attitude influences social interaction, treatment adherence and compliance

2.  “An organized predisposition to respond in a
favorable or unfavorable manner toward a
specified class of objects” (Shaver, 1977)
©2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 2

3.  Attitude is a leaning toward or against
some attitudinal object.
 Networks of interrelated beliefs that reside
in long-term memory and are activated
when the attitude object or issue is
encountered (Tourangeau & Rasinksi, 1988)

4. Three components:
› Cognitive = thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about an
attitude object;
frequently a stereotype when its about another
person.
› Affective = feelings about the attitude object
› Behavioural/Conative = predisposition to act
towards the attitude object in a certain way

5.  Emphasis is on the tendency to act, not
the actual acting.
 Any given attitude may be based in
lesser or greater amounts on any of
these components

6. Overt Attitude Measures
› Self-report (single-item) attitude measures
› Attitude scales
Covert Measures

7. Self-report (single-item) attitude measures
 Advantages:
› Easy and quick to administer
› Relatively cheap
 Disadvantages:
› Responses may not be reliable, e.g.,
 Question wording
 Mood
 Social desirability
 Assume people have an attitude! (cf.
“spontaneous” attitudes)

8. Attitude scales
 Multiple items are used to measure the same
construct
 Eliminate some of the problems of single-
item measures (e.g., reliability)
 Some of the more popular scales include:
› Likert scale
› Osgood’s Semantic Differential Scale
› Expectancy-Value Scale (Fishbein, 1971)

9.  Create pool of belief items
 Decide how to score each (+ or -)
 Administer to relevant sample
› bipolar Strongly Agree (+2) to Strongly
Disagree (-2) scale
 Criterion of internal consistency
› item-total correlations & Coefficient Alpha

10.  Ambiguity of Strongly Disagree responses
 Scaling is compensatory
› 5 SA + 5 SD = 10 N = 5A + 5D
 Include neutral/indifferent midpoint?

12.  Create set of items that form a uni-
dimensional hierarchy.
 Stepwise assessment of attitude
 Score = “highest” item person endorses
 e.g., attitudes towards gambling:
› Place bets with bookie
› Gambling trips to Las Vegas
› Bet on greyhounds/horses
› Office football/basketball pools
› Penny ante poker with friends
› No-stakes wager with a friend

13.  Subjects rate items on opposite adjectives:
› good…………………………………bad
› favorable ……………………unfavorable
› like……………………………….dislike
 Score = sum of responses to all items
 Most direct measure of evaluation/affect

14. My using birth
control pills…
Belief
Strength
Outcome
Evaluations
Product
Is convenient +3 +1 +3
Causes me to gain
weight
+3 -2 -6
Gives me guilt
feelings
+2 -1 -2
Enables me to
regulate the size of
my family
+2 +2 +4
Total -1

15.  Covert Attitude Measures (CAM). These
measures use physiological arousal to infer
attitudes:
 Electro-myograph (EMG). (Petty &
Cacioppo 1981) which may include heart
rate & pupil dilation
 Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) : measures
physiological arousal detected through
skin resistance (Porier & Lott 1967)

16. More objective than self-report measures
Physiological measures (e.g. GSR) can be
caused by fear or anger
Physiological measures cannot assess the
direction of affective responses

17. 1. Functionalist theory
2. Learning theory (which stresses attitude
formation/Origin).
3. Cognitive dissonance theory - Stresses
attitude change (Festinger, 1957)
4. The Yale Attitude Change Approach
(Hovland, et al. 1953)
5. Bem’s (1965) Self Perception Theory

18. Katz's functionalist theory postulates that an
attitude changes when it no longer serves its
function based on the person's motivational
and personality needs
A. Instrumental/Utilitarian Function
- We are more likely to change our attitudes if
doing so allows us to fulfill our goals or avoid
undesirable consequences.

