Attitudes - Page 1

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Every day you constantly form and use attitudes. You have probably formed an attitude about this web site, and use of that attitude affects whether you decide to stay or leave. When you get up in the morning, your attitude towards sleep might decide whether you hit the snooze button. You attitudes towards food decide what you have for each meal. And, when a friend calls wanting to go out, your response may be affected by your attitudes of the friend and his suggested activity.

Because attitudes make up such a large part of our daily thought (cognitive) and behavioral process, it is no surprise that, in its early history, social psychology focused largely on attitudes (Weber, 1992, p. 117). Importantly, attitudes can be used to predict behavior, though they are no longer considered as strong predictors as they were originally. We will examine the structure of attitudes, their behavior prediction capabilities, the techniques for changing them, and several theories about how they form and change.

An attitude can be defined as a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, event, activities, ideas, or just about anything in your environment (Zimbardo et al., 1999, p. 745). All attitudes take a stance -- positive or negative -- but they can vary in intensity. For example, I may very strongly like a certain type of music, but have only a casual dislike of broccoli. Attitudes form from our experiences (or observing experiences) and serve to guide our future behavior.

Social psychologists examine attitudes in terms of three components: cognitive, affective, and behavioral. Also, you should note that there is always an object of the attitude, the item towards which the attitude is directed. Let's use the example of your attitude towards a friend on the phone to understand the three components.

1. Cognitive -- This is the mental component, consisting of beliefs and perceptions. Ex: "I think my friend is kind, charming, and humorous."
2. Affective -- This is the emotional component. Ex: "I feel good when I am around my friend."
3. Behavioral -- This is the action component; more specifically, it consists of the predisposition to act a certain way toward the attitude object. Ex: "I try to hang out with my friend whenever I get the chance."

Though most attitudes have all three components, they can be more strongly rooted in either the cognitive or the affective component.

Once you know someone's attitude, you would think you would be able to predict his behavior toward the object. Indeed, attitudes can be useful prediction tools, but quite frequently they do not predict well. For example, despite a positive attitude towards your friend, you might turn down his request that you go to the movie theatre with him. There are many examples of when attitude-behavior relations are not consistent.

Why is this so? A big reason is that attitudes tend to be general, whereas behavior is specific. While asking you about your attitude towards a particular friend is fairly specific, a better question might be "What is your attitude towards going to the movies with that friend?" or "What is your attitude towards going to the movies with that friend on a weeknight?" Your attitude indicated in response to these questions might be a much better predictor, but then again, your behavior still might not be consistent. This is because attitudes give a predisposition to behave a certain way, not a guarantee. Situational factors contribute to your choice in behavior. For example, your emotional state may affect your decision to go out -- are you tired? did you just get in a fight with a family member? -- it may be that you do not have enough money to see a movie, or you may have too much homework that night.

Social psychologists have determined a few factors that increase the correlation between a person's attitude and actual behavior. First of all, the attitude should be highly specific. Assuming it is specific, then the accessibility of the attitude is an important factor. Accessibility refers to the strength of an attitude, or how quickly that attitude comes to mind in response to the attitude object. Let's use the attitude of hypothetical person Bob towards lawyers in predicting his willingness to intern with a lawyer over the summer. If you ask Bob how he feels about lawyers and his attitude is highly accessible (i.e., he responds right away), then studies have shown that this attitude will be a better predictor of his behavior. Accessibility depends on direct experience and rehearsal. If Bob has had a direct experience with lawyers, his attitude will be more accessible, than if it is only based on opinions he has heard from others. Also, the frequency with which Bob rehearses his attitude -- or in other words, how often he thinks about it -- affects its accessibility.