Chapter 7 - Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency

1. Chapter 7 - Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency • What Are Attitudes and Why Do People Have Them? • How Attitudes Are Formed • Consistency • Do Attitudes Really Predict Behavior? • Beliefs and Believing

2. Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency • Jack Kevorkian – Assisted suicide • What attitudes about life are expected from a medical doctor? • What attitudes about life did Dr. Kevorkian espouse? • How do these seemingly contrary attitudes represent consistency?

3. Attitudes and Beliefs • Attitudes • Global evaluations toward some object or issue • Beliefs • Information about something; facts or opinions

4. Dual Attitudes • Implicit attitude • Automatic evaluative response • Explicit attitude • Conscious evaluative response • Some attitudes are not shared with others • We may not be aware of all our own attitudes

5. Implicit Association Test (IAT) • Measures implicit attitudes • Those we are unwilling or unable to report • Attitudes about stigmatized groups

6. Implicit Association Test PLAYVIDEO

7. Why People Have Attitudes • Attitudes help us deal with complex world • Attitudes are evaluations (like or dislike) • Initial evaluations are immediate and unconscious • Attitudes are helpful in making choices

8. Is Bad Stronger Than Good?Optimism, Pessimism – and Life and Death • Being optimist is healthier than being pessimistic • Optimism effects appear weaker over time than pessimism • Cancer study (Schulz, et al., 1996) • Pessimists were more likely to die • Optimism made no difference

9. How Attitudes Are Formed • Mere-exposure effect • Exception - If you dislike something initially, repeated exposure will not change that attitude • Zajonc (1968) • Stimuli may be presented at subliminal level

11. How Attitudes Are Formed • Classical Conditioning • Can form both explicit and implicit attitudes • Develop a positive attitude toward the conditioned stimulus • Helps explain prejudiced attitudes • Negative information in the media linked to social groups • Advertisers link celebrities and products

13. How Attitudes Are Formed • Operant Conditioning • Develop a positive attitude toward something being reinforced • Social Learning • Learn attitudes acceptable through observation

14. How Attitudes Are Formed? • Polarization - Attitudes become more extreme as we think about them • Especially true in strong initial attitude • Evaluate evidence in a biased manner • Accept evidence that confirms attitude • Accept evidence from ingroup members

15. Consistency • Commonalities in theories about consistency • Specify conditions required for consistency and inconsistency • Assume inconsistency is unpleasant • Specify conditions required to restore consistency

16. Balance Theory • P-O-X Theory • Person – Other Person – Attitude Object • Relationships among P-O-X • Sentiment relationships • Unit relationships

18. Balance Theory • Individuals prefer balanced to unbalanced • Unbalanced – motivated to change

20. Critique of Balance Theory • Assumes symmetry of relationships • Doesn’t consider strength of relationships • Only accommodates situations involving three elements

22. Cognitive Dissonance Theory • Cognitive dissonance refers to unpleasant state when attitude and behavior are inconsistent • Causes people to rationalize their behavior and bring their attitude into line with actions • Festinger & Carlson (1959)

24. Cognitive Dissonance Theory • Effort Justification • (Aronson & Mills, 1959) • People seek to justify and rationalize any suffering or effort they have made • Greater choice is necessary for dissonance • Dissonance is marked by unpleasant arousal

25. Cognitive Dissonance Theory • While people have desire to be consistent in their own private mind, they have stronger desire to be viewed consistent by others • Self-presentation plays a role in cognitive dissonance

26. Food for Thought Would You Eat a Bug or a Worm? • Eat a worm? Change your attitude!(Comer & Laird, 1975) • Sometimes people will choose to suffer an expected consequence, but only if they change their beliefs and attitudes.

27. Consistency • Drive for consistency • Rooted in our biology • Strengthened by learning and socialization • Consistency involves both automatic and conscious parts of the mind

28. Do Attitudes Really Predict Behavior?

29. Attacking Attitudes • A – B Problem • Inconsistency between attitude (A) and behavior (B) • Link between attitudes and behavior is weak

30. The Social Side of SexA-B Inconsistency and Erotic Plasticity • Gender gap in A-B consistency • Men’s attitudes predict their sexual behavior much better than women • Women’s sexual responses are specific to the person and the situation so general attitudes are not as relevant

31. Defending Attitudes • Predictions of behavior based on attitudes is best when • Measures of attitude are very specific • Behaviors are aggregated over time and situations • Attitudes are consciously prominent and influence thought regarding the choice • Attitudes come to mind easily

32. Beliefs and Believing • Believing is automatic; understanding requires controlled, conscious thought • Duplex mind • Automatic system – uncritical and accepting - believing • Conscious system – can override and change belief to disbelief

33. Belief Perseverance • Once beliefs form – resist to change • Despite bogus evidence, continue to believe • Opposite theory • Reduces belief perseverance

34. Belief and Coping • Coping • Attempt to deal with trauma and return to effective functioning in life • Assumptive worlds – Beliefs about reality • World is benevolent • World is fair and just • I am a good person

35. Belief and Coping • Coping Strategies • Self blame – “I made a mistake.” • Allows sense of control • No explanation for misfortune • More likely to feel vulnerable

36. Cognitive Coping • Beliefs that need to be restored after trauma • Downward comparison • Things could be worse • Restore self-esteem and control • All things have a higher purpose

37. Religious Belief • Provides social support, sense of meaning, direction and fosters development of virtues • Help people cope • Appeal to superordinate reduces dissonance • Cognitive level - beliefs may be inconsistent • Emotional level - may elicit fear and guilt

38. Irrational Belief • People who hold irrational beliefs • Tend to be more anxious • Cope less well with terminal illness • Are more likely to be depressed over time • Possess lower levels of self-esteem • Often maintained despite contradictory evidence

39. What Makes Us Human? • Humans have more complex attitudes • Pressure for consistency • We seek and ask for explanations • Humans can hold dual attitudes • Beliefs help people cope with misfortune