Attitude represents our evaluation of a person, concept, or object, typically in positive or negative terms. We form attitudes about numerous things, from supermarket products to global populations or political issues. Each attitude usually has three aspects: an affective component (emotional response), a behavioral component (influence on actions), and a cognitive component (knowledge or beliefs).
The link between attitudes and behavior
Processes by which behavior influences attitudes
- Foot-in-the-door phenomenon: Involves first securing a small favor or minor purchase, followed by a request for a larger favor or bigger purchase. Once people commit to a smaller action, they tend to remain consistent and comply with a bigger request.
- Role-playing effects: Occur when individuals assume a given social script and behave according to an assigned role (e.g., participants acting as guards or prisoners). They often internalize and display behaviors fitting that role.
- Justification of effort: Occurs when individuals adjust their attitudes to match the effort they have already invested in a situation or decision.
- Public declarations: Involves openly sharing a belief or position, which increases the likelihood of internalizing that viewpoint due to social pressures and consistency.
Persuasion
- Persuasion modifies an attitude through certain communication methods. Numerous external sources attempt to persuade us daily:
- Source features: Credibility and attractiveness of the speaker.
- Message features: Subtlety, sidedness (number of perspectives), timing, and message order.
- Audience features: Attention level, intelligence, self-esteem, and age.
Cognitive dissonance theory
- Cognitive dissonance arises from holding inconsistent attitudes, actions, or beliefs. This psychological tension pushes individuals to reduce the discomfort, possibly by changing their attitudes, justifying their actions, or seeking a compromise. For instance, learning troubling facts about industrial farming may conflict with a love for beef, leading someone to reduce or alter their beef consumption.
Processes by which attitudes influence behavior
- One model, the theory of planned behavior, posits that people’s behavioral beliefs shape their attitudes about a particular action, guiding their intentions and subsequent actions. An example would be believing it is wrong to keep a phone on in a movie theater; such an attitude strongly predicts that an individual will silence or shut off their phone in that environment.
Factors that influence motivation within attitude contexts
- Instinct: Biological, unlearned patterns of behavior that can affect how we respond or adapt.
- Arousal: Maintaining an optimal arousal level for task performance (e.g., Yerkes-Dodson law).
- Drives (Negative-feedback systems): Homeostatic mechanisms that trigger behaviors restoring balance.
- Needs: Hierarchies or priorities that can redirect or modify our attitudes and subsequent behaviors.
