1 PSY 321 Attitudes & Behavior Dr. Sanchez

2 What is an attitude?

3 What is an Attitude? A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object, or idea, expressed at ______ (e.g., love, like, dislike, detest)

4 Four Possible Reactions to Attitude Objects Cacciopo, et al. 1997

5 Attitudes are Pervasive  There are few things in which we truly feel neutral  When switch on a game (e.g. tennis match) you quickly pick sides, even if you don’t know the players.

6 Components of Attitudes: Tripartite View CognitiveCognitive AffectiveAffective BehavioralBehavioral AttitudeAttitude

7 Components of Attitudes  COGNITIVE  beliefs about attitude object (pos & neg)  AFFECTIVE  emotions and feelings the object triggers (pos & neg)  BEHAVIORAL  reaction toward the object (pos & neg actions)

8 Attitude Object: DENTIST  COGNITIONS  Dentists are friendly.  Dentists are expensive.  AFFECTS  Dentists make me feel anxious.  I like dentists.  BEHAVIORS  I visit the dentist twice a year.  I am a very cooperative patient.

9 Why People Have Attitudes  __________ function: Express who we are –(e.g. person who places high value on egalitarianism)  __________ function: Protect Self-Esteem –(e.g. need to confirm one’s own masc/fem)  __________ function: Obtain awards, avoid punishments –(e.g. getting along with others)  __________ function: understand people and events –(desire to explain terrorist activities or the many lives lost in Katrina)

10 How Attitudes Are Measured: Self-Report Measures  Attitude Scale: A multiple-item questionnaire designed to measure a person’s attitude toward some object. –e.g., _______ Scale –1 = not at all; 3 = somewhat; 5 = very much

11 How would you respond to these questions?  Old Fashioned Racism –“I would mind if a Black family moved next door” –“Whites are more intelligent than Blacks”  Old Fashioned Sexism –“Women should stay home and not worry about having a career” –“Men should be in charge of all major decisions”

12 How Attitudes Are Measured: Self-Report Measures  Bogus Pipeline: A phony lie-detector device that is sometimes used to get respondents to give truthful answers to sensitive questions. –E.g., admitting drinking too much, using cocaine, having frequent oral sex, and not exercising enough

13 How Attitudes Are Measured: Covert Measures  Observable behavior –E.g., nonverbal behavior  Measures of arousal –reveal the ________ of attitude  Facial Electromyograph (EMG): An electronic instrument that records __________ associated with emotions and attitudes.

14 The Facial EMG When people hear a message they agree with, there is increase in depressor and ________ muscles and decrease in _________ and frontalis muscles.

15 How Attitudes Are Measured: The Implicit Association Test (IAT)  Based on notion that we have implicit attitudes.  Implicit Association Test (IAT): Measures the speed with which one responds to pairings of concepts.

16 toxic pleasant unpleasant

17 Rutgers Princeton

18 happy Rutgers or pleasant Princeton or unpleasant

19 Rutgers or pleasant Princeton or unpleasant

20 Interpreting Reaction Times  Faster responding to positive words when Rutgers is paired with pleasant = ______implicit attitude toward Rutgers  Faster responding to positive words when Princeton is paired with pleasant = _______ implicit attitude toward Princeton

21 Findings IAT  Self over Other  White over Black  Young over Old  Males with Careers over Women with Careers  Women with Family over Men with Family  Limitations of IAT?

22 Explicit & Implicit Correspondence  Average correspondence is ____  Motivational Bias  Retrieval Bias  Influence of introspection on explicit  Methodological differences

23 Where do attitudes come from?

24  GENES: Twin studies high correlations on attitude strength and content for ______________________ high correlations on attitude strength and content for ______________________ significantly lower for ____________ significantly lower for ____________

25 Genetic Influences on Attitudes Olson et al., 2001.

26 Origins of Attitudes: Social Experiences  Affectively Based Attitudes  based on people’s feelings of an attitude object (not on beliefs)  Sources of Affectively Based Attitudes  values  mere exposure  classical conditioning

27 Mere Exposure The tendency to develop more positive feelings toward objects & individuals the more we are exposed to them.

28 Mere Exposure: Mita and colleagues (1977)  Photographed women students on campus  Showed Ps picture & mirror image of print  Which do you like better - “regular” or mirror image print?

29 Mere Exposure: Mita and colleagues (1977)  ____ of Ps preferred the mirror print  ____ of their close friends preferred the actual picture  Ps were ______ to mirrored image so like them more

30 Origins of Attitudes: Social Experiences  Affectively Based Attitudes  based on people’s feelings & values of an attitude object (not on beliefs)  Sources of Affectively Based Attitudes  values  mere exposure  classical conditioning

31 Classical Conditioning The case whereby a stimulus that elicits an emotional response is repeatedly experienced along with a neutral stimulus that does not, until the neutral stimulus takes on the emotional properties of the first stimulus

32 Stimulus 1 (mothballs) (mothballs) Stimulus 2 visits to granny Stimulus 2 visits to granny PleasurableFeelingsPleasurableFeelings Stimulus 1 (mothballs) (mothballs)PleasurableFeelingsPleasurableFeelings Affectively Based Attitudes: Classical Conditioning

33 Got Milk?

34 Stimulus 1 Milk Milk Stimulus 2 Supermodel SupermodelPleasurableFeelingsPleasurableFeelings Stimulus 1 Milk MilkPleasurableFeelingsPleasurableFeelings Affectively Based Attitudes: Classical Conditioning

