The Science Of Attitudes

The Science of Attitudes is the first book to integrate classic and modern research in the field of attitudes at a scholarly level. Designed primarily for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, the presentation of research will also be useful for current scholars in all disciplines who are interested in how attitudes are formed and changed. The treatment of attitudes is both thorough and unique, taking a historical approach while simultaneously highlighting contemporary views and controversies. The book traces attitudes research from the inception of scientific study following World War II to the issues and methods of research that are prominent features of today’s research. Researchers in the field of attitudes will be particularly interested in classic and modern research on the organization, structure, strength and function of attitudes. Researchers in the field of persuasion will be particularly interested in work on attitude change focusing on propositional and associative learning, metacognition and dynamic theories of dissonance, balance and reactance. The book is designed to present the integration of the properties of the attitude with the dynamic considerations of attitude change. The Science of Attitudes is also the first book on attitudes to devote entire chapters to work on implicit measurements, resistance to persuasion, and social neuroscience.

An argument that what makes science distinctive is its emphasis on evidence and scientists' willingness to change theories on the basis of new evidence. Attacks on science have become commonplace. Claims that climate change isn't settled science, that evolution is “only a theory,” and that scientists are conspiring to keep the truth about vaccines from the public are staples of some politicians' rhetorical repertoire. Defenders of science often point to its discoveries (penicillin! relativity!) without explaining exactly why scientific claims are superior. In this book, Lee McIntyre argues that what distinguishes science from its rivals is what he calls “the scientific attitude”—caring about evidence and being willing to change theories on the basis of new evidence. The history of science is littered with theories that were scientific but turned out to be wrong; the scientific attitude reveals why even a failed theory can help us to understand what is special about science. McIntyre offers examples that illustrate both scientific success (a reduction in childbed fever in the nineteenth century) and failure (the flawed “discovery” of cold fusion in the twentieth century). He describes the transformation of medicine from a practice based largely on hunches into a science based on evidence; considers scientific fraud; examines the positions of ideology-driven denialists, pseudoscientists, and “skeptics” who reject scientific findings; and argues that social science, no less than natural science, should embrace the scientific attitude. McIntyre argues that the scientific attitude—the grounding of science in evidence—offers a uniquely powerful tool in the defense of science.

Science is many things: a way of thinking and an activity of individuals in the laboratory; a highly structured institution that recruits, instructs, and regulates its members; a sensitive, interactive, and integrated segment of modern culture and society. Professor Frederick Grinnell presents in this valuable text and survey a clear and comprehensive introduction to all these aspects of science from the point of view of the scientist. Using many examples, drawn primarily from the biomedical sciences but also from everyday life, the author provides the ideal general Introduction to science studies. He goes beyond narrow considerations of methodology to consider broader questions of science as attitude, process, institution, and social force. The text is enhanced by the author's familiarity with several philosophical traditions and the light they throw on the scientific attitude. The text Is straightforward, free of jargon, and completely accessible to beginning students as well as to scientists and laypersons. Professional scholars will also profit from the book's unique blending of the various perspectives on science.

Written by two world-leading academics in the field of attitudes research, is a brand new textbook that gets to the very heart of this fascinating and far-reaching field. Greg Maio and Geoffrey Haddock describe how scientific methods have been used to better understand attitudes and how they change. With the aid of a few helpful metaphors, the text provides readers with a grasp of the fundamental concepts for understanding attitudes and an appreciation of the scientific challenges that lay ahead.

Attitude refers to feelings, beliefs, and reactions of an individual towards an event, phenomenon, object or person. Attitudes are not innate attributes of mankind, but learned behaviour. The authors of this book present current research in understanding the psychology of attitudes. Topics discussed in this compilation include a review of attitudes research guided by theories of behavioural intention and dual-process models; types and origins of attitudes; decoupling and unpacking attitudes; adult attitudes toward adolescents who engage in substance use; personal networks and attitudes towards same-sex marriage; and college students' attitudes about quality of life and health care issues.

Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes: Volume 1 in Measures of Social Psychological Attitudes Series provides a comprehensive guide to the most promising and useful measures of important social science concepts. This book is divided into 12 chapters and begins with a description of the Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes Project's background and the major criteria for scale construction. The subsequent chapters review measures of "response set"; the scales dealing with the most general affective states, including life satisfaction and happiness; and the measured of self-esteem. These topics are followed by discussions of measures of social anxiety, which is conceived a major inhibitor of social interaction, as well as the negative states of depression and loneliness. Other chapters examine the separate dimensions of alienation, the predictive value of interpersonal trust and attitudes in studies of occupational choice and racial attitude change, and the attitude scales related to locus of control. The final chapters look into the measures related to authoritarianism, androgyny, and values. This book is of great value to social and political scientists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, non-academic professionals, and students.

Notable advances resulting from new research findings, measurement approaches, widespread uses of the Internet, and increasingly sophisticated approaches to sampling and polling, have stimulated a new generation of attitude scholars. This extensively revised edition captures this excitement, while remaining grounded in scholarly research. Attitudes and Opinions, 3/e maintains one of the main goals of the original edition--breadth of coverage. The book thoroughly reviews both implicit and explicit measures of attitudes, the structure and function of attitudes, the nature of public opinion and polling, attitude formation, communication of attitudes and opinions, and the relationship between attitudes and behaviors, as well as theories and research on attitude change. Over 2,000 references support the book's scientific integrity. The authors' second goal is to demonstrate the relevance of the topic to people's lives. Subsequently, the second part of the book examines many of the topics and research findings that are salient in the world today--political and international attitudes (including terrorism), voting behavior, racism and prejudice, sexism and gender roles, and environmental attitudes. This thoroughly revised new edition features: *an entirely new chapter on implicit measures attitudes; *a new chapter on environmental attitudes; *updated opinion poll data throughout the book; *additional material on time trends in attitudes about many issues; and *expanded, updated sections on international attitudes reflecting the events of 9/11 and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Attitudes and Opinions' broad and interdisciplinary perspective makes this an ideal text in courses on attitudes, public opinion, survey research, or persuasion, taught in a variety of departments including psychology, communication, marketing, sociology, and political science.

How do the attitudes people bring with them to the workplace-attitudinal baggage-affect thoughts, feelings, and actions in organizations? How are the attitudes of those outside an organization (stockholders, customers, suppliers, government officials, and the public-at-large) affected by the organization? Attitudes In and Around Organizations provides a concise summary of what we know about attitudes and suggests what we might discover by adopting novel means, both conceptual and methodological, for studying attitudes in and around organizations. Arthur P. Brief provides an overview of the job satisfaction literature, including a redefinition of job satisfaction. In addition, he examines the various means by which attitudes have been measured, attitude formation and change, and the resistance of attitudes to change efforts. Groups whose attitudes are organizationally relevant (customers, for example) are examined in order to illustrate how organizations affect the attitudes of people beyond their boundaries and to determine how organizations can influence salient attitudes in their environments. The concluding chapter offers the reader a view of the future and suggests ideas for future research. Students, researchers, consultants, and organizational decision makers will find this a relevant, engaging, and thought-provoking resource.