A
person’s attitude towards an attitude
object may be measured in two ways.
Obseravtion of behavioural signals
Highly positive or negative attitudes may
manifest themselves in an individual
becoming over aroused, including changes
to heart rate, body language e.g. failing to
make eye contact.
Hard to measure and rarely more than a
general indicator
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Far more common method
Takes the form of an attitude scale that
attempts to investigate an individual’s
attitudes towards a range of objects by
asking them to respond to a set of
statements e.g ranging from strongly agreestrongly disagree
This is known as a Likert scale
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Attitudes are a predictor of behaviour
Positive attitudes will often lead to positive
behaviours.
Give examples of this
Participating in physical activity
Showing sportsmanship
Good attitudes are socially valued
They conform to preferred norms and allow
individuals to feel valued and be accepted into a
group.
Socialisation-we learn to conform to the ways of
our society
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Is it possible??
Depends on how specific an attitude is.
There are two main methods of changing
attitudes
Persuasive communication
An active, non-coercive attempt to reinforce,
modify or change the attitude of others.
Cognitive dissonance
Tension resulting from having contradictory
thoughts, beliefs or emotions about an
attitude object
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The persuader
Status (in the eyes of the person receiving the
message) a person with higher status is more likely to
persuade
Popularity
Role models such as high profile performer can be
more effective
Credibility
Linked to status but also to feelings of
trustworthiness and whether they have given accurate
or helpful advice in the past
Social or cultural background
A wide difference between backgrounds is negative
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The accuracy of the message
Is it obviously correct?
The delivery of the message
Is it stated with confidence and enthusiasm
The clarity of the message
Is the argument well constructed and logical?
Is the message logical and factual, appealing
to intellect or is it emotional, appealing to
feelings of loyalty, duty and responsibility?
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Are they ready for the message
Able to understand the arguments in terms of
their own emotional, intellectual and
educational development
How strongly held is the current attitude, how
persuadable is the receiver, why to they hold
their current feelings and beliefs?
Are they motivated to change or at the very
least open to the possibility of change?
Pushing too hard can make someone
defensive and more resistant to change.
Peoples perceptions of
Who
What
(source)
(message)
Status
Accurate
Credibility Argument
Expertise
Presentation
Trust
Emotion
Motives
Background
To whom
Where
(Receiver)
(Context)
Education
commitment
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Theory developed by Leon Festinger
(1953)Theory states that indiviuals like to be
consistent in what they do, feel and believe.
If they do something that goes against their
beliefs, or if they encounter new knowledge
or feelings that are counter to their current
state of mind, they feel uncomfortable.
They feel dissonance (a lack of consistency).
If all three components of attitude (CAB) are
consistent then a person feels more
comfortable with their behaviour
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A group of boys is being introduced to dance in PE but
they have a poor attitude towards it and are not cooperative.
Cognitive: Dance is not highly thought of by their peers,
may believe it is for girls and father makes disparaging
remarks about male dancers on TV.
Affective: They may have tried dance before and did not
enjoy it
Behavioural: they may or may not have tried dance before
and refuse to try it now.
The boys refusal to try dance is consistent with the other
components so they feel more comfortable not trying.
To improve the situation the teacher must try to create
some level of dissonance and change one of the
components
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Cognitive: change their knowledge by bringing in
high status dancer to demonstrate, showing
different forms of dance like street and breakdance moves. Emphasise benefits such as
strength and muscle tone.
Affective: engineer a situation where the boys are
likely to enjoy a dance experience e.g. a dance
off with popular music, positive reinforcement to
all
Behavioural: use rewards and incentives to get
them to have a go.
If you can change one component the individual
is motivated to at least try and change the others
to return to a feeling of consistency
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Criticisms include;
Being too simplistic and not taking into
account an individual’s personality,
motivation and whether they have a need for
consistency.
Persuasive communication and cognitive
dissonance are both useful concepts to
understand the cause of a negative attitude
Attitude change is a very complex concept
and without the intrinsic desire to change it is
very difficult to achieve this.