Social Psychology Lecture 8

1. Social Psychology Lecture 8 Theory of attitudes and behaviour (2003) Jane Clarbour Room PS/B007 email: jc129

2. Objectives • Specify the relationship between: • Beliefs and attitudes • Attitudes and behavioural intentions • Behavioural intentions and behaviour • Demonstrate an understanding of the differences between: • The Theory of Reasoned Action • The Theory of Planned behaviour

3. Collectivist Identity based on social system and given by group Socialised to be emotionally dependent on organisations/ institutions Consistency between group goals and personal goals Social behaviour thought to be more determined by social norms and roles than by personal attitudes Individualist Identity based in the individual Socialised to be emotionally independent Personal and group goals are inconsistent Social behaviour thought to be more determined by attitudes than social roles or norms Collectivist vs. Individualist cultures

4. Influence of individualism-collectivism on attitude formation • ‘Values’ hierarchy designed to provide information relating to importance of either individualist or collectivist values for self-concept • If individualist values are more central they will have greater influence in shaping attitudes and behaviour (Franzoi, 2000).

5. Attitudes as explanation for social behaviour Attitudes have three main functions: • They help define social groups • Help to establish personal identity • Mediate thinking and behaviour • i.e Mandela is famous for his attitude towards apartheid. Explanation for social motivation • But what is meant by attitude…?

6. Diversity of ‘attitude’ definitions • Definitions of attitude are ambiguous and may include reference to: • Attribution of dispositions • Behavioural intentions • Evaluations

7. Attitudes as learned predisposition Fishbein & Ajzen (1975) • ‘A learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favourable or unfavourable manner with respect to a given object’ • Predisposition • Associationist • implication of attitude development through repeated experience of behavioural consequence

8. Attitudes as expressed evaluations Eagly & Chaiken (1993) ‘Attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour’ • More cognitive than Fishbein & Ajzen • More emphasis on evaluation (favour/disfavour) • Less emphasis on how gained (ie learned) • More social

9. Attitudes and behaviour LaPiere (1934) racial prejudice • Attitudes to Chinese “Will you accept members of the Chinese race as guests in your establishment?” • Inconsistency between attitude and behaviour • Concluded attitudes should be studied from behaviour in actual social settings

10. Review of attitude-behaviour relationship(Wicker, 1969) • No attitude-behaviour relationship (mean .15) • Psychometric inadequacies • (1 item measure) • Principle of aggregation • LaPieres poor prediction of behaviour used a general measure of attitude to try to predict a specific action rather than a general action.

11. Diversity of measurement(Ajzen, 1988)

12. Ambiguity of definition • Attitudes are… learned • Attitudes …predispose action • Actions are consistently favourable or unfavourable towards the object

13. Three types of consistency • Stimulus-response consistency • Response-response consistency • Evaluative consistency

14. Theory of reasoned action(Fishbein & Azjen, 1975) • Problems arise from lack of clarity of which aspects are most important in definition of attitude and how should be measured • Must distinguish between • Attitude • Beliefs • Behaviour

15. Theory of reasoned action(Fishbein & Azjen, 1975) • Attitude: • Main feature is its evaluative (or affective) nature • Measurement should be bipolar in relation to affect • Beliefs: • The information a person has about an object • Measurement should be dimensional in relation to subjective strength of belief • Behaviour: • The observable acts that are studied in their own right • Measurement of behaviour should not be taken to infer attitude

16. Relationships between these distinctions: • Stage 1. Beliefs: • Links an object to some attribute E.g. “China is a totalitarianstate” Objectattribute “Small dogs are snappy“

17. Conceptual structure relating beliefs, attitudes, intentions And behaviours to a given object – Fishbein & Ajzen (1975) Beliefs about object X 1…………… 2…………… 3…………… 4…………… . . . . N Intentions with respect to object X 1…………… 2…………… 3…………… 4…………… . . . N Behaviours with respect to object X 1…………… 2…………… 3…………… 4…………… . . . N Attitude toward object X Influence feedback

18. Conceptual structure • Beliefs as foundations for attitudes • Knowledge about object • Determines attitudes, intentions & behaviour • Used for • Making judgements • Forming evaluations • Decision making

