LECTURE 5 Attitudes and Behaviour

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LECTURE 5Attitudes and Behaviour

• Administration
• What are attitudes?
• Origin of attitudes
• How do we measure attitudes?
• Explicit versus implicit measures
• IAT how did you do?
• IAT video
• Break
• The attitude-behaviour link
• Do attitudes determine behaviour?
• Does behaviour determine attitudes?
• 7) Next Class

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Attitudes

• Definition
• An evaluation of a person, object, or idea

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Attitudes Towards(Likert Scale)

• Ice-cream
• Very Very
• negative positive
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• Asians
• Very Very
• negative positive 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
  
• Nudity on TV
• Very Very
• negative positive
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Attitudes towards(Likert Scale)

• It is essential that all citizens exercise their
  right to vote if government is to effectively
  reflect the will of the people.
• Strongly Strongly
• Disagree Agree
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• Homelessness in Canada is a serious social
  problem that needs attention.
• Strongly Strongly
• Disagree Agree
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• I believe that a family with a mother and father
  is the best.
• Strongly Strongly
• Disagree Agree
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Where do attitudes come from?

• (C) Cognitively Based Attitudes
• Based primarily on a persons beliefs about the
  properties of an attitude object.
• I like this vacuum cleaner because this one
  picks up more dirt
• (A) Affectively Based Attitudes
• Based primarily on peoples feelings and values
  pertaining to the attitude object
• Can be a sensory reaction (chocolate),
  conditioned (love warm comforters on rainy days),
  or value-based (anti-abortion)
• (B) Behaviourally Based Attitudes
• Based on an observation of how one behaves
  toward an attitude object
• I recycled, so I must have a positive attitude
  toward environmental issues
• Sometimes we might be ambivalent toward certain
  objects because of these different determinants
  (cigarettes).
• ABCs of attitudes

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How do we measure attitudes?

• Explicit vs. Implicit Why Important?
• Explicit Measures
• Likert Scales (already shown)
• Evaluation Thermometer
• Semantic Differential Scale
• Modern Prejudice

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Attitudes Towards(Likert Scale)

• Gay men
• Very Very
• negative positive
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Evaluation Thermometer
Gay Men Very favorable 100 50 0 Very
unfavorable
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Semantic Differential Scale
Gay Men Bad ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Good Worthless ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Valuable Unpleasant ____ ____ ____ ____
____ Pleasant Boring ____ ____ ____ ____
____ Interesting Unfavorable ____ ____ ____
____ ____ Favorable Harmful ____ ____
____ ____ ____ Beneficial
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Modern Prejudice Scale
strongly
strongly disagree

agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Gay men are
getting too demanding in their push for equal
rights. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. Prejudice against
gay men is still a problem. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3.
The government should not help make any special
effort to help gay men because they should
help themselves. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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How do we measure attitudes?

• Implicit Measures
• Bogus Pipelines
• Reaction Time Measures - IAT
• Physiological Measures EEG and fMRI (brain
  activity), ECG (heart rate)

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Bogus Pipeline StudiesPage Sigall (1971)

• A bogus pipeline fools people into disclosing
  their attitudes by convincing them that a machine
  can be used to gauge their private attitudes.
• Participants hold a wheel that measures whether
  they agree with a statement or not. Electrodes
  are attached to their arm and the fake machine
  supposedly gauges their tendency to turn the
  wheel to the left (disagree) or to the right
  (agree). This attitude machine was demonstrated
  by showing participants how it worked on an
  attitude that they had expressed earlier.
• Once convinced that the machine worked,
  participants were asked about their racial
  attitudes. Compared to control conditions, who
  were not on the machine, these participants
  reported more negative attitudes toward Blacks.

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But is it possible that we are not even aware of
our implicit attitudes?

• The Implicit Association Task and studies using
  physiological measure suggests that this may in
  some instances be the case.
• Did you test your Hidden Biases/Attitudes with
  the IAT?
• Which IAT did you do?
• What were the results?

