Attitudes & Attributions

Scott Johns and Jenna Callen

Attitudes-When do they predict behavior?

Attitude- Belief and feeling that predisposes someone to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

• Studies Krau (1991) and Wallace (1996) show us that our attitudes can predict behavior if the situation is right:o The outside influences on what we do are

minimalo We are keenly aware of our attitudeso the attitudes are relevant to behavior

Elaboration Likelihood Model• Richard E. Petty and John Cacioppo (1981)

• They described how persuasive message worked to change attitude of behavior.

• This is a dual process theory of how attitudes are formed and changed. It has two routes of persuasive influence:o Central routeo Peripheral route

Central Route

When we are motivated and able to pay attention we take a logical, conscious thinking, central route, to make our decisions.o This can lead to permanent change in our

attitudeo Example: Adapting and elaborating on

speakers arguments

Peripheral Route

• If a message does not process through the central route it takes the peripheral route.

• This occurs when the receiver is not motivated to think about the message, if he is unable to process it, or if the argument is weak.

• With this route the person does not pay attention to persuasive argument but are persuaded by other characteristics o Example: weather or not we like the speaker

• This route causes the reader to focus on issues or themes that are not directly related to the subject matter of the message.

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

Is when someone agrees to do a small task, the request is changed to a larger one.Example: If you want someone to help you move out of your house, start by asking only to help move a couch out.

Role-Playing

An instance or situation where one acts out or assumes a particular character or role.Example: An experiment done by Philip Zimbardo when some students were prisoners and some were guards. The students who were guards became too intense and started beating the "prisoners" so the study was called off.

Cognitive dissonance

Leon Festinger (1957)

• Theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent

Attribution

• Attribution theory: Theory that we tend to explain the behavior of others as an aspect of either an internal disposition or the situation.

• Fundamental attribution error:the tendency to attribute the behaviors of others to inner dispositions rather than to situations

Attribution Continued

Dispositional Attribution: Provide us with

information from which we can make

predictions about a person’s future

behavior.

Situational Attribution: looks at the

outside influences causing us to act

certain waysExample :You are standing in a line to buy tickets for a movie, when someone pushes you and goes

ahead

Dispositional Attribution: He is thoughtless, rude and uncivilized.

Situational Attribution: He was pushed by someone else; he did not intend to cut the line.

Works Cited

McLeod, S. A. (2010). Attribution Theory - Simply Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/attribution-theory.html

"Theory Clusters." Universiteit Twente. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2013. <http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverz

AZAR, BETH. " The power of pretending."American Psychological Association (APA). N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.apa.org/monitor/mar02/pretend.aspx>.