Changing Attitudes
There are countless ways in which vested others (e.g., corporations, politicians, industries) try to
change our attitudes toward a variety of issues or products. For example, advertising agencies
attempt to persuade consumers to purchase certain products through the use of large, expensive
advertisements. Politicians often try to persuade citizens that changing their attitude toward a
political issue is in the citizen’s best interest. Changing an attitude toward a particular issue can
affect a person’s behavior. However, changing attitudes is not easy. The process of attitude
change is complicated and can occur through multiple direct or indirect routes. Consider someone
who needs to change his or her attitude toward a health-related issue in order to improve his or
her own health. How challenging might this task be, and what are some implications if they do not
change their attitude?
For this Discussion, select one of the following three social problems: (1) smoking, (2) obesity, or
(3) global warming. Consider the population to whom you might want to address this social
problem. Think about how you might change the attitudes toward these issues in the population
you selected.
With these thoughts in mind:
a brief description of the social problem you selected. Select a population in which you might want
to address this social problem and explain why. Then justify one approach you might use to
change current attitudes within this population. Finally, explain one challenge you might face in
attempting to change the attitudes of this population and one way you might address that
challenge.
Examples
RE: Changing Attitudes
The social problem selected is smoking cigarettes. Smoking is a social problem
because it affects the individual and those around them by inhaling second-hand smoke. The
population addressing the social problem of smoking would be adolescents, twelve and up,
because this specific population is most vulnerable to peer-pressure of simply by wanting to
fit in. The early years of adolescents are the most turbulent years of developmental growth
where bouts of mood swings, anxiety, and restlessness are present; It is also the age of
experimentation. Adolescents is marked by puberty, which consists of series of biological
events that lead to body growth and sexual maturity. A collaboration of biological,
psychological, and social forces influence adolescent development.
Adolescents feel more comfortable with peers who match their own level of
biological maturity: However, finding a friend/companion who is also experiencing puberty
at the same time can be difficult, only because few others are available, which leads to
adolescents of both sexes to seek out older companions, who often encourage then into
activities they are not ready to handle emotionally. In addition, hormonal influences on the
brain’s emotional/social network are stronger for early maturers, further magnifying their
receptiveness to risky behaviors such as, smoking, for example, which makes adolescents the
age of vulnerability.
Peer influence are friends who may advocate smoking, see smoking as exciting,
grown-up, mature, or cool, therefore, the adolescent smokes to fit in. Adolescents typically
share values that are similar to their peers, which normalizes what connect the individual to
his/her peers yet overshadows the consequences that are associated with smoking. This age
group is targeted because of how vulnerable/naive adolescents are as they go through the
agony of human development at such a tender age. Vulnerability in this sense can evolve into
an addictive habit that can have a direct effect on their health, and others they associate with,
well into adulthood.
The harmful effects of cigarette smoking are directly related to heart disease, stroke,
cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, lungs, stomach, pancreas, kidneys, and
bladder, and the reason I am so well-versed on the ill-effects of smoking is because my late
husband developed lung cancer, and in less than 2 months after being diagnosed, he was
gone. He too began smoking at the tender age of twelve, back in 1956, and stubbornly, with
all his doctor’s advice and warnings, and my persistence in stopping smoking, he
nevertheless continued till his death in 2008.
One approach that I could use on this young population would be the dual-processing
models of, The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and Heuristic-Systematic Model
(HSM), where both center on the notion that the process by which attitude change occurs
depends on the degree of cognitive effort that message recipients exert when confronted with
a persuasive message (Hogg, 2007, P. 199). At the core of both the ELM and the HSM is the
presumption that there are two relatively distinct routes by which persuasion can occur: the
central or systematic route, and the peripheral or heuristic route (Hogg, 2007, P. 198). The
central or systematic route is based on two conditions of motivation and ability to process
information relevant to the topic; the greater the relevancy the higher chances of elaboration.
In contrast to the central or systematic route, is the peripheral or heuristic route reliant
on heuristic cues. HSM (the least effort principle) refers to this low-effort form of persuasion
as the heuristic route, reflecting the notion that when people are unmotivated and/or unable to
process the content of a persuasion message, they look for heuristic cues available within the
persuasion context that enable them to execute simple decision rules to determine what
attitude to take (Hogg, 2007, P. 199).
In persuading this population not to smoke based on dire outcomes or consequences, I
believe the central route or systematic route would better utilized for this group, as attitudes
change or formed through the central/systematic route are theorized to be more durable and
impactful than those changed or formed through the peripheral route (Hogg, 2007, P. 201).
The peripheral route, on the other hand, may prove to be effective, but only in short-term
outcomes, whereas, the central or systematic route form attitudes that would be considered
more persistent and resistant to change.
