Introduction to Attitudes Learning Goals Understand the construct of attitudes Understand how are attitudes formed Attitudes Attitude: Positive or negative reaction to a person, object, or idea Good-bad Harmful-Beneficial Pleasant-Unpleasant able-dislikable Very Good Very Bad 1
Attitudes and Personality Personality: Characteristic patterns of thought, emotions, and behavior Attitudes should change based on experience Personality should be relatively stable over time Assumptions Three assumptions in the study of attitudes: An attitude is a hypothetical construct An attitude is a unidimensional construct Attitudes influence behavior Differences in behavior toward an object can be explained by attitude Areas of Research in Attitudes How attitudes are formed How attitudes are changed How attitudes relate to behavioral intentions How attitudes relate to behaviors themselves 2
Function of Attitudes (Daniel Katz, 1960) Instrumental: Develop attitudes to obtain a reward or avoid punishment Change Attitude: Convince alternative is more beneficial Knowledge: Make sense of the world Change Attitude: Provide an explanation that makes more sense, or explains more data Social Adjustment: Hold the attitudes of people who are similar Change Attitude: Change the social norms Value-Expressive: Attitudes are an expression of one s values Difficult to change: Convince that an alternative attitude is more consistent with values Attitude Expression Attitudes are manifested by Affective: Feelings about the object Behavioral: Interactions with the object Cognitive Information: What you think about the object Forming Attitudes Direct Instruction: Instruction in attitudes Classical Conditioning: Law of Association Operant Conditioning: Law of Effect Observational Learning: Modeling Cognitive Dissonance: Behavior inconsistent with attitudes results in attitude change Rational Analysis: Carefully weigh both sides of an issue Social Comparison: Compare one s attitudes to others Primacy effect: First impression 3
(Heider, 1946) Assumption: People have a drive toward psychological balance Three components of the system: Person (P) Other Person (O) Object (X) Liking relationships are balanced if the affect multiplies to positive (Heider, 1946) Person: You Other Person: Traditional Ruler Object: PDP Person: You Other Person: Traditional Ruler Object: PDP 4
Person: You P - + Other Person: Traditional Ruler O - X Object: PDP Person: You P + - Other Person: Traditional Ruler O + X Object: PDP Person: You P + + Other Person: Traditional Ruler O - X Object: PDP 5
With an imbalance, a person can: Change the opinion of the other person Change the opinion of the object Decide the other person is mistaken Avoid the other person and object Conclusion My friend s friend is my friend My friend s enemy is my enemy My enemy s friend is my enemy My enemy s enemy is my friend (Heider, 1958) Primacy Effect Percent Rate as Friendly 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Friendly Only Friendly- Unfriendly Unfriendly- Friendly Unfriendly Only Adapted from (Luchins, 1957) 6
Primacy Effect Initial Interaction: Actively process information to make a decision Decision: Positive or Negative Attitude Future Interactions Accept further information related to decision Reject information not related to decision Conclusion: Established attitudes shape future perceptions of information Attitudes and Education Teacher s attitudes toward students can influence their future interactions with the students Ability Motivation Effort Likability Attitudes and Education If students do not have a positive attitude, try to teach the appropriate attitude directly Direct Instruction and Rational Analysis Model positive attitudes because your students will be observing you Classical Conditioning, Observational Learning, Social Comparison Reward students for appropriate attitudes with social approval and recognition Operant Conditioning 7
Attitudes and Education Ensure that students with appropriate attitudes are not punished Operant Conditioning If students behavior does not match their professed attitudes, point it out Cognitive Dissonance Use popular students to assist you with attitude modification Social Comparison Interpreting Correlations Nature: Negative Positive Strength: -1 0 +1 Nature Positive: Two variables increase or decrease together Negative: As one variable increases, the other decreases Strength Closer to -1 or +1 is stronger relationship 0 is no relationship Correlation = 1.00 Size of Feet (cm) 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 30 35 40 45 50 Shoe Size 8
Correlation =.04 Intelligence 4.50 4.00 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 Shoe Size Correlation =.78 100 90 80 Exam Score. 70 60 50 40 30 20 10-0 2 4 6 8 10 Hours Studied Correlation = -.86 GPA. 4.00 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 0 2 4 6 8 10 Hours per day watching TV 9
Revision What are attitudes? How are attitudes formed? 10