Psychology · Ch 6 — Attitude and Social Cognition
Attitude Change
Attitude Change
Attitude Change
Attitude change is not a single event — it happens both during the process of attitude formation and after attitudes have already been formed. Some attitudes shift easily; others resist change almost completely. The key difference lies in how firmly the attitude has been established. Attitudes that are still forming, still closer to mere opinions, are far more likely to change than those that have become deeply rooted and part of a person's value system.
Why does this matter practically? Community leaders, politicians, advertisers, and producers of consumer goods all have a stake in understanding how to change people's attitudes. Without knowing the conditions that produce change, no one can deliberately bring it about.
Three Major Processes of Attitude Change
(a) Balance Theory (Fritz Heider)
Heider's balance theory is often represented as the P-O-X triangle. P is the person whose attitude we are studying, O is another person, and X is the attitude object (the topic). It is also possible that all three are persons.
The core idea: an attitude changes when there is a state of imbalance among the three relationships — P-O, O-X, and P-X. Imbalance feels logically uncomfortable, so the system pushes toward balance.
When does imbalance occur?
- All three sides of the triangle are negative, OR
- Two sides are positive and one side is negative.
When does balance occur?
- All three sides are positive, OR
- Two sides are negative and one side is positive.
Example: Consider dowry as the attitude topic (X). Suppose P has a positive attitude toward dowry (P-X positive). P plans to get his son married to the daughter of O, who has a negative attitude toward dowry (O-X negative). If O initially has a positive attitude toward P, the situation is unbalanced: P-X is positive, O-P is positive, but O-X is negative — two positives and one negative. To restore balance, one of the three attitudes must change. P may start disliking dowry, O may start liking dowry, or O may start disliking P. Any of these changes would produce either three positive relationships or two negative and one positive relationship — both balanced states.
(b) Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger)
This theory emphasises the cognitive component of attitudes. The basic idea: the cognitive elements of an attitude must be consonant (logically in line with each other). When a person finds two cognitions that are dissonant, one of them will change in the direction of consonance.
Example: Cognition I — Pan masala causes mouth cancer, which is fatal. Cognition II — I eat pan masala. Holding both these ideas creates dissonance. The healthy, logical way to reduce it is to stop eating pan masala (change Cognition II).
Festinger and Carlsmith conducted a famous experiment on this. Students who were paid only one dollar to tell others that a boring experiment was interesting later rated the experiment as more interesting — they changed their attitude to reduce dissonance. Students paid twenty dollars did not experience dissonance (they had a good reason for lying) and continued to rate the experiment as boring.
Both balance theory and cognitive dissonance are examples of cognitive consistency — the idea that components of an attitude system must be in the same direction. When they are not, the person experiences mental discomfort, and some aspect of the system changes to restore consistency.
(c) Two-Step Concept (S.M. Mohsin)
An Indian psychologist, Mohsin proposed that attitude change happens in two steps.
Step I: The target (person whose attitude is to be changed) identifies with the source (person through whom change is to occur). Identification means the target likes and respects the source, and puts themselves in the source's place. The source must also have a positive attitude toward the target — the regard is mutual.
Step II: The source actually changes their own behaviour toward the attitude object. When the target observes this changed behaviour, they imitate it — a form of observational learning.
Example: Preeti enjoys a soft drink that newspapers report is harmful. But her favourite sportsperson advertises the same drink, and Preeti identifies with this sportsperson. If the sportsperson wants to change people's attitudes from positive to negative, they must first show positive feelings toward fans (Step I), then actually stop consuming the drink themselves — perhaps switching to a health drink. When Preeti sees this change, she too will stop consuming the harmful drink (Step II).
Factors That Influence Attitude Change
Characteristics of the Existing Attitude
Four properties determine how easily an attitude changes:
- Valence (positivity or negativity): Positive attitudes are generally easier to change than negative ones.
- Extremeness: Extreme attitudes are harder to change than moderate ones.
- Complexity (multiplexity): Simple attitudes change more easily than complex, multi-faceted ones.
- Centrality (significance): Central, deeply held attitudes are harder to change than peripheral ones.
Direction of change matters too:
- Congruent change — the attitude changes in the same direction as the existing attitude (e.g., a positive attitude becomes more positive). These changes are easier to bring about.
- Incongruent change — the attitude changes in the opposite direction (e.g., a positive attitude becomes less positive or negative). These are harder to achieve.
An attitude may also change in the direction of the information presented, or in the opposite direction. For example, posters about brushing teeth strengthen a positive attitude toward dental care. But frightening pictures of dental cavities may cause people to disbelieve the message and become less positive. Fear can work, but too much fear turns the receiver off and has little persuasive effect.
Source Characteristics
Two features of the source affect attitude change:
- Credibility: Attitudes change more when the message comes from a highly credible source. Adults planning to buy a laptop are more convinced by a computer engineer than by a schoolchild giving the same information. But schoolchildren may be more convinced by another schoolchild than by a professional.
- Attractiveness: For some products (like cars), popular public figures — not necessarily experts — can increase sales.
Message Characteristics
The message itself has several features that matter:
- Amount of information: Just enough information works best — too much or too little reduces effectiveness.
- Rational vs. emotional appeal: A pressure cooker advertisement might use a rational appeal (saves cooking gas, is economical) or an emotional appeal (preserves nutrition, shows you care for your family). Both can work, but they activate different motives. …