Lecture 2: Attitudes

Definition: [a positive, negative or mixed reaction/a readiness to respond] to a person object or idea . Can vary in strength along positive and negative dimensions

LO.1: Explain the difference between self-report and covert attitude measures and identify when each is predictive of behaviour.

Ambivalence = dual attitudes:

  • high +ve reactions
  • high -ve reactions

Positive Attitude:

  • high +ve reaction
  • low -ve reaction

Negative Attitude:

  • low +ve reaction
  • high -ve reaction

Indifference:

  • low -ve reactive
  • low +ve reaction

positive or negative evaluations are made often made automatically, like a reflex

People differ in the extent to which they tend to react to things in strong positive and negative terms – might be high or low in “need for evaluation”

enables quick judgements without much thought

can lead to close-mindedness, bias in interpretation of information, and resistance to change

Self (direct) report

Covert (indirect) measures

Measured with Attitudes scales: multiple item questionnaires

the most popular form is the Likert Scale: indicate on a multiple-point scale how strongly someone agrees or disagrees with each statement

Problems: susceptible to:

  • the wording or order of questions,
  • the context,
  • honesty: wanting to make a good impression
  • other extraneous factors.
    Assumes people honestly express true opinions

Bogus pipeline:

  • a phoney lie-detector device that is sometimes used to get respondents to give truthful answers to sensitive questions.
  • Purports to record respondents’ true feelings physiologically
  • Can increase honest responding

measures of attitudes that cannot be controlled, e.g. facial expression, body language

Problem: though behaviour might provide cues, might be conflicting explanations for the same behaviour (e.g. sometimes people nod their head to agree, other times people nod their head to be polite)

Problem: people monitor their behaviour. Physiological measures of arousal (heart rate, perspiration) reveal intensity of attitude but not whether it is positive or negative

Measuring electrical activity in the brain

Electroencephalograph (EEG) – Brain wave patterns normally triggered by inconsistency; increase more when a disliked or liked stimuli was presented after a string of some of the other

Facial electromyograph (EMG):

  • records facial muscle activity associated with emotions and attitudes: Certain muscles contract when we’re happy, others when we’re sad.
  • Can record subtle changes observes may not notice

MRI (e.g. studies on political attitudes show activity in the amygdala – a structure associated with emotion)

Implicit Association Test (IAT):

  • a covert measure of unconscious attitudes derived from the speed at which people respond to pairings of concepts – e.g. black or white with good or bad

it takes longer to pair disliked things with positive words/liked things with negative words than disliked things with negative words/liked

Social psychologists debate over what IAT scores mean, how attitudes that are revealed are formed and then changed, how these attitudes may predict or influence behaviour, how they differ from explicit attitudes, etc.

Meta-analysis (Greenwald et al., 2009) concludes that:

  • Implicit attitudes are generally less predictive of behaviour than explicit attitudes.


  • For socially sensitive topics – for which people often conceal or distort their self-reports – IAT measures are better

LO.2: Describe the two main routes to persuasion

Definition: Persuasion is the process by which attitudes are changed

Petty and Cacioppo (1986) proposed a dual-process model: there are two routes to persuasion

Assumes that we do not always process communications in the same way – can involve either thinking critically about the contents of a message or not

The central route to persuasion: the process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strength of its arguments

Hovland & collegues (1940s & 50s): first to study persuasion systemically

For persuasive messages to have influence, recipients must learn its content and be motivated to accept it

People can be persuaded only by the argument they attend to, comprehend and retain

McGuire (1969)

Can be expressed 3 ways

Cognitive: good or bad thoughts

Behavioural: approach or avoidance

Affective: positive or negative feelings

Types:

  • overt behaviour
  • IAT
  • Lost Letter Technique

Can be implicit or explicit

Correspondence

Strength

When attitudes are specific and strong they predict behaviour

Peripheral route

Central route

Route taken depends on whether one is willing and able to scrutinise the information contained in the message

Route used dependent on:

  • source
  • message
  • audience

Careful thought about the message

Influenced by the strength and quality of the message

No careful thought about the message

Influenced by superficial cues

Source

message

audience

Credibility:

  • competence
  • trustworthiness

Likeability:

  • similarity
  • physical attractiveness

interaction between source and message

interaction between source and message