Forming Attitudes and Developing Curiosity
Attitude and action formation
One of the purposes and outcomes of our reasoning and critical thinking actions is our ability and intent to influence attitudes and beliefs, with the intention to create, shape, change or strengthen an attitude or belief. Attitudes and beliefs are precursors to action. They are the reason we put so much effort into our critical thinking.
However reasoning and critical thinking are only part of the art of good thinking. Good thinking, to be useful, needs a purpose and an outcome. In the introduction of the unit we used the expression ‘winning hearts and minds’. The purpose of winning hearts and minds is to inspire and motivate people to commit to something and to do something.
The psychological mechanism by which we influence others is complex. Philosophers, psychologists, cognitive specialists and many others have explored this endlessly.
In a context where individuals and teams have choice, the three-component model of attitude formation holds well.1 The overall idea is that some combination of thinking or logic, feeling or emotion, and intent to do something, work in combination to create the likelihood of the formation of attitudes or beliefs about or towards something, someone or an action. This intent has a high correlation with action.
Take a look at The Attitude and Formation model in the image below. It shows the set of relationships that work together in various ways to motivate people to take action. Each of the components is a specific factor or driver in the outcome. These are a rational appeal, an emotional appeal, and an intention or a call to action. These can be put together in a variety of combinations to motivate the individual or team to do something. You will also notice that there is an additional piece highlighting the importance of the attitude that the individual or team might have to the behaviour that is being proposed or promoted.
2
This additional element is the need for the behaviour to fit within an appropriate behavioural set for the situation. Read this article in the Cove by Ricky Su on the topic of Army values. The article discusses the links between values and behaviours in the Australian Army and makes a call to action. There are facts and also emotional appeals resulting from references to character, honesty and compassion. The facts and emotional elements are used to encourage volunteerism. The author also strongly highlights the need for a positive attitude towards a specific behavioural set based on Army values. This helps to reinforce the desired actions and behaviours.
This is quite a complex and subtle example of the implicit use of the model.
Here are some examples of much more direct appeals from YouTube that relate to the Australian Army and Army life:
As you watch these videos, work your way through the stages of the model. You will notice that the messages are communicated in such a way to engage you and you want to learn more about the spokesperson and the role.
Not all communications use all components of the model. When you look closely at the images, you see the respective overlaps which suggest that there can be multiple combinations depending on the reasoning and critical thinking behind the situation.
Take a look at the image. As well as a possible direct link between any of the four variables: cognition, affect, conation and attitude toward the behaviour; there can be a cognition-affect appeal, an affect-conation appeal, a cognition-conation appeal, and an cognition-affect-conation appeal. Of course, any combination of these with Attitude toward behaviour is possible.
However, there tends to be a rule of thumb in many situations, especially politics, stating simply that ‘emotions drive behaviour’!3 James Clear suggests that every decision is an emotional decision at some level. This implies that there is an element of emotion lurking somewhere even in places where reasoning, logic and critical thinking abound! He backs his claim up with a further claim that we can only be rational and logical after we have been emotional.
It is very important that you reflect on these statements, given your work and your professional life in the field.
We are sure that now you are more aware of this attitude-action model you will be on the lookout for examples and how it works.
References
- Ajzen, I., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2019). Reasoned action in the service of goal pursuit. Psychological review.
- Glasman, L. R., & Albarracin, D. (2006, Sep). Forming attitudes that predict future behavior: a meta-analysis of the attitude-behavior relation. Psychol Bull, 132(5), 778-822. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.5.778Solinger, O. N., van Olffen, W., & Roe, R. A. (2008, Jan). Beyond the three-component model of organizational commitment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(1), 70-83. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.70Van Dessel, P., Hughes, S., & De Houwer, J. (2019). How do actions influence attitudes? An inferential account of the impact of action performance on stimulus evaluation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 23(3), 267-284.Ajzen, I., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2019). Reasoned action in the service of goal pursuit. Psychological review.
- Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. Penguin Random House. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/543993/atomic-habits-by-james-clear/
MODIFIED VERSION
One of the purposes and outcomes of our reasoning and critical thinking actions is our ability and intent to influence attitudes and beliefs, with the intention to create, shape, change or strengthen an attitude or belief. Attitudes and beliefs are precursors to action. They are the reason we put so much effort into our critical thinking.
However reasoning and critical thinking are only part of the art of good thinking. Good thinking to be useful needs a purpose and an outcome. In the introduction of the unit we used the expression ‘winning hearts and minds’. The purpose of winning hearts and minds is to inspire and motivate people to commit to something and to do something.
The psychological mechanism by which we influence others is complex. Philosophers, psychologists, cognitive specialists and many others have explored this endlessly.
In a context where individuals and teams have choice the three-component model of attitude formation holds well.1 The overall idea is that some combination of thinking or logic, feeling or emotion, and intent to do something, work in combination to create the likelihood of the formation of attitudes or beliefs about or towards something, someone or an action. This intent has a high correlation with action.
