Chapter 7 Attitudes and Attitude Change: Influencing Thoughts and Feelings

Cognitively Based Attitudes

1. Cognitively Based Attitudes • An attitude based on people's beliefs about the properties of an attitude object ex: car how many miles per gallon? what is their safety features? we discover the + or - of object in order to determine if we want anything to do with it. ex: vacuum cleaner brands, cost, clean well dirt?,

• what are the cultural differences in the kinds of attitudes people hold about the same consumer product?

Advertising and Culture • In addition to trying to change attitudes towards consumer products via advertising, the media shapes and reflects cultural attitudes in less direct ways. The attitudes we form toward women and men, members of different races, people of different ages are all related to the manner in which members of these groups are portrayed in advertising, television shows, movies, and the internet. ex: Western cultures tend to stress independence and individualism, many Asian cultures stress interdependence and collectivism. ****it is the way how ads affect our attitudes**** ex: different print ads for the same product: shoes Americans: the right shoe (independent) Asian cultures: the right shoes for family (interdependence) ****American ads emphasize individuality, self-improvement, and benefits of the product for the individual consumer Korean ads tended to emphasize the family, concerns about others, and benefits for one's social group.

Affectively Based Attitudes

An attitude based more on people's feelings and values than on their beliefs about the nature of an attitude object (objective appraisal of pluses and minuses) can be thing or person ex: I still want a jeep, despite the safety concerns & the gas mileage. I mainly want it b/c the car attracts me. ---I like the boy in Spanish class despite his bad influences. values: abortion, the death penalty, and premarital sex I like it based on taste, color based on sensory • In classical conditioning, a stimulus elicits emotional response is accompanied by a neutral, non-emotional stimulus, and eventually, the neutral stimulus elicits the emotional response by itself. ex: I experienced love and warmth that when i visit my grandma house her house smelled like lavender. if I come across the lavender smell it will trigger emotions • In operant conditioning, behaviors we freely choose to perform become more or less frequent, depending on if followed by a reward (positive reinforcement) or punishment. ex: I am 4 yr old playing in the playground with a black kid, dad tells me not to play with that kind of child. Later, I will disapprove (dislike) blacks and adopt my father racist attitudes. behavior toward attitude, punish bc dad disproves, negative attitudes toward the object.

Behaviorally Based Attitudes

An attitude based on observations of how one behaves toward an object Daryl Bem's (1972) self-perception theory, under certain circumstances people don't know how they feel until they see how they behave. ex: do you like the gym? I guess I like it because I find myself going to the gym. (people rely only on attitude when there is no current explanation) it does not count for those: -that already know they like/ dislike the gym -and for those that are obligated to go to the gym b/c of doctor

• What are some examples of using emotions to change attitudes?

Emotion and Different Types of Attitudes • The success of attitude-change techniques also depends on the type of attitude to be changed. not all attitudes are created equally; some based more on beliefs about the attitude object (cognitive base attitudes) other based on emotions and values like (affective based attitudes) Studies have shown that it is best to fight fire with fire: 1. If an attitude is cognitively based, try to change it with rational arguments; 2. if it is affectively based, try emotional appeals.

• What is the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion?

The Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion • The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion 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).

• What are accessible attitudes and how do they predict behavior?

The strength of the association between 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 -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 research found: attitude can be poor predictors of behavior

• What are peripheral and central route of persuasion? Be familiar with examples of each.

central route to persuasion- people are motivated to pay attention to the facts in a communication, so the more logically compelling (captivating) those facts are, the more persuasion occurs. ex: people are listening carefully and are careful thinking peripheral route to persuasion- people are not motivated to pay attention to the facts; instead, they notice only the surface characteristics of the message. The people are swayed by things peripheral to the message itself. ex: how long it is?, who is delivering the message? and attractiveness like khloe kardashian who tweeted about pants making her but big, people went to buy the pants. the celebrities get paid a lot $$$ to post about a product.

Attitudes

evaluations of people, objects, or ideas. They are important because they often determine what we do.

do affective attitudes come from many sources?

group them into 1 family b/c (1) do not result from a rational examination of the issues, (2) are not governed by logic (3) are often linked to people's values, so that efforts to change them challenge those values.

