Chapter 6: Attitudes and Persuasion

case that brought the link between attitudes and behavior to the attention of social psychologists

LaPiere -time of a lot of prejudice against Chinese -only refused service once during travels around US for 2 years -self report didn't match behavior

limitations of implict association test

"control words" seem to have an impact on the relative evaluation of the target words

implicit association test

(Greenwald, McGhee and Schwartz) -measures the strengths of associations bw concepts; between an attitude object and its valence -2 categories are used: target category (one the researcher is interested in) and control category (not related to target category) -needs positive and negative valence words comparable in strength -purpose: how strongly people associate the target category with positive and negative valences words relative to the control category

forewarning

-advanced knowledge that one is about to become the target of an attempt at persuasion -influenced several dog processes that play a role in persuasion 1. provides you with opportunity to form counter arguments which decreases message impact 2. more time to recall relevant info and facts useful in recruiting argument

theory of planned behavior is influenced by (3)

-attitude toward the behavior in question -person;s belief about how others will eval his/her attitude/behavior (other people's approval increases intentions) -person's perceived behavioral control (extent to which a person views behavior as difficult or easy to accomplish (difficulty decreases intention)

what attitudes are more heritable than others

-attitudes revolving around gut-level preferences are more strongly influenced by genetic influences (i.e. certain kind of music) -atitudes that are highly heritable may be more difficult to change and may exert stronger effects on behavior

studies in attitudes in identical and non-identical twins

-comparisons are made within each group -identical are more similar even though raised apart

flaws in LaPiere study from an empirical standpoint

-given self report survey months later- attitudes could have changed -those who actually completed the survey might not have been the same people who interacted with the couple -maybe they were served bc they were with LaPiere

where do attitudes come from

-most people and social psychs accept the view that attitudes are learned usually from a young age

reactance

-negative reaction to threats to on'e personal freedom -negative attitude change

how does attitude function affect persuasive messages

-person engages in greater scrutiny of message context (have greater connection w it) -will be more effective/convincing

preference for situations that allow us to express our attitudes in our behavior

-preference for situations where what we say and do coincide -we desire to engage in behavior consistent with our attitudes -usually results in attitudes becoming stronger

facts that prevent us from expressing our attiudes

-situational constraints -preference for situations that allow us to express attitudes in behavior

elements of efforts of persuasion

-some source directs some type of message (the communication) to some person or group (audience) -"who says what to whom with what effect"

attitudes strength

-stronger the attitude, stronger the impact on behavior -2 major components that increase impact: 1. attitude importance 2. vest interest

why are attitudes so hard to change

-strongly influence our social thought -when defined as such evaluations of the world around us, attitudes may represent a very basic aspect of all forms of thought -attitudes strongly affect behavior so knowing something about them can help us predict people's behavior in a wide range of contexts (essential to our relations w other people)

when do we engage in systematic processing

-when our capacity to process info is high (i.e. when we have a lot of knowledge about a subject and have time to engage in such thought) -when we are motivated to do so (i.e. when issue is important to us) -when we believe it is important to form an accurate view

when do we engage in heuristic processing

-when we lack the ability or capacity to process carefully (i.e. when we must make up our minds quickly or when we have little knowledge about the issue) -when our motivation to perform such cognitive work is low (i.e. when issue is unimportant to us and/or when it has little potential effect on us)

factos that play a role in our ability to resist even highly skilled efforts at persuasion (4)

1. reactance 2. forewarning 3. selective attention 4. biased assimilate and attitude polarization

2 distinct ways we process persuasive messages

1. systematic processing/central route 2. heuristic processing/peripheral route

implict association test procedure

5 blocks in which participants have to react as quickly as possible to words that appear on a computer screen by pushing 2 buttons that refer to a certain category -words to be categorized= target words, control and positive and negative -more easily they associate a target word with a positive word, the more positive the association

systematic processing

=processing of info in a persuasive message that involves careful consideration of message content and ideas -quite effortful and absorbs much of our info processing capacity -also scrutinizing the info

classical conditioning

a basic form of learning in which one stimulus, initially neutral, acquires the capacity to evoke reactions through repeated pairing with another stimulus -one stimulus becomes a signal for the presentation or occurrence of the other -in your face

theory of planned behavior

a theory of how attitudes guide behavior suggesting that individuals consider the implications of their actions before deciding to perform various behaviors AKA theory of reasoned action -done when time is available for deliberate thought on our attitudes and their implications for our behavior -suggests that the decision to engage in a particular behavior is a result of a rational process that is goal oriented and follows a logical sequence

social learning

acquiring attitudes from others -process through which we acquire new info, forms of behavior or attitudes from other people -many of our views are acquired when we interact with others or merely observe their behavior

we are most likely to be influenced by ________ if we find the message important/ interesting

argument -systematic

central route

attitude change resulting from systematic processing of information presented in persuasive messages

peripheral route

attitude change that occurs in response to persuasion cues=info concerning the expertise or status of would be persuaders

attitude function

attitudes can and often do serve several different functions for the persons who hold them -may be a boost for self esteem -outlet for self expression

attitude origins

attitudes formed on the basis of experience often exert stronger effect on behavior "been there done that"

observational learning

basic form of learning in which indiv acquire new forms of behavior or thought through observing others

operant/instrumental conditioning

basic form of learning in which responses that lead to positive outcomes or that permit avoidance of negative outcomes are strengthened

why are attitudes a central topic in social psych

bc its our eval of any aspect of the social world -incorporated to the extent to which we favorably or unfavorably react to issues, ideas, persons, groups or objects

negative attitude change

changing behavior in opposite to way being urged on you

subliminal conditioning

classical conditioning that occurs through exposure to stimuli that are below indiv's threshold of conscious awareness -advertising

processing through which social learning occurs

classical conditioning, subliminal conditioning, operant/instrumental conditioning, observational learning

best single predictor of behavior

intentions -can be influence by others or how difficult/easy the task is

early approach to persuasion didn't...

