Social psychology
Attitudes
A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour
Three components of attitudes:
► Affect
► Behavioural dispositions
► Cognition
Attitudes vary in
► Valence (positive -> negative, can be ambivalent)
► Strength (weak -> strong)
► Complexity (simple -> complex)
► Accessibility (implicit -> explicit)
Attitude formation
Attitude Change Yale Model
FOUR FACTORS:
Source/Communicator - Attitude Change Yale Model
Recipient/audience - Attitude Change Yale Model
Message - Attitude Change Yale Model
Channel - Attitude Change Yale Model
Attitude Change - Attractiveness
DEBONO & TELESCA (1990)
Method
- Attractive vs. unattractive woman selling product
- Strong vs. weak message
Results
- Attractive woman more persuasive, but only for strong message
Attitude Change - Fear
JANIS & FESHBACH (1953)
Method
- Intervention on school children
- Varied the extent of fear in message about dental hygiene (low fear vs. high fear)
- Change in dental hygiene practices recorded
Results
- Participants given high fear message less likely to report better dental hygiene habits (28% vs. 50%)
Opposing Research for Attitude Changes with Fear
Protection motivation theory
► Fear works best if coupled with information on how to effectively respond
Inverted U-curve between fear & attitude change:
► Fear has to be optimal to be most effective (backfires if extreme)
Elaboration likelihood model
When are we likely to elaborate on the quality of the message itself rather than be swayed by such cues as attractiveness or fear?
Attitudes and Behaviour LAPIERE (1934)
LAPIERE (1934)
Travelled US with Chinese couple – visited 251 establishments
► Only 1 establishment turned them away
Sent letters to all establishments asking “Would you accept members of the Chinese race as guests in your establishment?
► 28 establishments replied
► 92% said NO
Differences in attitudes and behaviours explanations
Cognitive Dissonance
Reducing Cognitive Dissonance
► Changing one of the cognitions/behaviours
► Reducing importance of one of the cognitions/behaviours
► Adding additional consonant cognitions/behaviours
Cognitive Dissonance Study
FESTINGER & CARLSMITH (1959)
Method
Participants completed simple motor task for 1 hour
Randomly allocated into three groups:
► No dissonance/control: left the experiment after
► Low dissonance: paid $20 to tell next person task was fun
► High dissonance: paid $1 to tell next person task was fun
Rated the enjoyability of task
Low dissonance - Festinger and Carlsmith 1959
High dissonance - Festinger and Carlsmith 1959
Social Cognition
The aspect of cognition that concerns thinking about other people, about interpersonal relations and about social institutions
Schemas
Types of Schemas
Self schema Person schema Role schema Social group schemas Event schemas/scripts
Self Schema
knowledge structures about the self