Attitudes and Persuasion Flashcards
What are the three categories of Social influence
- Persuasion: guiding others towards some attitudes
- Conformity: Aligning attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour’s with those of people around us
- Obedience: Why we do what authority figures tell us to do
What are attitudes?
Evaluation of attitude objects (people, products, social group)
involves a preference (of the self) for or against the attitude object
Can be inherited or learned
individual or collective
What are the three components of attitudes?
- Affect (emotions
- Behaviors (actions)
- Cognitive (beliefs)
Why do we hold attitudes?
Because it enables us to determine, quickly and effortlessly which behaviors to engage in, which people to approach/avoid, which products to buy.
What are superstitions often based on?
Religion
Associations
Coincidences
Why do we practice/believe in superstitions?
More based on culture and habits Usually easier to practice than to consciously avoid it Give confidence (and therefore allows us to perform better)
What is an attitude strength
How quickly the attitude comes to mind
Why can strong attitudes guide our behavior
They are important, we hold them with confidence, don’t change a lot, use them frequently to guide our actions
What 3 concepts enables our attitudes to guide our behavior?
- Cognitive accessibility: come to mind quickly, easily and regularly
- Attitudes become stronger when they are related to direct positive/negative experiences
- When ABC’s aling: Affect, Behavior, cognition all “say” the same thing
When do our attitudes guide our behavior?
The Principle or attitude consistency: The ABC’s are normally in line with each other
Theory of planned behavior:
a) attitude towards the behavior (stronger –> better)
b) Subjective norms (the support of people we value)
c) Perceived behavioral control (do we think we can do it)
What is “insufficient justification”?
When we don’t realize that the situation has influenced our behaviour. (that it wasn’t our self)
What is overjustification?
When we believe that the situation was caused by external factors (social situation) rather than our own interest. (when it is actually the opposite)
What 3 concepts can explain why behavior influences attitudes?
- Social roles
- Cognitive dissonance (when we behave in ways that are inconsistent, we fail to live up to our expectations) (post decisional dissonance: regret after making a decision)
- Persuasion
What are 5 elements of persuasion?
- Getting the recipients attention
- Sending an effective message
- Ensuring the message is processed properly
- Considering Affective, Behavioral, Cognitive aspects
- Communication relates to the recipient
What are some characteristics of an effective communicator?
- Create positive association with a product
- Trustworthiness
- Expertise
- seeming unbiased