Russell H. Fazio

On the Automatic Activation of Attitudes

We hypothesized that attitudes characterized by a strong association between the attitude object and an evaluation of that object are capable of being activated from memory automatically upon mere presentation of the attitude object. We used a priming procedure to examine the extent to which the mere presentation of an attitude object would facilitate the latency with which subjects could indicate whether a subsequently presented target adjective had a positive or a negative connotation. Across three experiments, facilitation was observed on trials involving evaluatively congruent primes (attitude objects) and targets, provided that the attitude object possessed a strong evaluative association. In Experiments 1 and 2, preexperimentally strong and weak associations were identified via a measurement procedure. In Experiment 3, the strength of the object-evaluation association was manipulated. The results indicated that attitudes can be automatically activated and that the strength of the object-evaluation association determines the likelihood of such automatic activation. The implications of these findings for a variety of issues regarding attitudes--including their functional value, stability, effects on later behavior, and measurement--are discussed.

Variability in automatic activation as an unobtrusive measure of racial attitudes: A bona fide pipeline?

The research examines an unobtrusive measure of racial attitudes based on the evaluations that are automatically activated from memory on the presentation of Black versus White faces. Study 1, which concerned the techniques validity, obtained different attitude estimates for Black and White participants and also revealed that the variability among White participants was predictive of other race-related judgments and behavior. Study 2 concerned the lack of correspondence between the unobtrusive estimates and Modern Racism Scale (MRS) scores. The reactivity of the MRS was demonstrated in Study 3. Study 4 observed an interaction between the unobtrusive estimates and an individual difference in motivation to control prejudiced reactions when predicting MRS scores. The theoretical implications of the findings for consideration of automatic and controlled components of racial prejudice are discussed, as is the status of the MRS.

Multiple Processes by which Attitudes Guide Behavior: The Mode Model as an Integrative Framework

Publisher Summary The chapter presents the two very different basic processes that link attitudes and behavior, along with variants that amount to a mixture of the essentials of each process. Conditions that promote one process or the other also are discussed in the chapter. This discussion of mixed models illustrates the complexity of the role of spontaneous and deliberative processing to understand the manner in which attitudes influence behavior. The basic difference between the two types of models of the attitude-behavior process centers on the extent to which deciding on a particular course of action involves conscious deliberation about a spontaneous reaction to ones perception of the immediate situation. An individual may analyze the costs and benefits of a particular behavior and, in so doing, deliberately reflect on the attitudes relevant to the behavioral decision. These attitudes may serve as one of possibly many dimensions that are considered in arriving at a behavior plan, which may then be enacted.

Direct Experience And Attitude-Behavior Consistency1

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses the role of the manner of attitude formation. It focuses on the development of an attitude through direct behavioral experience with the attitude object and examines whether such attitudes better predict subsequent behavior than attitudes formed without behavioral experience. The chapter provides an overview of the attitude-behavior consistency problem and describes the effect of the manner of attitude formation through the “housing” study, the “puzzle” experiment, and the “subject pool” study. The prior-to-later behavior relation is also discussed in the chapter, wherein it has described the self-perception of past religious behaviors, attitudes and self-reports of subsequent behavior, an individual difference perspective, and a partial correlation analysis. The chapter discusses attitudinal qualities—namely, confidence and clarity, the persistence of the attitude, and resistance to attack. The reasons for the differential strength are also explored in the chapter—namely, the amount of information available, information processing, and attitude accessibility. The chapter briefly describes the attitude-behavior relationship, personality traits, and behavior.

A new look at dissonance theory

Publisher Summary Cognitive dissonance occurs when a cognition that a person holds follows from the obverse of another. This chapter examines those relationships and proposes a new definition of cognitive dissonance. The state of the empirical findings to move toward a more comprehensive view of dissonance is reviewed in the chapter. When one understands what produces dissonance, it still needs further elaboration of the process to understand adequately the cognitive changes that ensue. The concept of dissonance must be differentiated into the concepts of dissonance arousal and dissonance motivation. It leads to the cognitive changes that are generally associated with cognitive dissonance. The integrative review of dissonance research is provided in the chapter. This survey narrows the scope of the theory, because it identifies the limited conditions under which dissonance effects are most likely to arise; cognitive dissonance is not the product of opposing cognitions. Dissonance theory concepts are applied to a broad range of phenomena so that the formulation remains exceedingly important.

