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Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Prologue -- Chapter 1 What is an attitude and why is it important? -- What is an attitude? -- Why do people have attitudes? -- Organisation of knowledge, and regulating approach and avoidance -- Higher psychological needs -- Inter-individual differences and multiple functions -- Research applying attitude functions -- Why study attitudes? -- Overview of the book -- Chapter summary -- Exercises -- Further reading -- PART I GATEWAYS TO OUR ATTITUDES -- Chapter 2 Asking for attitudes: not that simple after all -- The concept of measurement

Although the survey interview is sometimes thought of as a separate world devoid of the demands of the "real world," one can develop questions which simulate real life situations & their attendant pressures. These questions can elicit the same inconsistencies evident in the comparison of measured actions. In a 1969 cross-section sample of 640 white Detroit residents, 13%, 41% & 52% agreed, respectively, to job discrimination (1) in principle, (2) if necessary for the harmony of the firm, & (3) if the majority of white workers favor it. These inconsistencies apparently resulted from R's trying to reconcile 2 or more positively held values which had been set in conflict by the survey questions, & which are also probably in conflict in everyday situations. AA.

The analysis of attitude structure has frequently sought proof of structure by searching for high nonrandom statistical association between questionnaire items. This strategy will frequently mislead because: (1) highly consensual attitudes are excluded from analysis as "uninteresting," & (2) if such items are employed, most measures of statistical association give misleading indications of item consistency. The 1st argument is considered in terms of what constitutes "interesting" political analysis. The 2nd argument is demonstrated with both hypothetical data & 1968 survey data from the U of Michigan's Survey Research Center on race related questions among blacks & whites. Low correlations frequently mask extensive structure. Overall, current methods for determining attitude structure are unlikely to show this structure when it does exist. 5 Tables, 2 Figures. AA.

Human beings have a unique ability to create elaborate predispositions and evaluations based on their social experiences. The concept of attitudes is central to understanding how experience gives rise to these predispositions, and psychologists have spent the best part of the past 100 years trying to understand the intricacies of this process. Yet, despite decades of research, we still do not fully understand how attitudes are created, maintained and changed. The main objective of this book is to review and integrate some of the most recent, cutting-edge developments in research on attitudes and attitude change, presenting the work of eminent scholars in this field. Chapters in this book deal with such intriguing questions as: What role do associative processes play in the formation of attitudes? How do attitudes function as global and local action guides? What is the function of implicit evaluations, and vicarious experiences in producing attitude change? Are implicit associations a useful way to measure attitudes? What role does affect play in attitude formation and change? What role do social interaction processes play in persuasion, and how does persuasion work in real-life settings? The book is essential reading for students and researchers in social psychology, as well as practitioners in every field where understanding and changing attitudes is important, such as clinical, counseling, organizational, marketing, forensic, and developmental psychology.