Attitudes
                       Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or 
                       events
                       Three components of an attitude:
                                                                        The emotional 
                                                      Affective         or feeling 
                                             Cognitive                  segment of an 
                    The opinion or                                      attitude
                     belief segment                Behavioral
                     of an attitude                           An intention to 
                                                              behave in a certain 
                                                              way toward someone 
                                                Attitude      or something
                            Example
                                 n
                                 a
                                 t
                                 i
                                 a             •   Cognitive = evaluation
                                 k
                                 r
                                 e             My supervisor gave a promotion to a 
                                 b
                                  
                                 t             coworker who deserved it less than 
                                 a
                                 g             me. My supervisor is unfair.
                                 n
                                 a
                                 s
                                  
                                 u
                                 k
                                 a
                                 l                                                                               Negative
                                 i
                                 r
                                 e             •   Affective = feeling                                           attitude
                                 p
                                  
                                 n             I dislike my supervisor!                                           toward
                                 a
                                 d
                                  
                                 ,                                                                              supervisor
                                 n
                                 a
                                 a
                                 s
                                 a             •
                                 r                 Behavioral = action
                                 e
                                 p
                                               I’m looking for other work; I’ve 
                                 ,
                                 n             complained about my supervisor to 
                                 a
                                 r
                                 a             anyone who would listen
                                 d
                                 a
                                 s
                                 e
                                 K
                                  Does Behavior Always Follow 
                                  from Attitudes?
                                    – Leon Festinger – No, the reverse is sometimes true!
                                    – Cognitive Dissonance: Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior 
                                       and attitudes 
                                       – Individuals seek to reduce this uncomfortable gap, or dissonance, to reach stability and consistency
                                       – Consistency is achieved by changing the attitudes, modifying the behaviors, or through rationalization
                                       – Desire to reduce dissonance depends on:
                                          –  Importance of elements
                                          –  Degree of individual influence 
                                          –  Rewards involved in dissonance
              Measuring the A-B Relationship
             Recent research indicates that attitudes (A) significantly predict 
             behaviors (B) when moderating variables are taken into account.
                      A        B
                  Moderating Variables
                   Moderating Variables
                  • Importance of the attitude
                   • Importance of the attitude
                  • Specificity of the attitude
                   • Specificity of the attitude
                  • Accessibility of the attitude
                   • Accessibility of the attitude
                  • Social pressures on the individual
                   • Social pressures on the individual
                  • Direct experience with the attitude
                   • Direct experience with the attitude
                   Predicting Behavior from 
                   Attitudes
                    – Important attitudes have a strong relationship to 
                       behavior.
                    – The closer the match between attitude and behavior, the 
                       stronger the relationship:
                       – Specific attitudes predict specific behavior
                       – General attitudes predict general behavior
                    – The more frequently expressed an attitude, the better 
                       predictor it is.
                    – High social pressures reduce the relationship and may 
                       cause dissonance.
                    – Attitudes based on personal experience are stronger 
                       predictors.
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