Belief-based approaches

Question 1

Belief based approach

Answer 1

person’s attitude toward an object depends on the beliefs one has about the object

Question 2

Salient belief: definition, how to identify

Answer 2

• the belief that is prominent and first comes to mind when thinking about an object
• identify a person’s salient belief by asking them to list characteristics, attributes, qualities that first come to mind when thinking about an object

Question 3

Modal salient belief

Answer 3

most commonly mentioned salient belief

Question 4

summative model of attitude: definition, how two factors combine, what happens if summative model is negative or positive

Answer 4

• theory that says attitude is influenced by belief strength and belief evaluation
• multiply numerical values of belief strength (bi) and belief evaluation (ei) together to create biei. Add the different bieis together to get summative model
• summative model of attitude can range from -36 to +36
• if negative, convinced object has negative characteristics
• if positive, convinced object has positive characteristics

Question 5

Belief strength: definition, type of questions, positive and negative

Answer 5

• how strong someone holds their salient belief
• likely- unlikely, probable-improbable, true-false. Rate this on a numerical scale from -3 to +3
• Ex- Mom supports being independent
• if positive, means that you strongly believe that the concept has something
• if negative, means that you don’t believe concept has something

Question 6

Belief evaluation: definition, type of questions

Answer 6

• the evaluation one has about their beliefs
• can be assessed through semantic-differential evaluative scales with bipolar adjectives- good-bad, desirable-undesirable, favorable-unfavorable
• Ex- being independent is : good —–bad
• If negative, think that the characteristic is bad
• if positive, think that characteristic is good

Question 7

List strategies you can use to alter summative model to change attitude

Answer 7

• alter belief strength: increase belief strength of existing positive belief, decrease belief strength of existing negative belief
• alter favorability: increase favorability of existing positive belief, decrease unfavorability of existing negative belief
• salience: add a new positive salient belief about object, change relative salience of existing beliefs

Question 8

How supportive is the research evidence concerning the summative model?

Answer 8

summative model is successful and reliable in predicting attitude by judging beliefs

Question 9

attribute importance

Answer 9

the importance of a belief to someone

Question 10

Does adding attribute importance to the summative model improve the predictability of attitude?

Answer 10

• summative model says there are only 2 properties of beliefs that contribute to people’s attitudes: bi and ei
• some think that we’re leaving out attribute importance- the importance of a belief to someone
• if we add attribute importance, it doesn’t improve predictability of attitude for 2 reasons
  1. picking salient beliefs means that we’ve already gotten the important beliefs
  2. x

Question 11

What is the weighted averaging model?

Answer 11

Model is when the formula of the summative model is divided by the number the beliefs the respondents rated.

Question 12

Is the weighted averaging model or summative model superior?

Answer 12

no compelling evidence suggesting either is superior. Both models make identical predictions when number of beliefs is constant. When two models make different predictions, each model can point to studies that found the same results, which each suggest its superiority.