B001518 - PSYCHOLOGY OF ATTITUDES

Italian

Theory, research and application about attitudes. Attitudes change. Attitudes conceptualization, organization and dynamics and attitudes-behavior relationships. Psychological processes about social influence and persuasion, attitude resistance. Fields of application and intervention.

- Bagozzi, R. (1999). Atteggiamenti, intenzioni, comportamento. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
- Anolli, L. (2002). Psicologia della comunicazione. Bologna: Il Mulino (capp. VII, VIII, X, XI, XII).
- Cavazza, N. (2007). La persuasione. Bologna: Il Mulino.
- It is suggested the revision of the basic concepts of matter using a manual recent social psychology.
Additional readings will be available on the course website

The objective of this course is to review the current attitude theory. Attitudes are an integral construct in many areas of contemporary research

Lessons, practice in classroom, thematic seminar (group work). A participatory approach to learning will be emphasized.

Written (multiple-choice questions and filling) and oral examination (admission subject to passing the written test). Grade (18/30 as a pass mark).

This course deals with theory, research and application in the area of attitudes and attitude change. Attitudes are an integral construct in many areas of contemporary research – prejudice, self-perception, interpersonal relations, health, marketing and consumer behavior, jury decision making, politics, etc. This class will review: what attitudes are and how do they relate to other psychological constructs (e.g., personality, emotion, mood, stereotypes, and beliefs); how can attitudes be measured; the process through which attitudes can be changed; ways in which attitudes guide thinking and behavior, and other issues that are relevant to attitude theory.
The first part reviews the history of the attitude concept, theories of attitude formation and organization, methods of attitude measurement; the second part examines the dynamics of attitudes and the attitude-behavior relation; and the third part deals with communication and persuasion and current issues in the literature (e.g., "implicit" attitudes)
Topics:
- Historical overview, definition of attitude
- Attitude measurement: Standard attitude scaling; alternative techniques; reliability and validity of attitude measures.
- Attitude formation: Behavioral and Cognitive Theories.
- Attitude structure and function: Dimensionality of attitudes; attitude strength.
- Attitudes and behavior: moderating variables; the theory of reasoned action / planned behavior; reasoned vs. automatic processes; past behavior and habit; cognitive dissonance and alternatives
- Attitude change: group dynamics/social influence and persuasion; historical perspective; the Hovland Paradigm; reception and yielding; Self-persuasion theories; the elaboration likelihood model; the heuristic-systematic model; persistence of attitudes over time and resistance of attitudes to counter-persuasion.