Attitudes and Attitude Change

Introduction

This chapter explores the concept of attitudes in social psychology, examining their definition, origins, measurement, relationship to behaviour, and the processes by which they change. Understanding attitudes is crucial because they influence how we evaluate people, objects, and ideas, guide our decisions, and affect our responses to persuasive messages.

Nature and Components of Attitudes

Definition of Attitude

• Attitude: An evaluation of a person, object, issue, or idea that can be positive, negative, or mixed.

• Key definitions from major theorists:

  • Allport (1935): A mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, influencing responses to related objects and situations.

  • Petty & Cacioppo (1981): A general and enduring positive or negative feeling about some person, object, or issue.

  • Zanna & Rempel (1988): Categorization of a stimulus object along an evaluative dimension.

  • Eagly & Chaiken (1993): A psychological tendency expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor.

  • Fazio (1995): An association in memory between an object and a summary evaluation of that object.

• Example: “I like online classes” (positive), “Smoking is disgusting” (negative), “I have mixed feelings about social media” (mixed).

Importance of Attitudes

• Influence information processing, behaviour, decision-making, persuasion, and social judgments.

• Strong attitudes are more persistent, resistant to change, and more likely to guide behaviour.

Dimensions of Attitudes

• Valence: Positive, negative, or mixed evaluation.

• Strength: Degree to which the attitude is held; stronger attitudes are more stable and influential.

CAB Model: Components of Attitude

• Cognitive Component: Thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about the attitude object. Example: “Exercise is good for my health.”

• Affective Component: Feelings and emotions evoked by the attitude object. Example: “I feel happy when I go to the gym.”

• Behavioural Component: Tendency or disposition to act toward the object. Example: “I go to the gym regularly.”

Note: These components are conceptually distinct but often work together in real life.

Types of Attitudes

• Affectively Based Attitude: Based mainly on emotions or feelings. Example: Feeling excited in a psychology lecture.

• Behaviourally Based Attitude: Based on observing one’s own behaviour (self-perception theory). Example: Noticing frequent library visits and concluding a value for studying.

• Cognitively Based Attitude: Based on beliefs about the properties of the object. Example: Supporting public transit due to beliefs about reducing pollution.

Origins of Attitudes

Sources of Attitudes

• Environment

• Experiences

• Education

• Heritability: Some attitudes may have a genetic component, but are also shaped by experience.

• Learning

• Social Influence

Learning Pathways

• Classical Conditioning: Association of a neutral object with positive/negative feelings. Example: Positive feelings toward a brand paired with happy music.

• Operant Conditioning: Attitudes shaped by reward or punishment. Example: Child praised for eating vegetables develops a positive attitude toward healthy eating.

• Observational Learning (Modeling): Acquiring attitudes by observing others. Example: Child adopts parents’ political attitudes.

Social Influence

• Cultural Norms: Adoption of attitudes fitting cultural values.

• Peer Groups: Influence from friends and social circles.

• Media: Repeated exposure to messages and images shapes attitudes.

Measuring Attitudes

Explicit (Direct) Measures

• Explicit Attitudes: Consciously endorsed and easily reported.

• Direct Measures: Ask people to report their opinions.

• Problems: Unawareness of true attitudes, context effects, scale imbalances, impression management/social desirability bias.

Implicit (Indirect) Measures

• Implicit Attitudes: Involuntary, difficult to control, sometimes outside awareness.

• Indirect Measures: Capture attitudes without direct questioning.

• Criticisms of IAT: Potential for bias, context effects, limited test–retest reliability, may measure cultural knowledge rather than personal endorsement.

• Meta-analysis: IAT correlates moderately with intergroup behaviour (r ≈ .24), often outperforms explicit measures for socially sensitive topics.

Physiological Measures

• Galvanic Skin Response (GSR): Measures skin conductance/arousal.

• Pupillometry: Measures changes in pupil size.

• Facial EMG: Measures muscle activity associated with expressions.

• Event-Related Potentials (ERP): Measures electrical brain activity.

• fMRI: Measures brain activity patterns.

• Advantages: Bypass social desirability, access implicit attitudes, real-time data.

• Limitations: Expensive, require special training, interpretation challenges, emotional ambiguity, cultural/contextual variation.

• Ethical Considerations: Informed consent, privacy, psychological impact, accuracy.

Attitude–Behaviour Relationship

Do Attitudes Predict Behaviour?

• Attitudes predict behaviour sometimes, especially under certain conditions.

• LaPiere (1939): Found inconsistency between expressed attitudes and actual behaviour toward a Chinese couple in U.S. establishments.

• Wicker (1969): Argued attitudes are poor predictors of behaviour.

• Wallace (2012): Meta-analysis found a moderate correlation (r ≈ .40).

When Do Attitudes Guide Behaviour?

• Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen): Behaviour is predicted by behavioural intention, which is shaped by attitude toward the behaviour and subjective norm.

• Theory of Planned Behaviour: Adds perceived behavioural control as a predictor.

