Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Social Psychology by David G. Myers 9 th Edition Behavior and Attitudes

Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Behavior & Attitude What is the relationship between who we are and what we do? Attitude: beliefs or feelings related to a person or an event and the resulting behavior tendency. –You can have different attitudes towards different things –Researchers wonder how much of our attitude actually affects our actions

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. The ABCs of Attitudes

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. How Well Do Attitudes Predict Behavior? In 1969 Wicker found the following: Expressed attitudes are not good predictors of behavior –Student attitudes towards cheating bore little relation to their likelihood to cheat –Attitudes towards church are only moderately related to attendance –Self-described racial attitudes provided little clue to behaviors in actual situations “It may be desirable to abandon the attitude concept” (Allan Wicker, 1971) –Why do you think our expressed attitudes may be so different from our actual attitudes?

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. When Attitudes Predict Behavior Our attitudes and behaviors may differ because they are subject to other influences. –When social influences on expressed attitudes is minimal Social psychologists can’t get a direct reading on attitudes, unlike the doctor taking getting a measure of heart beat –We sometimes say what others want to hear –In order to get better measures of attitude social psychologists may measure facial muscles or wire people to a “fake” lie detector. –When other influences on behavior are minimal At times it is not our inner attitude that guides us, but also the situation we face. Predicting behavior is almost impossible because so many factors are involved. –For instance, feelings towards religion may be a poor predictor of church attendance because church attendance is also influenced by other things such as feelings that day, weather, worship leader, etc.

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. When Attitudes Predict Behavior –When attitudes specific to the behavior are examined When attitudes being examined are very broad and behavior is very specific, you should not expect a direct correspondence. –Example: Your attitude towards Asians and whether or not to help an Asian in a particular situation.

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. When Attitudes Predict Behavior –When attitudes are potent Much of our behavior is automatic. If we are asked how our day was we say “fine” regardless of what happened. This is adaptive, as it frees our mind for other things. In novel situations, where one has to think, attitudes are more potent. Self conscious people are usually more in tune with their attitudes Our attitudes predict our actions if: –Other influences are minimal –The attitude is specific to the action –The attitude is potent, as when we are reminded of it or made self-conscious –Prejudicial attitudes predict discriminatory behavior

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. The Theory of Planned Behavior

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. When Does Behavior Affect Attitudes? Role-playing –Imagine playing the role of a slave Saying becomes believing –People often adapt what they say to please their listeners –People tend to begin to believe what they are saying. –Saying, thus becomes believing –Higgins (1984) gave students a description of someone and asked them to memorize it and summarize it for someone else who was believed to either like or dislike the person. When the student believed the person liked who they were summarizing they tended to write a more positive description and after writing the more positive description they also tended to like the person better

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. When Does Behavior Affect Attitudes? The foot-in-the-door phenomenon: the tendency for people who have agreed to a small request to later comply with a large request. –Researchers asked Californians to permit the installation of poorly written “Drive Carefully” signs on their yards. Only 17% consented. –However, when first asked to display a “Be A Safe Driver” sign in their windows, 76% consented to the ugly signs. –See page 131 for more examples.

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. When Does Behavior Affect Attitudes? Evil and moral acts –Evil sometimes results gradually from escalating acts “It is easier to find a person who has never succumbed to life’s temptations, than one who has succumbed only once” –Evil acts shape the self, but so do moral acts Our character is reflected in what we do when we think no one is looking –Researchers left children with an electronic robot toy. Half of the children where given a mild threat not to play with it and the other half were given a severe threat. Several weeks later a different researcher leaves the children to play with the toys. Of the 18 children who were given the severe threat 14 played with it, but 2/3 of the children given the mild threat did not. Having early CHOSEN not to play with the toy, children internalized their decision.

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. When Does Behavior Affect Attitudes? Interracial behavior and racial attitudes –If moral action feeds moral attitudes, will positive interracial behavior reduce racial prejudice? After the Supreme Court decision, the % of white Americans favoring interracial schools jumped and now includes nearly everyone Social movements: society’s laws and behaviors can have an effect on racial attitudes –In Nazi Germany many did not believe what they said so they had to make themselves believe what they said. –Example: Saying the pledge of allegiance in the mornings

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Attitudes

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Why Does Behavior Affect Attitudes? Self-Presentation: Impression Management –To an extent we all care about what people think. We do not want to look foolish. To appear consistent we may pretend those attitudes.

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Why Do Actions Affect Attitudes? Self-Justification: Cognitive Dissonance : Tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions (when we decide to say or do something that we have mixed feelings about) –Insufficient justification effect: reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one’s behavior when an external justification is insufficient –Dissonance after decisions: emphasis on perceived choice and responsibility implies that decisions produce dissonance (we are often torn between choices). After making decisions we usually decrease dissonance by upgrading the chosen alternative and downgrading the other options. Festinger

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Dissonance and Insufficient Justification

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. More on Dissonance

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Why Do Actions Affect Attitudes? Self-perception theory: when our attitudes are weak or ambiguous, we place ourselves in the position of looking at ourselves from the outside. Hearing myself talk informs me of my attitudes and seeing my actions provides me clues to how strong my beliefs are –Expressions and attitude Our facial expressions can influence our attitudes –Overjustification and intrinsic motivations The smallest incentive that will get people to do something is usually the MOST effective –Unnecessary rewards can have a hidden cost. Giving people a reward to do something they already love may lead them to attribute their action to the reward.

Behavior and Attitudes Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation