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Among people with weak attitudes toward Greenpeace, Of course, people’s behavior is also influenced by how much they liked the organization did not predict whether they feel they can perform the behavior. For their later behavior. example, if an individual wanted to eat a healthier Fourth, the consistency between attitudes and diet, a positive and positive subjective norms behavior is affected by differences across people. For are unlikely to produce the desired behavior change if example, research on the personality factor called the person is unable to restrain him- or herself from “self-monitoring” (which reflects differences across eating French fries and chocolates. As a result, the people in how they vary their behavior across social Theory of Planned Behavior includes the idea that situations) has found that the relation between attitudes behavior is affected by whether people believe that and behavior is stronger for low self-monitors than they can perform the relevant behavior. This is cap- high self-monitors. Further, the likelihood of a per- tured by the concept of perceived behavioral control. son’s attitudes influencing their behavior is affected by their age. A number of studies have found that univer- The MODE Model sity students show lower attitude–behavior relations compared to adults. This difference is thought to occur Not all behavior is planned and deliberative. Quite because university students tend to have less-clear atti- often we act spontaneously, without consciously think- tudes compared to older individuals. ing of what we intend to do. When our behavior is spontaneous, the theory of planned behavior may not reflect how we decide to act. To help understand how How Do Attitudes attitudes influence spontaneous behavior, Russell Fazio Influence Behavior? developed the MODE model of attitude–behavior rela- In addition to understanding when attitudes predict tions. MODE refers to and Opportunity as behavior, social psychologists have developed a num- DEterminants of behavior. The MODE model suggests ber of models to explain how attitudes predict behav- that if people are motivated and have the opportunity, ior. Two important models are the theory of planned they can base their behavior on a planned and delibera- behavior and the MODE model. tive consideration of available . However, when either the motivation or the opportunity to make a reasoned decision is low, only strong attitudes will The Theory of Planned Behavior predict behavior. The theory of planned behavior was developed by Icek Azjen. As its name suggests, the theory of planned Geoffrey Haddock behavior was developed to predict deliberative and Gregory R. Maio thoughtful behavior. According to this model, the most immediate predictor (or determinant) of a person’s See also Attitudes; Attitude Strength behavior is his or her intention. Put simply, if you intend to recycle glass bottles, you are likely to engage Further Readings in this behavior. Within the theory of planned behavior, a person’s intentions are determined by three factors: Haddock, G., & Maio, G. R. (Eds.). (2004). Contemporary attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral perspectives on the psychology of attitudes. New York: control. The attitude component refers to the individ- Psychology Press. ual’s attitude toward the behavior—whether the person thinks that performing the behavior is good or bad. If you think that recycling glass is good, you should have a positive intention to carry out this behavior. ATTITUDE CHANGE Subjective norms refer to people’s beliefs about how other people who are important to them view the rele- Definition vant behavior. If your family and close friends believe that recycling glass is good, and you are motivated to Attitudes are general evaluations of objects, ideas, and comply with their expectations, you should have a pos- people one encounters throughout one’s life (e.g., itive intention to carry out this behavior. “capital punishment is bad”). Attitudes are important A-Baumeister (Encyc)-45348.qxd 7/24/2007 6:14 PM Page 62

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because they can guide thought, behavior, and feelings. objects), significant attitude change has also been Attitude change occurs anytime an attitude is modified. found for positive and negative attitude objects as Thus, change occurs when a person goes from being well. One series of studies found that repeatedly pair- positive to negative, from slightly positive to very pos- ing words related to the self (e.g., I and me) with pos- itive, or from having no attitude to having one. Because itive stimuli caused significant increases in a later of the functional value of attitudes, the processes that measure of participants’ self-esteem. Thus, continu- change them have been a major focus throughout the ally associating an attitude object or message with history of social psychology. something you already like (e.g., an attractive source) can lead to positive attitudes.

