Attitude Development and Perception

Quotes

An attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related. (Allport, 1935)

Preferences thus imply all-things-considered-rankings, which consist of the chooser’s overall evaluation of the object over which preferences are defined. This implies a ranking of those objects with respect to everything that matters to the agent: desirability, social norms, moral principles, habits - everything relevant to the evaluation. (Harper, Randall & Sharro, 2016)

An attitude is an internal state of preparation (Spencer & Bain, 1980s)

• attitude is only a state of readiness, not the actual action taking

Person or Situation

• genetic makeup
  • there is a gene to define how well you can naturally separate sounds
    • therefore it is hard to be in larger groups
    • therefore those people choose more selective groups
• maternal behavior and perceived sex of an infant
  • Smith & Lloyd 1978
  • 2x2x2 factorial design
  • why is our sample not significant?
    • samples size (n=20) too small (n>80 recommended)
  • difference in behavior of adults based on sex of infant
    • adults told if boy/girl and therefore different behavior/toy selection

Components of Attitudes

Cognitive

• factual knowledge

Affective

• liking, emotional response

Behavioral

• behavior towards something
• we see how we like/dislike something

Snake Example

• 2 different scales
  • one regarding feelings, the other about cognitive characteristics
  • finding out about yourself if there is more bias towards feelings or cognition
• if we did the same scale with vacuum cleaners it would be different

Explicit vs Implicit

• explicit = tip of the iceberg
  • cognitively accessible
  • more dynamic and can change over time
  • can be measured directly
• implicit = entirety of iceberg
  • outside of conscious awareness
  • automatically and always active
  • developed through experiences
  • also called Blindspots
    • day-to-day decision making
  • indirect measurements needed

Changing Attitudes

• attidudional stability … consistency over time

Conditioning

• Conditioning

Theory of Planned Behavior

• behavioral intention =
  • attitude toward the behavior
  • • subjective norms
      • e.g. peer pressure
  • • perceived behavioral control
• actual behavior results from this

Accessibility

• deliberate behavior vs spontaneous behavior
• accessible
  • spontaneous decisions & behavior
• inaccessible
  • thinking about issue deeper and for longer
  • “hidden” attitudes influence decision

Predictability

• specific attitudes are better predictors of behavior
• find a very specific attitude and ask about that rather than a larger topic/attitude
• Example Birth Control:

Persuasion

• often used in marketing
• peripheral route vs central route
• peripheral route
  • brief communication
  • focus on main characteristics
    • expert? attractiveness?
  • temporary override of preference
  • e.g. flyer handed out in front of WU
• central route
  • elaborate communication
  • facts, logical soundness of arguments
  • attitude change for longer periods

Yale Attitude Change Approach

Who?

• wear glasses to seem more credible
• attractive speakers are better
• message is remembered longer than source
  • fact about unreliable source might be forgotten, leaving unreliable information which is believed to be reliable behind

What?

• more persuaded by messages which seem to not be designed to influence them
• two-sided communication (pro+contra instead of just pro or contra)
• primacy effect vs recency effect
  • first person sets the stage → remembered better
  • last person is remembered best (if not tired already)

To Whom?

• distracted audiences are easy to persuade
• lower intelligence, moderate self-esteem, age 18-25
• cultural differences
  • western: personal relevance
  • other cultures: contextually relevant behavior
• I like it because it makes me feel good > I like it because others I am connected to like it

Persuasion Immunity

Attitude Inoculation

• thinking of counterarguments beforehand

Awareness

• be aware of product placements
  • kids especially susceptible
• if people are forewarned they identify more product placements
  • more awareness ⇒ less persuasion

Role Play

• extension of inoculation
• peer pressure can evoke attitude contrary behavior
• role-play helps to create situations in controlled environments
  • afterwards in real situation greater immunity
  • e.g. role-play with juveniles regarding smoking/drinking/sex

Persuasion Backfire

• Pennebeaker & Sanders (1976)
  • more forbidden = more fun
• Reactance Theory
  • the more important the freedom, the more resistance
  • Covid: people felt threatened about own autonomy
  • “Do you like vegan beer?”
  • All Mensa food will be vegetarian from now on
• how to work around reactance?
  • creating incentives and counterincentives
    • e.g. making the meat dish more expansive than banning it alright
    • e.g. meat is an addon instead of included by default
  • labeling it as an experiment, but it is permament
    • e.g. Amesterdam blocking main road for cars