Transcript Attitude

Introduction to Attitudes
Madiha Anas
Lecturer
Department of Applied Psychology
School of Social Sciences
Beaconhouse National University
“Attitude”…
What does it mean to you?
Attitudes in everyday life
Attitudes in everyday life
… Defining Attitudes
An attitude is:
 “…a relatively enduring organisation of beliefs,
feelings, and behavioural tendencies towards socially
significant objects, groups, events or symbols”
 Hogg & Vaughan 2005
 “…a psychological tendency that is expressed by
evaluating a particular entity with some degree of
favour or disfavour”
Eagly & Chaiken, 1998
How do we form attitudes?
 Born or made?
Are you born with
attitudes?
Theories of Attitude Formation
Social Learning
Classical conditioning
Instrumental conditioning
Social Learning
 When we interact with
others or merely
observe their
behavior.
1. Social Learning
 Studies
indicate
that
when
initially
neutral
words are paired with
stimuli that elicit strong
negative reactions, they
acquire the capacity to
elicit
favorable
or
unfavorable reactions
 Racial prejudice
Classical Conditioning in Attitude Formation
(A)
Stimulus 1
(Member
of a Minority Group)
Stimulus 2
(Signs of emotional
upset on part of parent)
(B)
Child becomes upset
Stimulus 1
(Member of a
minority group)
Child becomes upset
1B. Instrumental Conditioning
How does a three-year old know Toyota is
better than Suzuki?
Reinforcement!
Behaviour toward
Attitude Object
(e.g., playing with
child of another
Race)
Positive or Negative
Reinforcement
(+ve = parents approval
-ve = parents’
Disapproval)
Positive or Negative
Attitude Toward
Attitude Object
Structure of Attitudes
Attitude Structure:
Affect
how we feel about people
or social objects
Behaviors
behavior directed at people
and social objects
Cognitions
generalized beliefs about
people and social objects
Attitude Structure
 Three-component model views attitudes as
having three components:
Affective
feelings about the attitude object
Behavioural
act towards the attitude object in a certain
way
Cognitive
beliefs about the attitude object
Attitude Change
Why discuss persuasion?
Up to 3000 advertising messages a day!
Include signs, flyers, scented ads, previews
Blatant attempts include commercials
We like to think that we are smart and thus
immune to their deceit
Are we?
Attitude Change/Persuasion
Persuasion is the power to cause change
in one’s actions or beliefs.
How to get people to do what you want.
Routes of Persuasion
Two routes can be used to persuade
Central:
relies on facts, figures, and thought.
Changes tend to be more permanent due to effortful
processing.
Peripheral:
attempts to persuade you without thought occurring.
Relies on emotion.
Leads to superficial and temporary change.
Attitude Measurement
Levels of Measurement
Nominal – identity preserving
Ordinal – order preserving
Interval – difference preserving
Ratio – ratio preserving
Measurement Scales
Nominal
Are you satisfied with X? ___YES
___ NO
Ordinal
Rank order X, Y, and Z according to how satisfied
you are with them.
Interval
How satisfied? __Not very … to …__Very satisfied
 Ratio
How satisfied? Very dissatisfied…to…Very satisfied
Guess the scale?
Which scale is this?
Answer: Ordinal
Indicate your preferred type of music with a 1, your second
favorite with a 2, and so on for each type of music:
____
____
____
____
____
Heavy Metal
Alternative
Urban Contemporary
Classical
Country
Which scale is this?
Answer: Ratio (because Not sure = 0 value
It is more fun to play a tough, competitive cricket match
than to play an easy one.
___Strongly Agree
___Agree
___Not Sure
___Disagree
___Strongly Disagree
More exercise with scales.
 Favorite color
 Orange
 Blue
 Green
 White
Choose the scale if the question is:
1.
2.
Which one is your favorite color? NOMINAL SCALE
Rate your favorite, second favorite, third favorite and fourth
favorite color. ORDINAL SCALE
Example of ______ scale
This year’s psychology course was
Very hard
Difficult
Can’t say
Easy
Very Easy
Answer: Ratio scale
(Because “Can’t say” = O
Example of __________ scale
This year’s psychology course was
Very Hard
Somewhat hard
Not that hard
This is an INTERVAL SCALE.
Because each item increases with a
consistent interval. No item = O