1. Attitudes and Attitude Changes: Influencing Thoughts and Feelings
Chapter 7
Attitudes and Attitude Changes:
Influencing Thoughts and Feelings
In this chapter you will:
Learn about the nature and origins of attitudes.
Discover techniques used by advertisers to attempt to change your attitudes about their products. .

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3. Multimedia Directory
Slide 29 Implicit Attitudes Video

4. People have begun offering their bodies as venues for advertisers
People have begun offering their bodies as venues for advertisers. A Utah woman, shown here, received $10,000 to advertise Golden Palace casino on her forehead. She plans to usethe money to send her son to private school. Source: AP Photo/Deseret Morning News, Keith Johnson

5. Advertising Can Have Powerful Effects
Example
Until early 20th century, men bought 99% of cigarettes sold
Advertisers began targeting women
In 1955
Twice as many male as female smokers in the USA
In 2004
23% of adult men smoked
19% of adult women.
Although the smoking rate has decreased overall, women have almost caught up to men. In 2004, 23% of adult men smoked, compared to 19% of adult women.
But is advertising responsible?
To what extent can advertising shape people’s attitudes and behavior?
Exactly what is an attitude, and how is it changed?

6. The Nature and Origin of Attitudes
People are not neutral observers of the world.
They evaluate what they encounter.
They form attitudes.
(Ajzen, 2001; Eagly & Chaiken, 1998; Fazio, 2000; Petty, Cacioppo, Strathman, & Priester, 2005).
Attitudes
Evaluations of people, objects, and ideas.

7. The Nature and Origin of Attitudes
Attitudes are made up of three components:
Affective
Emotional reaction
Behavioral
Actions or observable behavior
Cognitive
Thoughts and beliefs

8. The Nature and Origin of Attitudes
Example—attitudes about cars
Affective
Perhaps feel excitement about getting a new car
U.S. autoworker examining a new foreign-made model, may feel anger and resentment

9. The Nature and Origin of Attitudes
Example—attitudes about cars
Behavioral
Test-drive the car and actually buy it
Cognitive reactions
Admire hybrid engine and fuel efficiency

10. Where Do Attitudes Come From?
Genetic origins?
Identical twins share more attitudes than fraternal twins
E.g., similar attitudes about jazz music
Indirect function of our genes
Temperament, personality
One study, for example, found that identical twins had more similar attitudes toward such things as the death penalty and jazz than fraternal twins did (Martin et al., 1986).
People may have inherited a temperament and personality from their parents that made them predisposed to like jazz more than rock-and-roll.

11. Where Do Attitudes Come From?
Social experiences
Not all attitudes are created equally.
Though all attitudes have affective, cognitive, and behavioral components, any given attitude can be based more on one type of experience than another.
(Zanna & Rempel, 1988)

12. Cognitively Based Attitude
An attitude based primarily on people’s beliefs about the properties of an attitude object.
Sometimes our attitudes are based primarily on the relevant facts.
Example—a car
How many miles to the gallon does it get?
Does it have side-impact air bags?

13. Affectively Based Attitude
An attitude based more on people’s feelings and values than on their beliefs about the nature of an attitude object.
An attitude based more on emotions and values than on an objective appraisal of pluses and minuses is called an affectively based attitude (Breckler & Wiggins, 1989; Zanna & Rempel, 1988).
As a guide to which attitudes are likely to be affectively based, consider the topics that etiquette manuals suggest should not be discussed at a dinner party: politics, sex, and religion. People seem to vote more with their hearts than their minds, for example, caring more about how they feel about a candidate than their beliefs about his or her specific policies (Abelson, Kinder, Peters, & Fiske, 1982; Granberg & Brown, 1989).
In fact, it has been estimated that one-third of the electorate knows virtually nothing about specific politicians but nonetheless has strong feelings about them (Redlawsk, 2002; Wattenberg, 1987).

14. Affectively Based Attitude
Sometimes we simply like a car, regardless of how many miles to the gallon it gets.
Occasionally we even feel great about something or someone in spite of having negative beliefs.
An attitude based more on emotions and values than on an objective appraisal of pluses and minuses is called an affectively based attitude (Breckler & Wiggins, 1989; Zanna & Rempel, 1988).
As a guide to which attitudes are likely to be affectively based, consider the topics that etiquette manuals suggest should not be discussed at a dinner party: politics, sex, and religion. People seem to vote more with their hearts than their minds, for example, caring more about how they feel about a candidate than their beliefs about his or her specific policies (Abelson, Kinder, Peters, & Fiske, 1982; Granberg & Brown, 1989).
In fact, it has been estimated that one-third of the electorate knows virtually nothing about specific politicians but nonetheless has strong feelings about them (Redlawsk, 2002; Wattenberg, 1987).

