Page 198 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

7. MASS MEDIA ATTITUDE CHANGE 187

that much behavior is rather spontaneous and that attitudes guide behav-
ior by a relatively automatic process. That is, if the relevant attitude comes
to mind, consistent behavior is likely to follow. Fazio argued that attitudes
can guide behavior without any deliberate reflection or reasoning if
(a) the attitude is accessed spontaneously by the mere presence of the atti-
tude object, and (b) the attitude colors perception of the object so that if
the attitude is favorable (or unfavorable), the qualities of the object appear
favorable (or unfavorable). Fazio (1990) further notes that motivational
and ability factors are important in determining whether the reasoned
action or the automatic activation process occurs. That is, for behavioral
decisions that are high in perceived personal consequences, attitudes are
likely to guide behavior by a deliberate reflection process, but when per-
ceived consequences are low, spontaneous attitude activation should be
more important as a determinant of behavior. Similarly, as the time
allowed for a decision is reduced, the importance of spontaneous attitude
activation processes should increase over more deliberative processes.
When there is sufficient motivation and ability to think about one’s
behavior, a person may reflect on the costs and benefits of the anticipated
action. Interestingly, depending on what costs and benefits are salient at
the moment, this process could lead to a behavior that is consistent or
inconsistent with the underlying attitude. For example, the underlying
attitude might be based on a combination of both emotional and cognitive
(e.g., belief-based) factors, but if reflection time is high, people might
overweight cognitive over emotional considerations leading to later dis-
satisfaction with the decision (see Wilson, Dunn, Kraft, & Lisle, 1989).
When motivation and ability to reflect are low, however, people’s actions
are determined by whichever attitudes are the most accessible. 7
In some domains an accessible attitude is easily translated into behav-
ior (e.g., I like candidate X, I will vote for this candidate). In other
domains, however, translating new attitudes into new behaviors is rather
complex, even if the person has the desire to act on the attitude (e.g., I
want to consume a low-fat diet, but how do I do this?). Thus, for some
media campaigns, attitude change, though an important first step, may
still be insufficient to produce the desired behavioral responses, even if
appropriate attitudes were formed by the central route. People may also
need to rehearse the attitude sufficiently so that it overcomes and replaces
past attitudes (Petty, Gleicher, & Jarvis, 1993; Wilson et al., 2000), or they
may need to acquire new skills and self-perceptions of confidence that

7 Because attitudes formed by the central route tend to be more accessible than attitudes
formed by the peripheral route, peripheral cues in the behavioral environment are likely to
have an impact on immediate actions only when the likelihood of reflection in the current
situation is low and there are no accessible attitudes to guide behavior.