19. B. Knowledge - attitudes provide meaningful,
structured environment. Attitudes helps
us with order, clarity, and stability in our
personal frame of reference.
C. Value-expressive - We cultivate attitudes
that are indicative of our core values and
reinforce self-image.
D. Ego-defensive - Some attitudes serve as
defense mechanisms.

20.  Classical conditioning
 Instrumental, or operant, conditioning
 Observational learning
(Social Learning Theory (Bandura 1977):
Attitudes are learned through imitation and
modelling. Parents and society influence
attitude)

21. Stresses attitude change.
 Cognition = individuals perception of own
attitudes, beliefs, behaviors.
 Cognitive dissonance = feelings of tension
that arise when one is simultaneously aware
of two inconsistent cognitions.

22. › Such tension is aversive and
motivating (where it poses a threat
to the self)
› Dissonance theory says relationships
among two cognitions can be either
consonant, dissonant, or irrelevant.

23. This theory of self-persuasion holds
that:
: should inconsistencies develop among
cognitions, people are motivated to
restore harmony.
 Easiest form of dissonance reduction
will be adopted

24. Sources of dissonance
 Informational inconsistency
 Disconfirmed expectations
 Insufficient justification for behavior
 Postdecision dissonance

25.  Not all inconsistencies result in cognitive
dissonance. How is inconsistency possible?
 1. Cognitions may not be important to the
individual - hence inconsistency does not
produce discomfort.
 2. Cognitions may not come in contact with
each other - contradictions can go unnoticed.
Behavior may be mindless.

26. According to this approach, attitude
change/persuasion influenced by 3
factors:-
 Source – originator of communication
 Message – features of communication itself
 Audience – characteristics of who is
receiving the message

27.  Characteristics of Source
› Credibility
 Expertise
 Trustworthiness
› Attractiveness
 Similarity
 Appearance

28.  Message Factors
› One-sided vs. Two-sided messages
› Order of messages
 Primacy Effects –v-
 Recency Effects
› Repetition

29.  Characteristics of Audience
› Distraction
› Intelligence
› Self-Esteem (?)
› Age (18-25 year olds most susceptible)
Problem: what conditions determine the
relative importance of these factors?

30.  ELM holds that there are two ‘routes’ to attitude
change:
› Central route to persuasion occurs when we think
critically about message content and are swayed
by the strength and quality of its arguments.
› Peripheral route to persuasion occurs when there
is not do much thinking but are swayed by
employing heuristics on the basis of non-content
cues (e.g., “experts know best”)

31. Whether persuasion results from the
central or the peripheral processing route
depends upon:
 Ability
› e.g., attention, ‘receptive’
 Motivation
› Personal Involvement

32. Persuasive
Communication
Ability & Motivation
to pay attention?
No
Yes
Central Route to
Persuasion
Peripheral Route
To persuasion
Attitude Change

33.  According to Bem, we infer our attitudes
from our behavior ( we draw reasonable
inferences from it)
 There is no tension, rather, behavior just
serves an informative purpose.

34.  Early research: very weak link between attitudes
and behaviour (e.g., LaPiere, 1934; Wicker, 1969)
 More recent research- moderate link between
attitudes and behaviour.
Considers moderators of the attitude-behaviour
relationship, e.g.,
› Attitude strength
› Direct experience with the attitude object
› Attitudinal ambivalence
› Correspondence of attitudinal and behavioural
measures.

35.  Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen in 1967; THEORY OF
REASONED ACTION
 Icek Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour
(TPB)
 TPB predicts an individual's intention to
engage in a behaviour at a specific time and
place.
 It posits that individual behaviour is driven
by behavior intentions.