We generally accept that one of the more direct processes is that a speaker, leader or other influencer first presents facts and statements to support the idea. Often there is the additional of an emotional aspect to the statements. Next the influencer infers a course of action and would often be specific about action.
Take a look at The Attitude and Formation model in the image below. It shows the set of relationships that work together in various ways to motivate people to take action. Each of the components is a specific factor or driver in the outcome. These are a rational appeal, an emotional appeal and an intention or a call to action. These can be put together in a variety of combinations to motive the individual or team to do something. You will also notice that there is an additional piece highlighting the importance of the attitude that the individual or team might have to the behaviour that is being proposed or promoted.
The Attitude Formation & Action Model2
[See the original ppt in Topics]
This additional element is the need for the behaviour to fit within an appropriate behavioural set for the situation. Read this articulate in the Cove by Ricky Su on the topic of Army values. The article discusses the links between values and behaviours in the Army and makes a call to action. There are facts and also emotional appeals resulting by references to character, honesty and compassion. The facts and emotional elements are used to encourage the intention to volunteerism. The author also strongly highlights the need for a positive attitude towards a specific behavioural set based on Army values. This helps to reinforce the desired actions and behaviours.
This is quite a complex and subtle example of the implicit use of the model.
Here are some examples of much more direct appeals from YouTube that relate the <context>.
Royal Military College: Learn to lead in the Army
Army Reserve: Challenge Yourself
Royal Military College: Explore Renata’s Army Story
As you watch these videos work your way through the stages of the model. You will notice that the messages are communicated in such a way to engage you and you want to learn more about the spokesperson and the role.
Not all communications use all components of the model. When you look closely at the images, you see the respective overlaps which suggest that there can be multiple combinations depending on the reasoning and critical thinking behind the situation.
Take a look at the image. As well as a possible direct link between any of the four variables: cognition, affect, conation and attitude toward the behaviour; there can be a cognition- affect appeal, an affect-conation appeal, a cognition-conation appeal, and an cognition-affect-conation appeal. Of course, any combination of these with Attitude toward behaviour is possible.
<insert model>
However there tends to be a rule of thumb in many situations, especially politics, stating simply that ‘emotions drive behaviour’!3 James Clear suggests that every decision is an emotional decision at some level. This implies that there is an element of emotion lurking somewhere even in places where reasoning, logic and critical thinking abound! He backs his claim up with a further claim that we can only be rational and logical after we have been emotional.
It is very important that you reflect on these statements, given your life in barracks and in the field.
We are sure that now you are more aware of this attitude-action model you will be on the lookout for examples and how it works.
Activity.
Choosing advertisements on any medium, conduct an audit of which components are involved and in which combination. Compare perhaps a car advertisement with a call for to support a worthwhile cause. Most will have some combination of information, something emotional and a call to action. In many cases as part of the ad there will be visuals of what you would be doing if you took up the call to action. For example, the ad might show a happy family riding in the new car, or an image of a healthy child who had benefited from the donation. As you make your comparison, think about which components have been used, the sequence of the components and which have been most emphasised in the ads. Different ads might be based on a ‘did you know’ question, whether or not you were aware of a new solution for example. Another might have a strong emotional approach; most ads with a koala! An ad might have a strong call to action, perhaps with a price reduction or end of financial year appeal.
Consider the underlying logic and reasoning behind the ads you have chosen. What worked and what have you learned from this exercise?
However there tends to be a rule of thumb in many situations, especially politics, stating simply that ‘emotions drive behaviour’!3 James Clear suggests that every decision is an emotional decision at some level. This implies that there is an element of emotion lurking somewhere even in places where reasoning, logic and critical thinking abound! He backs his claim up with a further claim that we can only be rational and logical after we have been emotional.
It is very important that you reflect on these statements, given your life in barracks and in the field.
We are sure that now you are more aware of this attitude-action model you will be on the lookout for examples and how it works.
Activity.
Choosing advertisements on any medium, conduct an audit of which components are involved and in which combination. Compare perhaps a car advertisement with a call for to support a worthwhile cause. Most will have some combination of information, something emotional and a call to action. In many cases as part of the ad, there will be visuals of what you would be doing if you took up the call to action. For example, the ad might show a happy family riding in the new car, or an image of a healthy child who had benefited from the donation. As you make your comparison, think about which components have been used, the sequence of the components and which have been most emphasised in the ads. Different ads might be based on a ‘did you know’ question, whether or not you were aware of a new solution for example. Another might have a strong emotional approach; most ads with a koala! An ad might have a strong call to action, perhaps with a price reduction or end of financial year appeal.
Consider the underlying logic and reasoning behind the ads you have chosen. What worked and what have you learned from this exercise?