ATTITUDE

LAW 088
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY AND
CRIMINOLOGY

WHAT IS AN
ATTITUDE
Evaluations of a particular person, group,
action, or thing (social world) negative or
positive evaluation
Fishbein Ajzen (1975)
a learned predisposition to respond in
consistently favorable or unfavorable manner
with respect to a given object.
Our evaluation towards the social world can
be negative or positive.

3 components of attitude:
Attitudes should be considered in terms of their
component parts.
There are 3 major component parts of attitude:
a) Affective (Feeling)
- Individuals evaluation or the kind of emotion
experienced toward the object of attitude.
b) Behavioral (Action)
- to act in certain manner toward the object of
attitude (how one behaves when exposed to
object attitude)

c) Cognitive (Thought)
- thoughts and beliefs people hold about the object
of the attitude.
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What is your attitude

toward Robin Williams:
-Affective component?
- Cognitive component?
-Behavioral component?

NATURE OF ATTITUDE
Without guiding attitudes the individual is
confused and baffled. Some kind of
preparations is essential before he can
make a satisfactory observation, pass
suitable judgment, or make any but the
most primitive reflex type of response.
Attitudes determine for each individual
what he will see and hear, what he will
think and what he will do
Gordon Allport (1935) in Handbook of Social Psychology
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FUNCTIONS OF
ATTITUDE

Utilitarian
People adopt attitudes that are rewarding and that
help them avoid punishment.
In other words any attitude that is adopted in a
person's own self-interest is considered to serve a
utilitarian function.
Knowledge
help people organize and interpret new information
Ego Defensive
attitudes can help people protect their self-esteem
Value-expressive
Used to express central values or beliefs
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TYPES OF ATTITUDE
1.Implicit attitude
Attitude that activated automatically from
memory often without the persons
awareness that she/he possess it
Uncontrollable and not consciously accessible
This will depends on whether there is any
pleasant/ unpleasant events occurred
Normally influenced by affective component

2. Explicit attitude
Attitude that consciously held
Reportable
It is more thoughtful and deliberate evaluation
Influenced by behavioural, affective and
cognitive component

OBJECTS OF ATTITUDE
Any judgment, including persons,
objects, and issues, that have an
attitude or opinion associated with it.
Object of attitude: Persons

Object attitude: Objects

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Object attitude: issues

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FORMATION OF
ATTITUDE
Attitude can be formed through social
learning.
Social learning is the process through which
we acquire new information, forms of
behaviour, or attitudes from other people.
Basically there are three ways that can
developed our attitude, which are:
i)
Classical conditioning
ii)
Instrumental conditioning
iii) Observational conditioning
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Classical Conditioning
This a basic form of learning in which the
neutral stimulus will affected another stimulus.
It can be placing a neutral signal before
naturally occurrence reflex (automatic
response to a simple stimulus which does not
require mental processing).
Example: Dogs Bell was rung when dogs
received food. Food made dogs salivate. Then
whenever a bell was rung, dogs salivated even
when food was not present.
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LEARNING BASED ON
ASSOCIATION

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Instrumental Conditioning
Behaviors or attitudes that are followed by
positive consequences are reinforced and are
more likely to be repeated than behaviors and
attitudes that are followed by negative
consequences.
It is a form of learning in which responses that
lead to positive outcomes/ which permit
avoidance of negative outcomes
Behaviours that are followed
outcomes are strenghtened.
Behaviours that are followed
outcomes are weakened.

by
by

positive
negative

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Example: if a student is rewarded with praise

every time she raises her hand in class, she
becomes more likely to raise her hand again
in the future. If she is also scolded when she
speaks out of turn, she becomes less likely to
interrupt the class.
You ate spaghetti and then fell sick and was
down with food poisoning. Hence, you
develop a dislike for the food and feel
nauseated whenever you smell it.

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Observational Conditioning
A form of learning in which individuals acquire
new forms of behavior or thought as a result
of observing others.
It sometimes influenced by social comparison
and reference group.
Therefore, people will behave according to the
expectation of social comparison and within
the reference group.
Example: Children watch the behaviour of
people around them and imitate what they
see
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DIRECT PERSONAL EXPERIENCE????

SOCIAL RULES AND SOCIAL
NORMS????

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HOW DO ATTITUDE INFLUENCE

BAHAVIOUR

1)Self presentation theory

We express attitudes that makes us appear
consistent because we do not want to look
weird
To appear consistently, we sometimes
pretend attitudes
We will adjust our behaviour to appear
please rather than offend.

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2) Self perception theory

People will explain their behaviour by noting

the condition under which it occurs
This is because we feel like someone observe
us from outside
Example: I do it because I like it

The over justification effect (when someone

offers an unnecessary reward beforehand in
an obvious effort to control behaviour.
Example: you get paid for what youve done

Most of the time motivation will influence self

perception- reward after done something.
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3) Theory of Reasoned Action

The decision to engage in a particular
behaviour is the result of a rational process
and careful thought in which behavioral
options are considered and outcomes are
evaluated.
(Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980)

Example: I believe that smoking causes

cancer. I believe that cancer is very bad.
Thus, I have negative feelings about
smoking.
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HOW ATTITUDE ARE

CHANGED

PERSUASION
Persuasion is an attempt to change people's
attitudes.
Definition: the process of consciously
attempting to change attitudes through the
transmission of some message.
It is an effort to change others attitude through
the use of various kind of messages.
Example: advertisers try to persuade potential
customers to buy a product. To do this, they try
to create a positive attitude toward the product.
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Resisting persuasion
attempts
Forewarning: Advance knowledge that one is
about to become the target of an attempt at
persuasion.
Forewarning increases resistance to the
persuasion that follows.
When received information or messages
which is discrepant from own point of view,
we tend to develop counterarguments prior to
the persuasive message, thus they are more
resistant to persuasion.
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COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY

Feelings of tension and discomfort that arise

when one simultaneously aware of two
inconsistent cognitions feeling of distress
because of conflicting thought and believe.
When we act contrary to our attitudes or,
when we make a decision favouring one
alternative despite reasons favouring another.

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ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR: ARE THEY

RELATED

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