2.8 Psychological Factors Flashcards
Attitudes
can form through experience, social influence, education, conditioning processes, and observation
Cognitive Dissonance
our beliefs don’t line up with your actions
Many people know that smoking is bad for their health, however, they continue to do so
Cognitive Consistency
- changing our actions OR our attitude/thoughts to relive discomfort
- smokers may decide smoking is valubale than health and make it worth it
- reduced dissonanse and ocntinued bad behaviour
Types of Attitude
Implicit
Explicit
Implicit
- Attitude is unconscious and we aren’t aware of expressing it.
- Police are portrayed as intimidating in the media, so we slow down when we see a police car
Explicit
Attitude is conscious and you express it intentionally
Ex. Fatima wears a Nirvana T-shirt because they are her favourite band and she wants to show this off
Can Attitudes be Changed?
Consistency Theories
Learning Theories
Functional Theories
Consistency Theory
humans strive for consistency between their attitudes (thoughts) and their behaviour
To change one’s attitude, inconsistency needs to be created between attitude and behaviour
- for example, someone who has ana ttitude of racist becomes friends with a black person. This creates inconsisiteny. they have an attitude of open midness and create consisitency
Learning Theory
- We learn to behave through interactions that occur within our environment.
- Classical conditioning
- A learned response to a stimulus
- Example: Hearing the lunch bell ring and immediately getting hungry for lunch
- Operant conditioning
- Strengthening a behaviour with positive or negative reinforcement
- Example: You don’t study for a test, your phone gets taken away, you start to study more
Functional Theory
- looks at the reason for the attitude
- In order to change your attitude about something, think about what the purpose might be
- Example: Many students hate uniforms, but they are usually worn in schools for safety.
Neurotic Disorders
- minor psychiatric conditions
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Obsessions
- Phobias
- Causes - learned behaviours or genetics
- Treatments - therapy, medications, self-care techniques
Psychotic Disorders
- Mental disorders that cause abnormal perceptions (often delusions and hallucinations)
- Schizophrenia
- Treated through medication and psychotherapy
- Common from late teens to early thirties
PTSD
- Anxiety disorder where a person relives a traumatic event through recurrent memories (flashbacks, nightmares).
- Other problems often occur because of attempts to cope:
- Alcoholism
- Drug abuse
- Insomnia
- Depression
- Aggression
- Treatments - cognitive processing therapy, medications
ADHD
- Brain based issue, which is expressed through physical behaviours:
- Inattention
- Impulsiveness
- Overactivity
- Causes: Genetics, some researchers believe diet, mothers who smoke and consume alcohol while pregnant
- Treatments: Behavioural interventions, medications, improves with age
Motivation
- the need or desire to do something - the focus is on how someone is motivated.
- Psychologists have offered various theories in an attempt to understand motivation such as:
- Biological factors or genetics
- Cognitive reasoning
- Achievement motivation
Motivation - Biological Factors
Drive Reduction Theory
Psychodynamic Theory
Drive Reduction Theory
- our instincts (which are natural and unlearned) motivate our behaviour (thirst, hunger).
- Example: hunger or the need to use the washroom is a force that may drive us to get up in the morning.