15. Affectively Based Attitude
Affectively based attitudes don’t come from examining facts
Where do they come from?
Values
Example—religious, moral beliefs
Sensory reaction
Example—liking the taste of something
Aesthetic reaction
Example—admiring lines and color of a car
Conditioning
Feelings about such issues as abortion, the death penalty, and premarital sex are often based more on their values than on a cold examination of the facts. The function of such attitudes is not so much to paint an accurate picture of the world as to express and validate one’s basic value system (Maio & Olson, 1995; Schwartz, 1992; Smith, Bruner, & White, 1956; Snyder & DeBono, 1989).

16. Classical Conditioning
The phenomenon whereby a stimulus that elicits an emotional response is repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus that does not until the neutral stimulus takes on the emotional properties of the first stimulus.

17. Classical Conditioning
A stimulus that elicits an emotional response is paired with a neutral stimulus
Neutral stimulus takes on the emotional properties of the first stimulus
(Olson & Fazio, 2001).
(Cacioppo, Marshall-Goodell, Tassinary, & Petty, 1992; De Houwer, Baeyens, & Eelen, 1994).

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

19. Operant Conditioning
Freely chosen behaviors increase or decrease when followed by reinforcement or punishment.
Attitudes can take on a positive or negative affect through either classical or operant conditioning (Cacioppo et al., 1992; Kuykendall & Keating, 1990).

20. Classical conditioning & attitudes:
Suppose that when you were a child, you experienced feelings of warmth and love when you visited your grandmother.
Suppose also that her house always smelled faintly of mothballs.
Eventually, the smell of mothballs alone will trigger the emotions you experienced during your visits.
Operant conditioning & attitudes:
Imagine a four-year-old white girl goes to the playground and begins to play with an African American girl.
Her father expresses strong disapproval, telling her, “We don’t play with that kind of child.”
It won’t take long before the child associates interacting with African Americans with disapproval, thereby adopting her father’s racist attitudes.
Figure 7.1 Classical and Operant Conditioning of Attitudes Affectively based attitudes can result from either classical or instrumental conditioning.

21. Affectively Based Attitude Similarity
Affectively-based attitudes are similar for several reasons.
Not a result of rational examination
Not governed by logic
Often linked to values
How can we tell if an attitude is more affectively or cognitively based? See the Try It! exercise in the textbook for one way to measure the bases of people’s attitudes.

22. Behaviorally Based Attitude
An attitude based on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object.
For example, suppose you asked a friend how much she likes to exercise. If she replies, “Well, I guess I like it, because I always seem to be going for a run or heading over to the gym to work out,” we would say she has a behaviorally based attitude. Her attitude is based more on an observation of her behavior than on her cognitions or affect. As a guide to which attitudes are likely to be affectively based, consider the topics that etiquette manuals suggest should not be discussed at a dinner party: politics, sex, and religion. People seem to vote more with their hearts than their minds, for example, caring more about how they feel about a candidate than their beliefs about his or her specific policies (Abelson, Kinder, Peters, & Fiske, 1982; Granberg & Brown, 1989).
In fact, it has been estimated that one-third of the electorate knows virtually nothing about specific politicians but nonetheless has strong feelings about them (Redlawsk, 2002; Wattenberg, 1987).

23. Self-Perception Theory (Bem, 1972)
Under certain circumstances, people do not know how they feel until they see how they behave
Can form our attitudes based on our observations of our own behavior.

24. Self-Perception Theory (Bem, 1972)
People infer their attitudes from their behavior only under certain conditions:
When initial attitude is weak or ambiguous.
When no other plausible explanation for behavior.
If your friend already has a strong attitude toward exercising, she does not have to observe her behavior to infer how she feels about it.
If your friend believes she exercises to lose weight or because her doctor has ordered her to, she is unlikely to assume that she runs and works out because she enjoys it. (See Chapter 5 for a more detailed description of self-perception theory.)

25. Explicit Versus Implicit Attitudes
Explicit Attitudes
Attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report.
Implicit Attitudes
Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious.
(Bassili & Brown, 2005; Fazio & Olson, 2003; Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Wilson, Lindsey, & Schooler, 2000)

26. People can have both explicit and implicit attitudes toward the same topic. Social psychologists have been especially interested in people’s explicit and implicit attitudes toward members of other races. Source: moodboard/Corbis

27. Explicit Versus Implicit Attitudes
Example
Sam—A white, middle-class college student who genuinely believes that all races are equal and abhors racial bias
This is Sam’s explicit attitude
It is his conscious evaluation of other races
Governs how he chooses to act
E.g., Consistent with his explicit attitude, Sam signed a petition in favor of affirmative action policies
(Devine, 1989a)

28. Explicit Versus Implicit Attitudes
Example
Sam has grown up in a culture in which there are many negative stereotypes about minority groups
Negative ideas have affected him in ways of which he is not fully aware
If, when Sam is around African Americans, some negative feelings are triggered automatically and unintentionally, this would be an example of a negative implicit attitude
( Dovidio, Kawakami, & Gaertner, 2002)

