Final answer:
Attitudes and behaviour consistency can be influenced by personal preferences, social norms, cultural beliefs, and external pressure. These factors play a role in how individuals respond to various situations, including those involving conformity and cognitive dissonance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The consistency between attitudes and behaviour can be influenced by several factors. Among these are:
- Personal preferences, which pertain to an individual’s specific tastes and interests.
- Social norms, which are the accepted behaviors and beliefs in a society or group.
- Cultural beliefs, which are deeply rooted values and norms shared by a community.
- External pressure, which includes influences such as advertising, authority, or the presence of others that can affect an individual’s actions.
These factors impact whether an individual will maintain a certain attitude or behavior, especially in situations involving conformity, compliance, groupthink, and prejudice. Cognitive dissonance highlights an internal struggle when attitudes and behaviors are incongruent, potentially leading to a change in either to restore balance. On the other hand, individuals also have the capacity to consciously alter their attitudes and beliefs out of their own volition.