4:1 Attitudes & Heuristics Flashcards
What are attitudes?
Attitudes are general positive or negative evaluations of objects, such as cars, or subjects, such as people, that give us a fast answer to complex questions.
Attitudes give us an overall impression.
Attitudes make us highly efficient in decision-making.
Which are more specific and concrete - attitudes or values?
Attitudes.
Eg. Toward a person, group, or food.
Which are more abstract or generalized - attitudes or values?
Values.
Eg. Evaluations on justice or fairness.
List three ways attitudes help us.
- Help us make fast decisions.
- Help us approach positive outcomes.
- Help us avoid negative outcomes.
Good vs bad attitude = utilitarian.
In what three ways do attitudes have a symbolic function?
- They affirm values.
- They express social identity.
- They affirm general beliefs.
Eg. Photo of man in front of tanks.
How do social identities relate to attitudes?
By expressing an attitude, you can shape your social identity.
List four main sources of attitudes.
- Mere exposure.
- Learning.
- Culture.
- Stereotypes.
How does exposure lead to attitude?
The more someone sees, hears or perceives something, the easier it is to process the information.
Processing fluency feels pleasant to people.
What are two major ways that cultures shape attitudes and they way people view the self?
- Independent self –> relatively independent of others; may have more positive attitudes toward autonomy (eg. US and England).
- Interdependent self –> more as part of a larger social group; may hold more positive attitudes towards family and community (eg. China and India).
True or false: Stereotypes influence attitudes.
True.
True or false: Attitudes are infallible.
False.
Attitudes can be a results of prejudice.
Eg. Stigma by association.
Explain the continuum model of psychosis.
Psychotic experiences are actually common and present to different degrees throughout the general population. They are on the continuum with normal experiences.
What percentage of people that have psychotic experiences continues to have them?
Only 20%.
80% remit spontaneously.
The majority of psychotic experiences are benign and do not contribute to a psychotic disorder.
In mental health experiences, what is a key stage between experiences and clinical symptoms?
Appraisal and interpretation.
What can more easily lead to a psychotic experience: what you experience or how much you experience it?
How much you experience it. Severity is very important.
Describe cognitive grip.
Having persecutory views; paranoid worldview.
What is intentionalizing in relation to maladaptive appraisals?
Malicious intent made someone look stupid.
What is personalizing in relation to maladaptive appraisals?
There’s a person behind it all.
What is internalizing in relation to maladaptive appraisals?
There’s something wrong with me.
According to the elaboration likelihood model, which two ways are information processed?
- Central route.
- Peripheral route.
This is a dual-processing model.
Which information processing route involves high motivation to make a good decision?
The central route.
Describe the central route.
Deep processing –> details, calculations, etc –> enduring changes in attitude.
Eg. Used for making important decisions.
Describe the peripheral route.
Shallow processing
- -> easy-to-follow information
- -> short-term changes in attitude.
Eg. Buying a product in the spur of a moment.
What are implicit attitudes?
Evaluations or responses from unknown origins.
Eg. The iceberg hidden underneath the water’s surface.
What are explicit attitudes?
Evaluations or responses from known origins.
Attitudes we consciously notice.
What’s a term for simple rules that are used to form an attitude judgment with little cognitive effort?
Heuristics.
Also known as rule of thumb.
What type of heuristic is based on someone’s beliefs on the similarity between a target and a population?
A representative heuristic.
Eg. Philosophy student sitting in cafeteria.
What type of heuristic is based on a belief that an event is likely because it is easy to remember or imagine?
Availability heuristic.
Eg. Shark attack deaths vs flu deaths.
In which type of mental health condition do heuristics play a large role?
Addictions - gambling.
What’s a benefit and downfall of using heuristics?
Benefit: Quick decisions can be made with limited information.
Downfall: Does not always provide ideal answers.
Near misses or almost wins in gambling are examples of:
Cognitive distortions.
Gamblers fallacy.
Heuristics of representativeness.
