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CHAPTER 3: ATTITUDES – FUNCTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES
Chapter objectives
This chapter discusses the functions that attitudes serve, the relationship between attitude
functions and persuasion, and attitude-behavior consistency. It also details when individuals are
more or less likely to have attitudes predictive of their behavior and introduces models that
attempt to explain this process.
Terms and issues to know
Accessibility theory
Attitude-behavior relationship
Attitude-behavior consistency
Attitude dysfunctions
Attitude strength
Compatibility principle
Direct experience
Functional approach to attitude/ Functional theory
General vs. specific attitudes
Theory of planned behavior
Theory of reasoned action
Chapter outline
I. Functional theories of attitude examine why people hold the attitudes they do
II. Functional theory helps us understand why people hold attitudes
III. The main functions of attitudes or the primary benefits that attitudes provide are:
A. Knowledge, helps people make sense of the world
B. Utilitarian, helps people obtain rewards and avoid punishments
C. Social adjustive,
IV. Attitudes and Persuasion
A. Attitudes can serve different functions for different people
B. People volunteer for different reasons
C. Functional theory suggests
attitude when the message is directed at the underlying function the attitude serves
D. Messages that match the function served by an attitude should be more compelling than
those that are not relevant to the function addressed by the attitude
E. Researchers tested whether participants would be more motivated if messages were
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2. To change an attitude, one must understand the function it serves and direct the
message to the underlying function
V. Historical Background
A. Psychologist, Richard LaPiere, researched prejudice and found no significant link
between attitude and behavior but his study was an anomaly
B. Researchers systematically examined the relationship between attitude and behavior
over the ensuing decades
C. Researchers correctly observed that attitudes do not always predict behavior
D. Can now identify the factors that moderate the attitude-behavior relationship. Key
variables are (Fazio & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 1994; Zanna & Fazio, 1982):
VI. Situational Factors
A. The context – – exerts a powerful impact on behavior
B. A norm is a
C. Roles are parts we perform in everyday life, socially prescribed functions like professor,
student, parent, child, and friend
D. Norms vary across cultures
VII. Characteristics of the Person
A. Individuals differ in the extent to which they display consistency between attitudes and
behavior
B. Two moderating factors are self-monitoring and direct experience
C. Self-monitoring refers to the degree to which individuals are concerned with displaying
appropriate behavior in social situations
2. Low self-monitors are less concerned with fitting into a situation or displaying socially
correct behavior
3. High self-monitors exhibit less attitude-behavior consistency than do low self–
monitors
D. Attitudes formed through direct experience
formed through indirect experience (Fazio & Zanna, 1981, p. 185; see also Millar & Millar,
1996)
E. Attitudes produced by direct experience also come more quickly to mind than attitudes
VIII. Characteristics of the Attitude
A. The nature of an attitude moderates the relationship between attitudes and behavior
B. A general attitude is the global evaluation that cuts across different situations
C. A general attitude, sometimes called attitude toward the object, will not predict each and
every religious behavior
D. A specific attitude, called attitude toward a behavior, is evaluation of a single act, or
specific behavior that takes place in a particular context at a particular time
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E. The compatibility principle, Ajzen and Fishbein (1977), A strong relationship between
attitude and behavior is possible only if the attitudinal predictor corresponds with the
behavioral criteria
2. General attitudes predict broad classes of behavior that cut across different situations
F. Attitude strength – strong attitudes are particularly likely to forecast behavior (Lord,
Lepper, & Mackie, 1984)
G. itude into behavior
(Armitage & Conner, 2000; Lavine, Thomsen, Zanna, & Borgida, 1998)
IX. Models of Attitude – Behavior Relations
A. Three models of attitude-behavior relations have been proposed
1. The theory of reasoned action
3. The accessibility model
B. The theory of reasoned action model assumes that people rationally calculate the costs
and benefits of engaging in a particular action and think carefully about how important
others will view the behavior under consideration
1. There are four components of the theory:
a. Attitude toward the behavior
2. The model uses a mathematical formula to combine attitude and norm
4. The theory of reasoned action allows us to specify the precise impact that attitudes
exert on behavior
5. Shortcoming – assumes that people have control over their behavior – they are
psychologically capable of acting on their attitude or carrying out their intentions
C. Ajzen (1991) developed a theory of planned behavior that adds another component to the
reasoned action model: perceived behavioral control Ajzen argues that behavioral
intention is determined by three factors:
1. Attitude
2. Subjective norm
3. Perceptions of behavioral control
a.
control he or she has over the behavior; it is a subjective estimate of how
easy or difficult it will be to perform the behavior
D. Planned behavior and reasoned action theories both emphasize that attitudes can predict
behavior under certain circumstances
E. Planned behavior and reasoned action theories both acknowledge that attitudes will not
predict behavior when subjective norms apply, or when people lack the psychological
ability to translate attitude into action
X. Accessibility Theory
A. The ac
activated from memory at the time of a decision
2. The attitude must influence perceptions of an issue or person, s
Fazio & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 1994, p. 85)
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4. You can harbor an attitude toward a person or issue, but unless the attitude comes to
XI. Implications for Persuasion
A. The more researchers know about when and how attitudes influence behavior, the more
useful their recommendations are to real-life persuaders
B. Each theory provides input on how a persuader may influence behavior
XII. Judging Consistency
A. s and different points of view
B. In trying to decide if someone behaved in a hypocritical fashion, a variety of issues
XIII. Conclusions
A. Functional theory stipulates that people would not hold attitudes unless they satisfied
core human needs
B. Attitudes help people cope, serving knowledge, utilitarian, social adjustive, social identity,
value-expressive, and ego-defense functions
C. Two people can hold the same attitude for different reasons
D. People are especially unlikely to translate attitude into behavior when:
2. They are ambivalent about the issue (or)
4. Three models of attitude-behavior consistency – theory of reasoned action, theory of
planned behavior, and accessibility theory
Discussion points/ projects/ exercises
1. Attitudes fulfill particular needs and motives for people. Think of attitudes you or others
hold and discuss corresponding attitude functions
2. What strategies might you use to persuade individuals who are social adjustive?