Dual Process Approach Affective Priming. Another process that involves the According to dual process models of attitude change, association of two stimuli is called affective priming. In research on this topic can be organized according to this process a positive or negative stimulus (e.g., words two general types of processes: (1) those that occur such as love or murder) is encountered just prior to a when one puts forth relatively little cognitive effort, novel attitude object (rather than following it, as occurs and (2) those that occur with relatively high cognitive in classical conditioning). When this happens, one’s effort. The amount of thought and effort used in any reaction to the positive or negative stimulus will come given situation is determined by many variables, all to color the evaluation of the new object, producing of which one’s motivation or ability to think. attitude change. Imagine, for instance, that you are at an Some examples include one’s personal preference for unfamiliar restaurant and are about to try a totally new engaging in complex thought, the personal relevance dish. If this meal is brought to you by a very attractive of the attitude object, and the amount of distraction waiter or waitress, your positive reaction toward this present while attempting to think. Furthermore, both server is likely to influence your initial attitude toward high- and low-effort processes can operate whether or the food. Although this attitude may change as you not a persuasive message is presented. interact with the attitude object (i.e., when you eat the food), the initial positive evaluation will make it more likely that your final attitude is also positive. Low-Effort Processes When factors keep one’s motivation and/or ability Mere Exposure. In both of the processes discussed so to think low (such as when the issue is not personally far, an attitude is altered by the attitude object’s asso- relevant or there are many distractions present), atti- ciation with a positive or negative stimulus. In contrast, tude change can be produced by a variety of low-effort research on the mere exposure effect has found that processes. These include some largely automatic asso- repeated exposure to an object in the absence of asso- ciative processes as well as simple inferential processes. ciation can also change attitudes. Quite simply, this process requires only that one is repeatedly exposed to an attitude object. When this occurs, the attitude Associative Processes toward the object becomes more positive; possibly due Classical Conditioning. One way to produce attitude to the fact that the object has actually become asso- change in the absence of effortful thought is to repeat- ciated with the absence of anything negative. The edly associate an initially neutral attitude object with strongest mere exposure effects occur when the another stimulus that already possesses a positive or repeated attitude object is low in meaning (e.g., novel) negative meaning. For example, imagine that every or is presented outside of conscious awareness. One time you saw your uncle as a child he took you to the intriguing implication of this phenomenon is that mere zoo. Assuming you enjoy going to the zoo, you will exposure might help to account for the preference a likely start to feel more positively toward your uncle. newborn infant shows for his or her mother’s voice. As If, instead, every time you saw him he took you to the the child develops in the womb, one stimulus that is doctor to get your immunization shots, the opposite repeated every day is the mother’s voice. Thus, mere result is more likely. Although research on this exposure to this stimulus should cause the child’s atti- process has demonstrated that it is most effective for tude toward the voice (and subsequently its source) to previously neutral stimuli (such as novel words or become positive, enhancing the mother–child bond. A-Baumeister (Encyc)-45348.qxd 7/24/2007 6:14 PM Page 63

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Inferential Processes heuristics, some examples are “experts are usually cor- rect” and “bigger is better.” When motivation and abil- Balance. One simple inferential process of attitude ity to think are low, people can use simple rules like change involves cognitive balance. Stated simply, bal- these to form evaluations. For instance, in deciding ance is achieved when people agree with those they what new music is good, someone might simply walk like and disagree with those they dislike. When this is over to the bestseller section at the local music store not the case, one experiences a state of unease, and and survey the current top selections. By basing their attitudes are likely to shift to bring the system into bal- opinions on the rule that “the majority is usually right,” ance. For instance, suppose you discover that you and they establish positive attitudes toward those artists your worst enemy both love the same band. When this they discover in this section and avoid more effortful occurs, you are likely to experience an uncomfortable (and costly) processes such as critically listening to state of imbalance, and to rectify this inconsistency, each performer’s music. Or, instead of thinking care- one of your attitudes will likely change. Thus, upon fully about all of the arguments in a persuasive mes- learning the information, you may come to find your sage about a new pain reliever, a person might simply previous enemy much less distasteful or, alternatively, count the arguments and reason, “the more arguments, feel less positively toward the band. the better.”

