• Defining an Attitude
    • An attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual's response to all objects and situations with which it is related (Allport, 1935)
    • Important elements of Allport's definition:
      • Attitudes are private
      • Attitudes are formed and organized through experience. That is, we are not born with our attitudes we acquire them via the SOCIALIZATION process
      • An attitude is not passive, but rather it exerts a dynamic or directive influence on behavior. Attitudes believed to directly influence behavior

  • Components of an Attitude
    • An attitude comprises three parts:
      • The AFFECTIVE component is the emotional (like-dislike) component of an attitude
      • The BEHAVIORAL component is the overt behavior attached to our internal attitudes
      • The COGNITIVE component is the storage component where we organize information about an attitude object
      • Together these make up the ABCs of attitudes
    • The affective component makes an attitude different from categorization
    • A fourth component, the BEHAVIOR INTENTION, was later added to increase the attitude-behavior predictive relationship

  • The Functions of an Attitude
    • BADGE VALUE
      • Attitudes help define us and make up-front statements about who we are and what we believe
    • UTILITARIAN, ADAPTIVE FUNCTION
      • Attitudes reflect liking for things that lead to achieving goals and disliking for things that block our goals
    • KNOWLEDGE, ECONOMY FUNCTION
      • Attitudes allow us to categorize information about attitude objects and more easily manage our world
    • VALUE EXPRESSIVE FUNCTION
      • Attitudes allow us to express our beliefs about what we consider to be right or wrong
    • EGO DEFENSIVE FUNCTION
      • Attitudes protect us from our fears an rejections

  • The Expectancy-Value Model of Attitudes I
      • (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1976)
    • Central to the Expectancy-Value Model
      • A person holds many beliefs about an attitude object; an object is seen as having many attributes
      • Associated with each attribute is an evaluative response (i.e., an attitude)
      • Through a learning process evaluative responses are associated with the attitude object
      • Learned evaluative responses summate
      • On future occasions, an attitude object will elicit this summated evaluative response
    • An attitude is a function of a person's beliefs about an object and the evaluative responses

  • The Expectancy-Value Model of Attitudes II
      • (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1976)
    • An attitude can be conceptualized by the following equation:
      • Ao=(bi x ei)
        • Ao = The attitude toward an object (o)
        • bi = A belief about the object's attributes
        • ei = The evaluation of an attribute
      • A belief is the subjective probability that an object has a given attribute (e.g., Bill Clinton is dishonest). A value (.00 to 1.0) could be assigned to designate the degree to which the attitude object has a given attribute
      • The evaluation is a rating of the attribute along some evaluative dimension (e.g., good bad). For example, you could rate dishonesty on a scale ranging from 0 to 10

  • The Expectancy-Value Model of Attitudes III
      • (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1976)
    • One's attitude is a sum of the product of each belief times its evaluation
    • Beliefs are held in a hierarchy
    • An attitude is determined at any given time by the 5 to 9 most salient beliefs in one's belief hierarchy
    • Types of beliefs
      • Descriptive belief: Based on direct experience with the attitude object. Held with maximum confidence
      • Inferential belief: Belief based on an inference process. Infer a belief from other beliefs
      • Informational belief: Belief based on information from an outside source

  • The Attitude-Behavior Relationship I
    • For many years it was assumed that attitudes are strong predictors of behavior
    • Research shows that the relationship between attitudes and behavior is not as strong as once believed
    • Several reasons for weak attitude-behavior relationship
      • Measurement error: Attitude measures may not accurately measure a person's attitude
      • The nature of the attitude measured: Attitude researchers used to measure GENERAL attitudes and then tried to predict a SPECIFIC behavior.
        • You get a better relationship when a SPECIFIC attitude and a SPECIFIC behavior are measured

  • The Attitude-Behavior Relationship II
    • Single acts vs. behavioral trends
      • Research tended to focus on single acts and not behavioral trends (behavior over time)
      • Attitudes predict behavioral trends better than any one behavior making up that trend
    • A behavior is often related to more than one attitude. Measure multiple attitudes and you get a better relationship
    • Other factors that increase attitude-behavior consistency
      • Reflecting on past attitude-related behavior
      • Making a person more aware of his/her attitudes
      • Prior experience with attitude object

  • Increasing the Attitude-Behavior Relationship
      • The Theory of Planned Behavior
    • Fishbein and Ajzen (1980) proposed that the best predictor of behavior is one's INTENTIONS
    • Whether a person behaves in an attitude consistent way or not depends on the nature of the behavior intention formed
    • Behavior intentions are influenced by three factors
      • Attitude toward the behavior: How does the person feel about the behavior in question?
      • Subjective norms: What others are doing
      • Perceived behavior control: How easy or hard is the behavior and what will the outcome of the behavior be?
    • Accuracy of behavior intentions is supported by Gallup polls taken before presidential elections