Attitude
An attitude is "a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular
entity with some degree of favor or disfavor"
(Eagly & Chaiken, 1993, p. 1).
This tendency can be expressed by different types of evaluative responses. Social
psychologists commonly differentiate between affective, cognitive and behavioral
responses. Affective responses towards an attitude object manifest themselves in
verbal expressions of feelings and physiological changes in the organism (e.g.
increase of arousal). Cognitive responses refer to expressions of beliefs (e.g.
expectancy-value judgments) and nonverbal reactions such as response latencies.
Behavioral responses manifest in behavioral intentions and actions. Attitude theory
and research deals with the structure, function, formation and change of attitudes,
and is also concerned with the relationship between attitudes and behavior.
The model of reasoned action
(Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975),
for example, provides
a comprehensive approach to all of these aspects. In this model, the internal
structure of an attitude is described in terms of beliefs (expectations), that
relate the attitude object (a behavioral alternative) to evaluated attributes.
The function of attitudes is to guide the formation of behavioral intentions.
Attitude formation and change is viewed as a process of deliberative evaluation
and belief updating. Attitudes are thought to impact behavior indirectly via
behavioral intentions. More recent approaches, however, assume that a deliberative
calculation of expectancy and values is not a necessary condition for either
intention formation or attitude formation and change. There is ample evidence
for example, that liking of an attitude object can be enhanced simply by
increasing its presentation frequency
(Zajonc, 1980)
Furthermore, attitudes,
if they are frequently activated from memory, tend to become activated automatically
in the presence of the attitude object and then directly impact behavioral decisions
(Fazio, 1990).
See also:
cognition,
risk attitude,
social psychology
Literature:
Eagly & Chaiken (1993) (for an overview),
Fazio (1990),
Fishbein & Ajzen (1975),
Zajonc (1980)