Attribution. At its most general level, attribution con- cerns the inferences that people make about them- High-Effort Processes selves and others after witnessing a behavior and the There are also attitude change processes that situation in which it occurred. Although this topic is require a greater use of mental resources. When a per- highly studied in and of itself, its research has also out- son is motivated and able to invest high effort in mak- lined a number of processes that can create low-effort ing a judgment about an issue or object, attitude attitude change. One attributional process, which change can occur due to characteristics of his or her occurs when people are not well attuned to their own thoughts (e.g., whether the thoughts are favorable or beliefs, is self-perception. In this process, people infer unfavorable), his or her estimation that good or bad their own attitudes from their behaviors, just as they outcomes will be tied to the attitude object, or the per- would for someone else. Thus, people can infer that if son’s realization that he or she holds conflicting they are eating a peach or watching a pro-peach adver- beliefs about a of attitude objects. tisement, they must like peaches, even if they hadn’t considered this possibility before. When this inference Cognitive Responses. When people’s attitudes change is made, it produces attitude change, making their atti- through the use of high cognitive effort, some of the tude toward peaches more positive. most important aspects to consider are their actual In a related phenomenon, called the overjustifica- thoughts (cognitive responses) toward the attitude tion effect, people come to infer that they dislike a object and any persuasive message that is received on previously enjoyed activity when they are provided the topic. Although there are a number of different with overly sufficient rewards for engaging in it. aspects to consider, three components of thought have Research has demonstrated this effect by providing proven especially important in producing change. The children with candy or other rewards for engaging in first, and most obvious, is whether thoughts about the an activity they had previously performed merely for attitude object or message are largely favorable or unfa- its own sake (e.g., coloring). When this happens, the vorable. By examining the ratio of positive to negative children infer that they were performing the activity thoughts, the likely amount of attitude change produced for the reward, not for its mere enjoyment, and their can be approximated. If there is a greater proportion of attitude toward engaging in the behavior becomes less favorable than unfavorable thoughts, your attitude will positive. change in a positive direction. The opposite is true if there is a greater proportion of negative thoughts. Heuristics. One final process through which low-effort A second important dimension concerns how much attitude change can occur is through the use of heuris- thinking is done. For example, the more positive thoughts tics, or simple decision rules based on prior experi- one has about an attitude object, the more favorable the ences or observations. Although there are countless attitudes will be. The third, and final, aspect of thought A-Baumeister (Encyc)-45348.qxd 7/24/2007 6:14 PM Page 64

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is related to confidence. When thinking about an atti- may actually change their own attitude. If, for instance, tude object or persuasive message, people will have you recently purchased a sport utility vehicle merely varying confidence in each of their discrete thoughts. for the image it provides, your attitude toward it may To the extent that they are highly confident in a thought, become more negative if you are prompted to consider it will have a great impact on their final attitude. Those all of the consequences (e.g., very expensive fuel bills) thoughts that are associated with low confidence, how- and values (e.g., promoting U.S. independence from ever, will play a relatively minor role in any attitude foreign oil supplies) that are associated with it. change. Many things can affect one’s confidence in a thought, such as how easily it comes to mind. Dissonance Processes. According to cognitive disso- Although these three factors are easy to imagine nance theory, people are motivated to hold consistent operating in traditional settings (e.g., when attitudes. Because of this motivation for consistency, you view an advertisement for some commercial prod- people experience unpleasant physiological arousal uct), they also influence attitude change in the absence (an increase in heart rate, sweaty palms, etc.) when of any persuasive message. One way in which this they willingly engage in a behavior that is counter to occurs is when people role play, or imagine what their beliefs or are made aware that they possess two or someone else would think about an issue. Imagine, for more conflicting attitudes. This experience then moti- instance, that you enjoy smoking cigarettes. Now, gen- vates them to change their attitudes so that the unpleas- erate as many reasons as you can to stop smoking. ant feelings can be eliminated. When people make a Because of the cognitive responses you’ve created by choice from among alternatives, dissonance processes engaging in this process, you may change your own will often produce attitude change. Research has attitudes toward smoking. As you can probably guess, shown that once people make a choice, attitudes the more thought and effort you put into the role play, toward each of the potential choices will change such the more likely it is that attitude change will occur. If that the chosen alternative will be viewed more posi- you did put a great deal of effort into the exercise, then tively and the nonchosen alternative(s) will be viewed you’ve probably created a number of negative thoughts more negatively than prior to the choice. This reduces about smoking tobacco. In this case, you might expect the aversive dissonance experience that would have that your attitude has become more negative toward occurred if they still felt very positively toward an uns- smoking. This may or may not be true, however, elected option. If you’ve ever bought a product that depending on the confidence you have in the thoughts turned out to have flaws, then you’ve probably experi- that were produced. If you generated a large number of enced dissonance. When a situation like this occurs, antismoking thoughts but had low confidence in the your behavior (purchasing the product) is not consis- validity of each one, then they would have very little tent with your beliefs about the product (it is flawed), impact on your attitude, especially if they were coun- and this causes dissonance. To resolve this dissonance, tered by some very positive thoughts that were held you must change either your attitude toward the prod- with high confidence. uct (and decide that it is actually good) or your behav- ior (return it to the store). Expectancy-Value Processes. According to the rea- soned action theory, attitudes are created through an Attitude Strength individual’s assessment of how likely it is that a given attitude object will be associated with positive (or neg- One of the most important characteristics of an attitude ative) consequences or values. The more likely it is that is its strength. Attitude strength is associated with an an attitude object (e.g., a car) is associated with a posi- attitude’s persistence, resistance to change, and ability tive consequence (being able to travel to work) or value to predict behavior. The stronger an attitude, the more (staying safe), the more positive the attitude will be. it exhibits these characteristics. As you might expect, Although some researchers have argued that all atti- attitudes produced by high-effort cognitive processes tudes are determined in this manner, it is most likely are stronger than those produced by low-effort that this process only occurs when people put sufficient processes. Because they are the result of greater cogni- effort into considering all of the possible consequences tive effort, these attitudes are often based on more con- and values that may be tied to a given attitude object. sistent information, are supported by a more developed Interestingly, when people engage in this process of knowledge structure (e.g., related beliefs and values), effortful consideration of an object or message, they and are held with greater certainty than are attitudes A-Baumeister (Encyc)-45348.qxd 7/24/2007 6:14 PM Page 65

