Attitudes, Attitude Change, and Persuasion

Joshua Phelps

February 14th 2005

Attitude Exercise

Demonstration of Attitude Research in Social Psychology15 minute questionnaire

Lecture Outline

Attitudes: What are they, Why are they important, How do we measure them??

Attitudes and Predicting BehaviorAttitude Change and PersuasionCompliance

What is an Attitude?

Summary evaluation of an object of thought (Bohner & Wänke, 2002)

Consists of Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral components or evaluative responses

Examples

Why Are Attitudes So Important?

Relationship to BehaviorPersonal RelationshipsPolitics and Public OpinionConsumer Issues

Attitudes and Social Psychology

Individual, Interpersonal, and Societal Levels

Psykologisk Institutt ExamplesHealth AttitudesIllegal ImmigrantsPro Social Attitudes

Function of Attitudes (Bohner & Wänke, 2002)

Knowledge

Higher Psychological Needs

Measuring Attitudes

Direct MeasuresSelf-Report

Indirect MeasuresDisguised AttitudeNon-ReactivePhysiologicalImplicit

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

Difficulties Measuring Attitudes

Operationalization Demand CharacteristicsSocial Desirability

Attitudes and Behavior

LaPiere (1934)Complex Relationship

Factors Influencing Attitudes and the Prediction of Behavior

Precision of MeasurementAspects of AttitudeIndividual DifferenceSituational Variables

Attitude Change and Persuasion

When Does Behavior Influence Attitude(s)?

When and Why do Individuals Change their Attitudes?

Attitude Change

When a person’s evaluation of an attitude object changes from one value to another (Petty & Wegener, 1998).

General Approaches to Attitude Change

Behavior-InducedActive Participation of the Person

PersuasionAn individual’s use of arguments to convince

others to change mind or behavior

Behavior Influence on Attitudes

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1967)

Self Perception Theory (Bem, 1972)

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance: unpleasant state of arousal that motivates individuals to reduce dissonance

Three types of Cognitive Dissonance EffectsEffort-JustificationInduced ComplianceFree Choice

Persuasion

Persuasive Communication: Message intended to change an attitude and related behaviors of an audience (Hogg and Vaughan, 2005)

Factors Influencing Persuasion

CommunicatorCredibility, likeability, attractiveness

MessageRepetition, Fear, Facts vs. Feelings, FramingRepublican National Convention

AudienceSelf-Esteem, Gender, Individual Differences (Same as

Attitude and Behavior), Age, prior beliefs, cognitive biases

Compliance

”Superficial, public and transitory change in behavior and expressed attitudes in response to requests, coercion or group pressure.” (Hogg and Vaughan, 2005)

Tactics for Enhancing Compliance

Ingratiation ReciprocityMultiple Requests

Foot-in-the-Door Door-in-the-FaceLow Ball

Cialdini’s 6 Compliance Principles

ReciprocationCommitment/Consistency LikingAuthorityScarcitySocial Proof

Questions for Next Lecture

Email: joshph@psykologi.uio.noClarify any topic at the end of Culture

Lecture (28/02/05)

Sources

Hogg & Vaughan (2005). Social Psychology (4th edition)

Bohner & Wänke (2002). Attitudes and Attitude Change

Cialdini (2001). Influence: Science and Practice

Topics I Didn’t Cover

Structure and Components of Attitudes Cognitive ConsistencyTheory of Reasoned Action/Planned

BehaviorThree types of Dissonance Effects (pg 226-

235) and alternatives to Dissonance.Dual Process Models of PersuasionResistance to Persuasion