Attitudes and Behaviours Flashcards
define what an attitude is
it is a mental representation of a summary evaluation of an attitude object
what is an attitude object? give some examples
something that we can hold an attitude towards
- things, events, ideas, the self, groups, politics, education
what is the difference between explicit and implicit attitudes?
explicit: consciously accessible and can be openly and deliberately expressed… can introspect
implicit: automatic, uncontrollable evaluations… might be consciously unavailable, might be accessible but not willing to be shared
how do we explicitly measure explicit attitudes?
- ask them to divulge their attitudes
2. self report scales (likert and semantic differential)
what are limitations of explicit measures of attitudes
- social desirability bias
2. implicit attitudes exist, some people may not be able to report their attitudes as they are not aware they have them
how are implicit attitudes measured?
- physiological measures (skin conductivity)
- fake physiological measures (bogus pipeline)
- reaction time paradigms
describe spreading activation and response time paradigm
- theory that when exposed to a stimulus, then subsequent responding to a related stimulus should be faster than to a less related or unrelated stimulus
describe evaluative priming
stimulus is delivered, then recorded if people respond quicker to positive or negative stimuli, thus uncovering if there is a positive or negative attitude to such thing
what are the 3 attitude bases? also, what are some other terms for bases?
Affect
Behaviour
Cognitive
structure/components
what is the affect (affective) bases for attitude properties?
feelings/emotion… eg, negative attitude towards spiders a you fear them
emotion grounds the attitude
what is the behavioural bases for attitude properties?
behaviours can shape/ground attitudes. eg, if you frequently interact/use an object in a certain way, this is likely to influence your positive/negative feelings towards it/them
what is the cognitive bases for attitude properties?
your beliefs form and ground your attitudes
eg, you might believe eating apples is good for your health so you have a positive attitude towards them
what is the strongest base in determining political attitudes?
what is the strongest base in determining utilitarian product attitudes?
affect (emotions); cognitive
list the attitude properties
- bases/structure/components
- function
- strength
- ambivalence
what are the different functions of attitudes?
- knowledge function
- instrumental/utilitarian function
- social identity/social adjustive function
- impression management/value expressive
- self esteem/defensive
describe the knowledge function of attitudes
sense making function… have/express attitudes to make sense of the world so we can summarise our experiences with attitude objects
describe the instrumental/utilitarian function of attitudes
have/express attitudes to help guide behaviour, achieve rewards and avoid punishments
eg, we have a negative attitude towards snakes so we avoid it… there is a sensical reason to this - safety
what motivation principle do knowledge and instrumental/utilitarian function most commonly associate with?
mastery
describe the social identity/adjustive function of attitudes
have/express attitudes to fit into groups or to maintain/adjust relationships
help us to fit in…
describe the impression management/value expressive function of attitudes
have/express attitudes to express one’s values,ideology… not which groups you belong to but who you are as an individual
describe the self esteem/defensive function of attitudes
hold/express attitudes that protect the self (perhaps from anxiety or low self esteem
what are two key components of strong attitudes?
- usually based on lots of one sided info
2. are persistent, resistant to change and are predictive of intentions and behaviour
define ambivalence when referring to attitudes
attitudes that contain both positive and negative evaluative components and bases
T or F, we can also use ABC theory to describe how attitudes form as well as attitude bases
T
what are the two affective (emotional) routes to attitude formation?
- mere exposure (familiarity breeds liking)
2. evaluative conditioning
describe mere exposure (familiarity breeds liking)
the theory that repeated exposure increases ease of processing… because ease feels good, this positivity becomes attributed to the attitude object
what does valanced me?
positive or negative
what is evaluative conditioning?
repeated pairings with neutral attitude object and valanced stimulus
what 3 ways can behaviours form attidues?
- direct behavioural influences
- self-perception
- cognitive dissonance reduction
describe direct behavioural influences in the formation of attitudes
where we behave in response to something, that behaviour is intrinsically negative or positive and then we associate that valence with the attitude object
describe self-perception in the formation of attitudes
we learn what we like from observing what we do
describe cognitive dissonance reduction in the formation of attitudes
sometimes our attitudes don’t align with our behaviour so there exists an inconsistency. as this feels uncomfortable, we can change our attitude to align with our behaviour
how can cognitive routes form attitudes? explain this process
reasoned inference
- you think through facts about object and draw evaluative inferences
what is the name of the 2 models that describe attitude change? and are dual process models?
elaboration likelihood model
heuristic-systematic model
how might our attitudes change?
- social influence (conformity, obedience)
- perceived norms (descriptive (what the group tends to do) and injunctive (what the group should do))
- cognitive dissonance reduction
define persuasion according to social psych
change of an attitude via processing of a message about an attitude object
what is the standard persuasion frame?
what does this determine?
- source
- message
- recipient
- context/situation
amount/nature of attitude change
what is a key insight of dual process models of attitude change?
the depth of processing
what are are the 2 important implications of the HSM and the ELM models?