didn't offer comprehensive account of how persuasion occurs (how its absorbed, interpreted and evaluated)

persuasion

efforts to change others' attitudes through use of various kinds of messages

attitude importance

extent to which an indiv cares about the atttiude

vested interest

extent to which attitude is personally relevant to the indiv that holds it

attitude specificity

extent to which attitudes are focused on specific objets/situations rather than general ones -LaPiere study: can have general attitude on Asians but that couple was different/may they seemed more Americanized

moderators

factors that influence the extent to which attitudes effect behavior

question that arised as a result of the gap between attitudes and behavior

has time been wasted on studying attitudes

when the relevance of a message is low, indiv tend to process messages through ______ mode, thus argument strength...

heuristic; argument strength is low -persuasion that was produced wasn't influenced by the strength of the argument (person still persuaded though because there was model or expert)

which model is preferred by advertisers, politicians, salespeople, and others wishing to change our attitudes

heuristics

how do we view sources that provide evidence contrary to our attitudes

highly suspect (seen as bias and unreliable)

focus of current persuasion research- cognitive approach

how do we process (absorb, interpret and evaluate) the info contained in persuasive messages

attitude formation

how we come to hold the views we do

how do we view info that supports our attitudes

more convincing and accurate than info that refutes our ideas

genetic factors in attitude formation?

minimal, not a lot of empirical info to support it

attitude to behavior process model

model of how attitudes guide behavior that emphasizes the influence of both attitudes and stored knowledge of what is appropriate in a given situation or an indiv's definition of a present situation -influences overt behavior -for situations when we must act quickly

situational constraints

moderate the interaction bw behavior and attitudes -prevent attitudes from being expressed in overt behavior -dont want to appear rude/start a fight

has time been wasted on studying attitudes

no

we are most likely to be influenced by ________ if we find the message unimportant/ uninteresting

nonverbal cues/styles -heuristic

aspects of attitudes (3)

origin strength specificity

once formed, attitudes tend to

persist, especially if they are strongly accepted and closely related to interests or outcomes of the persons who hold them

when the relevance of the message is high...

persuasion is more likely if argument is strong and convincing -systematic

implict association effect

positivity of an attitude =difference bw the reaction times in comparing target or negative words vs control or positive words OR target or positive vs control or negative -more easy and faster the reaction times w target or positive vs control or negative

heuristic processing

processing of info in a persuasive message that involves the use of simple tules of thumbs or mental shortcuts -ppl believe experts are always to be trusted -when ppl believe something that makes you feel good is something you should be in favor of -much less effortful and allows us to react in an auto manner in a time constraint (i.e. buying a time share) -occurs in response to cues in themessage or situation that evoke various mental shortcuts (i.e. beautiful model speaking- what is beautiful is good and worth listening to)

once formed attitudes operate as

schemas (cognitive frameworks) -strongly color our perceptions and thoughts about the issues, persons, objects or groups to which they refer

process of attitude to behavior process model

some event activates an attitudes which then influences our perceptions of the attitude object -at the same time our knowledge about what's appropriate in a given context is also activated -together, the attitude or expected shape our definition of the event which then influences our behavior ie: person begging for money approaches you which triggers attitude about beggars and also how you're supposed to act in public -together these will influence your definition/perception of the event which then shapes our behavior

initial step in info processing

tendency to categorize stim as positive or negative

selective avoidance

tendency to direct attention away from information that challenges existing attitudes(i.e. using laptop inappropriately in class)

when people are distracted...

the capacity to process info in persuasive message is limited so people adopt heuristic mode -if message contains right cues, ppl will be distracted from argument

social comparison

the process through which we compare ourselves to others in order to determine whether our view of social reality is or isn't correct -as a result we often change our attitudes so as to hold views close to those of others to the extent that our views agrees with those others; we conclude our ideas/attitudes are right bc others have the same ones

biased assimilation

the tendency to evaluate information that disconfirms our existing views as less convincing or reliable than info that confirms these views -easy when content is shallow

attitude polarization

the tendency to evaluate mixed evidence or info in such a way that it strengthens our initial views and makes them more extreme -easy when content is shallow

social thought

the ways in which we think about and process many kinds of social information

true or false: a small but growing body of evidence indicates that genetic factors may actually play some role, although a small one, in attitudes

true

true or false: sizable gaps between attitudes and behavior exist

true -have attitudes then act in a different way

how does social comparison contribute to our formation of new attitudes

usually a result of hearing others we know, like and respect express the view (ie: never tried a product but person you like in ad leads to you loving it) (discrimination bc the person they like holds that view)

attitudes

views, perspectives -evaluations of various aspects of the social world

the key question in the study of attitudes influence on behavior

when and how do they exert such effects

systematic vs heuristic distinction helps to explain

why people are more easily persuaded when they are somewhat distracted (in a sense, asked to do 2 things at once)