1. Introduction to Attitudes
Madiha Anas
Lecturer
Department of Applied Psychology
School of Social Sciences
Beaconhouse National University

2. “Attitude”… What does it mean to you?

3. Attitudes in everyday life

4. Attitudes in everyday life

6. … Defining Attitudes An attitude is:
“…a relatively enduring organisation of beliefs, feelings, and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols”
Hogg & Vaughan 2005
“…a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour”
Eagly & Chaiken, 1998

7. How do we form attitudes?
Born or made?
Are you born with attitudes?

8. Theories of Attitude Formation

9. Social Learning
Classical conditioning
Instrumental conditioning

10. Social Learning
When we interact with others or merely observe their behavior.

11. 1A. Classical Conditioning
1. Social Learning
1A. Classical Conditioning
Studies indicate that when initially neutral words are paired with stimuli that elicit strong negative reactions, they acquire the capacity to elicit favorable or unfavorable reactions
Racial prejudice

12. Classical Conditioning in Attitude Formation
Stimulus 1
(Member
of a Minority Group)
Stimulus 2
(Signs of emotional
upset on part of parent)
Child becomes upset
Stimulus 1
(Member of a
minority group)
Child becomes upset
(B)

13. 1B. Instrumental Conditioning
How does a three-year old know Toyota is better than Suzuki?
Reinforcement!
Behaviour toward
Attitude Object
(e.g., playing with
child of another
Race)
Positive or Negative
Reinforcement
(+ve = parents approval
ve = parents’
Disapproval)
Positive or Negative
Attitude Toward
Attitude Object

14. Structure of Attitudes

15. Attitude Structure: Affect Behaviors Cognitions
how we feel about people or social objects
Behaviors
behavior directed at people and social objects
Cognitions
generalized beliefs about people and social objects

16. Attitude Structure
Three-component model views attitudes as having three components:
Affective
feelings about the attitude object
Behavioural
act towards the attitude object in a certain way
Cognitive
beliefs about the attitude object

17. Attitude Change

18. Why discuss persuasion?
Up to 3000 advertising messages a day!
Include signs, flyers, scented ads, previews
Blatant attempts include commercials
We like to think that we are smart and thus immune to their deceit
Are we?

19. Attitude Change/Persuasion
Persuasion is the power to cause change in one’s actions or beliefs.
How to get people to do what you want.

20. Routes of Persuasion Two routes can be used to persuade Central:
relies on facts, figures, and thought.
Changes tend to be more permanent due to effortful processing.
Peripheral:
attempts to persuade you without thought occurring.
Relies on emotion.
Leads to superficial and temporary change.

21. Attitude Measurement

22. Levels of Measurement Nominal – identity preserving
Ordinal – order preserving
Interval – difference preserving
Ratio – ratio preserving
The level of measurement is defined by the permissible ways there are of changing the numbers that we assign.

23. Measurement Scales Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio
Are you satisfied with X? ___YES ___ NO
Ordinal
Rank order X, Y, and Z according to how satisfied you are with them.
Interval
How satisfied? __Not very … to …__Very satisfied
Ratio
How satisfied? Very dissatisfied…to…Very satisfied

24. Guess the scale? ____ Heavy Metal ____ Alternative
Which scale is this?
Answer: Ordinal
Indicate your preferred type of music with a 1, your second favorite with a 2, and so on for each type of music:
____ Heavy Metal
____ Alternative
____ Urban Contemporary
____ Classical
____ Country

25. Which scale is this? Answer: Ratio (because Not sure = 0 value
It is more fun to play a tough, competitive cricket match than to play an easy one.
___Strongly Agree
___Agree
___Not Sure
___Disagree
___Strongly Disagree

26. More exercise with scales.
Favorite color
Orange
Blue
Green
White
Choose the scale if the question is:
Which one is your favorite color? NOMINAL SCALE
Rate your favorite, second favorite, third favorite and fourth favorite color. ORDINAL SCALE

27. Example of ______ scale
This year’s psychology course was
Very hard
Difficult
Can’t say
Easy
Very Easy
Answer: Ratio scale
(Because “Can’t say” = O

28. Example of __________ scale
This year’s psychology course was
Very Hard
Somewhat hard
Not that hard
This is an INTERVAL SCALE.
Because each item increases with a consistent interval. No item = O