Chapter 5
Attitudes and
Attitude Change
Attitudes
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Attitudes are evaluative responses to
stimuli
Attitudes
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They are based on “ABC” information
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affective component
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behavioral component
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how person tends to act towards the object
cognitive component
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the person’s emotions and affect towards the object
consists of thoughts and beliefs the person has about
the object
These are not always highly related to each
other.
Attitudes
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Attitudes are often cognitively complex
but evaluatively simple.
Attitudes make it possible to access
related information and to make decisions
quickly.
Attitudes are one determinant of behavior
but not the only one; conversely behavior
also determines attitudes.
Theories of Attitudes
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Learning Approach
Consistency Approach
Expectancy-Value Approach
Cognitive Approach
Theories of Attitudes
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The learning approach
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Yale Attitude Change program (Hovland
et al., 1950s)
Attitudes are acquired in the same
way as other habits:
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association
reinforcement and punishment
imitation.
Theories of Attitudes
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Transfer of affect involves
transferring emotions from one
object (e.g., a sexy model) to another
(e.g., the car the model is standing
by).
Theories of Attitudes
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Evaluation of Learning Approach:
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The learning approach views people as
passive recipients of external forces.
Message learning is critical to this
perspective but memory is uncorrelated
with attitude change.
This model appears to work well when
people are unfamiliar with the material.
Theories of Attitudes
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Cognitive consistency approaches
depict people as striving for
coherence and meaning in their
cognitions.
Theories of Attitudes
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Heider’s balance theory considers the
consistency between evaluations in a
simple system
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the mutual evaluations of two people
towards each other, and of each towards
an attitude object.
Theories of Attitudes
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Balance among such a system exists when
all evaluations are positive, or when one is
positive and two are negative.
Imbalance exists when one, or all three,
evaluations are negative.
Imbalanced systems are unstable, and the
system will tend to change into a balanced
one, generally by changing as few elements
as possible.
Theories of Attitudes
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Evaluation of Balance Theory”
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Research generally supports predictions.
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However, balance pressures are much weaker
when we dislike a person than when we like
him or her.
Theories of Attitudes
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Cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger,
1957) is concerned with discrepancies
between people’ s attitudes and their
behaviors.
Dissonance is an aversive motivational
state that results when our behavior is
inconsistent with our attitudes
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It is greatest when the attitudes and behavior
are important to the self.
Dissonance creates psychological tension
that people are motivated to reduce.
Theories of Attitudes
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Three ways of reducing dissonance
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changing our behavior (often difficult)
trivializing the dissonance
changing the attitude.
Theories of Attitudes
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Decision making usually arouses
dissonance that is resolved by
increasing liking for the chosen
alternative and decreasing liking for
the non-chosen alternative.
Theories of Attitudes
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Brehm (1956) had students rank several
common products and were then given a
choice of what to keep between two.
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High dissonance condition: choice between two closely
ranked alternatives
Low dissonance condition: choice between a highranked and a low-ranked alternative
No-dissonance condition: students were simply given a
product.
When asked to re-rate their preferences, only
students in the high dissonance condition increased
their rating for the product they had been given.
Theories of Attitudes
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Dissonance can occur when we commit
ourselves to a single course of action.
Festinger and his colleagues documented
the behavior of members of a doomsday
cult.
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When the world failed to end as had been
predicted, cult members claimed that their
faith had helped save the world and began
active recruiting. Finding additional supporters
helped justify their original behavior.
Theories of Attitudes
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Attitude-discrepant behavior
(counter-attitudinal behavior) also
induces dissonance, which is typically
relieved by changing the attitude
(since behaviors are difficult to
“undo.”)
Theories of Attitudes
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Insufficient Justification
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The less incentive one has for
performing a counterattitudinal
behavior, the more dissonance is
experienced.
Theories of Attitudes
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Factors increasing dissonance for
performing counterattitudinal
behavior
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Small threat of punishment
Behavior is freely chosen
There is an irrevocable commitment
Negative consequences were foreseeable
Person feels responsible for consequences
Effort is expended
Theories of Attitudes
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Bem’s self-perception theory argues
that we infer our attitudes from our
behavior and the circumstances in
which this behavior occurs.
Theories of Attitudes
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Self-perception theory and cognitive
dissonance theory make similar predictions
but for different reasons.
Both theories may be correct:
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Self-perception theory seems more applicable
when people are unfamiliar with the issues or
the issues are vague, minor, or uninvolving
Cognitive dissonance theory seems more
applicable to explaining people’s behavior
concerning controversial, engaging, and enduring
issues.
