ATTITUDES

A set of beliefs that we hold in relation to an attitude object.A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour.

Key concept in ESP: operate at all levels of social influence Individual level - influence people’s perception,

thinking & behaviour Interpersonal level –key element in how people

get to know each other, respond to each other Intergroup level – group members’ attitudes to

in-/out-groups

(prejudice, self-esteem…)

3 main components Cognitive Emotional/affective Behavioural

In ascribing an attitude to someone:

Are we attributing a relatively permanent mental state?

or

Are we commenting on the way s/he performs certain [discursive] acts?

Having this attitude causes that behaviour…

Attitudes are the unobservable causes of observable behaviour, e.g., anti-intellectualism = an attitude. showing contempt for high culture = one of its

effects

cause & effect metaphysics

Danziger 1997 An attitude is a kind of display, it doesn’t cause a display

concept of attitude 1st used to describe how a person appeared in public, esp. positioning of the body

Link between bodily posture and psychological state = postures (attitudes) expressed private thoughts/feelings

Expression ≠ causation

Groaning is not caused by pain, it expresses pain: groan + pain = aspects of a single psychological whole

But metaphysics of causality overlaid original expressive relation

Attitudes are now conceived of as causing behaviour (e.g., gas under pressure causes a cylinder to

move)

Two features of history of attitude concept Transformation from observable category to

denoting a purely dispositional concept

Expressive link between inner and outer became causal

Observable physical stance became a psychological evaluation

Not due to any empirical discovery but shift from normative metaphysics of meaningful action to a causal metaphysics of behaviour

Driven by social forces

Two main factors account for flourishing industry

External: popular interest in social attitudes (opinions)

Internal: attitude measurement

How attitudes became SocialAllports in 1920’s imported category from

sociology

Social psychological concept of attitude used to study interdependence of individual consciousness & cultural values Psychological, not sociological, social psychology

psychology, attitudes = individual attributes

= responses of separate individuals to artificially constructed situations

≠ the subjective side of collective values of sociologists

collective or cultural values had no existence apart from reactions/dispositions of individuals

all-purpose tool for tracing social problems to source in individual minds

By 1930s term synonymous with OPINION (LaPiere 1934 study)

Assumptions about attitudes: Strictly individual attributes

Acquired, learned therefore modifiable

States with causal properties, have effects, THEREFORE real, distinct entities that push person from within

THEREFORE can be measured

(sociology: ‘action’ rather than ‘behaviour’)

MeasurementThurstone end of 1920’s psychophysics - judgement

applied to verbal statements having a social target

Attitude variable, operational definition

Likert – agree/disagree responses

Technology defined practical employment of concept (Like IQ measurement)

Attitudes are what attitude scales measure (preset scales)

Ideology (European)/values vs. individual attitudes (US) Layer of social consciousness to account for

coherence among attitudes

not separate entities, but meaningfully interconnected parts of larger whole, traceable to social conditions

Psychology - individual reactions to social stimuli Sociology – Mead 1912 ‘a conversation of attitudes’

Cognitive Social Psychology Attitudes play key role in maintaining

consistent sense of self

human mind resists cognitive change, select & interpret information in ways consistent with established attitudes

How are attitudes formed & maintained?

Information gathered about attitude object Classical conditioning Instrumental conditioning Imitation or modelling

Belief perseverance

cause disconfirming evidence to be ignored

generate causal explanations to support underlying beliefs

attitudes become more extreme

Five functions of attitudes To understand events: knowledge function To express values To protect self-esteem: ego defensive

function Maximizing rewards: utilitarian function Matching social situations: social adjustive

function

Attitude-Behaviour Consistency Factors affecting how well attitudes predict behaviour:

Attitudes predict behaviour better when:

Thought-feeling consistency Thoughts & feelings match

Subjective norms Belief that important others will approve of behaviour

Specificity matching Attitudes & behaviour are either both specific or both at general level

Direct experience Attitude developed through direct personal experience

Attitude accessibility Attitude that comes easily to mind

Introspection Person has recently introspected about feelings toward the attitude object & NOT about reasons for holding attitude

Reading Hogg & Vaughan, Ch. 5 & 6

Danziger, K. 1997. Naming the Mind. London: London: Sage. Chapter 8.

Additional: Augoustinos, M., Walker, I. & Donaghue, N.

(2006) (2nd ed.). Social Cognition. London: Sage. Chapter 4