Texting While Driving Attitudes

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Cognitive Dissonance Margaret Horner, Chantel Mcluskie, Melissa Harris, Shawn Estridge, Jeffery McGlothen PSY400 Adrian Fletcher July 23, 2012 This paper will cover the situation of texting while driving. You will meet a young woman who has received a text while she is driving. Although she knows that texting while driving is illegal, and dangerous, she will still reply to the text. Meet Mary Mary is on her way to work. As she is driving she hears a tune, and knows it is a text. She looks around, she knows it is illegal to text while driving, but she is expecting and important text from her daughter. She debates whether to look or not. On one hand she knows that it is dangerous, that it can lead to wrecks.…show more content…
Attitude “refers to people’s evaluation of virtually any aspect of their social world” (Baron, Branscombe, & Byrne, 2009, p. 148). Attitudes form about anything and everything, including people, places, ideas, subjects, objects, and actions (such as texting while driving). The influence of a person’s attitudes affects his or her thoughts and behaviors. Strength, certainty of attitudes, personal experiences, and social context will determine the consistency of attitude-behavior bonds (2009). How attitudes affect behavior often depends not only on the person’s implicit attitude but also on the social situation (Baron, Branscombe, & Byrne, 2009). A person with a pre-developed attitude about texting while driving, in different social contexts may react and behave differently from ways he previously considered. People care what others think of them. Regardless of a personal attitude people will sometimes, consciously or unconsciously, suppress an attitude when surrounded by others. “Situation constraints of this sort can prevent attitudes from being expressed in overt behavior” (2009, p. 158). Attitudes as a prediction of behavior are more accurate when the person is not surrounded by others who may not approve. Attitudes are more predicative if the person is…show more content…
Texting a message is so popular and convenient especially among teenagers because the individual can get straight to the point and send the message directly to the person they are trying to speak to. An individual could use the cognitive dissonance theory to rationalize his or her behavior when they are texting while driving by constantly thinking, “I am increasing my chances of getting in an accident, endangering or hurting a bystander and even causing a risk to my own life. The theory of cognitive dissonance helps people to have motivational drive in order to reduce dissonance by changing the exiting cognitions. It will change the way an individual thinks, react and evaluates realistic situations. An example of this would be a conflict of wanting to send the message really fast and knowing the dangers of the outcome. This individual may try to change his or her feelings due to the realization that these consequences may never happen to them or they can take the chance really quick this one last time and send the text

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