Adobe Systems 1 Attitudes, opinions, attitude stability POLb1013 7.10. 2024 Adobe Systems 2 What is an attitude? ̶“.. a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive and dynamic influence upon the individual's response to all objects and situations with which it is related" (Allport 1935, p. 810). ̶"An attitude can be defined as an enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of the individual's world" (Krech and Crutchfield 1948, p. 152). ̶ ̶Or the probability that a person will show a specified behavior in a specified situation. ̶ ̶ Adobe Systems 3 Newer apporaches ̶More emphasis on evaluative dimension: ̶ ̶„Attitudes are likes and dislikes“ (Daryl Bem 1970, p. 14) ̶ ̶„psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor“ (Eagly and Chaiken 1993, p. 1) ̶ ̶Limits: how about political phenomena? Are all attitudes equal? ̶ Adobe Systems 4 Obsah obrázku text, snímek obrazovky, Písmo, dokument Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Obsah obrázku text, snímek obrazovky, číslo, Písmo Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 5 ̶Please, answer some survey questions Obsah obrázku vzor, pixel Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 6 Are all attitudes important to the same extent? ̶ Adobe Systems 7 Are all attitudes important to the same extent? ̶Attitude strength ̶Krosnick and Petty 1995 ̶Makes attitudes „durable and impactful“ ̶ ̶Objective measurement ̶Subjective measurement •Certainty •Importance •Accessibility •Knowledge •Extremity •Intensity •Elaboration •Stability •Moral basis •Affective vs. Cognitive base •Self-Relevance ̶ Adobe Systems 8 Attitude ambivalence ̶Can something be good and bad at the same time? ̶ ̶In Allport‘s definition: attitudes either positive or negative! ̶But things can be more complex not unidimensional ̶(do measures reflect this?) ̶ ̶People have ambivalent or contradicting attitudes! Obsah obrázku text, řada/pruh, diagram, Vykreslený graf Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 9 Belief systems: Do people have them? •Belief system: how people organize their attitudes •Attitudes are bounded together (constraint) Obsah obrázku oblečení Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 10 Converse: The Nature of Belief Systems (1964) •Main Idea: differences in belief systems between political elites and the mass public •focusing on how people organize their political attitudes • •Key Concepts: •Belief System (BS): A structured set of attitudes and ideas bound by constraints. •Constraint: The degree to which knowing one attitude helps predict others within a belief system. •Elites vs. Mass Public: Elites tend to have more consistent and structured belief systems, while the public often has less constrained, less coherent systems. •Non-attitudes: people don‘t have structured attitudes ̶ Obsah obrázku Lidská tvář, portrét, oblečení, osoba Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 11 The Nature of Belief Systems •Static Constraint: one attitude (e.g., support for welfare) predicts others (e.g., opposition to tax cuts) •Dynamic Constraint: changing one belief = adjusting others •Centrality of Idea Elements •Elite more constrained than the public •Elite able to use abstract ideological constructs Obsah obrázku kreslené, snímek obrazovky, grafický design, Grafika Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 12 The Nature of Belief Systems ̶Ideologues (10%) ̶Near-Ideologues ̶Group-specific interests ̶Some attitudes but low constraint ̶No belief system, no issue content (22%) ̶ ̶Shifts form liberal to conservative government not motivated by ideology! ̶Low levels of stability in time (13 out of 20 on the same side of dimension) ̶Black and white model of the public ̶Issue public Obsah obrázku text Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 13 Converse’s work still alive today Obsah obrázku text, Písmo, snímek obrazovky, plakát Popis byl vytvořen automaticky ̶Most people unconstrainted ̶What is the role of ideology in polarization? ̶Conservatives and liberals do not disagree ̶No increasing trend over time ̶US context Adobe Systems 14 Response to Converse: Christopher Achen ̶„Voters are not fools!“ ̶Not non-attitudes ̶Problem of methodology ̶Preferences as an interval ̶Responses not the same all the time ̶Vague questions = instability of responses ̶Even church attendance does not correlate perfectly ̶High interest in politics does not explain stability Adobe Systems 15 John Zaller: R-A-S Model ̶Comprehensive theory ̶How PO works ̶Elite discourse ̶Caution when using surveys ·Receive: People receive information from the political environment ·Accept: They accept or reject this information ·Sample: They sample from the considerations available in their mind Obsah obrázku text, Písmo, plakát, Grafika Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 16 Online vs. memory-based information processing ̶People keep „running tally“ of object’s evaluation ̶Update it in real time ̶Forget information ̶Keep evaluation available ̶People encounter information ̶Store it in their memory ̶Retrieve from memory ̶Evaluate Adobe Systems 17 Is ideological constraint increasing? ̶What is polarization and how it matters for people‘s attitudes?? ̶ ̶Baldassari and Gelman 2008, Partisans without Constraint: Political Polarization and Trends in American Public Opinion ̶Is US public more polarized over time (ANES 1972-2004) ̶Correlations between issues, issue-partisanship correlation ̶Partisan sorting ̶Issue-partisanship ̶Lack of constraint ̶ Obsah obrázku text, diagram, řada/pruh Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 18 ̶Extending the analysis to 2016 ̶Increase of consistency after 2004 ̶ Obsah obrázku text, snímek obrazovky, Písmo, dokument Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Obsah obrázku diagram, řada/pruh, Vykreslený graf, text Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Obsah obrázku diagram, řada/pruh, text, Vykreslený graf Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 19 Implicit attitudes Obsah obrázku kreslené, snímek obrazovky Popis byl vytvořen automaticky Adobe Systems 20 Summary ̶Attitudes as evaluations of concepts ̶Different features of attitudes (strength and ambivalence) ̶Measurement in surveys ̶Converse: people without real attitudes ̶Differences between elites and non-elites ̶Others less strict (Achen, Zaller, Lodge) ̶Polarization = constraint might increase ̶ ̶ ̶