1. Attitudes MAR 3503 January 31, 2012

2. What is an attitude? A favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction to something exhibited in one’s beliefs, feelings, or intended behavior – Do you like something? – How much do you like it? – What do you believe about it? – What will you do about it? Examples include…

3. Attitude objects The “something” that is the target of an attitude can be many things: – A person or group – An idea or concept – An action or behavior – An object

4. Consumer attitude objects Be specific! Consumers may have attitudes about… – The product – The brand – The purchase of the product – The use of the product – The specific instantiation of the product – The store where the product is sold – The ads for the product – And so on…

5. The ABCs of attitudes Affect Behavior Cognition Attitude change can involve any of the three components

6. Attitude formation and change Standard (high- involvement) hierarchy – 1. Cognitions – 2. Affect associated with each cognition – 3. Behavior Low-involvement hierarchy – 1. Limited cognitions – 2. Behavior – 3. Affect (more cognitions may then be added)

7. Attitude formation and change Experiential hierarchy – 1. Affect – 2. Behavior – 3. Cognitions (selectively formed or emphasized to justify behavior) Behavior-based hierarchy – 1. Behavior – 2. Affect – 3. Cognitions

8. Attitude formation and change Which hierarchy usually characterizes… – The formation of attitudes about which expensive stereo system to buy? – The formation of attitudes about a potential “significant other”? – The formation of attitudes about a highlighter pen? – The formation of attitudes about foods or customs encountered while traveling?

9. The functions of attitudes Why do people have attitudes? The utilitarian function of attitudes – Utilitarian attitudes tell you which objects bring pleasure, pain, benefits, disadvantages, etc… Ex. Food preferences Ex. Ads

10. The functions of attitudes The ego-defensive function of attitudes – These attitudes steer you towards objects that protect your self-view and especially away from ones that threaten it Ex. Terror Management Theory

11. The functions of attitudes The value-expressive function of attitudes – These attitudes tell you which objects express your central values or your self-concept Ex. Political views Ex. UF hats and T-shirts

12. The functions of attitudes The knowledge function of attitudes – These attitudes are formed to help organize our understanding of the world, guiding how we attend to, store, and retrieve information Almost all attitudes serve this function Ex. Halo effect

13. Automatic evaluation Our attitude (positive or negative) toward a stimulus is activated immediately upon encountering that stimulus, regardless of attitude strength – Kitten = strongly positive – Magazine = mildly positive – Liver = mildly negative – Cancer = strongly negative Chen & Bargh, 1999

14. Automatic evaluation Positive attitude: tendency to approach stimulus Negative attitude: tendency to avoid stimulus If an object is positive, we should be quick to engage in an approach behavior – Pulling towards the body If an object is negative, we should be quick to engage in an avoidance behavior – Pushing away from the body Chen & Bargh, 1999

15. Automatic evaluation Ps classify words as positive or negative Congruent condition: – Pull lever towards self if positive – Push lever away if negative Incongruent condition: – Pull lever towards self if negative – Push lever away if positive Chen & Bargh, 1999

16. Automatic evaluation Ps are faster to classify in the congruent condition, when the response matches the valence of the word Chen & Bargh, 1999

17. Measuring automatic attitudes Suggests that all stimuli are automatically evaluated as soon as they are encountered We can test whether this evaluation is positive or negative with an “evaluative priming procedure” If a word or object is positive, seeing it should speed up responses to positive words and slow down responses to negative words that follow it If a word or object is negative, it should do the opposite

18. Measuring “implicit” attitudes Another way to measure automatic or implicit attitudes is via the “Implicit Association Test” Measures the relative positivity or negativity of one group or concept over another (i.e., Black and White, Young and Old, Math and Literature) Let’s try it!

19. Bad is stronger than good If attitudes exist to tell us what to do, it makes sense that negative attitudes are stronger than equivalent positive attitudes – We react physiologically faster to negative stimuli – Losses feel worse than equivalent gains feel good – You can easily contaminate something good, never uncontaminate something negative, no matter how much good stuff you add

20. Implicit and explicit attitudes Implicit attitudes were measured, in a paradigm similar to the IAT you just did Explicit prejudice was assessed weeks earlier by an Attitudes Toward Blacks Scale Subjects then interacted with two confederates in sequence, one black and one white, about a race-neutral topic Dovidio et al., 2002

21. Correlation between explicit prejudice and… Correlation between implicit prejudice and… Verbal behavior.40*.04 Nonverbal behavior.02.41* Self-perceptions.33*.05 Confederate perceptions-.14.40* Observer perceptions-.12.43* Implicit and explicit attitudes Dovidio et al., 2002

22. Yes! But it’s not so simple… – LaPiere (1934) and his Chinese couple – Wicker’s (1969) review: Correlation between attitude and behavior is ~.15 Do attitudes predict behavior?

23. Cornell housing crisis—many students didn’t have a permanent place to live for months Sent surveys to freshmen directed affected by the crisis and those not directly affected – Asked to report attitudes toward the crisis and indicate willingness to engage in a variety of behaviors related to alleviating the crisis Correlations between attitude and behavior: – Directly affected: r =.42 – Not directly affected: r =.04 Regan & Fazio, 1977

24. Why isn’t the link stronger? Level of specificity may differ Sometimes actual behavior can’t be or is not measured Time passes—attitudes change We are sensitive to norms We may not have an attitude to start with

25. Summary Attitudes… – Are multifaceted – Can be found through a variety of routes – Can serve a variety of functions – Can exist outside of our awareness Attitudes and behaviors… – Don’t always match up – May be brought into line with consideration of norms and behavioral intentions

26. Next up… Cognitive dissonance and self-perception Now: Quiz 1!