1. 1 Attitudes ► An attitude is a positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object, or idea. ► Attitudes can be based on three general classes of information:  1. Affect  2. Behavior  3. Cognition

2. 2 How are Attitudes Formed? ► Learning  Mere exposure—repeated exposure to a stimulus increases our feelings about the stimulus.  Direct experience  Operant conditioning-reward and punishment  Classical conditioning-association of CS with UCS  Observational learning-imitation of others  Media ► Genetics

3. 3 Attitudes and Judgment ► Existing attitudes bias judgments of new information.  Death penalty study (Lord, Ross, & Lepper, 1979)  Fibrocystic disease and caffeine study (Kunda, 1987)

4. 4 Attitudes and Judgment Data from Kunda (1987)

5. 5 Attitudes and Judgment ► Attitudes also bias recall of old information.  Introversion/Extraversion study (Sanitioso et al., 1990)

6. 6 Attitudes and Behavior ► LaPiere (1934) study of attitudes and behavior towards Chinese people.

7. 7 Attitudes and Behavior ► Factors that moderate the attitude-behavior link:  Strength of attitude  Specificity of attitude  Self-focus  Self-monitoring

8. 8 Self-Monitoring Scale ► 1. I find it hard to imitate the behavior of other people T F ► 2. I can only argue for ideas which I already believe T F ► 3. I have considered being an entertainer T F ► 4. I would probably make a good actor T F ► 5. I have trouble changing my behavior to suit different people and different situations T F

9. 9 Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior Attitude toward a behavior Subjective norms Perceived Behavioral control IntentionBehavior

10. 10 Attitude Action

11. 11 Cognitive Dissonance ► A state of psychological tension that is aroused when a person simultaneously holds two thoughts that contradict one another.

12. 12 Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Inconsistency between thoughts Experience cognitive dissonance Attempt to reduce dissonance Change attitude

13. 13 Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) ► Participants did boring tasks for 1 hour. ► Paid $1 or $20 to tell another participant that the tasks were enjoyable. ► During interview, asked how much they enjoyed the tasks.

14. 14 Three Dissonance-Arousing Conditions ► 1. Attitude-behavior inconsistency  Leads to change in attitude ► 2. Exerting wasted effort  Leads to effort justification ► 3. Making a difficult decision  Leads to post-decisional dissonance

15. 15 Two Perspectives on Self-Persuasion ► 1. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger) – inconsistency between thoughts leads to unpleasant tension (dissonance), which motivates people to reduce dissonance by changing thoughts.

16. 16 Two Perspectives on Self-Persuasion ► 2. Self-Perception Theory (Bem) – people form and modify their attitudes by observing their own behavior.

17. 17 Implications ► Behavior  Attitude change ► Use of cognitive dissonance to promote healthy behavior.