Attitudes & persuasion pt.1

Question 1

What is an attitude?

Answer 1

An evaluation of an object along a positive-negative dimension

Include:
- affect
- cognitions
- behavior

Question 2

Are attitudes good predictors of behavior? If not, why?

Answer 2

Attitudes do not predict behavior very well, but there evidence of a tight connection between attitudes and behavior: 5 rules of thumb

Question 3

What are the 5 rules of thumb?

Answer 3

Rule 1: all attitudes compete with other determinants of behavior
Rule 2: attitudes can be inconsistent
Rule 3: Introspection about attitudes is often counterproductive
Rule 4: there is mismatch between general attitudes and specific targets
Rule 5: sometimes behavior bypasses attitudes altogether

Question 4

Is behavior a good predictor of attitudes?

Answer 4

Behavior can powerfully influence attitudes, because of:
- need for cognitive consistency
- inconsistencies produce cognitive dissonance
- dissonance is reduced by changing our attitudes to be in line with our behavior

Question 5

What is people’s need cognitive consistency?

Answer 5

We have a powerful tendency to justify or rationalize our behavior and to minimize any inconsistencies between our attitudes and actions

Question 6

What is rationalization?

Answer 6

a defense mechanism in which people justify difficult or unacceptable feelings with seemingly logical reasons and explanations.

Question 7

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 7

inconsistencies among thoughts, sentiments and actions

Question 8

How does cognitive dissonance operate?

Answer 8

People try to restore consistency by changing the cognition to make it more consistent with the behavior

Question 9

How do we measure attitudes?

Answer 9

1. Likert scales: self-report
2. Response Latency: the time it takes to respond to an attitude question
3. Implicit Measures: immediate evaluative reactions