This original and engaging book advocates an unabashedly empirical approach to understanding human values: abstract ideals that we consider important, such as freedom, equality, achievement, helpfulness, security, tradition, and peace. Our values are relevant to everything we do, helping us choose between careers, schools, romantic partners, places to live, things to buy, who to vote for, and much more. There is enormous public interest in the psychology of values and a growing recognition of the need for a deeper understanding of the ways in which values are embedded in our attitudes and behavior. How do they affect our well-being, our relationships with other people, our prosperity, and our environment? In his examination of these questions, Maio focuses on tests of theories about values, through observations of what people actually think and do. In the past five decades, psychological research has learned a lot about values, and this book describes what we have learned and why it is important. It provides the first overview of psychological research looking at how we mentally represent and use our values, and constitutes important reading for psychology students at all levels, as well as academics in psychology and related social and health sciences.

What is an attitude? How do different research approaches characterise 'attitude' and its applications in social psychology? The Attitude concept has long formed an indispensable construct in social psychology. In this volume, internationally renowned contributors review contemporary developments in research and theory to capture the current metamorphosis of this central concept. This book draws together the latest developments in the field to provide a scholarly and accessible overview of the study of attitudes, examining the implications for its position as a paradigm of social psychological understanding. Dividing the subject into two main parts, this book first addresses the structural and behavioural properties of attitudes, including the affective-cognitive structure of attitudes, the nature of attitude ambivalence and intention-behaviour relations. The second section focuses on representational and transformational processes, such as meta-cognitive attitudinal processes, the role of implicit and explicit attitudinal processes, cultural influences and attitude change. In a third, concluding section, the editors draw together these contemporary perspectives and elaborate on their impact for future theorising and research into attitudes. Empirically supported throughout, this collection represents a timely integration of the burgeoning range of approaches to attitude research. It will be of interest to social psychologists, sociologists, political scientists and researchers with an interest in attitudinal phenomena.

As the first book to examine the psychological motivations underlying people's attitudes, as well as why people form attitudes, this volume presents empirical research describing theoretical perspectives and practical applications. The editors assembled the leaders in the field to examine the topics of attitude function persuasion, individual-differences approaches, and the role of motivation within a variety of psychological disciplines, including social, personality, consumer, and environmental.

What is an attitude? How do different research approaches characterise 'attitude' and its applications in social psychology? The Attitude concept has long formed an indispensable construct in social psychology. In this volume, internationally renowned contributors review contemporary developments in research and theory to capture the current metamorphosis of this central concept. This book draws together the latest developments in the field to provide a scholarly and accessible overview of the study of attitudes, examining the implications for its position as a paradigm of social psychological understanding. Dividing the subject into two main parts, this book first addresses the structural and behavioural properties of attitudes, including the affective-cognitive structure of attitudes, the nature of attitude ambivalence and intention-behaviour relations. The second section focuses on representational and transformational processes, such as meta-cognitive attitudinal processes, the role of implicit and explicit attitudinal processes, cultural influences and attitude change. In a third, concluding section, the editors draw together these contemporary perspectives and elaborate on their impact for future theorising and research into attitudes. Empirically supported throughout, this collection represents a timely integration of the burgeoning range of approaches to attitude research. It will be of interest to social psychologists, sociologists, political scientists and researchers with an interest in attitudinal phenomena.

This original and engaging book advocates an unabashedly empirical approach to understanding human values: abstract ideals that we consider important, such as freedom, equality, achievement, helpfulness, security, tradition, and peace. Our values are relevant to everything we do, helping us choose between careers, schools, romantic partners, places to live, things to buy, who to vote for, and much more. There is enormous public interest in the psychology of values and a growing recognition of the need for a deeper understanding of the ways in which values are embedded in our attitudes and behavior. How do they affect our well-being, our relationships with other people, our prosperity, and our environment? In his examination of these questions, Maio focuses on tests of theories about values, through observations of what people actually think and do. In the past five decades, psychological research has learned a lot about values, and this book describes what we have learned and why it is important. It provides the first overview of psychological research looking at how we mentally represent and use our values, and constitutes important reading for psychology students at all levels, as well as academics in psychology and related social and health sciences.

This third edition explores the scientific methods that are used to better understand attitudes and how they change, updated to reflect the flurry of research activity in this dynamic subject over the past few years. Providing the fundamental concepts for understanding attitudes, with a balanced consideration of all approaches, the book pulls together many diverse threads from research across the world. Key features: Research highlights illustrate interesting and important case studies and their findings Recap 'What we have learned' and 'What do you think?' questions at the end of chapters get students thinking Key terms and a glossary help students get up to speed with terminology Even more international in scope - with research drawn from many countries and a stronger European perspective New research in areas such as hypocrisy, persuasion, matching and evaluative conditioning has been considered and included, showing the flourishing nature of this subject area Online resources including multiple choice questions, journal articles and flashcards for students, and PowerPoint slides and essay questions for lecturers to use for teaching ideas, available at study.sagepub.com/psychofattitudes3e

This third edition explores the scientific methods that are used to better understand attitudes and how they change, updated to reflect the flurry of research activity in this dynamic subject over the past few years. Providing the fundamental concepts for understanding attitudes, with a balanced consideration of all approaches, the book pulls together many diverse threads from research across the world. Key features: Research highlights illustrate interesting and important case studies and their findings Recap 'What we have learned' and 'What do you think?' questions at the end of chapters get students thinking Key terms and a glossary help students get up to speed with terminology Even more international in scope - with research drawn from many countries and a stronger European perspective New research in areas such as hypocrisy, persuasion, matching and evaluative conditioning has been considered and included, showing the flourishing nature of this subject area Online resources including multiple choice questions, journal articles and flashcards for students, and PowerPoint slides and essay questions for lecturers to use for teaching ideas, available at study.sagepub.com/psychofattitudes3e