Effect of the Change of Attitude on Human Behavior - Lab Report Example

Effect of the change of Attitude on Human Behavior Name Institution Table of Content Abstract Background information Purpose of the Study Research methods Participants Design of the Study Materials Procedure Results Discussion Conclusion References Abstract In Australia, one of the illegal practices, practices which the law enforcers take more seriously, is using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. The reason behind this is that using hand held mobile phones causes distractions to drivers and leads to accidents, and therefore loss of lives. Notably, there are relentless penalties when an individual violets these rules, especially when one rests a phone in his or her lap or stopping the car at traffic lights. The analysis of using mobile phones while driving ends with important conclusions. One of the conclusions is that the analysis emphasizes on the need for attentiveness of drivers when on steering wheels and concentration. Close analysis examines the importance of restricting the use of mobile phones while driving. More importantly, this paper further analyses the attitude effects on the people considering the harsh and intensive adverts that have been done concerning the dangers of using mobile phones while driving. Background information Superficial processing of information among people have myriad effects on attitude changes considering that attitudes are closely related and associated with actions. According to Kazmi, & Batra (2008), actions normally have higher likelihood of influencing attitudes particularly if people are not triggered or motivated, and therefore lack the ability to effectively process information. There are particular theories that explain the psychological effects on people’s attitudes and actions as well as their influences on the human behaviors. Law enforcers use excessive force to implement laws which are, fortunately, meant to protect people’s lives and their surroundings. According to Petty and Brinol (2008), attitude is the expression that an individual or individual shows towards an object, place, phenomena, etc in terms of favor or disfavor. This expression has a very powerful effect on the behavior of an individual and therefore determines the response of the individual towards a particular issue...considers how consumers process and respond to advertisement messages according to Elaboration Likelihood Model. Elaboration Likelihood model is a theoretical model of persuasion that shows how attitudes are formed and changed. This model examines according to Kazmi, & Batra (2008), an argument’s status of issues from the processing and evaluating perspective to a peripheral issues such as expertise and attractiveness. According to Vaughan, & Hogg (2011), favorable attitudes are normally formed particularly when a brand is previewed to have been endorsed by an expert and the consumer like particular aspects of the adverts that might be connected with the advert executions like music, visuals, imagery, or humor. Peripheral processing may not be liked by the consumers of the adverts especially due to unconvincing reputation or due to credibility problems and are therefore rejected. Central processing according to Vaughan & Hogg (2011) predicts behavior better than attitudes formed by peripheral processing. Purpose of the Study This paper aimed at examining whether high and low thinking about the advertisements on the dangers of using mobile phone while driving and how they affected the degree of change in people’s attitudes about using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. The hypothetical importance of the study served as the criticality of change of attitudes towards human behavior. Research methods The main research method that this study adopted was the survey study techniques. In this regard, the study used a cross sectional survey which was used to gather information on a population at a single point in time. Survey instruments like questionnaires were used. This is a study which sought to examine whether high and low thinking about the advertisements on the dangers of using mobile phone while driving and how they affected the degree of change in people’s attitudes about using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. Besides surveys techniques, the study considered utilizing some of the exploratory techniques of research. Analytical techniques of research were used to assess high and low thinking about the advertisements on the dangers of using mobile phone while driving and how they affected the degree of change in people’s attitudes about using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. These methods of study were adopted so that a higher depth of the study could be achieved and also to ensure that the possible limitations to the study were minimized. Participants The targeted population, and therefore the participants of the project were 26 male Australians whose age ranged between 18 and 22 years. Considerably, the mean age was found to be 19.11 with a standard deviation of 1.05. The project also targeted 23 female Australians of the age between 18 and 24 years, with a considerable mean age of 19.82 and standard deviation of 1.26 in order to effectively address the topic of the study. In addition, only the participants aged 18 years and above and therefore considered adults and had initial favorable attitudes to the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving cars were involved in the research process of the study. The other rationale for the choice of the participants was because of the effects of the attitude changes based on their peers as well as low high behavioral changes (growing rationality and critical arguments among this group) and life style among the members of the population. Design of the Study This study adopted the one-way between the factor designs in order to effectively examine the topic of study. In this case therefore, the study compared the degree of the attitude change among the participants, the high thinking participants, who were encouraged to engage in a high level of thinking about the TAC advertisement to the low thinking participants who were not encouraged to engage in high level thinking about the TAC advertisement. Accordingly, the study grouped the participants into two groups based on the low and high thinking criteria. 24 members of the population of the participants were grouped in the high level of thinking while 25 participants were grouped into the low level thinking group. Considering the design’s aim, the most important dependent measure of the study was the degree of the attitude change, simply attitude, towards using the hand-held mobile phones while driving a car. Attitude was calculated using Jone’s (1986) method by subtracting the score obtained from the attitude during the time of recruitment from the result obtained on the Jone’s measure of attitude after viewing the TAC advertisement. Materials Just as mentioned above, one of the research instruments used was the utilization of the questionnaire. Notably, two questionnaires were enough for the administration of the study as the first questionnaire only seven items prior to the viewing of the TAC advertisement. This first questionnaire assessed the demographic background data of the participants by considering the relevant demographic issues like age, gender, occupation, number of years driving, whether the participant possessed a mobile phone, whether or not they have used a hand-held mobile phone while driving, and finally whether or not they had ever been involved in car road accident in the event of them using the hand-held mobile phones. More importantly, the questionnaire had the section which was very directive and included Jone’s (1986) measure of attitude to the use of the hand held mobile phones while driving a car, considered as the Attitude variable. The outcome ranged from 1 to 20 whereby, 1 represented strongly against the use of the hand-held mobile phones while driving a car whereas 20 represented strongly in support of the use of the hand-held mobile phones while driving a car. The other questionnaire of the study had only the Jone’s (1986) measure of the attitude to mobile phone’s usage while driving a car whereby 1 represented strongly against the use of the hand-held mobile phones while driving a car whereas 20 represented strongly in support of the use of the hand-held mobile phones while driving a car. The questionnaire also contained some open ended questions that provided for the participant’s elaborations and justifications of their attitude on the mobile phone usage while driving a car. A TAC brochure that contained the information about how those individuals using mobile phones while driving were exposed to risks four times the risks of being involved in a crash as well as how it was used to reduce the driver reaction times was also utilized in the study. An Apple Mac Laptop aided in displaying some of the TAC video adverts to the participants and some other non-driving mobile phones related to brochures which were obtained from health centers were used in the study. References Kazmi, S. H. H., & Batra, S. K. (2008). Advertising & sales promotion. New Delhi: Excel Books. Petty, R. E., & Brinol, P. (2008). Psychological Processes Underlying Persuasion: A Social Psychological Approach. Diogenes, 55(1), 52-67 Prentice-Hall. Vaughan, G., & Hogg, M. (2011). Introduction to Social Psychology (6th. Ed.), Frenchs Forest: Read More