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Attitudes are positive, negative, or mixed feelings, based on our beliefs that predispose our reactions to people, objects, and events. For example, if we believe someone is mean, we may feel dislike for the person and act in an unfriendly manner.
War-Mongering Propaganda Works
Our attitudes predict our behavior, although imperfectly, because other factors, including the external situation, also influence behavior. Strong social pressures can weaken the attitude-behavior connection (Wallace Et al., 2005). Attitudes can also affect actions. Take for example the American public’s overwhelming support for attacking Iraq. The endless scenes of patriotic American flags on nearly every vehicle motivated everyone, including Democratic leaders to support the President’s war plans despite their private reservations.
Protesting Is Believing
Now consider a more surprising principle: that actions can also affect attitudes. Not only will people protest and stand up for what they believe, they will also come to believe in what they have stood up for.
Start Small
Convincing people to act against their beliefs can affect their attitudes. To convince people to agree to something big, you need to “start small and build.” This chicken-and-egg spiral of actions-feeding-attitudes-feeding-actions enables behaviors to escalate. An insignificant act makes the next act easier. Succumb to a temptation and you will find the next temptation harder to resist (Cialdini, 1993).
Dozens of experiments have simulated war prisoners’ experience by coaxing people into acting against their attitudes of violating their own moral standards. The nearly inevitable result is that doing “becomes believing.” When people are induced to harm an innocent victim by making nasty comments they then begin to disparage their victims.
Works Positively Too
This same principle works for doing good deeds as well, called the-foot-in-the-door tactic. A tendency for people who agree to a small action to comply later with a larger one, has helped boost charitable contributions, blood donations, and of course it has been used in advertising campaigns to increase product sales.
We Become What We Do
Role-playing can also affect attitudes. When you adopt a new role, as a college student, begin a new job, get married, etc, you strive to follow the accepted social role. Before long however, the artificial role “feelings” become a normal routine. In research studies, random students were selected as prisoners while others became guards, given uniforms, whistles, billy clubs and were instructed to enforce certain rules. The prisoners were locked in cells and forced to wear shabby prison clothes. After only a few days, the simulation became too real. Most of the guards devised their own order routines. The prisoners were worn down or strongly rebelled (Zimbardo, 1972). Other studies show that what we do we actually become.
Change Behavior to Change Attitudes
There is a lot to learn about attitudes and behavior but there is one heartening implication. We can’t control our feelings directly, but we can affect them through changing our behavior. If we are down in the dumps, we can talk more positively, do thoughtful things, expressing warmth and affection towards others. Changing our behavior can change how we think about others and how we feel about ourselves.
This report is not a diagnosis. We hope this information can guide you toward improving your life.
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