Chapter Seven Attitude Change

Transcription

1 Chapter Seven Attitude Change Rationalizing Our Own Behaviour: Cognitive Dissonance Theory Feeling Bad About Irrational Behaviour: The Arousal Dissonance Cognitive dissonance theory proposed by Leon Festinger o States that awareness of consonant cognitions makes us feel good, whereas awareness of dissonant cognitions makes us feel bad o Unpleasant feelings produced by dissonant cognitions motivate us to do something to change our state o Cognition ex. My name is Kristen, it snowed last night...etc Consonant cognitions beliefs that are consistent or compatible with one another o Ex. I brush my teeth twice a day, and tooth brushing prevents cavities Dissonant cognitions beliefs that are inconsistent or logically discrepant with one another o Ex. I smoke, smoking causes cancer Unpleasant feelings that are produced by dissonant cognitions motivate people to change their state Dissonance state of feeling bad or conflicted about one s own irrational behaviour o Ex. I did badly on this test, and I expected to do well on the test Making Irrational Behaviour Rational: The Reduction of Dissonance Dissonance state of aversive arousal To feel bad about one s own irrational behaviour to feel better you must make this irrational behaviour seem rational o Dissonance reduction must involve rationalization convincing ourselves that our current or past behaviour made sense after all o Ex. I smoke, but then smoking causes cancer turns into smoking will not cause cancer in me this all becomes more consonant with cognition I smoke To reduce: o Rationalization explained above o Add consonant cognitions Add cognitions to support person s behaviour Ex. smoking is enjoyable or smoking keeps my weight down This makes behaviour of smoking more rational or justified o Change behaviour Reduce dissonant cognitions or increase importance of consonant cognitions you will end up changing behaviour Ex. smoker accepts link between cancer and smoking and decides she wants to live forever, therefore stops smoking Summary of reduction: change one of the dissonant cognitions, add consonant conditions, or change behaviour Early Research on Dissonance Theory Three major domains of the theory compliance, effort justification, and free choice Induced Compliance: Dissonance from Counterattitudinal Behaviour

2 Counterattitudinal behaviour behaviour that is counter to, or inconsistent with, and individual s attitudes, values, or beliefs Induced Compliance Paradigm used to test dissonance theory that arouses dissonance by getting people to engage in counterattitudinal behaviour Induced to comply with experimenter s request that they behave in a way that is inconsistent with their attitudes Effort Justification: Dissonance from Wasted Effort People who think they have wasted effort will be motivated to change one of the dissonant cognitions or to add consonant cognitions Effort justification paradigm theory that arouses dissonance by getting people to invest time or energy to achieve a goal that may not be worthwhile Ex. go through a painful hockey initiation they will be motivated to justify their suffering as perceiving the group as attractive and worthwhile o We are motivated to come to like or value things that we have invested time and effort to attain Free Choice: Dissonance from Making a Decision Decision involve a chosen option and at least one rejected option o Post decisional dissonance after making a decision people always experience some dissonance Because...chosen option will have at least some negative features, and the rejected option have some positive ones Free choice paradigm theory that arouses dissonance by getting people to choose between two or more alternatives o Thinking about the positive features of the rejected option and the negative features of the chosen option will arouse dissonance o Reduce dissonance by focusing on positive feature of chosen option and negative features of rejected option o Difficult choices cause more post decisional dissonance than difficult ones Spreading of alternatives tendency to rate chosen item more favourably and the rejected item less favourably after the decision the evaluations of items are spread apart Alternative Interpretations of Dissonance Findings Self-Perception Theory Daryl Bem proposed self-perception theory People infer their internal states (attitudes and emotions), from their behaviour and the situations in which the behaviour occurred o Ex. attitude towards golfing is unfavourable because they have rarely golfed Occurs when internal states are weak and ambiguous Difference: role of unpleasant arousal o DT: Aversive arousal motivated the attitude change o SPT: no arousal change at all Studies show: aversive arousal is necessary for attitude change to occur

