Behavior and Attitudes

Attitudes and Behavior Chicken and then the Egg Egg and then the Chicken.

Definition
Attitude
A favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something or someone exhibited in one s beliefs! feelings! or intended behavior. "ometimes referred to as the ABC s of attitudes #affect! behavior! cognition$

Attitude%Behavior Consistenc&
Des'ite intuitive belief that attitudes determine behavior! large bod& of research indicates that attitudes are actuall& a 'oor 'redictor of behaviors (his begins with )a*iere #+,-.$ and his travels with a Chinese cou'le
+ out of +/. refuse them service! when he writes after the tri' ,+0 of the +1/ who res'ond sa& that the& would refuse service to Chinese

2uestion can be asked wh& the inconsistenc&3

Attitude%Behavior Consistenc&
4icker #+,5,$ 'resented seminal review article on the lack of corres'ondence between ex'ressed attitudes and behavior. Domains include6
Cheating Church attendance 7acial attitudes Breast feeding

Do attitudes ever guide behavior3

8es9 4hat factors lead to attitude% behavior corres'ondence3 7eal vs. ex'ressed attitudes. A measured attitude ma& not be a 'erson s :true attitude.
Bogus 'i'eline6 convince sub;ects that &ou have a machine that measures hidden attitudes. <nce convinced the& are more truthful.

Do attitudes guide behavior3

<ne instance vs. aggregate
(hink of s'orts statistics

)ook at attitudes that are s'ecific to the behavior #A;=en and >ishbein$
Do &ou like to go out to eat vs. do &ou like (hai food.

Attitudes are more likel& to guide behavior if attitude is made salient #e.g.! ask 'eo'le to consider their attitudes! make self%conscious$.

Does Behavior Determine Attitude3

7ole *la&ing
"tanford *rison "tud&

>oot in the door 'henomenon

Agreeing to a small commitment fre?uentl& leads to larger commitments

(endenc& for both good and evil acts toward others to escalate.

@ow does behavior AcauseB attitude3

"elf%'resentation theor&
"uggests that it is an issue of im'ression management. (hat is! we desire! and it is favorable! to a''ear consistent. (rue at times! however! does not indicate how 'eo'le ma& :internali=e and come to ado't these new attitudes.

@ow does behavior AcauseB attitude3

Cognitive Dissonance (heor&
*ro'osed b& )eon >estinger

<riginal definition6 a state of tension that occurs whenever an individual simultaneousl& holds 1 cognitions that are 's&chologicall& inconsistent.
>or exam'le! if C sa& C hate someone and then C am nice to them #without being forced to be$ C am likel& to view them more 'ositivel&. @owever! attitude won t change if there is sufficient ;ustification for having been nice to them.

Dissonance as a conse?uence of making a decision

Dissonance arises when choosing between 1 e?uall& attractive alternatives.
After our choice we reduce dissonance through confirmation bias

Dack Brehm *artici'ants rate two gifts as e?uall& desirable. Eive 'artici'ants choice of + of these 1 gifts. Cmmediatel& after! chosen gift is now evaluated as more attractive.

Educational and *arenting Cm'lications

Both reward and severe 'unishment 'rovide external or sufficient ;ustification. Cf we desire students to internali=e educational lessons and to form a desire to learn! we must avoid rewarding them too much for their efforts Fark )e''er6 children who 'la& with a 'u==le in order to gain a greater reward are much less likel& to s'ontaneousl& 'la& with that to& in the future
Can ex'lain 'revious effort on the 'u==le in terms of external ;ustification! not en;o&ment.

*arenting Cm'lications
Cf we want the child to internali=e an attitude! severe 'unishment ma& not be effective
"evere 'unishment G external ;ustification #e.g.! C am doing this because m& hide will be tanned otherwise! not because C want to$

Aronson and Carlsmith6 mild threat and to& choice

Children who received a mild threat were much less likel& to choose that to& in the future than were those ex'osed to a severe threat #e.g.! forbidden fruit$

"elf *erce'tion (heor&

>irst 'ro'osed b& Dar&l Bem Effects are nothing more than reasonable inferences that 'eo'le make about their own attitudes based u'on their 'erce'tions of their behaviors.
"imilar to how observers draw conclusions about our attitudes from our behaviors Does not work well when a''lied to im'ortant attitudes! but ma& ex'lain ambivalent situations

<ver;ustification Effect
7ewarding 'eo'le for activities the& en;o& ma& backfire. According to self%'erce'tion theor& a 'erson ma& observe the situation and attribute their actions to the reward not their intrinsic motivation. >or exam'le! 'rofessional athletes who begin to view their s'ort as o''osed to something the& used to love.