Transcript The Measurement of Attitudes

The Measurement of
Attitudes
Psychology of Attitudes
• http://web.psych.utoronto.ca/~psy320
Outline
• Historic
• Measurement Methods
– Behavioral Indicators
– Physiological Measures
– Indirect Measures
– Scales and Self-Reports
How do we know if someone has a
positive attitude towards ice cream?
Indicators of Attitudes
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Behavior (She eats it)
Affective reaction (She likes eating it)
Self-Report (She tells us she likes it)
Peer-Report (Her mom tells us)
Physiological Measures (heart rate)
Birth of Attitude Measurement
“Attitudes can be
measured!”
• Louis Thurstone (1928)
attitudes can be
measured scientifically
• Applied methods of
psychophysics to
attitudes.
Behavioral Indicators
Head movement
• When people listen to messages they
agree with, they tend to move their
heads vertically (nod) more than
horizontally (shake).
Behavioral Indicators
Eye Contact
• Affiliative Conflict Theory - people who like
each other are more intimate and engage
in more intimate behaviors like eye
contact.
• Therefore… If two people like each other,
(+ attitude) they will make more eye
contact than if they do not like each other
(- attitude).
Behavioral Indicators
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
Drop in the resistance of the skin to the
passage of a weak electric current
indicative of emotion or physiological
arousal (usually measured in the palm of
the hand).
Are emotional responses
related to attitudes?
Creation of “good” items
1. Clarity of Attitude Object (i.e., ice cream
vs. eating ice cream).
2. Clarity about the Attitude Component
(e.g., evaluation, beliefs, affect).
3. Clarity of statement (e.g., avoid double
negatives, use simple language).
4. Check clarity using Belson’ (1968)
“rewriting method”.
Thurstone’s Method of EqualAppearing Intervals
1.Panel of judges sort possible items into
groups (positive, negative, neutral) theorized to be equidistant.
2.Items used in the final scale are those with
the highest level of agreement among the
judges.
3.Respondents are then asked to state if they
agree with each of the statements. Attitude
scores consist of the average value of the
items agreed with.
Bogardus’s Social Distance Scale
• Attitudes towards members of social or
ethnic groups.
• Rationale - one’s liking for a group is
reflected in the social distance deemed
acceptable (in relationship with members of
the group).
• Respondent’s score = closest distance at which
the relationship is seen as acceptable.
Likert’s Method of Summated Ratings
• Items based on theoretical understanding of the
construct (attitude toward the AO) - Does not
require pre-sorting/evaluation by a panel of
judges.
• Respondents indicate the extent to which they
endorse the statements (e.g., agree / disagree).
• Each response option is assigned a value (e.g.,
-2 to +2; 1 to 7). Individuals score is the sum of
answers across all items.
• Scale homogeneity – items-items and itemsglobal score correlations (not necessarily +
correlations).
But...
Number of Items
• Important to realize that the more items on a
scale, the more reliable (replicable) the
measurement.
• Many items reduce the chances that the
attitude score is due to error or chance.
• On the other hand, multiple items can focus
on different aspects of the attitude (i.e., lack
of homogeneity - scale no longer measures
one concept, but two or more.