at t i t u d e s
TRANSCRIPT
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AT T I T U D E s
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WHAT is ATTITUDE?> is an expression of favoror disfavor toward a
person, place, thing, orevent (the attitudeobject).> An attitude can be definedas a positive or negativeevaluation of people,objects, event, activities,ideas, or just aboutanything in your
environment,
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Prominent psychologist
Gordon Allport once
described attitudes "the
most distinctive and
indispensable concept incontemporary social
psychology.".Attitude can
be formed from a person'spast and present. Attitude
is also measurable and
changeable as well asinfluencing the person's
emotion and behavior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Allporthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Allporthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Allport -
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COMPONENTSof
ATTITUDES
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Cognitive component: thisinvolves a persons belief /
knowledge about an attitudeobject. For example: I believespiders are dangerous.
Affective component: this
involves a persons feelings /emotions about the attitudeobject. For example: I am scaredof spiders.
Behavioral (or conative)component: the way the attitudewe have influences how we act
or behave. For example: I willavoid spiders and scream if I seeone.
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The
Functionof
Attitudes
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Knowledge. Attitudes provide
meaning (knowledge) for
life. The knowledge function
refers to our need for a world
which is consistent and relatively
stable. This allows us to predictwhat is likely to happen, and so
gives us a sense of control.
Attitudes can help us organize
and structure our
experience. Knowing a persons
attitude helps us predict their
behavior. For example, knowingthat a person is religious we can
predict they will go to Church.
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Self / Ego-expressive. The
attitudes we express (1)
help communicate who we are
and (2) may make us feel good
because we have asserted our
identity. Self-expression ofattitudes can be non-verbal too:
think bumper sticker, cap, or T-
shirt slogan. Therefore, our
attitudes are part of our identify,
and help us to be aware through
expression of our feelings, beliefs
and values.
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Adaptive. If a person holds and/or
expresses socially acceptable
attitudes, other people will rewardthem with approval and social
acceptance. For example, when
people flatter their bosses or
instructors (and believe it) or keep
silent if they think an attitude is
unpopular. Again, expression can
be nonverbal [think politiciankissing baby]. Attitudes then, are
to do with being apart of a social
group and the adaptive functions
helps us fit in with a social group.People seek out others who share
their attitudes, and develop similar
attitudes to those they like.
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The ego-defensive function refersto holding attitudes
that protect our self-esteem or thatjustify actions that make us feelguilty. For example, one waychildren might defend themselvesagainst the feelings of humiliation
they have experienced in P.E.lessons is to adopt a stronglynegative attitude to allsport. People whose pride hassuffered following a defeat in sport
might similarly adopt a defensiveattitude: Im not bothered, Imsick of rugby anyway. Thisfunction has psychiatric
overtones. Positive attitudestowards ourselves, for example,have a protective function (i.e. anego-defensive role) in helping usreserve our self-image.
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PREDICTING BEHAVIORFROM ATTITUDES Most research which attempts to
predict action from attitudes has done
so by assessing attitudes toward some
issuefor example, discrimination in
employmentwith less than notablesuccess. This study demonstrates that
improved prediction is possible if
attitudes toward action for example,
signing a protest petition againstdiscriminationare also assessed.
Although knowledge of attitude toward
action alone did not significantly
predict behavior, it did reduce thenumber of prediction errors when used
in conjunction with attitude toward
issue.