35 Where Do Attitudes Come From?  GENES  Twin study  SOCIAL EXPERIENCES  affectively based  behaviorally based

36 Origins of Attitudes: Social Experiences  Behaviorally Based Attitudes  based on people’s observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object  Sources of Beh. Based Attit.  Bem’s Self-Perception Theory  Operant Conditioning

37 What are your attitudes about liberal politicians? Behavior “Now that I think about it, I only vote for conservatives.” Behavior “Now that I think about it, I only vote for conservatives.” Attitude “I guess I don’t like liberal politicians.”Attitude “I guess I don’t like liberal politicians.” Self-Perception Theory

38 Origins of Attitudes: Social Experiences  Behaviorally Based Attitudes  based on people’s observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object  Sources of Beh. Based Attit.  Bem’s Self-Perception Theory  Operant Conditioning

39 Operant Conditioning The case whereby behaviors that people freely choose to perform increase or decrease in frequency, depending on whether they are followed by positive reinforcement or punishment

40 BehaviorToward An Object BehaviorToward + Reinforce- ment or Punishment. + Reinforce- ment or Punishment. Pos or Neg Attitude toward the Object Pos or Neg Attitude toward the Object Behaviorally Based Attitudes & Operant Conditioning e.g., playing with a child of anotherrace + reinforcement - parents’ approval - parents’ approval Punishment - parents’ disapproval

41 Do attitudes predict behavior?

42 The Weak Link Between Attitudes and Behavior  Why did early work find a weak attitude-behavior link? –Social desirability –________ of attitudes –Broader context of behaviors –Attitudes is __________ factor but behavior is based on more than just the person

43 General Attitudes and Specific Behaviors  Must be correspondence between level of specificity of attitude and behavior.  For example, to predict recycling behavior at work, do you ask: –How do you feel about recycling? –How do you feel about recycling __________?

44  Study of married women’s use of birth control  Ps asked a series of attitude questions - general to specific (e.g., will U use birth control in next 2 years)  Two years later asked Ps if they had used birth control since the interview Correspondence of Specificity (Davidson & Jaccard, 1979)

45 Attitude Attitude-Behavior Attitude Attitude-Behavior MeasureCorrelation MeasureCorrelation  Att. toward birth control.08  Att. toward birth control pills.32  Att. toward using birthing control pills.53  Att. toward using birth control pills during the next two years.57 Correspondence of Specificity (Davidson & Jaccard, 1979)

46 Predicting Planned Behaviors Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen & Fishbein) BehavioralIntentionBehavior

47 Predicting Planned Behaviors Theory of Planned Behavior SpecificAttitude SubjectiveNorms BehavioralIntentionBehavior PerceivedBehavioralControl

48 Will Rachel attend the COLDPLAY Concert? SpecificAttitude SubjectiveNorms PerceivedBehavioralControl

49 Theory of Planned Behavior: Subjective Norms  Fishbein  measured Ps’ attitudes and subjective norms (what do your friends think) about engaging in premarital sex  attitudes and subjective norms predicted sexual behavior  men more influenced by subjective norms  women more influenced by own attitudes

50 Predicting Planned Behaviors Theory of Planned Behavior SpecificAttitude SubjectiveNorms BehavioralIntentionBehavior PerceivedBehavioralControl

51 Theory of Planned Behavior: Perceived Behavioral Control  Azjen & Madden (1986)  do attitudes & subjective norms alone predict grades?  Combination of attitudes & subjective norms only moderately related to actual grades  must take into consideration behavioral control!!

52 Strength of the Attitude  Why do some attitudes have more influence on behavior? –Depends on attitude’s ____________ or __________.  Why are some attitudes stronger than others? –Because of our genetic make-up?

53 Determining the Strength of an Attitude  Does the issue directly affect one’s own outcomes and self-interests?  Is the issue related to deeply held philosophical, political, and religious values?  Is the issue of concern to one’s close friends, family, and social in- groups?

54 Factors That Indicate the Strength of an Attitude  How consistent is the person’s behavior with attitude? –Walking the talk  How was the information on which the attitude is based acquired? –Personal experience vs. second-hand  Has the attitude been attacked? –Stronger if attacked  How accessible is the attitude to awareness?

55 Strength & Accessibility (Fazio)  we can measure the strength of a person’s attitude by seeing how accessible it is in memory  if an attitude is highly accessible, then it comes to mind quickly  if an attitude is highly inaccessible, then it comes to mind much slower

56 Do Attitudes Predict Behavior?  IT DEPENDS!  One Key Factor  Spontaneous Behaviors  Planned/Deliberative Behaviors

57 Attitudes & Spontaneous Behaviors (Fazio, Powell, & Williams, 1989)  Role of accessibility in Ps’ attitudes & behaviors toward consumer items  Ps rated their attitude toward several products

58 Attitudes & Spontaneous Behaviors (Fazio, Powell, & Williams, 1989)  Accessibility  assessed by how long it took Ps to respond to questions about the products  Behavior  placed ten of the products in two rows of five  Ps could take one product home  Results??

59 Attitudes & Spontaneous Behaviors (Fazio, Powell, & Williams, 1989)  To what extent did Ps’ attitudes toward the products predict their behavior?  Depends on accessibility  attitude-behavior consistency was high among Ps with ______________  attitude-behavior consistency was low among Ps with _________________