Attitude: some theory and practical implications

Attitude & Behavior: What’s it about?

Attitudes and actions are very closely related, and are often consistent, because they influence each other in both superficial and deliberate ways. How actions influence attitudes depends on the level of processing: people can make simple action-to-attitude inferences (usually through self-perception processes), or can make deeper considerations of the implications of their actions (through cognitive dissonance processes). Self-perception theory states that actions influence attitudes because people infer their attitudes by observing their own behavior and the situations in which their behavior occurs.

The foot-in-the-door-technique (A technique for increasing compliance with a large request by first asking people to go along with a smaller request) works when people process information superficially; it gets people to perform a small act consistent with an intended larger goal. As long as the initial request seems meaningful and voluntary, this makes people infer that they hold attitudes consistent with that behavior, and makes them subject to further influences. When people become aware that their freely chosen actions violate important or relevant attitudes, this inconsistency produces an uncomfortable state of arousal called cognitive dissonance (An unpleasant state caused by people’s awareness of inconsistency among important beliefs, attitudes, or actions), which motivates them to change their initial attitudes to make them consistent with their behavior, or to increase the value they place on a goal, and to emphasize the positive aspects of the chosen option.

Established attitudes can guide behavior in two ways: superficially, and in a more considered way. Attitudes can bias people’s perceptions of attitude objects, because they focus attention on the consistent characteristics of an object. This bias process increases the likelihood that people’s behavior will be consistent with their attitude in a direct way: people respond to the object qualities most salient to them, and behave in attitude-consistent ways. Attitudes can also influence behavior in more considered ways by prompting intentions, which trigger plans to act in certain ways

So in short: attitudes are most likely to influence actions when the attitude comes to mind, when it is appropriate, and when attitude-consistent behavior is not constrained in any way. Attitudes can be made accessible through deliberate thought, self-awareness, or frequent use, or automatically through triggers from the environment.  Attitudes must also be appropriate or relevant to the task at hand, and attitude-consistent behavior should not be constrained in any way; that is, people should have full control over their behavior.

From action to attitude via superficial processing:some theories and practical examples

Self-perception theory

This theory states that actions influence attitudes because people infer their attitudes by observing their own behavior and the situations in which their behavior occurs. So people make direct inferences from their behavior to their attitude.

Numerous studies support this theory; one example includes a study on religious beliefs of students; those whose attention had been drawn to the frequency of their religious activities reported favorable attitudes towards religion, while the attitudes of those whose attention had been drawn to how seldom they engaged in religious activities were not favorable. These people inferred their attitudes from their behavior.

The process of self-perception has become a popular technique of social influence among advertisers and sales personnel (e.g., getting customers to spend hours thinking up a good slogan for their brand).

Foot-in-the-door-technique

This technique gets people to perform a small act consistent with an intended goal. This small “foot in the door” makes people open to further influences, and so they will be more open to agreeing to a consistent/similar large request afterwards.

The foot-in-the-door-technique works because the initial behavior triggers self-perception processes that lead people to believe their attitude is consistent with the action they have just performed. This “new” attitude then makes it more likely that they will agree to a second, larger request.

But the technique only works under the right conditions:

1. Performing the initial request must be meaningful. The small request has to be important, so people will make inferences about their attitudes towards this kind of behavior (i.e., it should trigger self-perception processes). One way to do this is by asking people to put a lot of effort into the small request. It is also important that the first requests remain small, or people will refuse them.
2. Performing the initial request must seem purely voluntary. People should not be able to attribute their behavior to external rewards or other environmental forces, as this undermines the self-perception process and they will not infer that their behavior is linked to their internal preferences/attitudes. If the behavior is attributable only to the person concerned, they will believe they hold action-consistent attitudes (and be more likely to accept the larger request).

Self-perception processes and volunteering

Various studies show that the foot-in-the-door technique works very well for getting people to volunteer time, money, effort, and so on.

Personality differences and the foot-in-the-door technique

As the effectiveness of the technique relies on consistency (between attitudes and behaviors), people who are more concerned with being consistent (between their attitudes and their behaviors) are more likely to be influenced by the technique than people who don’t care about consistency.

So what implications has attitude on social interaction and ‘liking’?

