attitudes Flashcards
attitudes
= more or less a enduring cluster of beliefs, feelings, behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events, symbols (vary in valence/ intensity)
- implicit attitudes
- explicit attitudes
- belief-based attitudes (reasoned)
- cue- driven evaluatie (automatic)
- = are unconscious, uncontrollable –> automatic reactions
- = those we are aware of
- = based on outcome expectations and their relative importance, conscious cost-benefit analysis
- = spontaneous evaluation triggered by perception of attitude object, automatic process of learned associations
Implizit Association test (IAT)
= reaction time to measure attitudes – matching /associating two things (provides our unconscious attitudes)
three-component attitude model (ABC)
- cognition (beliefs about the attitude object)
- affect (strong feelings (usually negative) about attitudes object)
- behavior (intentions to behave/ act in a certain way towards the attitude object (–> prejudice/ discrimination))
functions of attitudes
- can be knowledge representing, instrumental (reaching a goal), for ego-defence (protecting self-esteem), expressing values (what is important to me?)
- saves cognitive energy, automatic judgement (-> schema with feelings, beliefs, heuristics)
cognitive consistency theory
- cognitive dissonance theory
- balance theory (heider)
= maintenance of internal consistency, order and agreement among cognitions so that belief-system is in harmony
–> explaining change of attitudes
- = dissonance between your attitude and behavior (attitude: smoking is bad for health; behavior: smoker)
- -> change of attitude, when not able to change behavior - = balance if there is an odd number of positive relationships
socia-cognitive model
attitude —> a person’s evaluation of an object of thought
attitude object is represented in memory as:
object label & rules for applying that label evaluative summary of that object
knowledge structure supporting that evaluation
e.g.: represented in memory: shark, big fish with sharp teeth (label); lives in the sea & eats other fish, sometime people (rules); scary & best avoided while swimming (evaluative summary)
—> scientifically/ fictionally well-documented threat to our physical being (knowledge structure)
affect —> emotional reaction to an attitude object
evaluation —> particular kinds of thoughts, beliefs, judgments about the object
decision making and attitudes
- information processing
- information integration theory
- cognitive algebra
- = evaluation of info, in relation to attitudes, the mean by which people acquire knowledge, form and change attitudes
- we use cognitive algebra to make sense of our world and construct our attitudes from info we receive about attitude objects
- = sum up all the positive and negative traits and impressions of an object which results in an attitude
can attitudes predict behavior?
- automatic judgments
- low correlation between attitude and behavior –> not all behaviors can be predicted through attitude
- basic ingredient of an attitude is effect
- moral norma and how important something is to someone may effect attitude-behavior relation
- -> weak attitudes are influenced by behavior, strong attitudes influence behavior
- peoples attitudes are underpinned by implicit and automatic judgments that are unconscious, automatic
- -> they don’t depend on social desirability bias
beliefs, intention, behavior
- Multiple-act criterion
attitude-behavior can vary according to wether
- the attitude is accessible
- public/ private expression of attitude
- strong/ weak identification with group, for which this attitude is normative
–> behavioral predictions can be much improved if the measures of attitudes are specific rather than general (e.g specific questions of intention to behavior in future)
- = predict multiple behaviors (acts), much better than a specific single one (single behaviors are usually affected by many factors)
—> specific attitudes may be 1 determinant of a behavior, but not the only one/ major one
Thora of reasoned action (Fishbein, Ajzen)
= Thora of the relationship between attitudes and behavior
- a specific attitude that has normative support predicts on intention to act, which then predicts actual behavior
- subjective norm: a product what the person think others believe (significant others direct/ indirect imply what is the right behavior)
- attitude towards behavior: products bout the persons belief about the target behavior and how these beliefs are evaluated
protection motivation theory
= focuses on how people can protect their health, maintain better practices & avoid risky behavior
(related to theories of reasoned action & planned behavior)
forming attitudes
= mainly from our own experience, the influence of others and our emotional reaction
forming atitudes
effects of direct experience
–> mere-exposure effect
= mere exposure to an object is likely to affect how we evaluate it
(e.g hearing a new song, first you may dislike is and after repetition your response in one direction or another is likely to strengthen)
forming attitudes
classical conditioning
- spreading attitude effect
= a neutral stimulus exposed with a positive/ negative evaluated stimulus, will also become positive/ negative over time
- = a positive or negative stimulus may not only affect a second stimulus directly associated but also others merely associated with the second one