19. Stage 1: 3 main sources of beliefs • Primary sources • Direct observation • Inference • e.g. person with negative attitude towards communist China and who positively values freedom of religion may infer that China has no religious freedom, even though no direct information on this point • Information from a secondary source • e.g. peers, newspapers, parents, books

20. Stage 2:Attitudes • Attitude to object is based on salient beliefs • (a) That the object has certain attributes • (b) How the person evaluates the particular attributes • Evaluation of specific belief to object • (not beliefs in general) • So, it’s the evaluation of the belief attitude formation

21. Stage 3:Intentions • Attitude to an object is related to person’s intention to perform a variety of behaviours with respect to the object • Intention relates to belief in respect of evaluation of behavioural consequences rather than attributes of object • Not just one behaviour, but whole set • So, might expect consistency • Based upon ‘subjective norms’

22. Theory of Reasoned ActionPrediction of goal directed behaviour (from Azjen & Maddson, 1986) Attitude towards a behaviour Intention Behaviour Subjective norms

23. Intention-behaviour relationship • Intentions and behaviours must be measured at same level of specificity • Behaviour, target, situation, time • The closer the correspondence of these factors the greater the correlation between intention and behaviour

24. Subjective norms • A person’s beliefs that key people would or would not behave that way • A person’s motivation to comply with what these people think • So includes process of conformity as mediator against attitude and behaviour

25. Stage 4: Behaviour • Each intention is viewed as related to the corresponding behaviour • Assumption that most social behaviour is volitional • A person should perform the behaviour that they intend to perform • Note, no direct link between attitude and behaviour • Model assumes that to predict behaviour, need access to intention, not attitude.

26. Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Azjen, 1975) Behavioural beliefs Attitude towards the behaviour Outcome evaluations Relative importance of attitudinal and normative factors Intention Behaviour Normative beliefs Subjective norm Motivations to comply

27. Criticisms of Fishbein & Ajzen’s model (Bentler & Speckart, 1979) • Structural equational modelling techniques demonstrated that both attitude and past behaviour contribute strongly to future behaviour (when measured 2 weeks later) • Behavioural intent mediates predictive capacity of subjective norms on future behaviour • Conclusion that factors other than intentions also are predictive of behavioural intent • Limits value of Fishbein & Ajzen’s model • suggests incomplete

28. Limitations of the Theory of Reasoned Action • Assumes rational evaluation of consequence • People also act: • on their emotion without any thought of consequence • irrationally • according to own morals rather than social norm • Based on individualist assumptions • Ignores individual differences in the need to evaluate

29. Attitudes don’t always predict behaviour • Intention vs behaviour • Factors to consider • Past behaviour • Personal experience • Situational influences • Social pressure / subjective norms • Intensity of normative belief • Motivation to comply

30. Theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen & Madden, 1986) Theory of Reasoned Action developed in relation to volitional behaviour • Not all behaviour is volitional • Deeply ingrained habits • Lack of resources • External obstacles Introduction of additional factor of PERCIEVED CONTROL to the earlier Theory of Reasoned Action

31. Theory of planned behaviour (2)Perceived control • Additional set of beliefs relating to control • Presence or absence of resources and opportunities • As not all behaviour is under voluntary control • Greater perception of control with • increased perception of resources or opportunities • Fewer obstacles or impediments

32. Theory of planned behaviour (Azjen & Madden, 1986) Attitude to behaviour Subjective norm Behavioural intention Behaviour Perceived behavioural control

33. Perceived behavioural control (Ajzen & Madden, 1986) Factors other than intention may mediate control • Internal factors: • Perception of skills, abilities, knowledge and planning… • External factors: • Perception of time, opportunity, other people…

34. Theory of Planned Behaviour: Prerequisites for behavioural intention – behaviour relationship • The measure of intention must match the specificity of the behaviour • i.e. to be able to predict attendance of Social lectures must measure intention to attend Social lectures, rather than just lectures more generally • Time • The measure of intention should be as close as possible to measure of behaviour to avoid change of intention • Volitional control • The behaviour should be perceived to be performable and not reliant upon external variables

35. Conclusions • Attitudes do not predict single behaviours • Attitudes are related to multiple behaviours (behavioural patterns) • Attitudes influence behaviour through influencing intention • Intention is the better predictor of behaviour • In order to understand intentions and behaviours, need to know about beliefs and attitudes • This is essential in relation to attitude change