People may “socially tune” their attitudes to make them more consistent with their social environment. For example, research has shown that women judged themselves as more feminine after imagining a conversation with Barbara Bush, who is characterized as more traditional, than after imagining a conversation with Hillary Clinton, who is considered to be more nontraditional (Hardin & Conley, 2001). Because of the importance of attitude similarity in attraction and in social coordination (Byrne, 1971; Davis & Rusbult, 2001), a salient social
category may automatically elicit attitudes that are stereotypically consistent with that category.

Because of the importance of social coordination in human functioning, people may have learned that by adjusting their behavior and attitudinal responses to be more similar, or consonant, with others they can facilitate social interaction. In other words, social interaction can be easier to initiate and improve.  This process of adaptation becomes habitual over time, and what then happens is that factors which make a particular social category salient can become sufficient to automatically elicit consonant behaviors and similar attitudes as well. Research offers evidence of this power of social categories to shape personal responses and ultimately social interactions of people even without their awareness or intention to do or want this.

References

Kawakami, K., Dovidio, J.F., & Dijksterhuis, Ap.(2003). Effect of social category priming on personal attitudes. Psychological science, 14, 315-319.

This is not all there is to say about. People who would like to read some more about the topic, like the extended explanation of cognitive dissonance, can let me now. It’s ofcourse also very easily to find on the internet

Next will be Liking & Loving, a social psychology perspective.

The color Red: the way to go

Revive

It has been quite a long time I wrote a new entry.  I was busy with a lot of things lately but now soon some new stuff will be posted, so keep an eye on it!

All about attitude

Getting what you want is in fact not so difficult as some people experience it! To start with, there is a huge difference in dealing with men or women. But there are also some general basics, which I discuss here now immediately.

First, when you are beautiful, not really much to worry about when trying to hit on somebody, although often it is more important that you look appealing to someone. And being a beauty isn’t the same as being attractive. You can as beautiful as you want, if you feel unsure or have nothing to say, people will not be interested most of the time. More important is that you have self confidence and are aware of your strengths so you can exploit them.  People who are self confident or behave that way are found more attractive than other people. So even if you don’t feel that way you can always try to behave that way. The good thing is, if you do this for a while, you will not only behave that way on the outside but you will begin to feel that way on the inside as well. You learn yourself what it is and how it delivers to be a self confident person. And you will become that person. I think there is one crucial thing to remember in becoming more self confident. You have to realise that whatever you undertake, it doesn ‘t matter what the outcome will be. If you didn’t try it, it wouldn’t happen anyway. So why bother in the first place? If you realise the existential loneliness we all encounter with the beginning of our life, you can feel like you have actually nothing to lose. The only thing you can lose is yourself and let us hope that doesn’t happen. Every person that adds up to your life is in fact not necessary to live your life. Every person you encounter is replaceable. All you need is YOU. So if you are trying to hit on somebody or get to know him or her it is not your loss if it doesn’t work out. Chances are big that they would be only for a little while in your life anyway. So forget about what you couldn’t achieve and move on the next ‘victim’. If you think like this, and you can feel like this, you will create an attitude that people will notice. The attitude of being an independent self assured person. If you combine this with some charming behavior (what we will discuss later), people will want to get to know you! It will be more than a delight to have your attention. Yes that’s right, it can be like that. They will desire your attention instead of the initial desire of yourself for their attention.

I hope this explanation about this part of attitude was clear enough, if not or you wanna know more already, leave a message.

More on the subject later!

So it begins..

.. my real life diary. I am keeping a diary since I was twelve. For some reason I kept on writing for years and years. Now.. so many years later, regardless of the reasons I may have had, I am glad I still have all those memories on paper instead of being wasted in the vain air of memory.  I think it would be nice if I could share some of these with you. So this will be the first post in a sequel. I decided not to just write down my whole past but to start from something ‘renewed’ and get you flashbacks of the past that are relevant. So this is where we start:

CHAPTER ONE - The past once again, or maybe not?

It became some great days. I didn’t expected it actually. I didn’t even think that I would stay longer than one day, but one day became three days, and even after those three days I secretly felt that I could have stayed longer. I was at ease in this place where I didn’t expected it. Maybe that was the whole thing, the non-expectations that I had turned the situation to something I afterwards would be longing for. Although I was in fact there for studying. And that was also what I did do there, just not all the time .. So where was I?

