Attitudes and behavior - summary of chapter 8 of Social Psychology by Smith, E, R (fourth edition)

Social psychology
Chapter 8
Attitudes and behavior

Attitudes and behaviors are often related for two reasons:

• Action influences attitudes
• Attitudes influence actions

Some important conditions have to be in place for attitudes to guide behavior.
Attitudes are only one of several factors that can affect behavior.

Changing attitudes with actions

From action to attitude via superficial processing

Behavior is an important part of the information on which people base attitudes. If behaviors change, attitudes can also change. When people process superficially, attitudes can be based on associations with actions or on inferences from actions. Like other forms of superficial processing, actions are more likely to affect attitudes in this way when people lack the motivation or ability to process more thoroughly.

At the most superficial level of processing, attitudes can be based on associations with actions.

Associations with action

Movements that are strongly associated with liking and disliking can rub off when they occur in the presence of an attitude object.
Because some muscle movements and positive or negative evaluation is very strong, activating those muscles and movements makes particular attitudes more likely. But this effect depends upon what such movements mean to us.
People believe that actions reflect intention and motivation. Just as we think that others’ actions reflect their inner states, we are used to assuming our own do too, unless something tells us otherwise.

Inferences from action: self-perception theory

People often make straightforward inferences from their actions to their attitudes.
People infer attitudes by observing their own behaviors and the situations in which those actions occur.
Like saying what you think someone else wants to hear. What people say colors their own attitudes.
People often infer their attitudes from their behavior, but self-perception is likely only when people chose their own behaviors freely.

The foot-in-the-door technique: could you do this small thing (first)?

Foot-in-the-door technique: a technique for increasing compliance with a large request by first asking people to go along with a smaller request, engaging self-perception processes.
How does it work?

• Performance of the initial behavior triggers self-perception processes, and the presence of an action-consisted attitude is inferred. This new attitude then makes agreement with the second request more likely, but only if all the conditions for self-perception are met.
• The initial actions must be significant or distinctive enough to allow people to draw an inference about themselves and their attitudes.

When do action-to-attitude inferences change attitudes?

• Most likely to occur when people don’t have capacity or motivation to make much notice of or think very much about these changes.
  Foot-in-the-door effects are strongest when people’s cogntive resources have been exhausted.
• Most likely when attitudes are unformed or unimportant

Cognitive dissonance: changing attitudes to justify behavior

When freely chosen actions violate important self-relevant attitudes, the inconsistency produces an uncomfortable state of tension and arousal called cognitive dissonance, which can motivate people to change their attitudes to make them consistent with their behavior. Because this kind of attitude change involves extensive processing, it is often long-lasting. However, there are alternatives to reducing dissonance besides changing our attitudes. While minor discrepancies between action and attitudes might trigger self-perception processes, conflicts between actions and attitudes that are important enough to cause unpleasant tension trigger dissonance reduction processes.

The importance of attitude means that people reflect more deeply on their attitude-inconsistent behavior.

Theory of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance: an unpleasant state caused by people’s awareness of inconsistency among important beliefs, attitudes or actions.
People’s motivation to reduce the unpleasant side effects of inconsistency often produces change.

Four steps for actions to produce cognitive dissonance in and in turn attitude change:

1. The individual perceives the action as inconsistent
   Mostly when actions are inconsistent with positive and important images of ourselves,
   Actions that violate our sense of self-integrity, Value-laden attitudes, or personal standards.
2. The individual perceives the action as freely chosen internal attribution.
3. The individual experiences uncomfortable physiological arousal
4. The individual attributes the arousal to the inconsistency between attitude and action.

People want to reduce the discomfort of dissonance.
We can restore consistency most easily by changing our attitude.

Justifying attitude-discrepant behavior: I have my reasons!

Insufficient justification effect: attitude change that occurs to reduce dissonance caused by attitude-discrepant behavior that cannot be attributed to external reward or punishment.

Justifying effort:I suffered for it, so I like it

Effort justification effect: attitude change that occurs to reduce the dissonance caused by freely choosing to exert considerable effort or suffering to achieve a goal.

Justifying decisions:; of course I was right!

Post-decisional regret effect: attitude change that occurs to reduce the dissonance caused by freely making a choice or decision.
By evaluating the chosen option even more positively and disparaging the unchosen alternative.
It is making the choice to have on thing and give up another than triggers dissonance and the need to reduce it.

The process payoff: inconsistent actions creates persistent attitudes

Trying to justify inconsistent behavior prompts people to consider arguments they might otherwise have ignored, generate new evidence, interpret their behavior in new ways, evaluate the consequences of their actions, and think about why they feel the way they do.
Attitude change by dissonance reduction can be long-lasting.

Alternatives to attitude change

• Trivializing the attitude-discrepant behavior
• Adding cognitions to make it consonant
• Minimizing perceptions of free choice
• Attribute dissonance-induced arousal to something other than your inconsistent behavior.
   

Measures taken to reduce the uncomfortable tension of dissonance-induced arousal can sometimes be harmful.

