Attitudes, Attitude Change, and Persuasion Joshua Phelps February 14 th 2005

Attitude Exercise Demonstration of Attitude Research in Social Psychology 15 minute questionnaire

Lecture Outline Attitudes: What are they, Why are they important, How do we measure them?? Attitudes and Predicting Behavior Attitude Change and Persuasion Compliance

What is an Attitude? Summary evaluation of an object of thought (Bohner & Wänke, 2002) Consists of Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral components or evaluative responses

Examples

Why Are Attitudes So Important? Relationship to Behavior Personal Relationships Politics and Public Opinion Consumer Issues

Attitudes and Social Psychology Individual, Interpersonal, and Societal Levels Psykologisk Institutt Examples Health Attitudes Illegal Immigrants Pro Social Attitudes

Function of Attitudes (Bohner & Wänke, 2002) Knowledge Higher Psychological Needs

Measuring Attitudes Direct Measures Self-Report Indirect Measures Disguised Attitude Non-Reactive Physiological Implicit

Difficulties Measuring Attitudes Operationalization Demand Characteristics Social Desirability

Attitudes and Behavior LaPiere (1934) Complex Relationship

Factors Influencing Attitudes and the Prediction of Behavior Precision of Measurement Aspects of Attitude Individual Difference Situational Variables

Attitude Change and Persuasion When Does Behavior Influence Attitude(s)? When and Why do Individuals Change their Attitudes?

Attitude Change When a person’s evaluation of an attitude object changes from one value to another (Petty & Wegener, 1998).

General Approaches to Attitude Change Behavior-Induced Active Participation of the Person Persuasion An individual’s use of arguments to convince others to change mind or behavior

Behavior Influence on Attitudes Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1967) Self Perception Theory (Bem, 1972)

Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive Dissonance: unpleasant state of arousal that motivates individuals to reduce dissonance Three types of Cognitive Dissonance Effects Effort-Justification Induced Compliance Free Choice

Persuasion Persuasive Communication: Message intended to change an attitude and related behaviors of an audience (Hogg and Vaughan, 2005)

Factors Influencing Persuasion Communicator Credibility, likeability, attractiveness Message Repetition, Fear, Facts vs. Feelings, Framing Republican National Convention Audience Self-Esteem, Gender, Individual Differences (Same as Attitude and Behavior), Age, prior beliefs, cognitive biases

Compliance ”Superficial, public and transitory change in behavior and expressed attitudes in response to requests, coercion or group pressure.” (Hogg and Vaughan, 2005)

Tactics for Enhancing Compliance Ingratiation Reciprocity Multiple Requests Foot-in-the-Door Door-in-the-Face Low Ball

Cialdini’s 6 Compliance Principles Reciprocation Commitment/Consistency Liking Authority Scarcity Social Proof

Questions for Next Lecture Clarify any topic at the end of Culture Lecture (28/02/05)

Sources Hogg & Vaughan (2005). Social Psychology (4 th edition) Bohner & Wänke (2002). Attitudes and Attitude Change Cialdini (2001). Influence: Science and Practice

Topics I Didn’t Cover Structure and Components of Attitudes Cognitive Consistency Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behavior Three types of Dissonance Effects (pg ) and alternatives to Dissonance. Dual Process Models of Persuasion Resistance to Persuasion