How do we develop attitudes?

Describe your attitude to this TV show. Is it positive, negative or ambivalent? Describe the factors that you think have influenced your attitude to this brand.

Factors that affect Attitudes 1.Exposure – generally gives a positive attitude 2.Experience – this gives strongly held attitudes

Factors that affect Attitudes 3.Learning Classical conditioning Operant conditioning Modelling Refer to your text and explain what each of these terms mean

Which of the factors described above have led to the formation of your attitude to CSI?

Read the excerpt below: Gavin moved to Adelaide to study from a small country town in South Australia. In his home town there were no fast food outlets such as Hungry Jacks or McDonalds. He was excited to be moving to a city where he would have access to things to that just weren’t available in his home town like going to concerts, football matches and the occasional fast food meal when he wanted it. Gavin knew of both Hungry Jack’s and McDonalds through advertising. When he had visited Adelaide before his parents had taken him to McDonalds. He thought the burgers were OK. When Gavin was going to the football one day with his mates, one of them suggested they pick up a burger on the way. Everyone agreed and they went to Hungry Jack’s. Gavin enjoyed the burger but no more than those he had previously had from McDonalds.

He asked his friends why they had gone to Hungry Jack’s and not McDonald’s. Most of them replied that they had always gone there – their parents had taken them as special treats on their birthdays – and they enjoyed the burgers more. Going to Hungry Jack’s became part of going to the footy with his friends. Now if you ask Gavin where he wants to buy a burger, he chooses Hungry Jacks. Describe Gavin’s attitude to Hungry Jack’s. Identify the factors that have led to Gavin’s attitude towards Hungry Jack’s Classify each of these factors as exposure, experience or learning.

Application to Yourself Think of an example of an attitude you have developed where each of the following has been the main reason for developing the attitude. The attitude’s may be positive or negative. Exposure Experience Learning

Changing Attitudes Of interest to PsychologistsAdvertisers PoliticiansLaw makers Public health agencies Why? Attitude change can lead to behaviour change

Cognitive Dissonance Read page and note down the main points about cognitive dissonance theory.

Self Perception Theory Read page 60 of ‘KEY IDEAS’ text and note down the main points about self perception theory.

Comparing theories Describe the conditions that each theory best explains attitude change from p60

Application Read the passage below: Tania values being fit and healthy and makes sure she regularly exercises. Tania is also a moderately heavy smoker. She has learnt from various sources that smoking is bad for her health. She tells herself that not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer. Tania is aware that others find her smoking unpleasant and moves away from these people when she smokes. She enjoys smoking and has other friends who feel the same way. Explain why Tania would experience cognitive dissonance. Identify the behaviours that Tania is showing to try to decrease cognitive dissonance. What behaviour would public health agencies like Tania to show?

Application Read the excerpt below Leon Festinger and his colleagues carried out an experiment to investigate attitude change. Their hypothesis was that “high dissonance about behaviour that is against attitude will cause attitude change” Reword this into a from you understand Festinger randomly allocated male college students to experimental and control groups. All the students were asked to turn pegs over for an hour – a very boring task. At the end of the hour, Festinger confided that some of the participants were being influenced by telling them that turning the pegs over was interesting and enjoyable. Festinger asked the students to be the person to tell the next subject (really a confederate) that the task was interesting. Festinger offered to pay the students for doing this.

He paid some students $1 (about $5 today) to do this task and others $20 (about $90 today). Later the students were asked their true feelings about turning the pegs over. Which group do you think enjoyed the task more?.

The students who were paid $1 enjoyed the task more. Can you explain why? Look at the description of the investigation and answer the questions below Classify the investigation as being experimental, quantitative observational or qualitative. Identify the independent and dependent variables. Identify the control group and the test group Can these results be widely applied – why or why not? Similar investigations have been done many times with similar results.

Persuasion Persuasion=changing attitudes Persuasive communication techniques used to try to do this

Persuasive Communication Early research done by Carl Hovland in 1950’s led to the Yale Communication Model. “The impact of persuasive communication is determined by who says what to whom.” Copy the diagram on the next slide and add extra characteristics of each part of the message using p56 text

Persuasive Communication Attitude change Source Message Audience attractiveness status power novelty age self esteem intelligence

The Process of Persuasion There are two routes to persuasion. 1. The Central Route 2. The Peripheral Route Note down Figure 605 on p55 and define each of the terms used.

Application Look at some print and media ads provided by your teacher. Identify the components of the Yale Communication Model and whether the ad is trying to change attitude via the central or persuasive route in each case.