ATTITUDE AND ATTRIBUTIOMPRESENTED BY:

MARY ANNE A. PORTUGUEZ, MP, RPM

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.

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.

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.

LET’S PONDER ON THIS: DO ATTITUDES AND TRAITS CAUSE

BEHAVIOR?

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.

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.

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

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

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

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 event2. The person’s subjective norm about performing the

behavior.

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.

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

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)

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.

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.

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.

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY

Leon Festinger The mental conflict that occurs when a person holds two

contradictory attitudes or thoughts (referred to as cognitions).

REDUCING COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

Dissonance

modifying one or both of the cognitions

changing the perceived

importance of one cognition

addingcognitions

denying that the two cognitions are related to

each other

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.

CAUSES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Situational causesPerceived causes of behavior that are based on environmental factors.Dispositional causesPerceived causes of behavior that are based on internal traits or personality factors.

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.