Theories of Attitudes
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Consistency seems to be a more
important concern in Western
cultures than elsewhere.
Theories of Attitudes
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Expectancy-value theory assumes
that people develop an attitude based
on their thoughtful assessment of
pros and cons:
Subjective Utility = Expectancy x Value
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Expectancy-value theory treats people as
calculating, active, rational decision-makers.
Theories of Attitudes
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Dual Processing Theories
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People process a message systematically
when they have both the motivation and
the ability to do so; when they do not
have the motivation or the ability, they
process messages heuristically.
Theories of Attitudes
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Cognitive response theory seeks to
understand attitude change by
understanding the thoughts (“cognitive
responses”) people produce in response to
persuasive communications.
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This theory assumes that people are active
processors of information and generate
cognitive responses to messages.
Theories of Attitudes
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Attitude change depends on how
much and what kind of counterarguing a message triggers.
Persuasion can be induced by
interfering with a person’s ability to
counter-argue.
Theories of Attitudes
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Petty and Cacioppo’s elaboration likelihood
model draws a key distinction
The central route to persuasion involves
detailed information processing and
evaluation of arguments
The peripheral route to persuasion involves
reliance on superficial cues without
thoughtful consideration of the arguments.
Theories of Attitudes
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People use the central route when they are
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involved in the issue
concerned about accuracy
aware that others are trying to change their
attitudes.
People are more likely to use the peripheral
route when they are
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uninvolved in the issue
distracted by the source or context
overloaded with other things to do.
Theories of Attitudes
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Chaiken has similarly distinguished
systematic processing (careful review and
consideration of arguments) from heuristic
processing (using simple decision rules).
However, systematic processing does not
always give the right answer; defensive
motivations can lead to processing that is
extremely biased.
Persuasion
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The more favorably people evaluate
the communicator, the more
favorably they are apt to evaluate
the communication.
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This idea reflects transfer of affect.
Persuasion
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Several aspects of a communicator
affect whether he or she is evaluated
favorably.
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Credibility
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Expertise
Trustworthiness
Liking
Persuasion
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We are persuaded by the opinions of
our reference groups, those we like
or identify with.
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This occurs both because of the
motivational factors of liking and
perceived similarity, and because
messages from in-groups are more likely
to be processed using the central route.
Persuasion
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Source derogation involves deciding
the source is unreliable or negative in
some way. It can make all future as
well as current arguments from that
source less powerful.
Persuasion
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The message content clearly
influences whether or not people will
accept it.
Persuasion
The greater the discrepancy between
the listener’s position and the
message presented, the greater the
potential for change.
Attitude
Change
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Discrepancy
Persuasion
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Sources who are more credible can
advocate more discrepant opinions
successfully.
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For example, Bochner and Insko (1966)
presented participants with a message on the
number of nightly hours of sleep required
The message ostensibly came either from a
Nobel Prize winner or a YMCA instructor.
The YMCA instructor produced the most
change when advocating three hours sleep; the
Nobel Prize winner, when advocating only one.
Persuasion
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When message discrepancy is low, it is
assimilated into the audience’s opinion
(perceived as closer than it really is)
When message discrepancy is high, it is
seen as even further away (message
contrast).
Discrepancy may be reduced by distorting
or misperceiving the message, or even
rejecting it altogether.
Persuasion
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People are most affected by the
strength of arguments when they are
motivated to pay attention and able
to think carefully about them (central
route processing).
Persuasion
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When people are not motivated or
able to think about message content,
peripheral cues become important in
determining attitude change.
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source characteristics
message length
number of arguments
Persuasion
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Repetition and familiarity tend to
increase liking, but only up to a point.
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Repetition may help people process
strong arguments more completely but
expose the flaws in weak arguments.
Repetition may lead to tedium; this can
be dealt with by having ads that provide
slight variations on a theme.
Persuasion
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Matching the Persuasive Message to
the Nature of the Attitude
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Attitudes that are highly emotional may
be more easily changed by emotional
appeals.
Messages that address the functional
basis of an attitude (what the attitude
does for the person) may be more
persuasive.
Persuasion
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Attitudes that are high in ego
involvement are resistant to change.
Kinds of ego involvement include
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Commitment
Issue Involvement
Response Involvement
Persuasion
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People high in authoritarianism or
dogmatism (closed-mindedness)
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tend to respond to the expertise of the
source first and to argument strength
only when the source is non-expert.
