Attitudes and Norms Flashcards
What is an attitude?
A cognitive representation that summarizes evaluation of an attitude object (e.g., belief), which involve direction and intensity
What are the functions of attitude?
- Provides shortcuts to guide behaviour
- Reduce cognitive effort needed to make decisions
- Which overall, helps people navigate their environment
What are the components of an attitude?
- Affective information
- Behavioral information
- Cognitive information
Affective information
Feelings and emotions about the object
Behavioural information
Information about past, present or future interactions with the object
Cognition information
Facts and beliefs about the object
Explicit vs implicit
- Implicit measures yields different results from self-reports (takes away influence of social desirability)
- Each measure tap into different aspects of evaluation
- Based on different kinds of information/context
Associative-Propositional Evaluation (APE) model
- Helps us understand how attitudes develop and form over time
- Learning occurs through: Associative Learning and Propositional Learning
Associative processes
- Semantic Network Model
- Mental links form between concepts
- Common properties provide basis for mental link
- Shorter path between concepts = stronger associative memory - Spreading Activation
- Concept is activated in semantic network -> Spread in any number of directions -> Other nearby associations also activated
- Nearby activated concepts inform behaviour - Associative Learning
- When two stimuli are frequently paired together, it creates semantic link in memory
- Hebbian law: “Neurons that fire together, wire together”
- Mere co-occurrence of stimuli can influence behaviour
Propositional processes
- Mental links are elaborated upon, which requires conscious effort
- Creation of causal relations between associations (in attempt to validate associations in memory)
Changing attitudes
- Persuasion
- Process of forming, strengthening, or changing attitudes - Rational Messages
- Provide cognitive information about attitude of an object - Emotional Appeal
- Associate affective information with the attitude of an object
Cognitive dissonance (Leon Festinger)
- Uncomfortable state due to inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviour
- Produces motivation to process and then to resolve the inconsistencies
- Result: change in attitude to match behaviour
How does it work?
1. Individual perceives action as inconsistent with attitude
2. Individual perceives the action as freely chosen
3. Experience uncomfortable state of arousal
4. Attributes arousal to inconsistency
Priming
- Activate information to change behaviour
- Conscious or unconscious
- May retrieve relevant social norms to promote
conformity
Elaboration likelihood model
- Elaboration = critical evaluation of arguments; When do people accept or reject information?
- Some arguments accepted as is with no elaboration, while others may elicit high elaboration
- Requirement of high elaboration usually when argument’s inconsistent with already learned information
Peripheral routes (emotion)
- Highly emotional reasoning
- Aim is to change associations in memory
- Most effective in preventing maladaptive health behaviours from forming (ex. tobacco packaging)
Central routes (logic)
Scientific evidence, logic-based arguments, remarks from field experts
Role of expert sources
- Typically elicit lower elaboration
- Increase trustworthiness of central routes
Evaluative conditioning
- Aims to replace/create new links between concepts in memory
- Peripheral route of persuasion
- Co-activation of emotional stimuli and target stimuli
Social norms (definition)
Accepted ways to think, feel, act in society
- Often informed by group membership
- Often formed by observing group members’ attitudes and behaviours
Conformity
(what; why; types)
- Altering your attitude/behaviour to align better with a certain group/norm
Why do we do it?
- Avoid criticism, ridicule from others
- Promotes connectedness with others
Types
- Public conformity: Personally convinced that group is correct (conform even when group isn’t present)
- Private conformity: Behave consistently with norms that are not privately accepted as correct
Compliance (e.g., Milgram obedience study)
- Agreeing to do sth simply because we have been asked to
Factors:
- Authority figures
- Similarity and physical attraction
- Friendship/liking rule
Salience of group (e.g., Zimbardo prison study)
Door-in-the-face
- The Rule of Reciprocity
- If someone gives you sth or does you a favor, you feel the need to return the favor
Foot-in-the-door
- The Rule of Commitment
- The idea that because you’ve done sth once, you’re more likely to do it again (kalo dulu udah commit, kenapa gak skrg juga)
- Demands can be amplified over time