36. Behavior intentions are a function of three
determinants:
 an individual’s attitude toward behavior,
 subjective norms,
 perceived behavioral control
The measure of behavioral intention can
predict whether or not an individual will
perform a certain act

37. The theory requires that behavior measures
should be specific
 1. Action (e.g. to go get),
 2. Target (e.g. a mammogram),
 3. Context (e.g. at the breast screening
center),
 4. Time

38.  individual’s attitude also entails a
consideration of the outcomes of performing the
behavior.
 Subjective Norm: refers to the belief about
whether significant others think he or she will
perform the behavior.
It relates to a person’s perception of the social
environment surrounding the behavior.
 Perceived Behavioral Control is a person's
expectancy that performance of the behavior is
within his/her control.

39. Perceived
Social
Pressure
Perceived
Behavioural
Control
Attitudes Behaviour
Intention

40. Assumptions of model:
 Subjective Norms = expectations of others
+ individual’s motivation to comply
 Affective attitudes = function of beliefs
about consequences
 Behavioural Intention = affective attitude +
subjective norms
 Behavioral intentions are the only direct
determinant of behavior.

41. 1. Only affective attitude directly affect
behavior intentions. Effects of any other
kind of attitude will only be indirect, and
relationship with behavior could be weak.
2. Sometimes affective attitudes will
determine our intentions, other times
subjective norms will.

42. 3. Model shows the importance of
considering how valued the consequences
are. You shouldn't assume that your
evaluation of the consequences is the
same as theirs.
4. Shouldn't just measure attitudes toward
the object - should measure attitudes
toward the behavior.

43. 5. Several beliefs may determine affective
attitudes or subjective norms.
Changing one or more beliefs may not be
enough to bring about a change in the
overall attitude or intention.

44. 1. Feelings may be a better predictor of
behaviour than intentions.
2. Resources, degree of volitional control may
affect A/B consistency
3. Psychological traits (locus of control)

45. 4. Experience affects how consistent the
individual is.
5. Behaviour before attitude VS attitude before
behaviour

47.  Heinz Kohut viewed classical psychoanalysis
and other psychodynamic theories as
limited, especially in understanding and
treating more severe psychological
disturbances.
 He expanded on what he termed disorders
of the self which included narcissistic,
borderline, and psychotic conditions.
 In particular, he greatly expanded upon
narcissism.

48.  Self psychology theory, which rejects Freudian
ideology of the role sexual drives play in
organization of the psyche, focuses on the
development of empathy toward the person in
treatment and the exploration of fundamental
components of healthy development and
growth
 Kohut suggested that some degree of
narcissism could actually be healthy and
beneficial to a person's relationships with
others
 believed it to result from a lack of parental
empathy, rather than conflicting drives, as
Freud suggested

49.  In self psychology, the effort is made to
understand individuals from within their
subjective experience through
 Vicarious introspection (use of empathy)
 Making interpretations
 Basis is that self is the central agency of the
human psyche

50. Self: "The self...is, like all reality...not knowable
in its essence.
Several aspects of SELF can however be
described.

51.  Selfobject: Selfobjects are external objects
that function as part of the "self machinery" –
'i.e., objects which are not experienced as
separate and independent from the self'
 'Kohut describes early interactions between
the infant and his caretakers as involving the
infant's "self" and the infant's "selfobjects

52.  Three specific types of transferences that reflect
unmet selfobject needs:
 Mirroring: In this type of transference, others serve
as a mirror that reflects back a sense of self-worth
and value. mirroring transference involves use
of the affirming and positive responses of others to
see positive traits within the self.
 Idealizing: Kohut believed individuals need people
who will make them feel calm and comfortable. The
external other is idealized as somebody who is
calm and soothing when one cannot provide that on
their own.
 Twinship/Alter Ego: Kohut suggested that people
need to feel a sense of likeness with others. For
example, children want to be similar to their parents
and mimic the behaviors they observe. Over the
course of healthy development, a child becomes
more able to tolerate differences.

53.  Tripolar self is the sum of the three "poles"
of the body:[23]
 "grandiose-exhibitionistic needs"
 "the need for an omnipotent idealized figure"
 "alter-ego needs"

54. Thank you