It was such beautiful weather. On and on every day. Some months ago I got a message from an old friend that I didn’t see anymore since more than a year. He wanted to meet again. I was surprised ’cause I wanted to see him again already some time. But he didn’t seem interested in this anymore. So I thought to just let go of the idea. I felt like I didn’t want to break all contact, with all the history there was between us. A history where his personality saved my image of him, which was the reason I still wanted to know him. Or maybe I should say: get to know him. ‘Cause in reality I only saw distorted fractions of the real him. There was much more than the eye met. And this was the person I finally wanted to know. With this message it seemed that he thought the same about that in contrary to what I expected after all my own try outs to meet him again. I could actually understand this, I didn’t treat him very well last time I saw him. The past was in the way. I wanted him to feel bad in a way, for everything he had torn apart. Some sort of revenge on the emotional level by showing him the superior side of me. Afterwards I felt bad, this wasn’t the way I wanted to act consciously. But I did. That’s why I could understand the distant not replying attitude afterwards. And suddenly this message pops up. I was instant happy, or something like that.  But I was in exam period. A month after this I was again facing an exam period. But on an evening I suddenly messaged him back for this meeting. It was only three weeks away from exams so if it happened not now it would take again a while. I felt restless and wanted to get out of the city and the people I knew there. Going to Lari was a perfect idea on that moment. It was kinda late so I didn’t expect a fast reply. But it came. He even called me and said that we could even meet already tonight. I could stay a couple of days if I wanted. He had to work on something as well so I could study there. Some hesitation took place but in the end I left during the night with everything I could ever need except of one thing.

….

How we create our own feelings

Why does he make me feel this way?
What was going through my mother’s head when said such hurtful things to me?
Can’t my boss tell that his words cut me down and make me feel so small?

These are examples of our thinking sometimes when we feel hurt, ashamed, or angry – that the other person or some external event is making us feel the way we do. But is it? Can someone else make us feel a certain way? Can an event in our life directly cause us to feel a specific way? Michael Edelstein, in his book Three Minute Therapy, argues the line of cognitive-behaviorists and rational emotive therapists have argued for decades. External events and people cannot make us feel any one certain way, even though it often seems that way.

We enter into every situation with certain beliefs or expectations. Those beliefs and expectations directly influence the way we are going to end up feeling about the event or person. Here’s an example Dr. Edelstein provides from Chapter 1 of his book: Suppose a hundred airplane passengers are unexpectedly given parachutes and instructed to jump from the plane.If a physical situation alone could cause emotions, then all the hundred people would feel the same way. But obviously those who regard skydiving positively are going to have a [reaction] very different from the others.

In other words, our beliefs and expectations about a person or event or situation directly influence and, many would argue, cause our feelings. They are not the result of or inherent in of the situation itself. Others do not cause our feelings – we cause them ourselves.  This turns out to be great news, because that means that we have control of our feelings, much like we have control over other choices we make in our life. That also means that psychotherapy that focuses on helping a person overcome their belief system that’s causing them so much pain or distress in their lives is short-term and more solution-focused.

Your feelings come from your thinking. This doesn’t mean that if you tell yourself everything is fine and you have no problems, then you will feel fine and your problems will disappear. [Rational emotive and cognitive behavioral methods do not] recommend “thinking positively”, telling yourself to cheer up, or fondly dwelling on comfortable images that everything is wonderful.  The advice glibly offered to emotional sufferers, such as “Worrying doesn’t do any good, so why worry?” is usually of little help because the anxious person doesn’t know how to stop worrying. Such a person has a definite system of beliefs, which has become a fixed dogma, and which automatically generates distress. Without attacking and changing that system of beliefs, there will probably be little progress in reducing anxiety. But the sufferer doesn’t think much about the system of beliefs, doesn’t consider that the beliefs might be questionable, and doesn’t notice how the beliefs lead to counterproductive and self-destructive behavior. To start on the path to healthy thought patterns, it’s first necessary to identify the sufferer’s system of beliefs. This isn’t a lengthy process of excavating “unconscious” memories. Usually a few minutes of asking simple questions will elicit a person’s faulty thinking.