29. Implicit Attitudes Video
Click on the screenshot to watch Dr. Banaji discuss implicit attitudes and a measure used to assess them — the Implicit Attitudes Test.
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30. Explicit Versus Implicit Attitudes
We have explicit and implicit attitudes about many things.
Not just different races!
Example:
Students can believe explicitly that they hate math
At an implicit level, can have a more positive attitude
Measurement
Implicit attitudes test (IAT)
(Hofmann, Gawronski, Gschwendner, Le, & Schmitt, 2005; Nosek, Banaji, & Greenwald, 2002; Rudman, 2004)
A variety of techniques have been developed to measure people’s implicit attitudes, some of which we discussed in Chapter 3. One of the most popular is the Implicit Association Test or IAT (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998; Nosek, Greenwald, & Banaji, 2005), in which people categorize words or pictures on a computer. Rather than going into detail about how this test works, we encourage you to visit a website where you can take the test yourself and read more about how it is constructed (

31. How Do Attitudes Change?
Often due to social influence
This is why social psychologists are interested!
Attitudes are social phenomena.
Attitudes do sometimes change. In America, for example, the popularity of the president often seems to rise and fall with surprising speed. In the weeks before the tragic events of September 11, 2001, for example, only about 50 percent of Americans said that they approved of the job that George W. Bush was doing as president. In the days right after 9/11, his approval rating jumped to 86 percent. After that his approval rating when up and down. Right before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March of 2003 his approval rating had dropped to 57 percent; a month later, it rose to 71 percent (PollingReport.com, 2003). In November of 2005, as the war dragged on, only 37 percent of Americans approved of President Bush’s performance.

32. Sometimes attitudes change dramatically over short periods of time
Sometimes attitudes change dramatically over short periods of time. For example, Americans’ approval rating of President Obama has gone up and down since he assumed the presidency. Source: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

33. Changing Attitudes by Changing Behavior
People experience dissonance:
When their image is threatened.
When they cannot explain behavior with external justifications
Leads to finding internal justification for behavior
Brings your attitude and your behavior closer together
Equals attitude change!
As we noted in Chapter 6, people experience dissonance:
When their image is threatened.
When they cannot explain behavior with external justifications.
Leads to finding internal justification for behavior.
Brings your attitude and your behavior closer together.

34. Changing Attitudes by Changing Behavior
Example
Suppose you don’t want to rub your new father-in-law the wrong way by arguing with him about politics. You might go along with a mildly positive remark about a politician you actually dislike.

35. Changing Attitudes by Changing Behavior
Example
Counterattitudinal advocacy
Process by which people are induced to state publicly an opinion or attitude that runs counter to their own private attitudes
Creates dissonance.
Without sufficient external justification, it results in a change in people’s private attitude

36. Changing Attitudes via Persuasive Communication

37. Persuasive Communication
Communication (e.g., a speech or television ad) advocating a particular side of an issue.
How should you construct a message so that it would really change people’s attitudes?

38. Persuasive Communications and Attitude Change
Yale Attitude Change Approach
The study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages
“Who said what to whom”
Who: the source of the communication
What: the nature of the communication
Whom: the nature of the audience
Drawing on their experiences during World War II, when they worked for the United States armed forces to increase the morale of U.S. soldiers (Stouffer, Suchman, De Vinney, Star, & Williams, 1949), Carl Hovland and his colleagues (Hovland, Janis, & Kelley, 1953) conducted many experiments on the conditions under which people are most likely to be influenced by persuasive communications. In essence, they studied “who says what to whom,” looking at the source of the communication (e.g., how expert or attractive the speaker is), the communication itself (e.g., the quality of the arguments; whether the speaker presents both sides of the issue), and the nature of the audience (e.g., which kinds of appeals work with hostile or friendly audiences).

39. This approach yielded a great deal of useful information on how people change their attitudes in response to persuasive communications. As the research mounted, however, a problem became apparent: Many aspects of persuasive communications turned out to be important, but it was not clear which were more important than others—that is, it was unclear when one factor should be emphasized over another.
For example, let’s return to that job you have with the American Cancer Society. The marketing manager wants to see your ad next month! If you were to read the many Yale Attitude Change studies, you might find lots of useful information about who should say what to whom in order to construct a persuasive communication. However, you might also find yourself saying, “There’s a lot of information here, and I’m not sure where I should place the most emphasis. Should I focus on who delivers the ads? Or should I worry more about the content of the message?”
Figure 7.2 The Yale Attitude Change Approach Researchers at Yale University initiated research on what makes a persuasive communication effective, focusing on “who said what to whom.”

40. The Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion
Elaboration Likelihood Model
An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change
The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986; Petty et al., 2005), for example, specifies when people will be influenced by what the speech says (i.e., the logic of the arguments) and when they will be influenced by more superficial characteristics (e.g., who gives the speech or how long it is).

41. The Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Central route
When people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication
Peripheral route
When people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead swayed by surface characteristics
The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986; Petty et al., 2005), for example, specifies when people will be influenced by what the speech says (i.e., the logic of the arguments) and when they will be influenced by more superficial characteristics (e.g., who gives the speech or how long it is).

