Chapter 4: Behavior and Attitude WHEN ATTITUDES PREDICT

BEHAVIOR
Attitude - A favorable or unfavorable
evaluative reaction toward something or Attitude can be influenced by external
someone (often rooted in one’s beliefs, and factors.
exhibited in one’s feelings and intended
If the external influences are minimal, it
behavior.
can predict a 100% of our behaviour.
Attitude can be influenced by
If the attitude is specific, the behaviour is
surrounding
also specific.
- Reaction natin towards someone
a. WHEN SOCIAL INFLUENCES
depending on their movements.
ON WHAT WE SAY ARE
- Nakadepende sa feelings and
MINIMAL
beliefs.
Act according on what you believe and it
Behaviours – actions and mannerism
does not change despite of having various
made by individual.
influences.
Attitude – not directly observable
 Implicit Association Test (IAT)
Behaviours – observable - A computer-driven assessment
of implicit attitudes. The test uses
1. How Well Do Our Attitudes
reaction times to measure
Predict Our Behavior?
people’s automatic associations
The ABCs of Attitudes between attitude objects and
evaluative words. Easier pairings
Affect – present emotions or at the
(and faster responses) are taken
moment emotions.
to indicate stronger unconscious
Cognition – belief of a specific reason of associations.
emotions response.
Dual Processing
Behavior – after actions caused by affect
Controlled – conscious, explicit
or previous emotions.
Automatic – habitual, implicit
Moral Hypocrisy – appearing moral while
avoiding costs of being so. Doing b. WHEN OTHER INFLUENCES
something you believe in other way ON BEHAVIOR ARE MINIMAL
around.
We adjust depending on the situation.
The Principle of Consistency is the belief The behaviour will incline to what the
that people are rational and attempts to situation is.
behave rationally at all-time and that a
Principle of Aggression – attitude become
person’s behaviour should be consistent
more visible if we focus on the common
with their attitude(s).
behaviour of a person than we consider
isolated acts.
 c. WHEN ATTITUDES SPECIFIC
TO THE BEHAVIOR ARE
EXAMINED
Attitudes predict behaviour in specific
manner.
Example: The concept of Bayanihan
Specific Attitudes – where the beliefs
applied the most.
General Attitudes – what the society sees
and believes.
The Theory of Planned Behavior
“theory of planned behavior,” is knowing
people’s intended behaviors, and their
perceived self-efficacy and control.
Attitude towards behaviour
Subject norms
Perceived control = influences
behavior intention = planning
behavior = result
d. WHEN ATTITUDES ARE
POTENT
Attitude can predict behaviour if the
attitude is showing more influence.
 BRINGING ATTITUDES TO
MIND.
Make someone face a mirror to
understand more the attitude they have
and how it project behaviour.
 FORGING STRONG
ATTITUDES THROUGH
EXPERIENCE.
When the attitude was developing thru
experience it is easier to project
behaviour.
Nagiging possible iyong behaviour kapag
iyong attitude ay na-develop thru
experience.
Summing Up: How Well Do Our
Attitudes Predict Our Behavior?
How do our inner attitudes
(evaluative reactions toward some object or
person, often rooted in beliefs) relate to our
external behavior? Although popular
wisdom stresses the impact of attitudes on
behavior, in fact, attitudes are often poor
predictors of behaviors. Moreover, changing
people’s attitudes typically fails to produce
much change in their behavior. These
findings sent social psychologists scurrying
to find out why we so often fail to play the
game we talk.
The answer: Our expressions of
attitudes and our behaviors are each subject
to many influences. Our attitudes will
predict our behavior (1) if these “other
influences” are minimized, (2) if the attitude
corresponds very closely to the predicted
behavior (as in voting studies), and (3) if the
attitude is potent (because something
reminds us of it, or because we acquired it
by direct experience). Under these
conditions what we think and feel predicts
what we do.
 2. When Does Our Behavior Affect
Our Attitudes?
We do not think just to act, but also we
act as the way we think.
2.1 Role Playing
Role - A set of norms that defines how
people in a given social position ought to
behave.
2.2 Saying Becomes Believing
What do we keep on saying, we
believe to it eventually despite of
disagreeing to it at first.
2.3 The Foot-in-the-Door
Phenomenon - The tendency for
people who have first agreed to a
small request to comply later with a
larger request.
 Low-Ball Technique - A
tactic for getting people to
agree to something. People
who agree to an initial
request will often still comply
when the requester ups the
ante. People who receive only
the costly request are less
likely to comply with it.
o budol
2.4 Evil and Moral Acts
Doing something that result to
attitude changes either in a good
or bad manner.
Example: Telling white lies and
justifying that it was not bad and
you only tell that lie to save
something. And justifying that
everyone is doing it too.
2.5 Interracial Behavior and
Racial Attitudes
Our racial and political behaviors
help shape our social
consciousness. We not only stand
up for what we believe, we also
believe on what we have stood up
for.
