Attitudes

Question 1

Attitude

Answer 1

A favorable or unfavorable evaluation reaction towards something or someone, exhibited in one’s beliefs, feelings, or intended behaviour

Question 2

Persuasion

Answer 2

Attempt to change evaluation

Question 3

Prejudice

Answer 3

Negative attitudes about a group and it’s members

Question 4

Explain the Tripatile model (ABCs)

Answer 4

Your attitudes can have all these different aspects to it

1. Affect (emotion, feelings)
2. Behaviour (Actions)
3. Cognition (thoughts)

Question 5

What is spreading activation - linked to one’s attitudes

Answer 5

Attitudes are received my memory
- Your grandfather liked coffee, so you like coffee because of this

Question 6

Classical conditioning of attitudes

Answer 6

The pairing of stimuli, so that previously innocuous stimulus gains a new response in an organism (or person)

e.g neutral words (e.g google) can gain meaning

Question 7

What happens when you pair a behaviour + reward

Answer 7

Increases behaviour, strengthens attitudes

Question 8

What happens when you pair a behaviour + punishment

Answer 8

Decreases behaviour, weaken attitudes

Question 9

Explain the difference in classical and instrumental conditioning

Answer 9

Classic conditioning:
Negative event + group = negative evaluation

(You’re not doing anything)

Instrumental conditioning:
Nasty behaviour to group x + reward = negative evaluation

(You’re doing something)

Question 10

What is the modelling of attitudes

Answer 10

Via the observation of others

e.g children often watch their parents more than they listen to them

Question 11

Explain social comparison

Answer 11

Looking to others to validate our social reality

Question 12

Do genetic factors play a factor in whether we inherit attitudes?

Answer 12

Maybe…

There’s a suggestion through research that there could be a heritable component to attitudes

Question 13

When do attitudes predict behaviour?

Answer 13

The more specific the attitude is, the more it will predict specific behaviour

Question 14

What is the theory of reasoned action

Answer 14

What others think about whether you should engage in behaviour

Question 15

Why is expertise a strong persuader

Answer 15

Persuaded by the “expert”
If we agree, see commicator AS “expert”

Question 16

Why is trustworthiness a strong persuader

Answer 16

Arguing your own self-interest

Question 17

Why is attractiveness a strong persuader

Answer 17

Attractive people tend to have more say

Question 18

Why is a rapid speaker a strong persuader

Answer 18

People who tend to speak more quietly gives the impression that they know what they are talking about

Question 19

What is the “sleeper” effect?

Answer 19

Over time, remember message, but not source

Link between the two becomes weakened (often severed) over time

i.e delayed increase in impact of persuasive message (counter-intuitive)

Question 20

Why is communication effects a persuasive message

Answer 20

Intent not obvious, we tend to not trust people who look like they’re trying to manipulate you

Consider both sides of issues

Question 21

Explain the two components to the cognitive response analyses

Answer 21

1. What do people think about when exposed to persuasion attempt
2. How do these thoughts and mental processes - > persuasion?

Question 22

What is the Central Route in the elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

Answer 22

When used: When important, interesting, personally viewed relevant message

What happens: Cognitive elaborations (careful information processing)

Result: persuaded by message strengthening

Question 23

What is cognitive dissonance

Answer 23

When tension is created b/c we experienced an inconsistency in our;
- beliefs/attitudes
- beliefs/attitudes vs. behaviour

Question 24

How does dissonance work?
(Name 3 different ways)

Answer 24

1. Change attitudes (to be consistent with behaviour) - “I dislike smoking”
2. Change behaviour (to be consistent with behaviour) - “doesn’t smoke”
3. Maintain both the attitude and the behaviour, but introduce an additional cognition (to restore Constance between these attitudes and behaviours)

Question 25

What is post-choice dissonance

Answer 25

Our own decisions can produce dissonance

Question 26

What makes self-perception theory different then dissoance theory?

Answer 26

There is no motivation (or tension)

Instead we observe our own behaviour when making attributions. We infer our own attitudes from our own behaviour

Question 27

When are the times that self-perception works

Answer 27

1. Attitudes are unimportant
2. Attitudes are not anchored in internal belief structure