42. What determines whether people take the central versus the peripheral route to persuasion? The key is whether people have both the motivation and the ability to pay attention to the facts. If people are truly interested in the topic and thus motivated to pay close attention to the arguments, and if they people have the ability to pay attention—for example, if nothing is distracting them—they are more likely to take the central route.
Figure 7.3 The Elaboration Likelihood Model The elaboration likelihood model describes how people change their attitudes when they hear persuasive communications.

43. The Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion
The Central Route to Persuasion
The case whereby people elaborate on a persuasive communication, listening carefully to and thinking about the arguments, as occurs when people have both the ability and the motivation to listen carefully to a communication.
Under certain conditions, people are motivated to pay attention to the facts in a communication, and so they will be most persuaded when these facts are logically compelling.
Petty and Cacioppo (1986) call this the central route to persuasion.

44. The Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion
Peripheral Route to Persuasion
The case whereby people do not elaborate on the arguments in a persuasive communication but are instead swayed by peripheral cues.
Under other conditions, people are not motivated to pay attention to the facts; instead, they notice only the surface characteristics of the message, such as how long it is and who is delivering it.
Here people will not be swayed by the logic of the arguments because they are not paying close attention to what the communicator says. Instead, they are persuaded if the surface characteristics of the message—such as the fact that it is long or is delivered by an expert or attractive communicator—make it seem like a reasonable one. Petty and Cacioppo call this the peripheral route to persuasion because people are swayed by things peripheral to the message itself.

45. Motivation to Pay Attention to the Arguments
Personal relevance of the topic
How important is the topic to a person’s well-being?
More personally relevant, pay more attention.
Central route
For example, consider the issue of whether Social Security benefits should be reduced. How personally relevant is this to you? If you are a 72-year-old whose sole income is from Social Security, the issue is extremely relevant; if you are a 20-year-old from a well-to-do family, the issue has little personal relevance.

46. Petty, Cacioppo, & Goldman (1981): This figure shows what happened when an issue is highly relevant to the listeners.
This finding illustrates a general rule: When an issue is personally relevant, people pay attention to the arguments in a speech and will be persuaded to the extent that the arguments are sound—the “proof” of the speech, in Aristotle’s words. When an issue is not personally relevant, people pay less attention to the arguments. Instead, they will take a mental shortcut, following such peripheral rules as “Prestigious speakers can be trusted” (Chen & Chaiken, 1999; Fabrigar, Priester, Petty, & Wegener, 1998).
Figure 7.4 Effects of Personal Relevance on Type of Attitude Change The higher the number, the more people agreed with the persuasive communication. Left panel: When the issue was highly relevant, people were swayed by the quality of the arguments more than the expertise of the speaker. This is the central route to persuasion. Right panel: When the issue was low in relevance, people were swayed by the expertise of the speaker more than the quality of the arguments. This is the peripheral route to persuasion. (Based on data in Petty, Cacioppo, & Goldman, 1981)

47. The Motivation to Pay Attention to the Arguments
People high in the need for cognition
Form attitudes through central route
People low in the need for cognition
Rely on peripheral cues
This is a personality variable that reflects the extent to which people engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities.
Need for Cognition
A personality variable reflecting the extent to which people engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities.

48. The Ability to Pay Attention to the Arguments
When people are unable to pay close attention to the arguments, they are swayed more by peripheral cues
Status of communicator
Liking or trusting communicator
Someone with a weak argument can still be persuasive if they distract their audience
An exchange of letters appeared in the an advice column about whether drugs such as cocaine and marijuana should be legalized. Readers wrote in with all sorts of compelling arguments on both sides of the issue, and it was difficult to figure out which arguments had the most merit. One reader resolved this dilemma by relying less on the content of the arguments than on the prestige and expertise of the source of the arguments.

49. How to Achieve Long-Lasting Attitude Change
People who base their attitudes on a careful analysis of the arguments will be:
More likely to maintain this attitude
More likely to behave consistently with this attitude
More resistant to counter-persuasion
(Chaiken, 1980; Mackie, 1987; Petty, Haugtvedt, & Smith, 1995; Petty & Wegener, 1998)
In one study, for example, people changed their attitudes either by analyzing the logic of the arguments or by using peripheral cues. When the participants were telephoned ten days later, those who had analyzed the logic of the arguments were more likely to have maintained their new attitude—that is, attitudes that changed via the central route to persuasion lasted longer (Chaiken, 1980).

50. Emotion and Attitude Change
Now you know exactly how to construct your ad for the American Cancer Society, right? Well, not quite. If you are going to show your antismoking ad on television, for example, how can you be sure people will watch the ad when it comes on, instead of changing the channel or heading for the refrigerator? Before people will consider your carefully constructed arguments, you have to get their attention. One way is to grab people’s attention by playing to their emotions

51. Fear-Arousing Communications
Persuasive messages that attempt to change people’s attitudes by arousing their fears.
Public service ads often take this approach by trying to scare people into practicing safer sex, wearing seat belts, and staying away from drugs.
For example, as of January, 2001, cigarette packs sold in Canada are required to display graphic pictures of diseased gums and other body parts that cover at least 50% of the outside label (Carroll, 2003).

