Page 144 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Notes For example, (From Myers): Child was reading 6-8 books a week. Library then started a reading
club which promised a party to those who read 10 books in three months. Child started checking
out only 1 or 2 books a week. Why? “Because you only need to read 10 books.”
Myers suggests dissonance theory successfully explains what happens when we act contrary to
our clearly defined attitudes. We feel tension, so we adjust our attitudes to reduce it. Dissonance
explains attitude change. When attitudes aren’t well-formed, self-perception theory explains
attitude formation that occurs as we act and reflect. (I think he may be right about the latter
point, but I’m not so sure about the first.) Key thing, then, is how discrepant is the behavior with
the attitude.

Real World Applications

Racism

It has often been said you can’t legislate morality. Yet, changes in civil rights laws and policies
have been accompanied by changes in attitudes. Since Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, the
percentage of white Americans favoring integrated schools has more than doubled. Since Civil
rights act of 1964, the percentage of white Americans who described their neighborhoods,
friends, co-workers, or fellow students as all white declined by 20 percent for each of these
measures. Possible explanations:
1. Disconfirmed expectations: Predicted calamities did not occur.
2. Information inconsistent with previous beliefs led to attitude change.

3. People were forced to behave in a counter-attitudinal manner. People who said they
would not comply with laws did. Ergo, they reasoned blacks must not be so bad.
4. Racist attitudes became non-instrumental, because of the high costs of violating laws. You
had to interact with blacks, so you might as well like them.
5. Value-expressive – racism became inconsistent with the images most people like to hold,
so they adopted anti-racist attitudes.

Example: Suppose you wanted a friend to support a political candidate. What might
you do?
1. Get them to do some small task as a favor to you. Counter-attitudinal actions might
influence attitudes; exposure to dissonant info might change their minds; classical
or instrumental condition could take place – they receive praise for working for the
candidate, which leads to positive attitudes.
2. If friend is for another candidate – provide them with dissonant info. Point out
candidate is weak in areas friend likes him.

3. What if friend doesn’t change his mind? This could occur because (a) friend discredits
the source of the info – you (b) instead of liking the candidate, friend could decide he
doesn’t like you.

Attitudes and Behaviors

1. Is there an attitude-behavior relationship?
(a) LaPiere’s work apparently said no.

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