ATTITUDE OBJECTS The people, subject or situation towards which an attitude is directed.

& BEHAVIOURAL RESPONSE What is an ATTITUDE? ATTITUDES – A learned behavioural predisposition. (linked with personality) UNSTABLE LEARNED CAN BE CHANGED/ CONTROLLED DIRECTED TOWARDS ATTITUDE OBJECTS ENDURING EMOTIONAL & BEHAVIOURAL RESPONSE

Formation of Attitudes COACHES/ TEACHERS PAST EXPERIENCES ATTITUDES PREDUJICE PARENTS MEDIA FRIENDS/ PEERS Attitudes are mainly formed through experiences. Socialisation: The process of mixing and relating to other people.

Triadic Model of Attitudes This is known as the information component This concerns how a person intends to behave towards an attitude object This is known as the emotional component

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger) If a person hold two ideas that oppose and conflict with each other an element of discomfort arises. Emotional conflict is called DISSONANCE.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger) To reduce this feeling of dissonance, the impact of one of the conflicting ideas could be lessened and therefore an attitude would change. Updating knowledge or providing a person with new information can change the cognitive component. Providing a person with new and positive experiences can modify the affective component. If a skill is simplified or if some form of guidance is used to make execution easier, the behavioural component of attitude can be changed. Remember METHODS OF GUIDANCE from AS SKILL

Example A rugby player might believe that aerobics is too ‘girlie’ so the coach tells him that some of the fittest people do it to improve stamina. This attack on the player’s beliefs causes a change in attitude and the player now does aerobics to keep fit.

Other methods used by coaches include: pointing out the benefits to health making the activity fun & enjoyable allowing easy initial success using the examples of role-models using reinforcement attributing the reasons for success internally

Persuasive Communication Theory You need to be aware of most effective way of persuading someone to change their attitude. Would these people persuade you or would they just cause you stress?

Persuasive Communication Theory The Persuader Significant other with high status 2. The Message Positive to initiate the change PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION the person must pay attention - understand - accept - retain the message being given the coach must - be expert - be trustworthy the message must - be clear - be unambiguous - be balanced between pros and cons 3. The recipients Easy to changed an attitude if the recipient really wishes to be changed 4. The situation The presence of other persuaders

TASK………… You are a GCSE PE pupil. How could persuasive communication change your negative attitude towards cross country?

ANSWER………… A significant other, e.g. teacher/captain persuades you that cross country has excellent fitness benefits for a GCSE PE pupil. The teacher explains that they can chose cross country as one of their 4 sports. The teacher tells you it will improve your practical grade if you opt for cross country. You understand that this could improve your overall practical grade so you begin to realise the benefits of taking part. Other pupils in your GCSE class share positive experiences of cross country with you and actively encourage you to take part.

TASK………… How could a physical education teacher change the negative attitude that a pupil may have towards swimming?

ANSWER….. Educate the pupil about the benefits of swimming Use cognitive dissonance theory Persuasive communication from a significant other, e.g. teacher Set achievable goals to ensure pupil achieves success and experiences enjoyment. Offer rewards, e.g. praise, trophies. Familiarise with role models from within the sport of swimming. Use floats to make execution of some strokes easier. Attribution retraining.

To conclude………. Attitudes are generally poor predictors of behaviour. Social and situational factors influence actual behaviour very strongly. “Behavioural intention is the strongest predictor of behaviour (Fishbein, 1974).”

Elite tennis players have to devote large amounts of time to develop their skills, requiring a positive attitude and high levels of motivation. Name and explain the components of attitudes, giving an example of how a tennis player would display a positive ‘attitude’. (3 marks)

A. Cognitive (component) – believe/think they are training and playing in the correct manner or eq. B. Affective (component) – positive feelings/emotions/enjoyment or eq. C. Behavioural (component) – actions of the player/ train regularly/compete fairly or eq D. Use of applied positive example