52. As of 2013, FDA rules call for all cigarette packs sold in the United States to display pictures that warn about the dangers of smoking, such as the one shown here. Do you think that this ad would scare people into quitting? Source: UPI/FDA/LANDOV

53. Fear-Arousing Communications
Do fear-arousing communications work?
Moderate amounts of fear work best
Provide information on how to reduce fear
(Petty, 1995; Rogers, 1983)

54. Why? Watching the film scared people, and giving them the pamphlet reassured them that there was a way to reduce this fear—by following the instructions on how to quit. (Leventhal, Watts, & Pagano, 1967)
Seeing only the pamphlet did not work very well because there was little fear motivating people to read it carefully. Seeing only the film did not work very well either because people are likely to tune out a message that raises fear but does not give information about how to reduce it. This may explain why some attempts to frighten people into changing their attitudes and behaviors fail: They succeed in scaring people but do not provide specific recommendations to help them reduce their fear (Hoog, Stroebe, & de Wit, 2005; Ruiter, Abraham, & Kok, 2001).
Figure 7.5 Effects of Fear Appeals on Attitude Change People were shown a scary film about the effects of smoking, instructions about how to stop smoking, or both. Those who were shown both had the biggest reduction in the number of cigarettes the smoked. (Adapted from Leventhal, Watts, & Pagano, 1967)

55. Fear-Arousing Communications
Strong amounts of fear fail if they overwhelm people.
Become defensive
Deny importance of threat
Cannot think rationally about issue
So if you have decided to arouse people’s fear in your ad for the American Cancer Society, keep these points in mind: First, try to create enough fear to motivate people to pay attention to your arguments but not so much fear that people will tune out or distort what you say. Second, include some specific recommendations about how to stop smoking so that people will be reassured that paying close attention to your arguments will help them reduce their fear.

56. Emotions as a Heuristic
Heuristic–Systematic Model of Persuasion
An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change:
Systematically processing the merits of the arguments
Recall from Chapter 3 that heuristics are mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently. In the present context, a heuristic is a simple rule people use to decide what their attitude is without having to spend a lot of time analyzing every little detail about the matter.
Examples of such heuristics include thinking that length equals strength (i.e., long messages are more persuasive than short ones).

57. Emotions as a Heuristic
Heuristic–Systematic Model of Persuasion
An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change:
When using peripheral route
Use mental shortcuts (heuristics)
e.g., “Experts are always right”
Use emotions as heuristic
Recall from Chapter 3 that heuristics are mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently. In the present context, a heuristic is a simple rule people use to decide what their attitude is without having to spend a lot of time analyzing every little detail about the matter.
Examples of such heuristics include thinking that length equals strength (i.e., long messages are more persuasive than short ones).

58. Emotions as a Heuristic
Use emotions and moods as heuristics to determine attitudes
“How do I feel about it?”
If we feel good
must have a positive attitude about object
If we feel bad
thumbs down!
Now this probably sounds like a pretty good rule to follow, and like most heuristics, it is—much of the time.
Suppose you need a new couch and go to a furniture store to look around. You see one in your price range and are trying to decide whether to buy it. If you use the “How do I feel about it?” heuristic, you do a quick check of your feelings and emotions. If you feel great while you’re sitting in the couch in the store, you will probably buy it.
(Clore & Schnall, 2005; Forgas, 1995; Schwarz & Clore, 1988)

59. Emotions as a Heuristic
Problem with the “How do I feel about it?” heuristic
Can make mistakes about what is causing our mood
Misattribute feelings created by one source to another
If so, people might make a bad decision
The problem is that sometimes it is difficult to tell where our feelings come from. Is it really the couch that made you feel great, or is it something completely unrelated? Maybe you were in a good mood to begin with, or maybe on the way to the store you heard your favorite song on the radio. Or perhaps a salesperson greeted you with a big smile and an ice-cold drink when you walked in the door, and that brightened your mood.
Advertisers and retailers want to create good feelings while they present their product (e.g., by playing appealing music or showing pleasant images), hoping that people will attribute at least some of those feelings to the product they are trying to sell.

60. Emotions as a Heuristic
Advertisers and retailers want to create good feelings about product
Pair product with appealing music or showing pleasant images
hope people will attribute feelings to the product
The problem is that sometimes it is difficult to tell where our feelings come from. Is it really the couch that made you feel great, or is it something completely unrelated? Maybe you were in a good mood to begin with, or maybe on the way to the store you heard your favorite song on the radio. Or perhaps a salesperson greeted you with a big smile and an ice-cold drink when you walked in the door, and that brightened your mood.
Advertisers and retailers want to create good feelings while they present their product (e.g., by playing appealing music or showing pleasant images), hoping that people will attribute at least some of those feelings to the product they are trying to sell.

