1. Cognitive Dissonance Review
1) Which group rated the task as more interesting after lying, those paid $1 or $20? Why?
Those who were paid $1 because, since they were only paid one dollar, they
had to justify why they lied
2) Which group of children viewed the desirable toy as less desirable after
they did not play with it, those who were given a mild or severe threat to not
play?
Those who were given the mild threat perceived the toy as less desirable
because they had to justify why they failed to play with it (e.g., “the toy wasn’t
so great after all”)
3) What is the “Ben Franklin” effect and why does it occur?
Doing a favor for someone who you dislike will lead to greater liking of the
previously disliked person - Behavior (doing a favor) is dissonant with one’s
attitude so we change attitude about person to resolve dissonance
4) You chose one of 2 photos. Which choice will be most liked, if you have the
chance to change your mind or your decision is final? Why?
When decision is final – greater need to justify one’s choice (“it’s a great
2. Definition of Attitude
Originally meant as indicating physical properties
such as a position of the body, figure, or statue.
Later, in aeronautics, it refers to orientation of an
aircraft relative to the horizon.
• Leaning
• Stance
• Position
• Direction
5. The “ABCs” of Attitudes –
An Example
1. What is your affective reaction when you see a
certain car?
-- Feelings of excitement?
– Anger and resentment (e.g., if you are a US car
manufacturing employee and the car is foreign made)
2. What is your cognitive reaction?
– What beliefs do you hold about the car’s attributes?
– Perhaps you admire its hybrid engine that makes it
one of the most fuel efficient cars you can buy.
3. What is your behavioral reaction?
– Do you go to a dealership and test-drive the car and
actually buy one?
6. Affectively Based Attitude
An attitude based more on people’s
feelings and values than on beliefs about
the nature of an object.
Sometimes we simply like something, a
car for example, regardless of how
many miles to the gallon it gets (e.g.,
prestige, image).
Occasionally we even feel great about
something (or someone) despite the
existence of negative beliefs (e.g.,
7. Cognitively Based Attitude
An attitude based primarily on people’s
beliefs about the properties of an
attitude object.
Sometimes our attitudes are based
primarily on the relevant facts – the
objective merits of a car (e.g., how many
miles to the gallon does it get?; Does it
have side-impact air bags?)
8. Text (in favor
of fluoride)
versus
Factual
approach
Emotional
approach
Campaign For and Against Adding Fluoride to Drinking Water
(Against
fluoride)
Don’t Put Rat
Poison in Your
Drinking Water
Which approach would be the most effective?
9. Text (in favor
of energy
conservation
in homes)
Campaign to Make Homes More Energy Efficient
Factual
approach
Emotional
approach
Which approach would be the most effective?
10. Emotion and Different
Types of Attitudes
Several studies have shown that it is best
to fight fire with fire:
• If an attitude is cognitively based, try to
change it with rational arguments
• If it is affectively based, try to change it
with emotional appeals
(Source: Fabrigar & Petty, 1999; Shavitt, 1989; Snyder & DeBono, 1989)
12. Processor: .5GHz quad-core Intel Core
i5 processor (Turbo Boost up
to 3.9GHz)
Configurable to 4.0GHz quad-core Intel
Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz)
8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3
memory; four SO-DIMM slots,
user accessible
Configurable to 16GB or 32GB
Configurable to 3TB Fusion Drive or
256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of
flash storage (SSD)
AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics
processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
Configurable to AMD Radeon R9
M295X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory.
Different Approaches for Same
Product (Role of Intended Audience)
13. Behaviorally Based Attitude
An attitude based on observations of
how one behaves toward an attitude
object.
According to Daryl Bem’s (1972) self-
perception theory, under certain
circumstances, people don’t know how
they feel until they see how they behave
We can form our attitudes based on our
observations of our own behavior
14. Behaviorally Based Attitude
An attitude based on observations of
how we behave toward an object.
People infer their attitudes from their behavior only
under certain conditions
1. Their initial attitude has to be weak or
ambiguous
2. People infer their attitudes from their behavior
only when there are no other plausible
explanations for their behavior (e.g., no force)
15. Communication (e.g., a speech or television
ad) advocating a particular side of an issue
Persuasive Communication
How should you construct a message so that it
would really change people’s attitudes?
17. Fear Appeals
Do they work?
Create a moderate
amount of fear in the
message (within ethical
limits)
Give audience additional
information on how to
deal with their fear (e.g.,
instructions as to where
to go, when, why)
Self-esteem
Personal relevance
Perception of control
Influence of other
factors
18. Examples of Fear Mesages
Drunk driving
Drug Use
Seat Belt Use
Skin Cancer
Condom Use
• Odds of negative outcome (low)
• Time frame may be long between behavior and negative
outcome
Why May They Not Work?