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IAT BIAS
Your results suggest Strong automatic
preference for Moderate automatic preference
for Slight automatic preference for Little
or no automatic preference Slight automatic
preference for Moderate automatic preference
for Strong automatic preference for
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BLACK/WHITE IAT
unpleasant or BLACKS
pleasant or WHITES
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BLACK/WHITE IAT
unpleasant or BLACKS
pleasant or WHITES
love
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BLACK/WHITE IAT
unpleasant or WHITES
pleasant or BLACKS
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BLACK/WHITE IAT
unpleasant or WHITES
pleasant or BLACKS
war
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BLACK/WHITE IAT
Your results suggest Strong automatic
preference for Whites Moderate automatic
preference for Whites Slight automatic
preference for Whites Little or no automatic
preference Slight automatic preference for
Blacks Moderate automatic preference for
Blacks Strong automatic preference for Blacks
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BLACK/WHITE IAT
Percentage of Total Respondents on IAT
website Blacks/Whites IAT Preference for
Whites 70 Little or no preference
17 Preference for Blacks 12
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Implicit Association Test (IAT)Greenwald,
McGhee, Schwartz (1998)
Explicit vs. Implicit Measures of Bias IAT and
Semantic Differential Scale Blacks (/Whites) Bad
____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Good Worthless ____ ____ ____ ____
____ Valuable Unpleasant ____ ____ ____
____ ____ Pleasant Video Dateline on
IAT http//www.youtube.com/watch?vn5Q5FQfXZag
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Implicit Association Test (IAT)Greenwald,
McGhee, Schwartz (1998)
Positive Ingroup Evaluations Blacks vs. Whites
Video A girl like me http//www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v17fEy0q6yqc
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But can the IAT predict behaviour? If so, what
type of behaviour? Explicit
Implicit Behaviour Behaviour explicit
attitudes predict Yes No implicit
attitudes predict No Yes
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The Attitude-Behaviour Link

• Do attitudes determine behaviour?
• What are the conditions under which attitudes
  predict behaviour?

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Attitudes can predict behaviour when

• we minimize social influence on attitudes
• Reduce social desirable responding (bogus
  pipeline, implicit measures)
• we match the level of specificity of attitudes
  and behaviours
• General attitudes predict behaviours in general
• Specific attitudes predict specific behaviours
• The theory of planned behaviour
• attitudes are strong

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General attitudes predict behaviours in general

• A general attitudes toward an object or a concept
  may not predict any specific behavior but if we
  average behaviours over many occasions, attitudes
  can predict behaviour.
• Principle of aggregation
• A persons religious attitude may not predict
  whether they go to church next weekend but it
  will predict the total number of a wide array of
  religious behaviours over time.

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Specific attitudes predict specific behaviours.

• A general attitude will often not predict a
  specific behavior.
• But when attitude measures are directly pertinent
  to the situation they will predict behavior in
  that situation.

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Theory of Planned Behavior
Ajzen Fishbein, 1985
Specific Attitude
Behaviour
Intentions
(Subjective) Norms
Behavioral Control
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Theory of Planned Behavior

• Problems with this theory
• It is very rationale and deliberative.
• Intentions are not great predictors of behaviour.
• Attitudes sometimes have a direct relationship to
  spontaneous, unintentional behaviour.
• It also can not explain habits which are very
  unthoughtful actions.
• This theory also does not take into account our
  implicit attitudes and how our behavior can also
  be influenced by these evaluations that are often
  quite different than our explicit attitudes.

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Strong attitudes predict behaviours(not all
attitudes are equal)

• People with a strong attitude
• Often have acquired more information about the
  attitude object
• Often are personally involved with the attitude
  object. It is important to them.
• Often have had direct experience with an attitude
  object.
• Strong attitudes are important because they are
  more accessible. More accessible attitudes direct
  behaviour.
• (e.g., I think we must protect the environment.)

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The Attitude-Behaviour Link

• Do attitudes determine behaviour?
• Sometimes.
• Does behaviour determine attitudes?
• Sometimes.
• When and why?

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Why and when do behaviourschange attitudes?

• e.g., Donating money to foreign aid.
• Self-Presentation (not actual attitude change)
• Self-Justification - Cognitive Dissonance
• Self-Perception

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Self-Presentation

• To appear consistent (and avoid appearing
  foolish), we express attitudes that match our
  actions
• Assumes conscious awareness of the discrepancy
  between the real attitude and the presented
  attitude
• Not genuine attitude change
• (e.g., If I donate money to a relief charity, I
  may state that I am more positive toward this
  charity if I am with women who saw me give money
  than if I was with a different group of women who
  did not witness my initial donation.)

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Self-Justification Cognitive Dissonance

• Real change that occurs within the self.
• Tension arises when we are aware of
  inconsistencies in the self
• You realize that your behaviour doesnt match
  your attitude
• To reduce that tension we often change our
  attitudes to fit the behaviour
• (e.g., I would state that I am more positive
  toward this charity even if I was with a
  different group of women who did not witness my
  initial donation or if no one was around.)