61. Attitude Change and Different Types of Attitudes
Several studies have shown that it is best to “fight fire with fire”:
If an attitude is cognitively based
Try to change it with rational arguments
If it is affectively based
Try to change it with emotional appeals
The success of various attitude change techniques depends on the type of attitude we are trying to change. As we saw earlier, not all attitudes are created equally; some are based more on beliefs about the attitude object (cognitively based attitudes), whereas others are based more on emotions and values (affectively based attitudes).
(Fabrigar & Petty, 1999; Shavitt, 1989; Snyder & DeBono, 1989)

62. Emotion and Different Types of Attitudes
Some ads stress the objective merits of a product
Price, reliability, efficiency
Other ads stress emotions and values
Sex, beauty, youthfulness
Which kind of ad is most effective?

63. Shavitt (1990): Participants looked at different kinds of advertisements. Some were for “utilitarian products,” such as air conditioners and coffee. People’s attitudes toward such products tend to be formed after an appraisal of the utilitarian aspects of the products (e.g., how energy-efficient an air conditioner is) and thus are cognitively based. The other items were “social identity products,” such as perfume and greeting cards. People’s attitudes toward these types of products tend to reflect a concern with how they appear to others and are more affectively based.
Figure 7.6 Effects of Affective and Cognitive Information on Affectively and Cognitively Based Attitudes When people had cognitively based attitudes, cognitively based advertisements that stressed the utilitarian aspects of the products worked best. When people had more affectively based attitudes, affectively based advertisements that stressed values and social identity worked best. The higher the number, the more favorable thoughts people listed about the products after reading the advertisements. (Based on data in Shavitt, 1990)

64. Culture and Different Types of Attitudes
Western cultures
May base attitudes more on individuality and self-improvement
Eastern cultures
May base attitudes more on standing in social group
To test this hypothesis, researchers created different ads for the same product that stressed independence (e.g., an ad for shoes said, “It’s easy when you have the right shoes”) or interdependence (e.g., “The shoes for your family”) and showed them to both Americans and Koreans (Han & Shavitt, 1994). The Americans were persuaded most by the ads stressing independence, and the Koreans were persuaded by the ads stressing interdependence.
The researchers also analyzed actual magazine advertisements in the United States and Korea and found that these ads were in fact different: American ads tended to emphasize individuality, self-improvement, and benefits of the product for the individual consumer, whereas Korean ads tended to emphasize the family, concerns about others, and benefits for one’s social group. In general, then, advertisements work best if they are tailored to the kind of attitude they are trying to change.

65. Figure 7.7 Effects of Confidence in One’s Thoughts on Persuasion People who nodded their heads up and down, compared to those who shook their heads from side to side, had greater con- fidence in their thoughts about the message (e.g., “Wow, this is really convincing” when the arguments were strong, and “Wow, this is really dumb” when the arguments were weak). (Figure adapted from Briñol & Petty, 2003)

66. Resisting Persuasive Messages
Attitude Inoculation
Making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by initially exposing them to small doses of the arguments against their position
By considering “small doses” of arguments against their position, people become immune to later, full-blown attempts to change their attitudes. Having considered the arguments beforehand, people are relatively immune to the effects of the later communication, just as exposing people to a small amount of a virus can inoculate them against exposure to the full-blown viral disease.
In contrast, if people have not thought much about the issue—that is, if they formed their attitude via the peripheral route—they are particularly susceptible to an attack on that attitude using logical appeals.

67. Resisting Persuasive Messages
Be Alert to Product Placement!
Advertisers increasingly place messages about their products shows
Pay the makers of a TV show or movie to incorporate their product into the script
If you were a fan of the NBC television program Chuck, for example, you may have noticed that the characters ate a lot of Subway sandwiches. That is no coincidence, because Subway was a sponsor of the show. In fact, one reason that NBC executives decided to renew the program in 2009 was because the Subway restaurant chain paid to have their products featured in the plots of the show (Carter, 2009). If you have ever watched American Idol, you’ve probably noticed that ever-present Coca-Cola cup in front of each judge. Maybe the revolving groups of judges over the years have all loved Coke, but more likely the Coca-Cola company paid to have their product prominently displayed.