19. A group of smokers who watched a graphic film depicting lung cancer
and then read pamphlets with specific instructions about how to quit
smoking reduced their smoking significantly more than people who
were shown only the film or only the pamphlet.
Adapted from Leventhal, Watts
& Pagano, 1967.
20. Do Changing Attitudes Lead to Changes in Behavior?
• Norms regarding proper behavior in a given situation
(& consequences)
• Availability or absence of alternatives
• Extraneous events
21. Factors Affecting The Consistency of Attitudes and Behaviors
ATTITUDES
Specific Role of
Strength personal
Accessibility
Range of attitudes and
behaviors assessed
BEVAVIOR
experience
Are you in favor of the Affordable Health Care Act?
VERSUS
Are you in favor of removing lifetime and annual caps on
medical insurance?
Do you like the idea of requiring insurance companies to cover
those with pre-existing conditions?
Do you think insurance companies should spend most of the
money they collect (e.g., 80%) on heath care rather than
administrative and marketing costs?
Are you in favor on having screening tests covered at no
charge (e.g., cholesterol, blood pressure, colorectal cancer,
Type 2 diabetes)
Have you talked positively about the ACA
to friends?
Did you contact your representative to
vote for the ACA?
Have you purchased insurance under the
ACA?
23. The Motivation to Pay Attention to the
Arguments (Perceived Relevance)
One thing that determines whether people
are motivated to pay attention to a
communication is the personal relevance
of the topic:
• How important is the topic to a person’s
well-being?
24. Low High
Low argument
quality
High argument
quality
Relevance Relevance
Low High High
Low
STUDY OF
ELM
MODEL
If high perceived relevance exists, argument quality is most
important
Status of Presenter
Issue: To institute a comprehensive university exit exam
25. Behavioral Beliefs (beliefs
about the likely
consequences of a behavior
and the evaluation of the
possible outcomes
Normative Beliefs (beliefs
about the expectations of
other people and the
motivation to comply with
these expectations)
Control Beliefs (beliefs
about the existence of factors
that may help or hinder the
performance of a behavior
and the perceived power of
these factors)
Predicting the use of birth-control pills; An example
• My taking the pill regularly will reduce my chances of becoming
pregnant:
Extremely unlikely _____________________ Extremely Likely
• Reducing my chances of becoming pregnant is:
Extremely bad _______________________ Extremely good
• My close friends believe that
I should __________________________________ I should not
take birth control pills.
• On average, I really care what my close friends thinks I should
do.
Not at all _________________________________ Very much
• I forget to do some very important activities.
Very rarely _______________________________ Very often
• My forgetfulness would make it very difficult for me to remember
to take birth control pills
Definitely not true _______________________ Definitely true
Beliefs
26. Attitude toward the
behavior (the specific
attitude toward a behavior,
favorable or unfavorable)
Subjective norms (beliefs
about how other people will
view a behavior; social
pressure)
Perceived behavioral
control (ease with which
people believe they
can perform the behavior)
For me to be able to take a birth control pill on a regular basis
would be:
Impossible ___________________ Possible
Most of my close friends are using birth control pills
Definitely untrue _______________________ Definitely true
For me, taking birth control pills regularly is:
Extremely valuable_______________________ Worthless
B ~ BI = w1AB + w2 SN + w3 PC
27. Behavioral
Intention
• I plan on taking birth control pills regularly
Definitely not true ______________________ Definitely
true
• I will make every effort to take birth control pills
regularly
Definitely not true ______________________ Definitely
true
Behavior
Regularly taking
birth control pills or not
28. • Role of past behavior and habits
• Focus on the prediction of individual behavior; what
about the role of others (e.g., cooperation), obtaining
resources not possessed by an individual
• Assumption that people engage in elaborate cognitions before
behaving
• Role of self-identity and/or moral obligations
~ Some Shortcomings the Theory of Planned Behavior ~
29. Attitude Inoculation
Small (“weak”) doses of
arguments against one’s
position
Larger, stronger arguments
given later
Less likely to change one’s
attitudes
(more able to fight off the stronger
attack; received an inoculation
earlier)
30. Advertising --- Product Placement
Quite frequent (e.g., greater than 40 products displayed in the movie Iron
Man)
Why can this approach work?
• Defenses are down (do not recognize our attitudes are being manipulated)
• Failure to generate counterarguments
Other examples:
31. Reactance Theory
Persuasion messages, if too strong, can lead to a
boomerang effect
Why?
Belief than our freedom is being threatened
(Psychological Reactance Theory)
DO NOT write on these walls under any circumstances**
Versus
PLEASE DON’T write on these walls
** Significantly more graffiti writing on walls with the stern
message