3 Impression Management Theory Impression management theory argues that participants in dissonance experiments want to appear consistent to experimenter and therefore lie about their attitudes Due on the basis that research participants want experimenters to view them positively Impression management motives do influence public behaviour, the attitude change that occurs in dissonance-arousing situation is almost certainly real Self- Affirmation theory Self-affirmation theory argues that people are threatened by behaviour that challenges their self-worth and can deal with this threat by reaffirming an important value o See themselves as moral, capable individuals Counterattitudinal or irrational behaviour threatens views of themselves as honest and intelligent implies they are dishonest or foolish o Counterattitudinal behaviour is upsetting because it threatens self-worth Recent Research on Dissonance Theory The Hypocrisy Paradigm Hypocrisy Paradigm arouses dissonance by having people publically promote a socially desirable behaviour and then be made aware that they have not always exhibited the behaviour themselves in the past Ex. situation makes people realize that they have sometimes failed to perform behaviours they have talked about (recommended on videotape) arouses dissonance Public behaviour that provokes it is proattitudinal publically recommends a behaviour that he or she already supports but privately the individual knows that he has not always performed the behaviour makes the individual feel hypocritical o People should practice what they preach Individual Differences in Preferences for Consistency Preference for Consistency (PTC) disposition that represents the extent to which people desire predictability and consistency within their own responses and within others responses o Scale to measure differences o High want their actions and attitudes to be consistent with one another More bothered by ambivalent attitudes More sensitive to dissonance o Low less concerned about such consistency Dissonance and Explicit Versus Implicit Attitudes Explicit conscious evaluations of a target Implicit automatic evaluations of a target, occur without awareness Bertram Gawronski dissonance might not affect implicit attitudes> o Dissonance arousal and reduction rely on conscious mental inferences o To change attitude one needs to make a conscious effort to recognize and become aware of the dissonance

4 Information-Based Persuasion: Cognitive Response Theory Ways attitudes can change o Dissonance theory - self-persuasion: we change our attitudes to rationalize our behaviour so that we feel better about it o Result of persuasive communications attempts by an individual or group to convince another person or persons to adopt a particular position aimed at any kind of attitude Rely on information to convince the recipient Cognitive response theory based on information-based persuasion o Model of persuasion that assumes that the impact of a message on attitudes depends on the thoughts evoked by the message o Positive thoughts proarguments individual will be inclined to adopt position in message o Negative thoughts counterarguments individual will be inclined to reject position in message Strong Arguments, Strong Attitudes Most important factor in deciding if a message is positive or negative is: the strength of the arguments in the message o Strong arguments positive thoughts about communicator, the issue, and message o Weak arguments do not move the recipient s attitude in the direction of the message Repeated exposure will enhance the impact of positive information about their products Are You Listening? Manipulation influences how carefully the participant was able to process the message More opportunities the greater the impact of argument strength If participants were inhibited from paying close attention to the message the strength of the arguments would be less important If you want to convince someone of a position for which you only have weak arguments, it is a good idea to present the ideas while the person is distracted by something else Hard sell an advertising strategy that relies on presenting information about the positive features of a product If You Say So: Heuristic Persuasion Heuristic persuasion attitude change resulting from cues that indicate that the position advocated in a message is valid o Heuristics simple rules, shortcuts, or assumptions o Ex. Mom always knows best People use these rules to decide whether a message or recommendation is likely to be valid Long message makes people assume its valid Says Who? Messages from some sources are classified as being more valid than other sources o Ex. obeying doctors orders Creditability or expertise of the source of the message o Can lead people to ignore the quality of the message

5 o People agree with the message based only on the credibility of the source Agree with likeable people, attractive people, and famous people o Usually reliable sources of information Soft sell an advertising strategy that relies on the use of images, emotions, symbols, or values to promote a product Two Models of Persuasive Messages Similar theories but not identical Systematic Heuristic Model theory of attitude change that distinguishes between two types of processing that can occur in response to a persuasive message: systematic processing and heuristic processing Elaboration Likelihood Model theory of attitude change that specifies the conditions under which people will think carefully about the content of a persuasive message, distinguishes between two types of processing: central route to persuasion and the peripheral route to persuasion Two Types of Processing or Two Routes to Persuasion SHM explain effectiveness of persuasive messages o Systematic processing careful, deliberative analysis of the arguments in a message o Heuristic processing superficial analysis of a message that focuses on cues indicating the validity or invalidity of the advocated person ELM explains the effectiveness of persuasive messages and distinguishes between two routes of persuasion (people likely to elaborate on a message) o Central route to persuasion occurs when an attitude change results from a careful analysis of the information in a persuasive communication o Peripheral route to persuasion occurs when attitude change results from noncognitive factors; it encompasses evaluative conditioning and mere exposure Factors that affect effectiveness: cues present then recipient agrees with the message o Strength of the argument o Heuristic cues and peripheral cues(in ELM) Motivation and Ability Motivation and ability determine which route is activated Systematic processing (central route) will only occur when the individual is motivated to exert the necessary effort and has the ability to process the message carefully o If either are missing, the only way persuasion can occur is via the peripheral route (heuristic processing) Personal Relevance Personal relevance whether or not the topic or issue will affect someone directly o Has implications for someone s personal outcomes, then it is high in personal relevance which will then lead the individual to be motivated to process the message carefully o Something that will not affect the recipient, then low personal relevance, the individual will not be motivated to think about the arguments carefully