68. Product placement, in which a commercial product is incorporated into the script of a movie or television show, is becoming more common. Source: © Screen Gems/courtesy Everett Collection

69. Resisting Persuasive Messages
Being Alert to Product Placement
When people are forewarned, they analyze what they see and hear more carefully and as a result are likely to avoid attitude change.
Without such warnings, people pay little attention to the persuasive attempts and tend to accept them at face value.
(Sagarin, Cialdini, Rice, & Serna, 2002; Wood & Quinn, 2003)

70. Resisting Persuasive Messages
Being Alert to Product Placement
So before kids watch TV or sending them off to the movies, it is good to remind them that they are likely to encounter several attempts to change their attitudes.
(Sagarin, Cialdini, Rice, & Serna, 2002; Wood & Quinn, 2003)

71. Resisting Persuasive Messages
Resisting Peer Pressure
Peer pressure in adolescence
Operates on values and emotions
Liking and acceptance by peer group
Not based in logical arguments
To make adolescents resistant to attitude change attempts via peer pressure
Attitude inoculation that focuses on inoculating against emotional appeals
One study found that the best predictor of whether an adolescent smokes marijuana is whether he or she has a friend who does so (Allen, Donohue, & Griffin, 2003; Yamaguchi & Kandel, 1984).
Consider Jake, a 13-year-old who is hanging out with some classmates, many of whom are smoking cigarettes. The classmates begin to tease Jake about not smoking, calling him a wimp. One of them even lights a cigarette and holds it in front of Jake, daring him to take a puff. Many 13-year-olds, facing such pressure, would cave in. But suppose that we immunized Jake to such social pressures by exposing him to mild versions of them and showing him ways to combat these pressures. We might have him role-play a situation where a friend calls him a chicken for not smoking a cigarette and teach him to respond by saying, “I’d be more of a chicken if I smoked it just to impress you.” Would this help him resist the more powerful pressures exerted by his classmates?
Several programs designed to prevent smoking in adolescents suggest that it would. In one, psychologists used a role-playing technique with seventh graders, very much like the one we described (McAlister, Perry, Killen, Slinkard, & Maccoby, 1980). The researchers found that these students were significantly less likely to smoke three years after the study, compared to a control group that had not participated in the program. This result is encouraging and has been replicated in similar programs designed to reduce smoking (Chassin, Presson, & Sherman, 1990; Falck & Craig, 1988; Killen, 1985).

72. When Persuasion Attempts Boomerang: Reactance Theory
The idea that when people feel their freedom to perform a certain behavior is threatened, an unpleasant state of reactance is aroused, which they can reduce by performing the threatened behavior.
In one study, for example, researchers placed one of two signs in the bathrooms on a college campus, in an attempt to get people to stop writing graffiti on the restroom walls (Pennebaker & Sanders, 1976). One sign read, “Do not write on these walls under any circumstances.” The other gave a milder prohibition: “Please don’t write on these walls.” The researchers returned two weeks later and observed how much graffiti had been written since they posted the signs. As they predicted, significantly more people wrote graffiti in the bathrooms with the “Do not write …” sign than with the “Please don’t write …” sign. Similarly, people who receive strong admonitions against smoking, taking drugs, or getting their nose pierced become more likely to perform these behaviors in order to restore their sense of personal freedom and choice (Bushman & Stack, 1996; Dowd et al., 1988).

73. A number of interventions designed to prevent smoking in adolescents have had some success. Many celebrities have lent their names and pictures to the effort, such as actor Jackie Chan, who was the spokesperson for an anti-smoking campaign in Taiwan. Source: REUTERS/Kenny Wu

74. Predicting Spontaneous Behaviors
Attitudes will predict spontaneous behaviors only when they are highly accessible to people.
(Fazio, 1990, 2000; Fazio & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005; Kallgren & Wood, 1986).
When accessibility is high, your attitude comes to mind whenever you see or think about the attitude object. When accessibility is low, your attitude comes to mind more slowly.
It follows that highly accessible attitudes will be more likely to predict spontaneous behaviors because people are more likely to be thinking about their attitude when they are called on to act.
Attitude Accessibility
The strength of the association between an attitude object and a person’s evaluation of that object, measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about the object.

75. Predicting Deliberative Behaviors
Theory of Planned Behavior
The idea that the best predictors of a person’s planned, deliberate behaviors are the person’s attitudes toward specific behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.
In many circumstances, behavior is not spontaneous but deliberative and planned. Most of us think seriously about where to go to college, whether to accept a new job, or where to spend our vacation. Under these conditions, the accessibility of our attitude is less important. Given enough time to think about an issue, even people with inaccessible attitudes can bring to mind how they feel. It is only when we have to decide how to act on the spot, without time to think it over, that accessibility matters (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Fazio, 1990).

76. Predicting Deliberative Behaviors
Specific behavior
Only specific attitudes can be expected to predict that behavior
Subjective norms
We also need to measure people’s subjective norms (their beliefs about how people they care about) will view the behavior in question.
 In one study, researchers asked a sample of married women for their attitudes toward birth control pills, ranging from the general (their attitude toward birth control) to the specific (their attitude toward using birth control pills during the next two years; see Table 7.1). Two years later, they asked the women whether they had used birth control pills at any time since the last interview. As Table 7.1 shows, the women’s general attitude toward birth control did not predict their use of birth control at all. This general attitude did not take into account other factors that could have influenced their decision, such as concern about the long-term effects of the pill and their attitude toward other forms of birth control. The more specific the question was about the act of using birth control pills, the better this attitude predicted their actual behavior (Davidson & Jaccard, 1979).

