Attitudes In A Society May Be Seen To Change Over Time
Attitudes in a society may be seen to change over time. Citing examples, comment on campaigns that have attempted to change attitudes (e.g. same sex marriage).
“An attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related” ( Rollinson, 2005).An attitude reflects the attitude holder’s experiences, feelings and evaluations of those aspects of their life.
The NHS ran an anti smoking campaign in 2007 to motivate smokers to bin the habit. The shocking images were of people literally impaled on fish hooks suggesting they were not in control and were being dragged around by their habit. It was one of the most famous campaigns in 2007 with a huge 90% awareness amongst smokers (The NHS). The campaign follows the consistency principle in which people try to maintain consistency between three components of an attitude: affective, behavioural and cognitive. This means that if a change arises in one of these components, it gives a feeling of inconsistency which means the individual can reverse the change or they can change the other components to fall in line with the newly modified component.
Although the campaign is very striking and memorable, it could be argued that the clever images would not actually want to make a smoker bin their habit. As the images are not to do with what is literally happening to a smoker’s body, this may not really affect their attitudes and beliefs. For example, the images seen on a cigarette packet of a smoker’s lungs or throat are more likely to change attitudes as these things are actually happening to them and could scare a smoker into changing their ways.
The NHS ran another series of images which showed a smoker inside their home smoking around their family. It showed how the smoke was being inhaled by babies, grandparents and loved ones. This campaign is very powerful. The campaign was cleverly
“An attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related” ( Rollinson, 2005).An attitude reflects the attitude holder’s experiences, feelings and evaluations of those aspects of their life.
The NHS ran an anti smoking campaign in 2007 to motivate smokers to bin the habit. The shocking images were of people literally impaled on fish hooks suggesting they were not in control and were being dragged around by their habit. It was one of the most famous campaigns in 2007 with a huge 90% awareness amongst smokers (The NHS). The campaign follows the consistency principle in which people try to maintain consistency between three components of an attitude: affective, behavioural and cognitive. This means that if a change arises in one of these components, it gives a feeling of inconsistency which means the individual can reverse the change or they can change the other components to fall in line with the newly modified component.
Although the campaign is very striking and memorable, it could be argued that the clever images would not actually want to make a smoker bin their habit. As the images are not to do with what is literally happening to a smoker’s body, this may not really affect their attitudes and beliefs. For example, the images seen on a cigarette packet of a smoker’s lungs or throat are more likely to change attitudes as these things are actually happening to them and could scare a smoker into changing their ways.
The NHS ran another series of images which showed a smoker inside their home smoking around their family. It showed how the smoke was being inhaled by babies, grandparents and loved ones. This campaign is very powerful. The campaign was cleverly
References: Rollinson, D., ed. (2008). Organisational Behaviour and Analysis: an integrated approach. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. The NHS Smoke Free,(no date). Hooked. Available from: http://smokefree.nhs.uk/resources/news/campaigns/2007-smokefree-campaign-hooked-office-hooked/ [accessed 20.11.13]