6 Has low personal relevance the response to the article will be based on heuristic cues Message high in personal relevance persuasion would depend on strength of argument Message low in personal relevance persuasion would depend on the presence of argument High-personal-relevance elicited systematic processing (central route to persuasion), and low-personal-relevance elicits heuristic processing (peripheral route to persuasion) Message Complexity Ability to process a message carefully If you do not understand the message the strength of it does not matter and the only factor that would affect it would be a heuristic cue If you understand the message the stronger arguments make more of an impression than the weaker arguments and any heuristic cues would be unimportant Cultural Differences in Attitude change Cultural Differences in Dissonance Arousal Make people believe that they should behave in ways that are consistent with their attitudes and values Asian Canadians experienced post decisional dissonance only when their decision had implications for another person Dissonance arousal occurs in people from collectivist cultures but is different than individualist cultures o Actions may have to relate to other people in order to threaten the individual s interdependent self Culture Differences in Responses to Persuasive Messages Messages in specific individualist and collectivist countries reflected the type of culture Have more favourable responses to their specific version of their culture Persuasion in the Health Domain: Fear Appeals Effectiveness of Fear Appeals Doubt that the arousal of fear generally increases the impact of messages on attitudes and behavioural intentions Fear an aversive state which people want to reduce o People accept recommendations of the message because it diminishes fear Fear increases attention Protection Motivation Theory Two specific beliefs arouse threat: o The problem is severe o You are susceptible to the problem

7 Propaganda Factors that will translate fear into attitude and behaviour change o Recommendations will be effective in avoiding the problem o They are personally capable of performing the recommended behaviours Combination of these four principles to create the protection motivation theory Rogers o This theory articulates how threatening messages can influence attitudes and behaviour o People will change attitudes and behaviour only when they are motivated to protect themselves o Fear appeals most effected when the four beliefs are identified by the theory What is Propaganda? Propaganda persuasive attempt that is motivated by an ideology, or set of values, and that is deliberately biased in its presentation of information Value based, and its goal is to distort the facts so others are convinced to adopt the same view Key element: only the desired side is presented and presenter appeals to emotions rather than reason War and Propaganda All is fair in love and war embraced by all governments in time of war Information was manipulated to maintain morale and support for the war effort Indoctrination procedures designed to create total obedience or to generate sympathy toward the captors cure Cults and Propaganda Frank MacHovec destructive cult a rigidly structured group, led by a charismatic leader, that recruits and retains member using manipulative, deceptive techniques Sees people outside the cult as evil and dangerous Most known cult in Canada Unification Church led by Sun Myung Moon Selective Targeting of Potential Recruits Cults target youth between 18 and 30 especially ones who are looking for a cause to follow Target vulnerable individuals Isolation of Recruits Away from Non-cult Influences Bring recruits to places away from their familiar surroundings Usually a weekend retreat gives them complete control over the recruits environment Sleep Deprivation Cults deprive potential recruits of sleep for 36 to 48 hours This fatigue induces mental confusion and emotional vulnerability This tiredness makes them overlook the negative consequences of joining the cult

8 Love Bombing Shower recruits with love: physical affection, flattery, and unconditional caring and security Buddy system a member of the cult is assigned a recruit Repetition Exposed to long, repetitive lectures that embody the doctrine of the cult Foot-in-the-Door Technique If you can get someone to agree to a small request, they are more likely to agree to a much larger one Small requests large ones Denial of Privacy During retreats recruits are never left alone Always in group activities or discussions Wants constant social pressure on the recruit to join Reciprocity If someone does a favour you should repay that favour in kind Fear Mongering Cults appeal to fears about the future Cult provides stability and security Everyday Propaganda mundane examples Advertising: openly one-sided Television and Movies: can communicate unintended messages Education: shapes and strengthens students values Religious Institutions: one-sided, and is taught within a framework These sources may not present biased view intentionally