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produced by a low-effort process. If, for instance, your whether we like or dislike something or find an idea recent car purchase was based on months of research pleasant or unpleasant. For instance, we may say that and test-drives, then you are likely to have a whole we know something “in our heart” or have a “gut feel- host of information that supports your positive attitude ing.” In such cases our attitudes have been formed toward the vehicle. This associated information will though our rather than through logic or think- then serve to buoy the attitude, allowing it to persist ing. This can happen through (a) sensory reactions, over the life of the vehicle and resist change (e.g., fol- (b) values, (c) operant/instrumental conditioning, (d) clas- lowing negative experiences like breakdowns). If your sical conditioning, (e) semantic generalization, (f) eval- attitude was instead based on a low-effort process (e.g., uative conditioning, or (g) mere exposure. a heuristic rule, “if it looks good, it is good”), then this attitude may be easily changed when you experience Sensory Reactions negative events and become motivated to think criti- cally about the attitude object. Any direct experience with an object though seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching will lead to an Chris Loersch immediate evaluative reaction. We are experts at know- Brandon Kopp ing whether we find a certain sensory experience pleas- Richard E. Petty ant or unpleasant. For example, immediately upon tasting a new type of candy bar, you know whether you See also Attribution Theory; Balance Theory; Cognitive like it or not. This also applies to aesthetic experiences, Dissonance Theory; Elaboration Likelihood Model; such as admiring the color or composition of an art- Inference; Need for Cognition; Overjustification Effect; work. We form attitudes about objects immediately Priming; Reasoned Action Theory; Self-Perception Theory upon experiencing them.

Further Readings Values Petty, R. E., Wheeler, S. C., & Tormala, Z. L. (2003). Some attitudes come from our larger system. Persuasion and attitude change. In T. Millon & M. Lerner We may come to hold certain attitudes because they (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Personality and social validate our basic values. Many attitudes come from psychology (pp. 353–382). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. religious or moral beliefs. For example, for many people their attitudes about abortion, birth control, same-sex marriage, and the death penalty follow from their moral or religious beliefs and are highly emotional issues for ATTITUDE FORMATION them.

Definition Operant Conditioning An attitude is a general and lasting positive or negative Operant or instrumental conditioning is when an opinion or feeling about some person, object, or issue. attitude forms because it has been reinforced through We form attitudes through either direct experience or reward or a pleasant experience or discouraged through the persuasion of others or the media. Attitudes have punishment or an unpleasant experience. For example, three foundations: affect or , behavior, and a parent might praise a teenager for helping out at an cognitions. In addition, evidence suggests that atti- after-school program with little kids. As a result, the tudes may develop out of psychological needs (motiva- teen may develop a positive attitude toward volunteer tional foundations), social interactions (social work. Similarly, many people find that broccoli has a foundations), and genetics (biological foundations), terrible taste, and so they dislike broccoli because of its although this last notion is new and controversial. punishing flavor.

Emotional Foundations Classical Conditioning A key part of an attitude is the affect or emotion asso- Classical or Pavlovian conditioning happens when ciated with the attitude. At a very basic level, we know a new stimulus comes to elicit an emotional reaction