ATTITUDES PART 1: STRUCTURE AND MEASURES SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION ANNA SPAGNOLLI

Transcription

1 ATTITUDES PART 1: STRUCTURE AND MEASURES SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION ANNA SPAGNOLLI

2 DEFINITION

3 WHAT IS AN ATTITUDE? The set of beliefs and feelings about a person or event (target) and related behavior tendency; The tendency to evaluate favorably or unfavorably a social target

4 THEORETICALLY-BASED DEFINITIONS 1. INDIVIDUAL DISPOSITION 2. EVALUATIONS SUBJECT TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE 3. COGNITIVE STRUCTURES representational and inferential l l l l l l l Experimental psych. Evolutionism Behaviorism Gestalt Groups [Cognition] Social cognition 4. POSITIONS l Constructionism, discoursivism

5 THE NATURE OF ATTITUDES Three-component model of attitudes (A-B-C) (Rosenberg, Hovland, 1990) 1) Beliefs or Cognitions Knowledge structures associated with the attitude object Often, we cannot prove a particular belief true or false 2) Evaluation/affect Evaluation is affective- we have feelings related to the attitude object Can range from positive to negative, and weak to strong in intensity 3) Behavioral Predisposition People holding specific attitudes are inclined to behave in certain ways that are consistent with that attitude

6 [NOT IN BOOK] expectation-value model (Fishbein, Ajzen, 1963) value of the attributes attached to the attitude target and likelihood that the target has those attributes Building by characteristics(mc Guire, 1985): the starting attitude dimension for a given target is the most salient characteristic; if this is not sufficient, others characteristics are added -> simplification of the expectation-value model

7 The three components are distinct Some attitudes are primarily affect based I am scared of spiders! Some attitudes are primarily cognitively based The Honda Civic is the best car in its class The greater the alignment between the affective and cognitive components, the greater the attitude stability, the more resistant it is to persuasion, and the stronger the relationship between the attitude and behavior

8 ATTITUDE FORMATION Attitudes develop through socialization Instrumental conditioning Reinforcement Example: If your job pays well and gives you a sense of accomplishment, you will likely have a positive feeling toward the job Classical conditioning Association of stimuli and responses Example: Children learn that lazy, dirty, and stupid are undesirable qualities Plays an important role in unconscious reactions to stimuli Observational learning Watching others Example: Children s attitudes toward gender roles, divorce, and politics frequently are similar to those held by their parents

9 Sources of influence Family and Friends Family may influence attitudes through observational learning as well as instrumental conditioning Research by Newcomb (1943) demonstrated that conservative first year college students who became active in the college community became gradually more liberal, while those who maintained close ties with conservative family and did not become active in the college community did not Media: Television and Films TV coverage of racially charged riots which depicted a racial group as volatile, dangerous, or unreasonable fosters negative attitudes toward that group

10 THE FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDES Heuristics Attitudes provide a simple and efficient means of evaluating objects Attitudes about categories (objects) including groups of people, provide a basis for making inferences Define identity Attitudes may express basic values and reinforce self-image Attitudes can be symbolic of identification with or membership in a particular group or subculture A strong like or dislike for members of a specific group is called prejudice and are justified by stereotype beliefs Protection of self-esteem Some attitudes protect individuals from recognizing certain thoughts or feelings that threaten self-image Experiences that threaten self-esteem are likely to lead to negative evaluations of other groups if the individual has high esteem to start

11 ATTITUDE ORGANIZATION Attitudes are usually embedded in a cognitive structure, linked with a number of other attitudes Changing one attitude requires a shift in other attitudes Attitudes in structure work to support one another Attitudes can be linked horizontally and vertically

12 Vertical Structure Linkages between fundamental (primitive) beliefs and minor beliefs Signify that a minor belief is derived from or dependent on a primitive belief Changing the primitive belief can cause widespread changes in attitudes Horizontal Structure The linking of an attitude to more than one set of underlying beliefs (two or more different justifications for an attitude) Attitudes based on two or more horizontal linkages is more difficult to change than one based on a single primitive belief

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14 MEASURES

15 SELF-REPORTS THURSTONE SCALE OR INTERVAL SCALE OF MEASUREMENT (1928 ) a) Creating the item set: statement expressing an opinion towards an object; short, pertinent, not ambiguous. b) Items evaluation: the extent to which each item expresses a given attitude, measured on a 11-grade scale by judges representative of the target population c) Scale value of each item: calculating an index of central tendency for each item d) Item selection: 20 or 30 items so as to cover the entire continuum, in equal intervals, from one extreme value to another; items with high variability are discarded 15

16 Pros Items express the direction and the intensity of the attitude towards the target The value of each item is defined empirically Assumption of equal intervals Cons Measurement assumption is very strong Depends on the judges evaluations Expensive Specific to the target 16

17 LIKERT SCALE (1932 ) Less expensive a. 100 statements expressing beliefs or feelings towards the target b. A representative sample of the target population is asked for its level of agreement c. Only items that have a high correlation value with the overall score are kept 17

18 PROs Not expensive CONS Strong assumptions about the scale Moderate score can depend not only on moderate attitudes but also on random ones 18

19 OSGOOD SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL, Souci e Tannenbaum (1957 ) Three dimensions along which concepts vary (after factorial analysis on more dimensions): evaluation, potency, activity The evaluation dimension correlates with attitudes and can be used to measure them Constituted of bipolar scales with an uneven number of degrees ranging from +3 to -3 Very flexible but also very abstract Universality of the factorial structure is questioned Respondents might misunderstand the adjectives 19

20 ONE-ITEM EVALUATION SCALE Less expensive but less reliable Very common 20

21 BEYOND SELF REPORTS Self report issues: Desirability bias Unidimensionality Creating instead of measuring attitudes Alternatives: physiological measures behavioral measures implicit measures 21

22 PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES Attitudes have an affective component which in turn involves a physiological activation galvanic skin response (GSR) or electrodermal activity (EDA) Pupillary reflex/dilation/response Facial electromiography 22

23 LIMITS: They can measure intensity but rarely can they measure direction Are affected by other aspects than attitude (e,g., novelty) They need to be used in the lab 23

24 BEHAVIORAL MEASURES Using behavior as an index that expresses a given action towards the target The participant might be not aware of the meaning of the behavior and then will not try to control it Some examples: eye contact (Argyle, 1983), lost letter(milgram et al., 1965), fake polygraph ( bogus pipeline Jones e Sigall, 1971) 24

25 LIMITS Action can obey many reasons in addition to attitude The target might not be available for action Action might be unethical 25

26 IMPLICIT MEASURES IAT: implicit association test, based on response time Response time is shorter if the association is present and the associated concepts are responded to with the same button when displayed on a pc screen aiat autobiographic association test Response time is shorter if the event is in memory and the associated concepts are responded to with the true button when displayed on a pc screen See explanation video: