This document discusses attitudes, their formation and measurement. It defines attitudes as evaluative reactions towards something based on beliefs, feelings and intended behavior. Attitudes have four core features - a referent, evaluations, representation in memory, and cognitive/affective components. Beliefs are important in attitude formation. Several techniques are used to measure attitudes including scales, surveys and observational methods. Consistency between attitudes and behaviors depends on factors like attitude accessibility and direct experience. Theories discussed include the Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behavior and Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Attribution theory considers how we determine causes of behaviors.

1. ATTITUDE AND
ATTRIBUTIOM
PRESENTED BY:
MARY ANNE A. PORTUGUEZ, MP, RPM

2. Nothing is permanent except change.
 Attitudes have a past, present, and future.
 Attitude comes from the Latin aptus which means
“fitness” or “adaptation.”
 It means favorable or unfavorable evaluative reactions
toward something or someone exhibited on one’s beliefs,
feelings, or intended behavior.

3. 4 CORE FEATURES OF ATTITUDE
(Worchel et. al., 2000)
 Referent. It refers to stimulus object.
 Evaluations. It refers to judgment of target.
 Memory. It is represented in memory.
 Cognitive and/or conative, affective, and/or
behavioral information.

4. BELIEFS
 These are information about other people, objects, or issues,
that are considered to be factual with which belief is an
important element in the formation of attitudes.

5. LET’S PONDER ON THIS: DO ATTITUDES
AND TRAITS CAUSE BEHAVIOR?

6. ATTITUDE TESTING
 Three dimensions are employed in the development of
attitude scale:
 Direction. The positive or negative, for or against, dimensions.
 Degree. The amount of likes and dislikes attached to attitude.
 Intensity. Strength.

7. TECHNIQUES IN ATTITUDE TESTING
 Attitude scale. The scale in data-gathering yields scores indicating the
direction and intensity of the respondent’s attitude toward object,
person, and event. Ex. Thurstone scale, a technique of scaling attitude
tests is referred to the method of equal-appearing intervals.
 Likert scale. The five categories usually expressed as (SA), (A), (U), (D),
and (SD).
 Error-Choice Technique. An achievement test is constructed. Half of the
items are almost direct and the responses are almost right. It is an
achievement test that becomes a projective test for testing attitude.

8.  Free-response technique. A free response given by an individual to a
question, or institution also reveals his attitudes.
 Paired comparisons. The respondent is given paired comparisons of
nations, exercises, or other comparisons related to an attitude.
 Opinion Poll or Survey. Verbal or written form can be gathered.
 Simple techniques as anecdotal records. Autobiographies, diaries,
leisure time pursuits, impression or interview.
TECHNIQUES IN ATTITUDE TESTING

9. CONSISTENCY BETWEEN ATTITUDE AND
BEHAVIOR
 When there is self-awareness
 When attitudes are salient
 When the attitude issue is significant
 When responding to the attitude has direct implications
 When the attitude is based on direct experience
 Attitudes are formed within a situation

10. SALIENT
THEORIES ON
ATTITUDE AND
BEHAVIOR
1. THEORY OF REASONED ACTION
2. THEORY OF PLANNED
BEHAVIOR
3. FAZIO THEORY OF ATTITUDE-
BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIPS
4. LEON FESTINGER’S COGNITIVE
THEORY

11. THEORY OF REASONED ACTION
 It states that the best way to predict whether people will
perform some behavior is to know their intentions.
 Intentions displays in behavior have 2 elements:
1. The person’s attitudes or evaluation of the object,
person, or event
2. The person’s subjective norm about performing the
behavior.

12. THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR
 The theory of reasoned action was extended by Azjen and
created the TPB to emphasized the role of volition.
 Perceived behavioral control is the extent to which the
person believes it is easy or difficult to perform an act.
 He dominant account of relationship between cognitions
and behavior.

13.  The process of decision-making consider the previous
experiences and the anticipation of events that might
happen.
Example, Students highly valued A grade (attitude), their
family and friends want them to achieve it (subjective norm).
Prediction of getting an A will be unreliable unless you will
get their perceptions of their own abilities.
THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR

14. Comparison of the theory of reasoned action (TRA)
and the theory of planned behavior (TPB)
SUBJECTIVE NORM:
BASED ON NORMATIVE
BELIEFS
ATTITUDE TOWARDS
BEHAVIOR:
BASED ON BEHAVIORAL
BELIEFS
PERCEIVED BEHAVIORAL
CONTROL:
BASED ON BELIEFS ABOUT
RESOURCES AND
OPPORTUNITIES
BEHAVIORAL INTENTION:
EFFECTIVENESS DEPENDS ON
CORRESPONDING
SPECIFICITY, STABILITY OVER
TIME INTERVAL, DEGREE OF
VOLITIONAL CONTROL
BEHAVIOR
Note: the solid lines is the Theory of
Reasoned action while the dotted lines refers
to Theory of Planned Behavior (addition)

15. FAZIO’S THEORY OF ATTITUDE ACCESSIBILITY
 The extent to which an attitude is ‘handy’, functional, or useful for the
person depends on the extent to which the attitude can be automatically
activated in memory.
 The likelihood of automatic activation depends on the strength of the
association between the object and the evaluation. Thus, strong
association are highly functional because they help people in making
decisions.

16. WHEN IS AN ATTITUDE ACCESSIBLE?
 A stronger attitude is more accessible than a weaker attitude. It
can be automatically associated an will exert more influence
over behavior.

17. THOUGHTS TO PONDER ON ATTITUDE-
BEHAVIOR LINK
 The attitudes are accessible.
 The attitudes are stable over time.
 People have had direct experience with the attitude objective.
 People frequently report their attitudes.

18. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY
 Leon Festinger
 The mental conflict that occurs when a person holds two
contradictory attitudes or thoughts (referred to as cognitions).

19. REDUCING COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
Dissonance
modifying one or
both of the
cognitions
changing the
perceived
importance of one
cognition
adding
cognitions
denying that the
two cognitions are
related to each
other

20. ATTRIBUTION
THE THEORY THAT
CONSIDERS HOW WE
DECIDE, ON THE BASIS
OF SAMPLES OF A
PERSON’S BEHAVIOR,
WHAT THE SPECIFIC
CAUSES OF THAT
BEHAVIOR ARE.

21. CAUSES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Situational causes
Perceived causes of behavior that are based on environmental
factors.
Dispositional causes
Perceived causes of behavior that are based on internal traits or
personality factors.

22. ATTRIBUTION BIASES
 Halo effect. A phenomenon in which an initial understanding that a person has
positive traits is used to infer other uniformly positive characteristics.
 Assumed-similarity bias. The tendency to think of people as being similar to
oneself even when meeting them for the first time.
 Self-serving biases. The tendency to attribute personal success to personal
factors (skill, ability, or effort) and to attribute failure to factors outside oneself.
 Fundamental attribution error. A tendency to overattribute others’ behavior to
dispositional causes and minimize the importance of situational causes.