Attitude Outline A Definition of attitude B Components structure of attitude Triparite Theory affective extent of liking behavioral cognitive properties valence extremity extent of positivity or negativity strength duration resistance ability to predict behavior Don t mix up extremity and strength I can bet this would be exam questions in multiple choice Types of attitudes attitude matrix positive high positive low negative negative high negative low positive ambivalent high positive high negative e g I like chocolate cake because of its sweetness but I dislike the fact that it has high calories indifferent low positive low negative e g I don t care at all There will be a test question asking about difference between ambivalence and indifference For positive and negative attitude it does not imply a person s attitude is purely positive or negative but rather a general mental state C Expression and measurement of attitude explicit attitude consciously endorse and easily report implicit attitude involuntary and uncontrollable causes e g exposure to negative stereotype which arouses automatic feeling and behavior e g classical conditioning Then how should we measure people s attitude especially if it is implicit C Attitude Measurement 1 Direct measure likert scale measure the extent of agree degree of agree may be sorted into different categories i e strongly agree disagree semantic differentials at the end of scale there are two opposite adjectives e g Good 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bad 2 Indirect measure nonverbal behavior e g wandering around the room implies anxiety physiology i EEG detect activation of brain activity ii EMG detect activation of facial muscles implicit measures i Implicit Association Test IAT test association with two concepts have to be done in pairs e g the first pair is young negative the second pair is old positive reaction time reflects implicit attitude e g Assume showing a picture of a black and asks the association if the person is racist it may take him her longer time to choose old positive rather than young negative pair Disadv has to be pair cannot detect learned association something that you learn from other people but do not enact ii evaluative priming use reaction time to access situation if a person reacts faster for positive and slower for negative it implies that the person s liking attitude Adv flexible stimuli do not need to be in pairs Disadv learned association