What determines whether people take the central versus the peripheral route to persuasion?

speech influenced by the central route to persuasion (the logic of arguments) like interesting facts Those students who heard strong arguments agreed much more with the speech than did those who heard weak arguments, regardless of who presented them, the Princeton professor or the high school student. A good argument was a good argument, even if it was written by someone who lacked prestige. In other words, persuasion took place via the central route. vs speech influenced by peripheral (means outer) route to persuasion ( who gives the speech or how long it is?) the Princeton professor were much more swayed (move) than those who heard the high school student. Here, the persuasion took a peripheral route.

Under what conditions can attitude predict behavior?

• Attitudes do indeed predict behavior, but only under when behavior predicted spontaneous or planned. A. Predicting Spontaneous Behaviors Sometimes we act spontaneously, thinking little about what we are about to do. Attitudes will predict spontaneous behaviors only when they are highly accessible to people. Attitude accessibility refers to the strength of the association between an object and an evaluation of it, which is measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about the object or issue. B. Predicting Deliberative Behaviors • Theory of planned behavior-how attitudes predict deliberative behaviors. when people have time to contemplate how they are going to behave, the best predictor of their behavior is their intention, determined by 3 things: 1. Specific Attitudes :The more specific the attitude toward the behavior in question, the better that attitude can be expected to predict the behavior. ex: married women attitudes toward using birth control pills in 2 yrs, the better the attitude predicted actual behavior. 2. Subjective Norms: In addition, measuring attitudes toward the behavior, we need to measure subjective norms (people's beliefs about how others they care about will view the behavior in question) Knowing the beliefs are as important for knowing person's attitudes when it comes to trying to predict someone's intentions. ex: Will Derpa go to the violin concert? probably not b/c she doesn't like it. (or) she probably will b/c she does not want to disappoint her bff who is performing on stage. 3. Perceived Behavioral Control :people's intentions are influenced by the ease (not difficult) by which they believe they can perform the behavior (perceived behavioral control). some people find it difficult to perform a behavior (b/c not strong intention to it) like remembering to use a condom when having sex. (or) an easy performance: on my way home, I remember to do get milk b/c have strong intention to do it.

• What is the Yale Attitude Change Approach?

• Carl Hovland and his colleagues studied the conditions under which people are most likely to be influenced by persuasive communications. They examined "who says what to whom," 1. 1. who: looking at the source of the communication ( how expert or attractive the speaker is) ex: credible or attractive person what: the communication itself (the quality of the arguments, whether the speaker presents both sides of the issue) ex: people are persuaded when it does not influence, present a 2 sided communication to whom: the nature of the audience (whether the audience is hostile or friendly to the point of view in question). ex: cultural differences, persuading the ones who are not distracting, the individuals who are communicating predict great persuasion.

• What is the heuristic systematic model of persuasion? Be familiar with its examples.

• Emotions can cause attitude change by acting as a signal for how we feel about something. According to heuristic-systematic model of persuasion, when people take the peripheral route to persuasion, they often use heuristics. heuristics- mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently ex: "Experts are always right" and "People who speak quickly must know what they're talking about." buying a couch on store, is on price range and deciding whether to buy it. I use "How do I feel about it?" heuristic, I quickly check of my emotions. If you feel great while you're sitting on the couch in the store, you will probably buy it. ----I could have been in good mode, or a song I like was playing ***we can make mistakes about what is causing our mood****

• What is the effect of genetics on our attitudes?

• Some attitudes appear to be an indirect function of our genetic makeup. They are related to things like temperament & personality that relates to our genes. Social experiences play a major role in shaping our attitudes. • Social psychologists have identified 3 components of attitudes: Any attitude can be based on one or more of these components. 1. Cognitively Based Attitudes ( thoughts & beliefs that people form about the attitude object) 2. Affectively Based Attitudes (People's emotional reactions toward the attitude object) 3. Behaviorally Based Attitudes (how people act toward the attitude object)