Attitude Formation

Attitude Formation CCSF, Shardlow
In Social Psychology attitudes are defined as positive or negative evaluations of objects

of thought. Attitudes typically have three components.
• The cognitive component is made up of the thoughts and beliefs people hold
about the object of the attitude.
• The affective component consists of the emotional feelings stimulated by the
object of the attitude.
• The behavioral component consists of predispositions to act in certain ways
toward an attitude object.
The object of an attitude can be anything people have opinions about. Therefore,
individual people, groups of people, institutions, products, social trends, consumer
products, etc. all can be attitudinal objects.
• Attitudes involve social judgments. They are either for, or against, pro, or con,
positive, or negative; however, it is possible to be ambivalent about the attitudinal
object and have a mix of positive and negative feelings and thoughts about it.
• Attitudes involve a readiness (or predisposition) to respond; however, for a
variety of reasons we don’t always act on our attitudes.
• Attitudes vary along dimensions of strength and accessibility. Strong attitudes
are very important to the individual and tend to be durable and have a powerful
impact on behavior, whereas weak attitudes are not very important and have little
impact. Accessible attitudes come to mind quickly, whereas other attitudes may
rarely be noticed.
• Attitudes tend to be stable over time, but a number of factors can cause attitudes
to change.
• Stereotypes are widely held beliefs that people have certain characteristics
because of their membership in a particular group.
• A prejudice is an arbitrary belief, or feeling, directed toward a group of people or
its individual members. Prejudices can be either positive or negative; however,
the term is usually used to refer to a negative attitude held toward members of a
group. Prejudice may lead to discrimination, which involves behaving
differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group.
Psychological factors involved in Attitude Formation and Attitude Change

1. Direct Instruction involves being told what attitudes to have by parents,
schools, community organizations, religious doctrine, friends, etc.
2. Operant Conditioning is a simple form of learning. It is based on the
“Law of Effect” and involves voluntary responses. Behaviors (including
verbal behaviors and maybe even thoughts) tend to be repeated if they are
reinforced (i.e., followed by a positive experience). Conversely, behaviors
tend to be stopped when they are punished (i.e., followed by an unpleasant
experience). Thus, if one expresses, or acts out an attitude toward some
group, and this is reinforced by one’s peers, the attitude is strengthened
and is likely to be expressed again. The reinforcement can be as subtle as
1
a smile or as obvious as a raise in salary. Operant conditioning is
especially involved with the behavioral component of attitudes.
3. Classical conditioning is another simple form of learning. It involves
involuntary responses and is acquired through the pairing of two stimuli. Two
events that repeatedly occur close together in time become fused and before long
the person responds in the same way to both events. Originally studied by
Pavlov, the process requires an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that produces an
involuntary (reflexive) response (UCR). If a neutral stimulus (NS) is paired,
either very dramatically on one occasion, or repeatedly for several acquisition
trials, the neutral stimulus will lead to the same response elicited by the
unconditioned stimulus. At this point the stimulus is no longer neutral and so is
referred to as a conditioned stimulus (CS) and the response has now become a
learned response and so is referred to as a conditioned response (CR). In
Pavlov’s research the UCS was meat powder which led to an UCR of salivation.
The NS was a bell. At first the bell elicited no response from the dog, but
eventually the bell alone caused the dog to salivate. Advertisers create positive
attitudes towards their products by presenting attractive models in their ads. In
this case the model is the UCS and our reaction to him, or her, is an automatic
positive response. The product is the original NS which through pairing comes
to elicit a positive conditioned response. In a similar fashion, pleasant or
unpleasant experiences with members of a particular group could lead to positive
or negative attitudes toward that group. Classical conditioning is especially
involved with the emotional, or affective, component of attitudes.
4. Social (Observational) Learning is based on modeling. We observe others. If
they are getting reinforced for certain behaviors or the expression of certain
attitudes, this serves as vicarious reinforcement and makes it more likely that we,
too, will behave in this manner or express this attitude. Classical conditioning
can also occur vicariously through observation of others.
5. Cognitive Dissonance exists when related cognitions, feelings or behaviors are
inconsistent or contradictory. Cognitive dissonance creates an unpleasant state of
tension that motivates people to reduce their dissonance by changing their
cognitions, feeling, or behaviors. For example, a person who starts out with a
negative attitude toward marijuana will experience cognitive dissonance if they
start smoking marijuana and find themselves enjoying the experience. The
dissonance they experience is thus likely to motivate them to either change their
attitude toward marijuana, or to stop using marijuana. This process can be
conscious, but often occurs without conscious awareness.
6. Unconscious Motivation. Some attitudes are held because they serve some
unconscious function for an individual. For example, a person who is threatened
by his homosexual feelings may employ the defense mechanism of reaction
formation and become a crusader against homosexuals. Or, someone who feels
inferior may feel somewhat better by putting down a group other than her own.
Because it is unconscious, the person will not be aware of the unconscious
motivation at the time it is operative, but may become aware of it as some later
point in time.
7. Rational Analysis involves the careful weighing of evidence for, and against, a
particular attitude. For example, a person may carefully listen to the presidential
debates and read opinions of political experts in order to decide which candidate
to vote for in an election.

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Attitude Formation CCSF, Shardlow

In Social Psychology attitudes are defined as positive or negative evaluations of objects

Psychological factors involved in Attitude Formation and Attitude Change

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