One challenge in attempting to change the attitudes of this population is the
motivation, ability, and opportunity to process information. Persuading adolescents in the
aspect of authority, lessens their perception of the importance of the message, whereas, the
aspect of peer acceptance of fitting in, furthers the adoption of new and exciting ideas that are
considered more favorable and applicable to swayed decisions. According to Hogg (2007),
“The attractiveness of a message source often serves as a persuasive cue—people who are
unmotivated and/or unable to process the content of a persuasive message more often adopt
the position advocated by an attractive than an unattractive source” (P. 202, Para 2). In order
to persuade this young group, the message must include direct language and a heightened
enhancement of the consequences associated with the ill-effects of smoking.
We associate this visual form of direct language of persuasion in the graphic ads and
commercials that depict extreme consequences of smoking that affects the human body in the
most grosses of images presented in the conquering effects of the message. Sometimes, the
reality of the message is meant to be so extreme as to powerfully validate doubtful
arguments. However, attitude formation occurs when individuals have no existing attitude
toward the topic/object in question (Albarracin, 2011, P. 996). In this respect, general action
and inaction goals influence attitude change suggest that these goals are also likely to
influence attitude formation in response to persuasive information: Similarly, individuals
primed with action (vs. inaction) goals should form more favorable attitudes toward a topic
that is supported than opposed in a persuasive communication (Albarracin, 2011, P. 996).
In addressing this challenge with adolescent’s attitudes more effectively, this
challenge might be more persuasive by a hands-on approach of impacting views of smoking
by illustrating the consequences through informal group meetings that captivates the
consequences of smoking through power-point presentations of graphic pictures that depict
the ill-effects of smoking and what it will do to the internal organs of the human body overtime. Sometimes it is necessary to use the approach of shocking the mind to prove that
smoking has dire consequences that lead in all directions to the primary cause of death. With
all the information that kids store in memory, especially at the age of twelve and up, some
stored information tend to be more memorable in thought than others. As the adolescent
matures, he/she will always reflect back to the memory of the graphic images when
persuaded by others that smoking is cool.
References
Albarracin, D., & Handley, I. M. (2011). The time for doing is not the time for change:
Effects
on general action and inaction goals on attitude retrieval and attitude change. Journal
of
Personality and Social Psychology, 100(6), 983-998. Retrieved from the Walden
Library.
Doi: 10.1037/a0023245
Hogg, M. A., & Cooper, J. M. (Eds.). (2007). The Sage handbook of social
psychology (concise
student ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Hogg & Cooper (2007) discusses weight stigmas as they can be visible or
concealable. Visible stigmas can include race or ethnicity, and concealable could
consist of religious practice or sexual orientation. Typically, the apparent
stigmatization of obesity has a high level of predictability because often people are
under the impression that obesity is something that can be controlled with alterations
to their daily routine including exercise and diet.
For this week, I chose obesity. However, I would also like to point out the other end
of the spectrum: anorexia and bulimia. The fact is, the DSM defines several eating
disorders. Another common eating disorder is binge eating disorder. By taking a look
at all eating disorder, whether they result in an emaciated body or a huge one, we
must take into consideration. They are equally dangerous. While there are different
considerations for all of the various disorders, they can all be fatal. Typically, the only
real way to defeat these disorders is a combination of medical intervention and
CBT.Since the original question cited obesity, I will discuss the population that this
most likely effects as well as a way to alter these attitudes.Allow me to begin with a
personal story. Growing up, both of my parents were very large. I, too, was an obese
child. My parents ensured that I was involved in physical activities, and I was never
one to just sit and play video games. In 2014, my parents decided to undergo
bariatric surgery. My father, at this point, weighed in at 318 pounds. My mother
tipped the scaled at 290. Three years after their operation, they are finding it
challenging to maintain the strict dietary regulations set forth by the bariatric clinic.
However, they have collectively lost 250 pounds.
Human understanding includes cognition-established insight, taking others' views
and imagining others' roles. Empathy is a motive for altruistic behavior. Kindness is a
source of human altruism that developed as a by-product of critical thought. (Irimia,
2011). Irimia makes a very valid point. When taking into consideration others
physical limitations and health concerns, explicitly eating disorders, we must first
consider how they became that way. Was it the pressure of society to appear a
certain way? Do they not have access to healthy food? The inability to provide
healthy meals is frequent with those who participate in WIC and SNAP programs.
Since they are allowed a specific amount of money to go towards food per month,
often it is easier to purchase the cheaper, fatty foods over the fresh fruits and
vegetables.
"Attitudes should be retrieved and reported more rapidly following action than control
or inaction primes but more slowly following inaction than control or action primes.
Furthermore, when people prepare to receive a specific message, action goals are
likely to accelerate the retrieval of a prior relevant attitude without necessarily
speeding up all activities or attitudes unrelated to the task at hand" (Albarracin &
Handley, 2011).
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References:
Albarracin, D., & Handley, I. M. (2011). The time for doing is not the time for change:
Effects of general action and inaction goals on attitude retrieval and attitude change.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(6), 983–998.
Hogg, M. A., & Cooper, J. M. (Eds.). (2007). The Sage handbook of social
psychology(concise student ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Irimia, C. (2011). Empathy as a source of attitude change. Contemporary Readings
in Law & Social Justice, 2(2), 319–324.
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