77. Predicting Deliberative Behaviors
Perceived behavioral control
Intentions are influenced by the ease with which they believe they can perform the behavior.
 In one study, researchers asked a sample of married women for their attitudes toward birth control pills, ranging from the general (their attitude toward birth control) to the specific (their attitude toward using birth control pills during the next two years; see Table 7.1). Two years later, they asked the women whether they had used birth control pills at any time since the last interview. As Table 7.1 shows, the women’s general attitude toward birth control did not predict their use of birth control at all. This general attitude did not take into account other factors that could have influenced their decision, such as concern about the long-term effects of the pill and their attitude toward other forms of birth control. The more specific the question was about the act of using birth control pills, the better this attitude predicted their actual behavior (Davidson & Jaccard, 1979).

78. Considerable research supports the idea that asking people about these determinants of their intentions—attitudes toward specific behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control—increases the ability to predict their planned, deliberative behaviors, such deciding what job to accept, whether to wear a seat belt, whether to check oneself for disease, and whether to use condoms when having sex (Albarracin, Johnson, Fishbein, & Muellerleile, 2001; Armitage & Conner, 2001; Cooke & Sheeran, 2004; Trafimow & Finlay, 1996).
Figure 7.8 The Theory of Planned Behavior According to this theory, the best predictors of people’s planned, deliberative behaviors are their behavioral intentions. The best predictors of their intentions are their attitudes toward the specific behavior, their subjective norms, and their perceived behavioral control of the behavior. (Adapted from Ajzen, 1985)

79. The Power of Advertising
People more influenced by advertising than they think.
Particularly for new products
Effective ads worked quickly, increasing sales substantially within the first six months they were shown.
(Abraham & Lodish, 1990; Liebert & Sprafkin, 1988; Ryan, 1991; Wells, 1997; Wilson, Houston, & Meyers, 1998)
The best evidence that advertising works comes from studies using what are called split cable market tests. Advertisers work in conjunction with cable television companies and grocery stores, showing a target commercial to a randomly selected group of people. They keep track of what people buy by giving potential consumers special ID cards that are scanned at checkout counters; thus they can tell whether people who saw the commercial for ScrubaDub laundry detergent actually buy more ScrubaDub—the best measure of advertising effectiveness.
(Lodish et al., 1995)

80. This ad is one of the most famous in the history of advertising
This ad is one of the most famous in the history of advertising. Although today it is easy to see how sexist and offensive it is, when it appeared in the 1930s it succeeded in making a problem (bad breath) personally relevant by playing on people’s fearsand insecurities about personal relationships. Can you think of contemporary ads that try to raise similar fears? Source: Advertising Archives

81. The Power of Advertising
There is no evidence that the types of subliminal messages encountered in everyday life have any influence on people’s behavior.
Hidden commands do not cause us to line up and buy popcorn any more than we normally do, and the subliminal commands on self-help tapes do not (unfortunately!) help us quit smoking or lose weight (Brannon & Brock, 1994; Merikle, 1988; Moore, 1992; Pratkanis, 1992; Theus, 1994; Trappey, 1996).
Subliminal Messages
Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may nevertheless influence people’s judgments, attitudes, and behavior.

82. There is no scientific evidence that implanting sexual images in advertising boosts sales of a product. In fact, subliminal advertising is rarely used and is outlawed in many countries. The public is very aware of the subliminal technique, however—so much so that advertisers sometimes poke fun at subliminal messages in their ads. Source: Reprinted with permission of 4A’s

83. Advertising, Cultural Stereotypes, and Social Behavior
Advertisements transmit cultural stereotypes in their words and images, subtly linking products with desired images.
Advertisements can also reinforce and perpetuate stereotypical ways of thinking about social groups.

84. Gender Stereotypes in Advertising Imagery
Gender stereotypes are particularly pervasive in advertising imagery.
Men are depicted as doers, women as observers.
As seen in this figure, one review found that women were more likely to be portrayed in dependent roles (that is, not in a position of power but dependent on someone else) than men in every country that was examined (Furnham & Mak, 1999).

85. As seen in this figure, one review found that women were more likely to be portrayed in dependent roles (that is, not in a position of power but dependent on someone else) than men in every country that was examined (Furnham & Mak, 1999).
Figure 7.9 Portrayals of Women and Men in Television Advertising The ways in which women and men are portrayed in television commercials have been examined throughout the world. In every country, women were more likely to be portrayed in powerless, dependent roles than men were. (Based on data in Furnham & Mak, 1999)

86. Summary and Review Origins of Attitudes Attitude Change
Attitudes and Behavior
Subliminal Messages
To recap, this chapter focused on a number of topics related to attitudes and attitude change. First, the origins of attitudes were discussed and implicit attitudes were distinguished from explicit attitudes. Second, theories that address how to best change attitudes change were described. Third, the correspondence between attitudes and behavior was considered.