People who are high in the need for
closure
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typically more resistant to persuasion.
Persuasion
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Aggression Arousal
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Personal frustrations may make a person more
vulnerable to persuasive communications
advocating aggressive actions.
Fear Arousal
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Fear usually increases the effectiveness of a
persuasive appeal, but if too much fear is
aroused, the effect may be disruptive.
Fear appeals are more effective if they not
only arouse fear but also provide information
about how to reduce the fear.
Persuasion
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People committed to an attitude position
who are forewarned of an attempt to
change their attitudes will be more
resistant to persuasion
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They can generate more counterarguments.
Those who are not committed to an attitude
position are actually more likely to change their
attitudes after a forewarning.
Persuasion
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Distraction makes it harder to
counter-argue and thus tends to
enhance the effectiveness of a
persuasive message.
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Too much distraction, however, will
prevent a message from being heard at
all and will reduce persuasion to zero.
Persuasion
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McGuire suggested that inoculation
(building resistance to persuasion by
arguing against weak forms of a
persuasive argument) helps people
resist persuasion.
Attitude Change over Time
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Thinking about an attitude object
tends to make the attitude more
extreme
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thinking allows people to generate more
consistent attitudes (if they have a
preexisting schema for the issue).
Attitude Change over Time
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The sleeper effect refers to a
rebound in persuasiveness of
messages delivered by low-credibility
sources.
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separation in memory of the source and
the message
Separation in memory of the message
and discounting cues
Attitudes and Behavior
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First study of attitude-behavior
consistency:
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La Piere (1934) toured the United States with a
Chinese couple, stopping at hotels and
restaurants along the way.
They were refused service at only one
establishment.
However, 92% of the institutions later said in a
letter that they would refuse to accept Chinese
people as guests.
Attitudes and Behavior
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Later studies have shown higher degrees
of attitude-behavior consistency
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especially for attitudes that are
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stable
important
certain
consistent between cognition and affect
easily accessed
formed through direct experience
Attitudes and Behavior
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Strong attitudes are typically
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stable,
personally relevant,
held about personally important issues about
which one feels extreme and certain.
They are often “embedded” or tied to
other beliefs.
They are often formed through direct
experience and become highly accessible as
a result.
Attitudes and Behavior
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Stable attitudes that are accessible
in memory are most likely to predict
behavior
Attitudes and Behavior
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Maximum attitude-behavior
consistency occurs when attitudes
and behaviors are measured at about
the same time.
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Longer time intervals diminish attitudebehavior correlations because attitudes,
people, and situations change.
Attitudes and Behavior
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Attitudes that are more accessible in
memory influence behavior more
strongly.
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Attitudes that are expressed more
frequently are more accessible and tend
to become more extreme.
Attitudes and Behavior
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Attitudes are often automatically
activated when the attitude object is
present.
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We may have a pervasive tendency to
non-consciously classify most stimuli as
good or bad, and almost immediately
tend to approach or avoid them.
Attitudes and Behavior
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The more relevant an attitude is to a
behavior, the more attitude-behavior
consistency there will be.
Attitudes and Behavior
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In most situations, several attitudes
are relevant to behavior. The
attitude that is most salient is most
likely to influence behavior
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especially when the attitude is not a
strong one.
Attitudes and Behavior
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When an attitude is based heavily on
affect, persuasive appeals to emotion
are more successful
When attitudes are based more on
cognition, cognitively based appeals
are more successful.
Attitudes and Behavior
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Wilson and his colleagues have found
that introspecting about the reasons
one likes or dislikes an attitude
object can disrupt attitude-behavior
consistency
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Causes the attitude temporarily to
change.
Especially true for attitudes that have
little cognitive support.
Attitudes and Behavior
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When situational pressures are strong,
attitudes (especially weak attitudes) are
not as strong determinants of behavior.
People sometimes have completely
different attitudes towards the same
attitude object in different situations.
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For example, Minard (1952) found that white
coal miners treated black coworkers as equals
in the mines but as social inferiors in the
outside world.
The Reasoned Action Model
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The model has been widely used to
predict a variety of behaviors.
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E.g., birth control use, decision to breast
feed
The Reasoned Action Model
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The theory of planned behavior adds an
additional variable to the model:
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Perceived behavior control = people’s belief in
their ability to control their outcomes.
Other factors not included in the model
may also be important:
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external constraints and opportunities,
fear
habit