Attitude and Attitude Change
Attitude
* Attitude is a learned evaluation of an object or
action which has valence and intensity and
which influences behavior (Perloff, 2008)
* Evaluations of people, objects, and ideas
(Aronson, Wilson, Akert, 2005).
* (Association between an object and evaluative
category)
Attitude
* Attitudes are learned
* Attitudes are evaluations
* Attitudes have valence and intensity
* Attitudes influence thought and action
Attitudes are learned
Attitudes are evaluations
Attitudes have valence and intensity
Attitudes influence thought and action
Thought:
E.g.
* Selective exposition
* Selective attention
* Selective perception
* Selective retention
Tripartite model
(3 types of Attitude origins)
Behavioral
Cognitive
Affective ATTITUDE
"I'm scared of heights"
"I can fall and die when
I'm in heights"
"I get dizzy when I'm in
heights"
Behavioral origin
* Self-perception Theory (Bem, 1972)
In situations when we lack either a cognitive or affective basis for
an attitude, we can infer an attitude by observing our past
behavior toward the object in a process of self-perception.
* In some cases, we develop our attitudes by observing our behavior
and concluding what attitudes must have caused them
Examples:
* Foot-in-the-door
* Festinger's and Carlsmith's experiment ($20/$1)
* Heterosocial anxiety
Tripartite model
(3 types of Attitude origins)
Behavioral
Cognitive
Affective ATTITUDE
Dual attitudes and ambivalence
* Explicit vs. implicit
* Explicit vs. explicit
* Implicit vs. implicit
* Ambivalence = intra-attitudinal inconsistency
Implicit Attitudes
* Dual attitudes (explicit & implicit)
* Implicit = outside conscious awareness
* Implicit attitudes better predict relatively spontaneous,
uncontrollable, or unconscious behaviors, whereas explicit
attitudes are a more potent predictor of deliberate behavioral
responses
* Implicit association test (IAT) -
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
* Name letter effect
Attitude accessibility
* Strength of the association between an attitude
object and its evaluation
(Degree to which attitude is automatically
activated from memory)
* Strong attitudes are more accessible than weak
ones
* Measured by reaction time procedures
Social Judgment theory (Sherif, Hovland, 1961)
* Latitude of acceptance
* Latitude of non-commitment
* Latitude of rejection
Assimilation: People pull a somewhat
agreeable message toward their own attitude,
assuming that the message is more similar to
their attitude than it really is
Contrast: People push a somewhat
disagreeable message away from their
attitude, assuming it is more different
that it really is
Assimilation and contrast are perceptual mistake. People judge message positions
not objectively, but subjectively. Their initial attitude serves as the reference point.
LOALOA LORLOR LONLON
STRONG
ATTITUDE
weak
attitude
Ordered Alternatives Questionnaire
Social Judgment theory - Conclusion
* The theory says that people compare the position
advocated in a message with their attitude, assimilating
similar viewpoints, contrasting divergent positions
* Communication that is perceived to advocate a position
that falls in the latitude of acceptance or the latitude of
non-commitment will produce attitude change in the
advocated direction, but communication that is
perceived to advocate a position that falls in the latitude
of rejection will produce no attitude change.
Ego-involvement
* Deep-seated commitment to an issue; strong,
emotional, value-based concern about a social
issue.
* Individuals are high in involvement when they
perceive that an issue is personally relevant
* Involvement is a big deal in marketing
psychology
Why is involvement important to
marketers?
1. Marketers want to motivate consumers to
process brand information/messages in ads
2. Marketers want to increase brand loyalty
Involvement Scale in Marketing Research
To Me (Object to be Judged) Is
1. important _:_:_:_:_:_:_ unimportant
2. boring _:_:_:_:_:_:_ interesting
3. relevant _:_:_:_:_:_:_ irrelevant
4. exciting _:_:_:_:_:_:_ unexciting
5. means nothing _:_:_:_:_:_:_ means a lot
6. appealing _:_:_:_:_:_:_ unappealing
7. fascinating _:_:_:_:_:_:_ mundane
8. worthless _:_:_:_:_:_:_ valuable
9. involving _:_:_:_:_:_:_ uninvolving
10. not needed _:_:_:_:_:_:_ needed
SJT ­ summary of definitions
* Social Judgment Theory: a theory of attitudes that emphasizes the role
played by people's own attitudes in their judgments and evaluations of
persuasive messages. The theory says that people compare the position
advocated in a message with their attitude, assimilating similar viewpoints,
contrasting divergent positions, and responding in particularly strong ways
when they are ego-involved in the issue.
Latitude of acceptance: the positions on an issue the individual finds
acceptable.
Latitude of rejection: the positions on an issue the individual finds
objectionable.
Latitude of noncommitment: the positions on which the person has
preferred to remain noncommital.
Assimilation: perceptual distortion in which an individual perceives that
a congenial message is more similar to his or her attitude than it really is.
Contrast: perceptual distortion in which an individual assumes that a
message differs more sharply from his or her own attitude than it actually
does.
Ego-involvement: deep-seated commitment to an issue; strong,
emotional, value-based concern about a social issue.
Summary
* Attitude is a learned evaluation of an object or
action which has valence and intensity and
which influences behavior
* Tripartite Model
* Implicit Attitudes
* Attitude Accessibility
* Social Judgment Theory
 Ego-involvement