• MODE Model: Motivation and Opportunity as Determinants; attitudes guide behaviour more when motivation and opportunity are high.

• Habits: Behaviour may be guided by habit rather than attitude; habit discontinuity hypothesis suggests attitudes matter more when habits are disrupted (e.g., after moving to a new city).

Changing Attitudes: Cognitive Dissonance and Persuasion

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1957)

• Cognitive Dissonance: Psychological discomfort from inconsistency between cognitions or between attitudes and behaviour.

• Dissonance Ratio: Where DC = dissonant cognitions, CC = consonant cognitions.

• Reduction Strategies: Change behaviour, change beliefs, add consonant cognitions, reduce importance of conflict.

• Example: Smoker justifies behaviour by minimizing risks or emphasizing benefits.

Major Forms of Dissonance Effects

• Effort Justification: Increasing liking for something one has worked hard to attain. Aronson & Mills (1959): Severe initiation led to greater liking for a group.

• Post-Decisional Dissonance: Discomfort after choosing between similar options; resolved by enhancing positives of chosen and devaluing rejected. Brehm (1956): Participants rated chosen appliances more positively after choice.

• Counter-Attitudinal Advocacy: Advocating a position contrary to one’s attitude can shift the attitude to reduce dissonance.

Persuasion and Attitude Change

Persuasive Communication

• Definition: Communication advocating a particular side of an issue.

• Yale Attitude Change Approach: Focuses on source, message, and audience characteristics.

• Effective Communicators: Attractive, similar, trustworthy, expert, confident, clear, and relatable.

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

• Central Route: Careful, thoughtful processing when motivated and able; leads to lasting change. Example: Changing opinion after evaluating strong arguments.

• Peripheral Route: Influenced by surface cues (attractiveness, style) when not motivated/able; leads to weaker, less stable change. Example: Buying a product due to a likable spokesperson.

Fear Appeals and Message Framing

• Fear-Arousing Communication: Persuasive messages that use fear to change attitudes. Example: Graphic warnings on cigarette packages.

• Message Framing: Emphasizing negative consequences can be more effective than positive framing (Banks et al., 1995).

• Caution: Fear does not always work; effectiveness depends on context and audience.

Resisting Persuasion

• Attitude Inoculation: Exposing people to small doses of counterarguments increases resistance to persuasion. Example: Warning students about misleading advertising builds resistance.

• Prevention Strategies: Forewarning and strengthening cognitive components make attitudes harder to change.

Subliminal Messages

• Definition: Words or images presented below conscious awareness, claimed to influence attitudes and behaviour.

• Example: Subliminal advertising in media.

• Important Note: Treated cautiously; not a guaranteed or powerful tool for persuasion.

Explicit vs Implicit Attitudes

• Explicit Attitudes: Consciously endorsed and easily reported.

• Implicit Attitudes: Involuntary, uncontrollable, sometimes unconscious.

• Significance: Explains why direct measures may fail and why implicit measures are necessary; accounts for discrepancies between stated and automatic responses.

Key Theories, Theorists, and Concepts

• Allport (1935): Early attitude definition.

• Petty & Cacioppo (1981): Enduring positive/negative feelings.

• Zanna & Rempel (1988): Evaluative categorization.

• Eagly & Chaiken (1993): Psychological tendency to evaluate.

• Fazio (1995): Memory association model.

• LaPiere (1939): Attitude–behaviour inconsistency.

• Wicker (1969): Attitudes as poor predictors.

• Wallace (2012): Meta-analysis of attitude–behaviour correlation.

• Fishbein & Ajzen: Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behaviour.

• Festinger (1957): Cognitive Dissonance Theory.

• Aronson & Mills (1959): Effort justification.

• Axsom & Cooper (1985): Effort and commitment study.

• Brehm (1956): Post-decisional dissonance.

• Banks et al. (1995): Message framing in health communication.

• Ostrom (1973): Critique of bogus pipeline.

Key Terms and Concepts to Know

• Attitude, valence, attitude strength, cognitive/affective/behavioural components, affectively/behaviourally/cognitively based attitudes, explicit/implicit attitudes, classical/operant conditioning, observational learning, heritability, direct/indirect measures, Likert scale, Thurstone intervals, semantic differential, evaluation thermometer, evaluative priming, bogus pipeline, IAT, physiological measures, social desirability, attitude–behaviour inconsistency, Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behaviour, subjective norm, behavioural intention, perceived behavioural control, MODE model, habit discontinuity hypothesis, cognitive dissonance, consonant/dissonant cognition, dissonance ratio, effort justification, post-decisional dissonance, counter-attitudinal advocacy, persuasive communication, Yale Attitude Change Approach, ELM, central/peripheral route, fear-arousing communication, attitude inoculation, subliminal messages.

Big-Picture Takeaway

Attitudes are central to social psychology, arising from learning, biology, experience, and social influence. They shape behaviour, but their influence depends on strength, context, norms, control, habit, and opportunity. Attitudes can change through persuasion and cognitive dissonance, linking evaluation, behaviour, persuasion, measurement, cognition, emotion, and social influence.