Greg Detre
Friday, 19 May, 2000
Prof. Emler
4.30 seminar on Tuesday � social identity theory & application
internal standards vs external validation
differences in attitudes/beliefs
social psychologists used to be convinced that this is the case � much of the differences in human behaviour can be seen as coming down to differences in attitude
stimulus, then person scaling � maximising linearity
he asked: what are actions? scale from very favourable � very unfavourable
statements of attitudes � scaleable on this linear dimension
believed that we can discriminate an 11 point scale
asked people to sort statements from newspapers etc. into 11 piles � looking for agreement between his judges about the strength of each of his statements
problems:
expensive and time-consuming attitude measure
people use their own opinion as an anchor, e.g. if you�re already fundamentally opposed to capital punishment
difficult to find items in the middle of the school
person scaling � maximising reliability, minimising error in measurement
looked for consistent pattern of responses
Likert scales � very reliable
simultaneous stimulus person scaling
maximising reproducibility (e.g. possible to get same score on questionnaires, but different answers)
difficult to use in practice
if you agree with one in the middle, then you agree with all of the ones to either side
social distance scale � measure people�s racial attitudes � if negative, will want to maintain larger distance between social groups
universal scales � maximising comparability
reducing social desirability effects
lie-detector � so people feel they have to be honest
clever, but only works for certain kinds of issues
letter on the street, addressed to donations of a particular department
if people take the money, then anti-, if keep then in favour
good for surveying attitudes in an area
will be swayed by people�s attitudes to money/honesty
racial conflict is always re-emerging somewhere
Lapiere � wrote to restaurants/hotels asking if they�d accept a Chinese etc. party
almost all said no � but 6 months before, Lapiere had been to these places, and had hardly actually been refused service
must be individual, not group
at least one attitude measure and one behavioural measure per subject
attitudes and behaviour must be measured on different occasions
overt behavioural measures must not be merely subjects� retrospective reports of own past behaviour
found: the average correlation between attitude-behaviour = 0.15
i.e. attitudes aren�t explained
Three component models for measurement (Rosenberg & Hovland, 1960)
attitudes � 3 components
1. affect
2. cognition
3. behaviour
need to really demonstrate that there is something there, not a product of the measurement procedures � if there are different ways of measuring the same traits �
3 measures for affect, 3 for cognition, 3 for behaviour
& �threshold� notion, selecting appropriate behavioural measures
e.g. Fishbein & Ajzen, 1974; Campbell, 1963)
e.g. Theory of reasoned action
(Fishbein, 1967; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980)
if you want to predict behaviour, need to ask them � what do you intend to do
attentions determine intentions
we have reasons for what we intend to do � those reasons are measurable, have 2 components:
1. belief/expectancy value � believe that +ve/-ve outcomes/consequences are more/less likely (subjective proabilities + values) if you act on your intention
2. beliefs/views about what other people expect you to do � varying degrees of motivation to comply with these �/span> overall subjective norm � what I should do
there are many examples of 2 component models, comprising:
internal values + other people�s expectations
past behaviour + habit = very important for some things (e.g. student attendance)
lost touch with original conception of attitudes
attitudes �/span> general decision-making
not our general beliefs
Fazoi & Zanna, 1981; Reagan)
accessible attitudes:
have � faster responses (reaction times)
how often their expressed � more often
c.f. Converse 1964
very difficult to tell attitudes and non-attitudes � indistinguishable
hence modest correlation between attitudes and behaviour
it depends how we ask the question, e.g. do you have an opinion on vs have you had the time to give some thought to the debate on � (25% say no now)