- amount and kind of attitude change depends on processing route (deep or shallow)
- factors influencing attitude change and manner of influence are contingent on processing route
who put forward ELM ? when
petty and cacioppo 1986
how do petty and cacioppo define elaboration?
thinking in which the recipient adds something of their own to the info provided
finish the sentences:
low elaboration characterises the ________ of persuasion
high elaboration characterises the _______ of persuasion
peripheral route; central route
T or F
attitude change cannot happen via the peripheral route
False
what 4 things indicate the strength of an attitude?
stronger
persistent over time
resistant to further change
predictive of intentions and behaviour
what influences central or peripheral route selection?
- more motivation and more capable = central route
what influences ones motivation to elaborate?
- relevant (to goals, values etc)
- accountability (if you will be held accountable later)
- need for cognition (desire and enjoyment of thinking)
what influences ones capacity to elaborate?
- ability
- distraction (lack there of)
what influences attitude change in the central route (high involvement)?
- argument quality
why does argument quality matter in the central route?
because recipients are thinking deeply
what message characteristics influence attitude change in the peripheral route?
heuristics
what are heuristics?
rules of thumb/mental shortcuts to help make decisions/influence attitudes
why do heuristics matter in the peripheral route (low involvement)?
because they are thinking superficially, they rely on quantity not quality
what is the name of the heuristic when quantity not quality is taken on board?
more is better (“length equals strength”)
what are the two characteristics that influence change in peripheral route?
message characteristics
source characteristics
what is the theory behind the familiarity heuristic?
repeated exposure to a message increases liking
what source characteristics influence attitude change in the peripheral route?
source heuristics
what are the source heuristics that influence persuasion in the peripheral route? what else can influence this change?
credibility (expertise or trustworthiness)
attractiveness (likeableness)
liking the source
what did la piere 1934 study and show ?
followed Chinese couple around america and assessed how americans treated them
found that negative attitudes were help but relatively positive behaviour also ensued.
thus commenting that attitudes not rigidly influence behaviour
describe the concept of a bi directional relationship between attitudes and behaviours
attitudes can predict behaviours
but behaviour can also shape attitude formation
when and how can behaviours shape attitudes?
- acting on the attitude object with a valenced behaviour
2. correction of cognitive dissonance
what are some paradigms that investigate attitudinal change as a result of cognitive dissonance?
- induced compliance paradigm
- Effort justification
- post decisional dissonance
what is another name for the induced compliance paradigm?
insufficient justification effect
what is the insufficient justification effect
the theory that attitudes are modified to reduce dissonance caused by attitude - discrepant behaviour that cannot be attributed to an external reward or punishment
how did Festinger and Carlsmith investigate the induced compliance paradigm?
had participants complete boring task (negative attitude toward task), but were asked to tell following participants that it was a fun task (inconsistent behaviour)… some were given $20 to do this while others were given $1… more cognitive dissonance experienced amongst $1 group, and such more attitude change toward boring task occurred to reduce dissonance, as the $20 group has external justification for inconsistency
what is the Effort justification paradigm
i suffered therefore i like it… more likely to like something if you exerted lots of effort on it
OR
attitudes are changed to reduce dissonance caused by choosing to exert considerable effort or suffering to achieve a goal… aligning the evaluation with the effort
how did aronson and mills 1959 investigate the effort justification paradigm?
had people read out graphic sex scenes, or read list of somewhat embarrassing words then were asked to judge how interesting a conversation about sex was
what is another name for the post decisional dissonance paradigm?
free choice paradigm, spreading of alternatives
what is the spreading of alternatives paradigm?
attitude change to reduce dissonance caused by freely made decisions… eg, amplify positives of chosen option; amplify negatives of unchosen options
how did brehm research the post decisional dissonance paradigm?
ask women in the 50s to rate household items, took two items that were valued in the middle then asked the participants to choose one. after their decision, they were asked to reevaluate the rankings/items
when does dissonance lead to attitude change? list 4 ways
action is perceived as inconsistent
action is perceived as freely chosen (no external justification)
individual experiences physiological arousal
arousal is attributed to perceived inconsistency between attitude and the action
what are the kinds of behaviour?
intentional and habitual
what is the difference between intentional and habitual behaviours?
attitudes play role in intentional behaviours whereas they don’t really in habitual behaviours
habitual behaviours are enacted repeatedly in the same context
what are habitual behaviours guided by?
triggered by environmental cues
what is the best predictor of behaviour?
past habits, not attitudes
what is uncontrolled, spontaneous behaviour?
behaviours that don’t require conscious intention, but are not frequently repeated in similar contexts (automatic processes but not established routines)
intentional behaviour shows _____ attitudes, while spontaneous behaviours show __________ attitudes
explicit; implicit
T or F?
Only attitudes can predict intentions?
False
what is the main idea behind the theory of reasoned action?
that attitudes and norms combine to predict intentions, which in turn predict actions
what is the predecessor theory to the theory of reasoned action? (TRA)
the theory of planned behaviour TPB
what 3 things inform an intention?
attitude toward behaviour
subjective norm
perceived behavioural control (can I do it?)
what is TACT? what does it basically theorise?
target, action, context, time….
the likelihood of attitude predicting behaviour if all of these things are present
the more specific an attitude, the more likely it is to predict behaviour
