Attribution theoryA B C D E F G H IJKL M N O P R S T U VXYZWobject or situation predisposing one to respond
in some preferential manner’.
Attitudes are learned from direct experience
or through socialization and are capable of being
changed. Attitudes may vary in their direction
(that is they may be positive, negative or neutral),
their intensity and in the degree of importance
attached to them. It is possible to discern three
component elements of an attitude: the cognitive
component, that is the knowledge one has, true
or false, about a particular subject which may
have been gathered from a wide range of sources;
the aff ective component, that is one’s emotional
response or feelings towards a particular subject
which will be linked to one’s beliefs and values;
and the behaviour component, that is how one
reacts with respect to a certain subject.
Attitudes cannot be seen. Th eir existence can
only be inferred from what people say or do. It
is for this reason that accurate attitude measure-
ment is considered to be highly problematic:
people may not be willing to communicate what
they really think or feel. It is basically through
communicating with others that one develops
attitudes. Attitudes, once developed, infl uence
the way in which we perceive other people
and thus how we behave towards them. The
mass media may shape, reinforce or challenge
attitudes. For example, in conveying stereo-
types, mass media messages may shape people’s
attitudes towards groups with which they have
had little, if any, contact. campaigns, such
as advertising campaigns, may be designed
to change people’s attitudes towards a certain
product.
Attribute dimensions of agenda-setting See
agenda-setting.
Attribution theory Concerned with the
psychological processes by which individuals
attribute causes to behaviour. Such attribution
can be dispositional – behaviour attributed to
such factors as personality and attitude; or situ-
ational – behaviour attributed to factors in the
situation. We may, for example, blame a person’s
failure to gain employment on his/her laziness
(dispositional attribution) or on the state of
the economy (situational attribution). Richard
Gross in Psychology: Th e Science of Mind and
Behaviour (Hodder Arnold, 2005) explains that
such attributions are subject to the fundamental
attribution error, that is ‘to the general tendency
to overestimate the importance of personal/
dispositional factors relative to situational/
environmental factors as a cause of behaviour’.
We seem particularly prone to this error when
making judgments about other people’s behav-Richard E. Porter and Edwin R. McDaniel note in
Intercultural Communication: A Reader (Th om-
son Wadsworth, 2006) the degree to which
concern for the face of others may be taken in
Japanese culture: ‘So strong is that concern
for the feelings of others that the Japanese are
notorious for avoiding the word “no,” which they
fi nd harsh.’
These different perspectives on assertive-
ness can be found within a culturally diverse
society. Larry Samovar and Richard Porter in
Communication Between Cultures (Wadsworth/
Th omson Learning, 2001) provide the following
example from the US: ‘In yet another experiment
Caucasian mothers tended to interpret as posi-
tive those aspects of their children’s speech and
behaviour that refl ected assertiveness, excite-
ment and interest.
‘Navajo mothers who observed the same
behaviour in their children reported them as
being mischievous and lacking discipline. To the
Navajo mothers, assertive speech and behaviour
refl ected discourtesy, restlessness, self-centred-
ness, and lack of discipline ...’ It would seem that
assertiveness in communication is a potential
barrier to successful intercultural communica-
tion. See communication: facework; inter-
cultural communication; high and low
context communication.
▶Sue Bishop, Develop Your Assertiveness (Creating
Success) (Sunday Times/Kogan Page, 2010).
Attention model of mass communication
Denis McQuail in Mass Communication Th eory:
An Introduction (Sage, 1987; 6th edition, 2010)
writes that ‘the essence of any market is to bring
goods and services to the attention of potential
customers and keep their interest’. Th us, in mass
media terms, the attention model is about stimu-
lus to buy: communication is considered to have
succeeded as soon as audience attention has
been won, regardless of how this was brought
about. Th is paradigm contrasts with the trans-
mission model of mass communication
which essentially relates to notions of public
service broadcasting; that is, the function
of communication is to deliver messages; to
transmit information, knowledge, education
and enlightenment as well as to entertain. Hence
public service. See audience-as-public and
audience-as-market in the entry on audience.
Attitudes We all hold a range of attitudes on
a variety of topics and issues. An attitude,
according to Milton Rokeach in ‘Th e nature of
attitudes’, Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences
(Collier-Macmillan, 1965), is ‘... a relatively
enduring organization of beliefs around an