Social Pyschology: create an example of an affectively, behaviorally, and cognit
ID: 3489465 • Letter: S
Question
Social Pyschology:
create an example of an affectively, behaviorally, and cognitively based attitude. Once you have created each example, specify the affect, behavior, and cognition likely to be associated with each of these attitudes.
1. Affectively based attitude and likely affect
2. Behaviorally based attitude and likely behavior
3. Cognitively based attitude and likely cognition
4. For each of the attitudes specified, how might you go about trying to induce an attitude change?
Changing the affectively based attitude
Changing the behaviorally based attitude
Changing the cognitively based attitude
Explanation / Answer
Attitude is typically one's behavior that can be deemed as either positive or negative. For example, if one has a racial bias towards a particular group of ethnic people, their attitude may be considered negative. However, another individual who doesn't judge any race or creed and treats everyone equally, may be said to have a positive attitude.
The Affective, Behavioral and Cognitive (or ABC) components of an attitude determines how strong or weak one's attitudes are. It also helps to pinpoint the root cause of a particular attitude whether it stems from emotion(affect), the way one behaves (behavior) or their thinking(cognition).
Let's take the example of Sam.
Sam has a fear of dogs. In any event or circumstance, Sam would make sure he avoids them at all cost as he knows that they can run fast and will bite him if he fails to escape.
In the above example, the dog is the attitude object. Whenever Sam comes in contact with dogs, he feels scared and anxious. The fear of getting bitten, which induces emotion such as fear or anxiety, can be called as affectively based attitude. Attitude towards topics such as terrorist activities, politics are all affectively based attitude.
The behavior component of attitude refers to the individual's reaction when it comes contact with the attitude object. In the previous example of Sam, he always avoids dogs as his fear and anxiety towards them is already justified by the affective component. Now how would he behave when he comes in contact with a dog? Most likely, he would either scream or cry or even run to avoid getting bitten by the dog.
For attitudes that are behaviorally rooted, one has to ask where did that attitude come from? For example, when someones asks you about a dish and whether you like it or not; you typically would try to think about the times you've had that dish and your experience with it. In the case you had a good experience, you would say that you do like it and vice versa. Since the attitude is determined based on your behavior it is known as behaviorally based attitude.
Now we have already determined Sam's behavior and affect towards dogs. But what does he think about dogs? It is likely that he believes that all dogs are dangerous and not friendly. Additionally, the fear of getting injections (in the case he's bitten) and how painful those are can also be factor behind this fear of dogs. This is the cognitive componemt of his attitude.
Attitudes are the strongest when all the ABC components are aligned. If a person has to think about his attitude towards a topic before stating his/her opinion, the attitude is weak. For example, one might think cognitively that being physically fit is important. But affectively you would wanna do things that will give you immediate rewards. As a result, you would not actually go to the gym. Hence, such attitude is considered weak.