2.6 Social Movements
Social Movements and Practices
lead to attitude changes on a mass
scale.
Summing Up: When Does Our Behavior
Affect Our Attitudes?
The attitude-action relation also
works in the reverse direction: We are likely
not only to think ourselves into action but
also to act ourselves into a way of thinking.
When we act, we amplify the idea
underlying what we have done, especially
when we feel responsible for it. Many
streams of evidence converge on this
principle. The actions prescribed by social
roles mold the attitudes of the role players.
Similarly, what we say or write can
strongly influence attitudes that we
subsequently hold.
Research on the foot-in-the-door
phenomenon reveals that committing a small
act makes people more willing to do a larger
one later.
Actions also affect our moral
attitudes: That which we have done, even if
it is evil, we tend to justify as right.
Similarly, our racial and political
behaviors help shape our social
consciousness: We not only stand up for
what we believe, we also believe in what we
have stood up for.
Political and social movements may
legislate behavior designed to lead to
attitude change on a mass scale.
3. Why Does Our Behavior Affects
Our Attitudes?
3.1 Self-Presentation: Impression
Management
We act to make good impression to gain
something in rewards to make ourselves
feel better and validated even if it means
to hide or secure our social identity.
We act to project a consistent image even
if it means hypocrisy or insincerity.
3.2 Self-Justification: Cognitive
Dissonance
 Cognitive Dissonance
Tension that arises when one
is simultaneously aware of
two inconsistent cognitions.
For example, dissonance may
occur when we realize that
we have, with little
justification, acted contrary to
our attitudes or made a
decision favoring one
alternative despite reasons
favoring another.
a. INSUFFICIENT
JUSTIFICATION
 Insufficient Justification -
Reduction of dissonance by
internally justifying one’s
behavior when external
justification is “insufficient.”
 Having discomfort
(dissonance) we tend to be
more motivated to believe
on the things that we have
done.
b. DISSONANCE AFTER
DECISIONS
After making a decision
wherein we experienced
discomfort, we tend to upgrade
the alternative choices for us to
reduce the discomfort and
downgrading other unchosen
option.
3.3 Self-Perception
Self-Perception Theory -
The theory that when we are
unsure of our attitudes, we
infer them much as would
someone observing us, by
looking at our behavior and
the circumstances under
which it occurs.
- a. EXPRESSIONS AND ATTITUDE
Our facial Expression also influences our
Attitudes. We can’t laugh and feel
grumpy. Our feeling has the tendency to
change our attitudes.
b. OVER JUSTIFICATION AND
INTRINSIC MOTIVATIONS
 Over Justification Effect -
The result of bribing people
to do what they already like
doing; they may then see
their actions as externally
controlled rather than
intrinsically appealing.
Types of Motivation
Extrinsic Motivation – with
rewards they do what they do
because they are paid to do so
 Intrinsic Motivation – without
rewards they what they like to do
3.4 Comparing the Theories
a. DISSONANCE AS AROUSAL
 Dissonance Theory
assumptions that we use to
justify our behaviour or to
reduce the internal
discomfort
 Self-Affirmation Theory - A
theory that (a) people often
experience a self-image
threat, after engaging in an
undesirable behavior; and (b)
they can compensate by
affirming another aspect of
the self. Threaten people’s
self-concept in one domain,
and they will compensate
either by refocusing or by
doing good deeds in some
other domain.
o When our attitude is
weak we tend
observe our
behaviour and infer
it to our behaviour.
Kino-comfort mo
sarili mo.
o Tension aroused
when our attitude
and actions are not
in harmony
b. SELF-PERCEIVING WHEN
NOT SELF-CONTRADICTING
We feel tension so we adjust our attitudes
to reduce it.
Summing Up: Why Does Our Behavior
Affect Our Attitudes?
Three competing theories explain why our
actions affect our attitude reports.
Self-presentation theory assumes that
people, especially those who self-monitor
their behavior hoping to create good
– impressions, will adapt their attitude reports
to appear consistent with their actions. The
available evidence confirms that people do
adjust their attitude statements out of
concern for what other people will think.
But it also shows that some genuine attitude
change occurs.
Two of these theories propose that our
actions trigger genuine attitude change.
Dissonance theory explains this
attitude change by assuming that we feel
tension after acting contrary to our attitudes
or making difficult decisions. To reduce that
arousal, we internally justify our behavior.
Dissonance theory further proposes that the
less external justification we have for our
undesirable actions, the more we feel
responsible for them, and thus the more
dissonance arises and the more attitudes
change.
Self-perception theory assumes that
when our attitudes are weak, we simply
observe our behavior and its circumstances,
then infer our attitudes. One interesting
implication of self-perception theory is the
“over justification effect”: Rewarding
people to do what they like doing anyway
can turn their plea - sure into drudgery (if
the reward leads them to attribute their
behavior to the reward).
Evidence supports predictions from
both theories, suggesting that each describes
what happens under certain conditions.