Attitudes Flashcards
What are attitudes?
Functional psychological constructs that give us:
- positive or negative evaluations on objects/subjects
- fast answers to complex questions
- overall impressions
How do attitudes differ from values?
> Attitudes:
- concrete and specific
> Values:
- abstracts and generalised
Why do people have attitudes?
> The helps us
- make fast decisions
- approach positive outcomes
- avoid negative outcomes
> Tell us if something is good or bad for us
-> utilitarian
What are the two functions of attitudes?
- Utilitarian function
2. Symbolic function
What is the utilitarian function of attitudes?
They help us
- approach positive outcomes
- avoid negative outcomes
What is the three symbolic functions of attitudes?
- Affirm values
- act in accordance and commit to them - Express social identity
- Affirm general beliefs
What is a social identity?
It reflects the extent to which we feel that specific social groups are an important part of who we are
Where do attitudes come from?
- Mere exposure
- Learning
- Culture
- Stereotypes
How are attitudes influenced by ‘mere exposure’?
The more often people are exposed to an object/subject, the more likely they like it
-> the more familiar, the more we like it
What explains the effect of mere exposure on people’S attitudes?
When you perceive something repeatedly, it is easier for us to process the information
-> the more familiar (more exposure), the more we like it
What are the limitations of mere exposure?
It can lead to negative attitudes the same way as positive ones:
- repeated exposure to an aversive objet/subject
- > we dislike it
How are attitudes influenced by learning?
Operant learning
- situation/stimulus -> response -> effect - consequences
How are attitudes influenced by culture?
Cultural beliefs in terms of the way people view the self
> Independent self:
- relatively independent of others
- > may hold more positive attitudes towards autonomy
> Interdependent self:
- more as part of larger social group
- > may hold more positive attitudes towards family and community
What are stereotypes?
Beliefs about groups
- positive
- negative
- accurate
- inaccurate
How are attitudes influenced by stereotypes?
Direct influence:
- your attitude towards a group of people may be shaped by the stereotype(s) you have towards them
- under cognitive load, people are more likely to use stereotypes
What is prejudice?
A negative prejudgment of a group and its individuals
- often relying on the knowledge on a group
How can attitudes form prejudiced judgements?
Stereotypes -> Attitudes -> helps us make efficient decisions -> reduced processing
-> prejudiced judgement (harmful or harmless)
How is mental health related to prejudice?
Stigma by association:
- people treated according to stereotypes, that devalue someone because of association
- like or dislike someone because they are related to a stigmatised individual
- > negative consequences for the person being judged
What is the traditional view of psychosis?
Psychosis is a distinct category
What does the psychosis continuum model propose?
Psychotic experiences are common and present in different degrees throughout the population
- they are on a continuum with normal experience
- > continuum between health, normality, and psychosis
- only extreme being the disorder = psychotic threshold
- various unusual experiences happen in between
What does the latest meta analysis show regarding psychotic experiences in the general population?
> 7% of general population have psychotic experiences (e.g. hallucinations)
> 20% of them have psychotic experiences that persist
> 7% develop psychotic disorder
What does the basic cognitive model propose on the occurence of psychotic symptoms?
It’s the interpretation (appraisal) of events/experiences that cause problematic outcomes, clinical symptoms
What did Peters and colleagues (2015, 2016) show regarding the similarity and difference of persistent anomalous experiences in general population to psychosis?
> Non-clinical group:
- people who had psychotic experiences, and remained healthy
- never diagnosed with mental health problems relating to their experiences:
- somatic/tactile hallucinations
- precognition/insight/elation
> Clinical group:
- people who had psychotic experiences, and had been diagnosed with various psychotic disorders
- in reception of mental health services
- commenting/conversing voices
- thought withdrawal/broadcast
- delusions (esp persecutory)
- cognitive difficulties (cognitive ‘grip’)
- more severe
> Both group had:
- voices, visions, thought insertion, mind reading/control/refence
- dissociation
=> It’s not what you experience, it’s how much you experience it
- severity in particular
What did Peters and colleagues (2015, 2016) show regarding the differences in appraisal between clinical subjects and non clinical subjects?
> Non clinical group group frequently finds the anomalous experiences “clearly helpful”
> Significant differences between non-clinical vs. clinical is based on the evaluated valence, danger, abnormality and controllability of the experiences
> Non-clinical group often found anomalous experiences as spiritual, supernatural and normalising
vs. clinical group who found biological or drug related explanations for their anomalous experiences