Attitude and Behaviour Flashcards
(30 cards)
What did LaPiere’s (1934) study demonstrate about attitudes and behaviour?
A discrepancy between expressed attitudes (discrimination) and actual behaviour (acceptance).
What was the key finding of Wicker’s (1969) meta-analysis?
: The correlation between attitudes and behaviours was generally low (r ≈ 0.15).
: What is the Principle of Correspondence?
Attitudes and behaviours must be measured with the same level of specificity in action, target, context, and time to correlate strongly.
According to Fishbein & Ajzen (1975), what four components define a specific behaviour?
Action, target, context, and time.
: What type of attitude best predicts specific behaviour?
A specific attitude matched to the specific behaviour.
How do general attitudes perform in predicting behaviour?
Poorly unless multiple behaviours are aggregated.
What does research by Weigel et al. (1976) and Davidson & Jaccard (1979) suggest?
Specific attitudes better predict specific behaviours than general attitudes do.
What impact does direct experience have on attitudes?
It creates clearer, more confident, and stable attitudes that are more predictive of behaviour.
What is attitude strength, and how is it enhanced?
The clarity, confidence, and certainty of an attitude—enhanced by direct experience.
What is attitude accessibility?
The ease with which an attitude can be retrieved from memory.
How is attitude accessibility measured?
By the speed of responses to attitude-related questions.
What increases attitude accessibility?
Associative strength from repeated exposure or expression.
What effect does attitude accessibility have on behaviour?
More accessible attitudes are more likely to influence behaviour automatically.
How does attitude accessibility mediate the link between experience and behaviour?
Direct experience makes attitudes more accessible, which strengthens the attitude-behaviour relationship.
What is meant by attitude stability?
The consistency of an attitude over time.
How does attitude stability relate to direct experience?
Direct experience leads to more stable attitudes.
: How does stability influence behaviour prediction?
More stable attitudes are more likely to predict behaviour accurately.
What is an ambivalent attitude?
: An attitude containing both positive and negative evaluations of the same object.
How do ambivalent attitudes affect behaviour prediction?
They are less stable and less predictive than univalent attitudes.
What does personal involvement do to the A-B relationship?
It strengthens it by increasing associative strength and attitude stability.
What are self-monitors, and how do they differ?
High self-monitors adapt to social situations; low self-monitors act based on inner values.
Which type of self-monitor shows stronger A-B consistency?
Low self-monitors.
What is the social desirability effect?
A tendency to present oneself in a socially acceptable way, possibly distorting reported attitudes or behaviours.
How can social norms interfere with attitude-behaviour links?
People may not act on or express attitudes that are socially undesirable.
