1. Social Psychology
Chapter 16

2. Why Study Attitudes? Attitudes are important because they:
strongly influence our social thought
help to organize and evaluate stimuli (e.g., categorizing stimuli as positive or negative)
presumably have a strong affect on behavior
help to predict people’s behavior in wide range of contexts (e.g., voting, interpersonal relations)
4.5 4 10 10

3. Attitudes How are attitudes formed? Do attitudes influence behavior?
How are attitudes changed?
4.4 4 10 10

4. Definition Evaluations of any aspect of our social world. Automobiles
Abortion
President Bush

5. Attitude Structure Affect Cognition Behavior Gun Control
Affect: “Guns make me sick!”
Affect
Behavior: “I vote for gun control
whenever possible.”
Cognition
Cognition: “Guns in the house
increase the likelihood of children
accidentally shooting themselves.”
Behavior

6. Attitude Formation social learning- acquire attitudes from others
classical conditioning- learning based on association
subliminal conditioning- without awareness
instrumental conditioning- learn to hold the “right” views
observational learning- learning by observing actions of others and exposure to mass media 4 10 10

7. Attitude Formation (con’t)
social comparison- compare ourselves to others to determine if our view of reality is correct
attitudes are shaped by social information from others we like or respect
genetic factors- inherited general dispositions (e.g., see world in a positive or negative light)
highly heritable attitudes and gut-level preferences (music) are especially influenced 4 10 10

8. Summary Attitudes are evaluations of any aspect of our social world
Attitudes are often learned
Attitudes are also formed through social comparison
New research suggests attitudes are influenced by genetic factors

9. Attitude-Behavior Link
Attitudes do not always predict behavior
LaPiere (1934) found that virtually all businesses served Chinese couple courteously, yet most owners held negative attitudes
Sun-worshippers know the dangers of exposure to the sun, yet they tan anyway
“looking good” attitude takes precedence over attitudes toward personal health
Forward 4 10 10

10. Would you serve Chinese people?
LaPiere Study
Would you serve Chinese people?
Back

11. Attitude Change Dissonance Theory Persuasion
Elaboration-Likelihood Model

12. Attitude Formation & Change
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Festinger and Carlsmith study

13. $20
Told next person
tasks were fun
and interesting
Asked how
much they
enjoyed experiment
Boring
Tasks
Told next person
tasks were fun
and interesting $1

14. Festinger & Carlsmith Study Results

15. Cognitive Approach to Attitude Change
Persuasion
efforts to change attitudes through various kinds of messages.
Early persuasion research focused on:
The communicator (source)
What they said (message)
How they said it (channels)
Who was listening (audience)
Research suggests there are two routes through which information is processed
The Elaboration-Likelihood Model

16. Elaboration-Likelihood Model
Nonverbal
cues
important
Argument
strength
unimportant
Message
unimportant,
uninteresting
Heuristic
processing
Peripheral Route
Nonverbal
cues
unimportant
Argument
strength
important
Message
important,
interesting
Systematic
processing
Central Route

17. Figure 16.10 Overview of the persuasion process

18. Factors Influencing Information Processing
We tend to use systematic processing when:
we are strongly motivated
accuracy motivation
impression motivation
defensive motivation
we have a high ability to do so
We tend to use heuristic processing when:
we are unmotivated
we lack the ability to systematically process info

19. Concern for Other’s Goals
Competing
Collaborating
Avoiding
Accommodating
Compromising
High
Distributive
Dimension
Integrative
Dimension
Concern for Your Goals
Low
Low
High
Concern for Other’s Goals

20. Factors That Influence Strategy Selection
Skills
Willingness of other participant
Perception of future relationship
Attributions about others’ behavior

21. Person Perception: Forming Impressions of Others
Effects of physical appearance
Cognitive schemas
Stereotypes
Prejudice and discrimination
Subjectivity in person perception
Evolutionary perspectives

22. Attribution Processes: Explaining Behavior
Attributions
Internal vs. External
Kelley’s covariation model
Biases in attributions
Fundamental attribution error
Defensive attribution
Self-serving bias
Cultural influences