• Using alcohol or drugs

Some more constructive avenue of dissipating dissonance

• Reaffirming their positive sense of self-worth and integrity
• most obvious alternative
  • Change behavior

Hypocrisy effect: change in behavior that occurs to reduce the dissonance caused by freely choosing to publicly advocate a behavior that one does not actually perform oneself.

Which dissonance reduction strategy is used?

• Opportunity and motivation typically determine the avenue of dissonance reduction.

People tend to use the first reduction opportunity that presents itself.

Changing actions with attitudes

Attitudes sometimes guide behavior.

How attitudes guide behavior

Established attitudes can guide behaviors in a very direct way.
Attitudes bias perceptions, thereby making attitude-consistent information about objects, people and events more obvious an attitude-consistent behavior more likely.
Attitudes also influence behavior in a more considered way by prompting intentions to act in certain ways. Intentions in turn can trigger planing that makes attitude-consistent behavior more likely.

Attitudes guide behavior without much thought

Sometimes attitude-behavior connections occur without any effortful thought.

• The better established the attitude, the better guide to behavior.

Attitudes can bias perceptions.

• Attitudes focus attention on some characteristics of the stimulus and away from others, changing the - object that people perceive. Can even change the apparent physical properties of objects.
• Attitudes dictate the perception of objects to such an extent that people have a tough time realizing that the objects have changed.

This process of changed perceptions increases the likelihood that behavior consistent with the attitude will be elicited in a rather straightforward way.

Attitudes guide behavior through considered intentions

When people deliberately attempt to make their behavior consistent with their attitudes, they usually put considered effort into forming an intention to act in a particular way.
Intention: a commitment to reach a desired outcome or desired behavior.
Typically specify a behavior that will help achieve a goal.

Theory of reasoned action: the theory that attitudes and social norms combine to produce behavioral intentions, which in turn influence behavior.

Intentions can range from the very general to the very specific.
The level at which we think about our intentions determines the potential behavior that will be achieved.

Once intentions have been formed and relevant behavioral information has been activated, the next step is planning.
Implementation intention: a plan to carry out a specific goal-directed behavior in a specific situation.

With intentions in place, behavioral knowledge activated, and plans selected, we are ready to carry out intended behavior if an opportunity presents itself.
Once we start acting, our actions may or may not accomplish our intention

• People monitor their behavior against their intentions.
  People mentally keep track of intentions and goals that they haven’t yet made good on.

By influencing intentions and plans, attitudes can guide attitude-consistent behavior in a more considered and thoughtful way.
This does not mean that attitudes, intentions and plans are deliberately formed anew each time you enter a new situation.
An intention, and a plan to carry it out, may have been formed quite deliberately and systematically at some time in the past, but might later pop into mind almost automatically whenever a relevant attitude object or particular situation is confronted.

Thinking about attitudes in relation to intentions involves much more systematic processing than the superficial processing that occurs when attitudes guide behaviors more directly.
When people aren’t motivated to think carefully or when attitudes aren’t important, behavior may follow quite automatically from how the attitude object is viewed. Or when careful consideration is not possible.

When do attitudes influence action?

The more accessible the attitude and the more closely the attitude corresponds to the intended behavior, the more attitudes will guide actions. Attitudes can be made accessible by deliberate thought, self-awareness, or frequent use. Only attitudes that correspond to a particular behavior will be able to guide that behavior. Implicit attitudes predict uncontrollable behaviors better and explicit attitudes predict controllable behaviors better. Finally, behavior is more likely to reflect attitudes if people both believe they have control and actually do have control over behavior.

Attitude accessibility

Attitudes have to be accessible at the right time.

• Sometimes deliberately
• Automatic

The more often an attitude is activated, the more the link between attitude object and attitude is strengthened.

• Attitudes built up by direct interaction and practice with attitude objects.
• Attitudes formed on the basis of systematic processing come to mind more readily and are more likely to be followed by attitude-consistent behavior.
• Attitudes that are personally important are more likely to be spontaneously activated in a wide variety of information-processing and decision-making situations.
• Strong attitudes have a long history of activation

Attitude correspondence

If attitudes dictate perceptions of and intentions toward a particular attitude object, they will have their greatest effect on behavior toward that particular attitude object.
Only an attitude that corresponds to a particular behavior can be expected to influence that behavior strongly.
Attitude-behavior consistency can only be expected when the attitude object and the target of behavior are the same.
Correspondence of activity levels has also been shown to predict greater attitude behavior consistency.
One’s physical actions may help bring the corresponding attitude to mind and increase attitude-behavior consistency.

Implicit and explicit attitudes as guides for behavior

Implicit attitudes might reflect more automatic, less controllable aspects of evaluations.

For strong attitudes, implicit and explicit attitudes tend to be consistent, so both work together to guide both spontaneous and more controlled behaviors.

When attitudes are not enough

People do not act on attitudes if they think they cannot perform the required behavior.

Theory of planned behavior: the theory that attitudes, social norms, and perceived control combine to influence intentions and thus behavior.

Unforeseen circumstances or lack of ability can prevent us form following through on behavior.
And although attitudes are personal, we often need interpersonal cooperation to carry through on them.
Another factor that limits the impact of attitudes on behaviors is the power of habit. But, it takes a small change to disrupt the habitual behavior.