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
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?
Attitudes and Beliefs
• Attitudes– Global evaluations toward some object or
issue
• Beliefs – Information about something; facts or
opinions
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
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
• Measures implicit attitudes– Those we are unwilling or unable to report– Attitudes about stigmatized groups
Implicit Association Test
PLAYVIDEO
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
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
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
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
How Attitudes Are Formed
• Operant Conditioning– Develop a positive attitude toward
something being reinforced
• Social Learning– Learn attitudes acceptable through
observation
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
Consistency
• Commonalities in theories about consistency– Specify conditions required for consistency
and inconsistency– Assume inconsistency is unpleasant– Specify conditions required to restore
consistency
Balance Theory
• P-O-X Theory– Person – Other Person – Attitude Object
• Relationships among P-O-X– Sentiment relationships– Unit relationships
Balance Theory
• Individuals prefer balanced to unbalanced – Unbalanced – motivated to change
Critique of Balance Theory
• Assumes symmetry of relationships
• Doesn’t consider strength of relationships
• Only accommodates situations involving three elements
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)
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
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
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.
Consistency
• Drive for consistency – Rooted in our biology– Strengthened by learning and socialization
• Consistency involves both automatic and conscious parts of the mind
Do Attitudes Really Predict Behavior?
Attacking Attitudes
• A – B Problem– Inconsistency between attitude (A) and
behavior (B)
• Link between attitudes and behavior is weak
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
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
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
Belief Perseverance
• Once beliefs form – resist to change– Despite bogus evidence, continue to
believe
• Opposite theory – Reduces belief perseverance
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
Belief and Coping
• Coping Strategies– Self blame – “I made a mistake.”
• Allows sense of control– No explanation for misfortune
• More likely to feel vulnerable
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
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
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
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