Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Chapter Seven Attitude Change

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Dissonance Theory Cognitive dissonance theory is based on a small set of principles –cognitions can be either consistent or inconsistent with one another –inconsistent cognitions produce dissonance –dissonance can be reduced by changing our attitudes, changing our behavior, or adding a third cognition to mediate between the other two

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 An Example of Cognitive Dissonance Your professor holds the attitude “No make- up exams” You persuade the professor to give you a make-up The professor’s attitude and behavior are now dissonant with one another –the professor will be motivated to reduce her cognitive dissonance

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Dissonance Reduction Options available to our professor: –change the behavior: not likely, the make- up exam’s been given –change attitude: maybe professor might decide that make-up exams aren’t so bad after all –find a mediating element: could be professor might still hold attitude, still perform behavior, but decide it’s a one- time event

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 How Dissonance Reduction Works To reduce dissonance and restore consonance, an individual might: –change her attitude to be consonant with her behavior –change her behavior to be consonant with her attitude –maintain both the attitude and the behavior, but introduce an additional cognition to restore consonance between them both

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Early Research: Induced Compliance Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) –people engage in a boring task –these same people convince others that the task is fun and enjoyable –some people get paid $1 for saying this, others get paid $20 for saying this The $1 group showed greater positive attitude change Brought their attitudes in line with behavior

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Early Research: Effort Justification Aronson and Mills (1959) –severity of initiation leads to greater liking for the group Dissonance reduction is used to justify the expenditure of effort –“this is horrible…I must really like it”

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Early Research: Free Choice Festinger (1957) –having to choose between two desirable alternatives can produce dissonance –the bad elements of the chosen alternative are dissonant with the decision –the good elements of the unchosen alternative are dissonant with the decision –people engage in post-decision dissonance reduction to restore consonance

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Post-Decision Dissonance Reduction As a consequence of having to choose one of two desirable alternatives, people will: –improve their evaluation of the chosen alternative –lower their evaluation of the unchosen alternative Doing so reduces dissonance and restores consonance

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Self-Perception Theory An alternative to dissonance theory –perhaps people simply observe their own behavior and infer their own attitudes from it –“I’m eating pistachio ice cream; I must like pistachio ice cream” –“I did the boring task; I must like the boring task” Self-perception works best with weak attitudes

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Impression Management Theory An alternative to dissonance theory –people want to make a good impression –in dissonance studies, they may not want to appear inconsistent –self-presentation goals would predict their behavior

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Self-Affirmation Theory An alternative to dissonance theory –people want to view themselves as moral, capable individuals –counterattitudinal behavior threatens these feelings of self-worth –people change their attitudes to reduce these threats to self-worth

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Recent Research: Hypocrisy Early dissonance research focused on the negative consequences of behavior Even people who promote a proattitudinal position can experience dissonance –hypocrisy produced by advocating a proattitudinal position but engaging in counterattitudinal behavior leads to dissonance –if you promote conservation, you’d better recycle!

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Recent Research: Individual Differences Preference for Consistency (PFC) measures individual differences in wanting predictability and consonance Individual differences may mediate the effects found in traditional dissonance research

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Recent Research: Explicit/Implicit Attitudes Almost all research on dissonance theory has focused on explicit attitudes Recent research has examined dissonance and implicitly-held attitudes –dissonance affects explicit attitudes –dissonance has little effect on changing implicit attitudes

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Cognitive Response Theory Information-based persuasive communication also changes attitudes Cognitive response theory argues that the effectiveness of an attitude change message depends on the thoughts evoked by that message –positive thoughts lead to adoption of the advocated position –negative thoughts lead to rejection of the advocated position

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Argument Strength Strong arguments tend to produce strong attitudes –strong attitudes should predict greater attitude change Weak arguments tend to produce weak attitudes –weak attitudes provide poor support for the advocated position

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Processing the Message Strong arguments should be presented in a clear way –capitalize on target’s uninterrupted processing of good arguments Weak arguments may fare better with distraction present –you don’t want the target to pay a lot of attention to lousy arguments!

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Heuristic Persuasion Heuristic persuasion relies on factors other than the strength of the arguments presented –relevance of the message –credibility of the communicator –likeability of the communicator –attractiveness of the communicator –positive mood and emotion

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Two Routes to Persuasion Systematic processing occurs when people attend to and think about the message Heuristic processing occurs when people rely on simple cues to make judgments, rather than the strength of the arguments Central route processing is analogous to systematic processing Peripheral route processing is analogous to heuristic processing

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Concept Review

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Motivation and Ability Systematic/central route processing when: –the recipient of the message is motivated to expend the energy needed to process the information –the recipient of the message has the ability to process the information

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Personal Relevance & Message Complexity An attitude change message should be relevant to the target –if not, little attitude change Undue message complexity should work against attitude change –if you can’t understand the message, it makes it difficult to process the message

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Effects of Aging on Attitude Change Null hypothesis: no age-related changes Increasing persistence: people become more resistant to influence as they age Impressionable years: lots of attitude change when young, less when older Life stages: greater susceptibility to persuasion when young, again when old –this is an issue that has not been settled

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Effects of Culture on Attitude Change People from collectivist cultures may not feel the same urge to behave in ways that are consistent with their attitudes –this would reduce the effects of cognitive dissonance in shaping behavior Collectivism may also predict differences in responses to persuasive messages

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Persuasion and Health: Fear Appeals The arousal of fear has been used in many health-related attitude change messages –Protection Motivation Theory describes this process believe the problem is severe assume personal susceptibility believe the steps to ameliorate capable of performing those steps

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Propaganda Persuasion that is motivated by a specific ideology and that is biased in its presentation –wars often inspire propaganda messages –cults often inspire propaganda messages

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Aspects of Cult Indoctrination Selective targeting of potential recruits Isolation of recruits Sleep deprivation Love-bombing Repetition Foot-in-the-door Denial of privacy Reciprocity Fear-mongering

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Everyday Propaganda Common sources of a biased message promoting a specific ideology: –advertising –movies and television –education –religious institutions

Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/Wiggins Chapter 7 Resisting Persuasion Inoculation –exposure to a weakened form of arguments makes us less susceptible to attitude change Reactance –limits to personal freedom lead to motives to restore that freedom Personal preparation against unscrupulous attitude change messages is a good idea