Sound too good to be true? It’s really not. This is the foundation of most modern psycho therapy as practiced today (cognitive behavioral or rational emotive therapies). These concepts have been empirically tested in hundreds of research studies and shown to be effective in helping a person become empowered over their own beliefs, which directly influence their feelings.

So next time you’re feeling down about someone’s comment to you, or a situation that “made you” feel awful, consider that the pain and distress you are feeling is in your hands. And so is the solution.

How to get more participation, support and caring from your partner.

Sex: More Work for Women?

It’s no secret that women are often the agents for change in a relationship. The way things work nowadays, women often want more participation from their partner, whether in a social life or around the house or with family life; these are the expressions ofsupport and caring women commonly seek. But often enough their requests for change come out as complaints to their partners, who wind up being angry. What often follows is a relationship standoff and a sexual turnoff that drains everyone’s energy.

What does it take for women to get what they want from their partner? I went back to relationship therapist Michele Weiner-Davis, author of The Sex-Starved Marriage.

Everyone has his or her own way of being loved. For some people it’s through words, the things a partner says that make you feel cared for. For others it’s kind deeds, perhaps a partner making you a cup of coffee in the morning or putting on your snow tires speaks volumes about love and caring. For others the love is communicated through touch and sex, snuggling next to one another on the couch or giving back rubs.The mistake couples make in relationships is that they usually speak their own relationship language instead of their partner’s. If your spouse understands love through touch, “you can stand on your head and buy all the Hallmark cards and bring all the cups of coffee until the cows come home,” says Weiner-Davis, “but it’s not going to be heard.”

She contends that it’s not a matter of women doing all the work; it’s a matter of working smarter, not harder. Which means giving in terms of what your partner wants and needs.”Women tell me they’ve tried everything, they’re really fed up,” Weiner-Davis confides. “But what they’re really telling me is that they’ve said everything.” She thinks it’s unfair that most everything about improving communication in relationships is geared to helping people improve their verbal skills—when in fact most communication is nonverbal. As important as it is for men to improve their verbal skills, it’s equally important for women to live more in the world of action, as men generally are more oriented to acts.

Once people feel secure, loved, wanted through touch, they allow themselves to be open and vulnerable on many different levels. They allow themselves to invest emotionally, something they are not likely to do unless they feel centered by touch. Giving to your partner what your partner needs is not an act of selflessness. It is enlightened self-interest. You get back in many ways. There is, of course, the direct sexual benefit. The relationship benefits because intimacy is enhanced; your partner is more likely to open up verbally as a result of feeling connected physically. It creates energy, so you feel more alive. And self-perception benefits, because it increases your sense of yourself as a vital, sexual human being.

How do you know when it’s time to stop talking and start doing? “When you realize you’ve talked about your feelings, you’ve explained things over and over, you’ve threatened, blamed, and still nothing you’ve said has made a difference, it’s time to stop talking and pretend your partner can’t hear a word that you’re saying,” says Weiner-Davis. Do something as an experiment. “When I advise women to become more sexual, it’s not just a matter of initiating more intercourse, although that’s on the short list of things to do,” she notes. “It’s also a matter of making someone feel wanted. Flirting. Complimenting. Putting energy into the way you dress and the way you carry yourself. Put little sexual innuendoes into notes and leave them around the house in places the kids can’t get at. They keep the passion and fire alive—and they work.”

Lots of women know—but they are just holding out until their partner  changes. And vice versa. It’s human nature to feel that you will be kind to your partner if you feel that your partner is putting effort into being loving to you. There’s always the fear that if you give first you’re not going to get back. But holding out for your partner to make a move first is counterproductive. It makes it less likely your partner is going to take care of you. When you hold out you trigger in your spouse the feeling that he has to take care of himself, not you. He becomes defensive. In men that often comes out as anger or withdrawal.

There’s another good reason why you should not wait for your spouse to be the first to change. Doing so puts the entire power of the relationship in your spouse’s hands. In fact, you have options; there’s something you can do that can make a difference in how your partner treats you, in how you feel about yourself and about the relationship.

Source: psychologytoday.com by Hara Estroff Marano

Intro

An introduction to what this blog is about has been written on the first page. I have also posted a document about homosexuality and abnormality in dutch for upload.