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Self-Justification Cognitive Dissonance

• When?
• Insufficient Justification
• Postdecisional Dissonance

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Self-Justification Cognitive Dissonance

• 1) Insufficient Justification
• We change our attitudes to be more consistent
  with our behaviours if we act in a certain way
  that is not consistent with our attitudes and we
  have no strong justification for acting in this
  way. If we do have a reasonable justification, we
  will not change our attitudes.

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Self-Justification Cognitive Dissonance

• Classic Study Festinger Carlsmith (1959)

How much I enjoyed the experiment (-5 to 5)
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Self-Justification Cognitive Dissonance

• 2) Postdecisional Dissonance
• People often reduce dissonance that is aroused
  after making a decision by
• increasing their liking for the chosen item and
• - decreasing their liking for the rejected item.

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Post-decision DissonanceSchultz, Leveille,
Lepper (1999)

• Ask 13 year olds to rate the attractiveness of
  various posters.
• Some children were allowed to choose between 2
  posters they rated very positively. After
  choosing, they rated the poster they rejected
  more negatively than they had previously.
• - Rejecting a positive objects produces
  dissonance. So you need to change your attitude
  toward positive object that you reject.
• Other children were allowed to choose between 2
  posters they rated very negatively. After
  choosing, they rated the poster they chose more
  positively than they had previously.
• - Choosing a negative object produces dissonance.
  So you need to change your attitude toward
  negative object that chose. This effect was
  largest.

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Arousal and Cognitive Dissonance

• Dissonance and the pill (Cooper Zanna, 1974)
• Procedure
• Subjects were asked to write a counter-attitudinal
  essay
• banning all speakers on campus
• Either an illusion of high choice or low choice
• Given a pill told will be arousing, have no
  effect, or be relaxing (really a placebo)
• Examine attitude change

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Dissonance and the Pill

• Dissonance and the pill (Cooper Zanna, 1974)

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Self-Perception Theory

• When unsure of our attitudes, we infer them by
  observing our behaviour.
• Examples, listening to country music channel (no
  one forcing me)
• Social Embodiment
• Overjustification Effect

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Social Embodiment

• Recent theorizing on embodiment suggest there is
  a close relationship between bodily feedback and
  higher cognitions. They assuming that actions and
  body movements can directly influence our
  thoughts and attitudes.
• For example, if we are evaluating cartoons when
  we holding a pen with a mouth that grins rather
  than a circular mouth, we will find the cartoons
  funnier.
• Likewise, if we are evaluating Chinese ideographs
  when we are pulling up on a table (upward flex)
  compared to when we are pushing down on a table
  (downward extend), we will like the object more.
• The feedback from our body influences our
  attitudes.

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Overjustification effect

• The result of paying people to do what they
  already like doing, may make the task less
  intrinsically motivated and less likely to occur.
• This effect occurs when someone offers an
  unnecessary reward beforehand in an effort to
  control behaviour.

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Overjustification effectDeci (1971)

• Procedure
• Monitored participants who are initially
• allowed to play with puzzles.
• - ½ subjects paid to solve puzzles
• ½ not paid
• Next removed all rewards for the paid group.
• Monitored who continued to work on the puzzle

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Overjustification effectDeci (1971)

Amount of Time played with puzzles
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• Overjustification Effect
• (Self-Perception Theory)
• Getting paid for something you want to do.
  Getting paid for doing puzzles when you like
  solving puzzles. No dissonance here I like
  solving puzzles and I am solving puzzles. My
  attitude and my behaviour are consistent.
• However, self-perceptions may lead people to
  believe that by receiving an unnecessary reward
  for the behaviour they may not really like the
  task so much - - that they are just doing it for
  the money. They believe that the reason they are
  behaving like they are is because of extrinsic
  rather than intrinsic motivations.

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• Underjustification Effect
• (Cognitive Dissonance Theory)
• Getting paid for something you dont want to do.
  Getting paid to tell someone that a task is fun
  when your real attitude is that it is a boring
  task. Dissonance is that your behaviour and your
  attitudes are not consistent.
• Why am I telling this person it is a fun task
  when it is really boring it cant be because of
  the money (1), it wasnt enough to make me act
  that way, I must really like the task.

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Next Class

• Class 6 Persuasion