On the automatic activation of associated evaluations: An overview

A review of the literature concerning the phenomenon known as automatic attitude activation is presented. The robustness of the affective priming effect across many different procedural variations, the mediating mechanisms thought to underlie the effect, and the moderating role of associative strength are discussed. The relevance and importance of automatic attitude activation to many fundamental cognitive and social processes also is highlighted. Finally, an overview of the articles included in this Special Issue of Cognition and Emotion, their essential contributions, and their relation to the earlier literature is presented.

An Individual Difference Measure of Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions

The present research examines the assertion that individuals differ in the extent to which they seek to control the expression of prejudice. The authors developed the Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions Scale to assess this individual difference. Psychometric properties of the scale are reported, including its stable two-factor structure across samples. In addition, evidence regarding predictive validity is presented. The expression of racial prejudice on self-report measures was moderated by the extent to which respondents reported being motivated to inhibit prejudiced reactions. Specifically, the authors observed interactions between unobtrusive estimates of racial attitudes based on automatic attitude activation and scores on the Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions Scale when predicting self-reported evaluations. Motivated individuals expressed less prejudiced responses even if their unobtrusive estimates revealed automatically activated negativity in response to Blacks. In contrast, the less motivated provided self-reports consistent with their automatically activated attitudes.

The Role of Attitude Accessibility in the Attitude-to-Behavior Process

Attitudes toward a number of products and the accessibility of those attitudes as indicated by the latency of response to an attitudinal inquiry were assessed. Subjects with highly accessible attitudes toward a given product displayed greater attitude-behavior correspondence than did those with relatively less accessible attitudes. Furthermore, subjects with less accessible attitudes displayed more sensitivity to the salience afforded a product by its position in the front row, as opposed to the back row, than did subjects with more accessible attitudes. The implications of these data for a model of the process by which attitudes guide behavior are discussed. Copyright 1989 by the University of Chicago.

Attitude accessibility, attitude-behavior consistency, and the strength of the object-evaluation association

Abstract Two experiments were conducted in order to examine the accessibility of attitudes from memory as a function of the manner of attitude formation. The findings of the first experiment indicated that subjects could respond more quickly in a response-time task to inquiries about their attitudes when the attitudes were based upon direct behavioral experience with the attitude objects than when they were based upon nonbehavioral experience. It was suggested that, relative to indirect experience, behavioral experience may facilitate the attitude formation process and increase attitude accessibility once the attitude is formed. A second experiment found support for both of these notions. Two additional experiments indicated that repeated association of the attitude object and the attitudinal evaluation enhanced both attitude accessibility and attitude-behavior consistency. It was suggested that the strength of the object-evaluation association is a critical determinant of accessibility, which, in turn, acts as a central factor in the process by which attitudes affect later behavior. It was further suggested that the manner of attitude formation affects attitude-behavior consistency because direct experience produces a stronger object-evaluation association and, hence, a more accessible attitude than does indirect experience.

On the consequences of priming: Assimilation and contrast effects ☆

Abstract Two experiments investigated the effects of priming (activation of a category by unobtrusive exposure to exemplars of that category) on subsequent judgments in an unrelated task. Subjects were primed with one of four levels of ferocity (size) in the course of a “color perception” experiment, and were later asked to judge the ferocity (size) of real (unambiguous) and unreal (ambiguous) animals. An interaction between ambiguity of judged stimuli (real vs unreal animals) and extremity of primed exemplars (moderate vs extreme levels of ferocity or size) was revealed. Assimilation effects (judgments consistent with the primed category) occurred only when moderate exemplars were primed and ambiguous stimuli judged. Contrast effects occurred when extreme exemplars were primed and ambiguous stimuli judged and, irrespective of extremity of the primed exemplar, when unambiguous stimuli were judged. The results are interpreted in terms of an integration of social judgment and social cognition perspectives.