may lead them to
attribute their action to the reward.
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Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Behavior and Attitudes
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