Behaviours And Attitudes Flashcards
Attitude
A favourable or unfavourable evaluative reaction toward something or someone, exhibited in one’s beliefs, feelings, or intended behavior
Feelings or rxns towards anything
Behaviour should follow beliefs( usually not true)
Terrible predictor of actual behaviour
Attitudes are not a great predictor of behavior- e.g.,cheating, church attendance, racism, safe sex
Cheating- no correlation if student believes it’s bad
Church attendance- say you should go and that it’s important,but people still won’t go
Racism- no negative thoughts about groups- especially when anonymous- don’t match conscious beliefs
Safe sex- podcast, emotions, things that influence your behaviours
WHEN DO ATTITUDES PREDICT BEHAVIOUR?
When social influences on what we say are minimal- something is anonymous- attitudes and behaviours match better
Facial muscle responses, implicit association test (IAT), etc- when we are thinking about attitudes in front of mind you are more likely to respond in that way
When other influences on behaviour are
minimal
When attitudes specific to behaviour are examined
When attitudes are strong- something reminds us of it,- we gained it in a matter that makes it strong
THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOUR
Why attitudes don’t match behaviours
All needs to line up-
Attitude towards behaviour(“I’m for physical fitness”),
subjective norms(“my neighbours seem to be jogging and going to the gym”),
Perceived control(“I could easily do this”)
What other people think you should do- if others feel you should do, increases likely hood you will do it
Behaviour intention(“I’m going to start next week”)
matches more If you know
a lot about topic, I have personal experience.ie/physio
All ways attitudes can dissociate from behaviour
Behaviour-so much feeds into this
If you have to argue about behaviour , you are more likely to do it (at front of mind)
Role
Actions expected of those who occupy a particular social position
e.g., teacher vs student ,soldier,business,person,etc.
Things we just follow, structures our life
Gender roles
How we are expected to behave
May modify behaviour
Full subjective norms
Ie/ men expected to be assertive, women arent
IMMORAL AND MORAL ACTS
Attitudes follow behaviour- if you want to change someone’s attitudes, make them behave in a certain way
If you got into accident- behaviour to wearing seatbelt may change because personal experience
Immoral acts sometimes result from gradually escalating commitments:
e.g., after harming their victim, aggressors often blame the victim, which serves to justify their behaviour
if you do something bad, you are more likely to do it again- escalation of morality-ie/soldiers and war
When behavior doesn’t match attitudes, it’s uncomfortable - will try to justify behaviour, blame victim, ie/rape,- reinforces you to not behave in a certain way both bad behaviour and good behaviour
first comes behaviour and then comes subtle change in attitude
Ie/legalization of gay marriage , support increase when law was passed- nudging effect
Social movements
Can be shifted -good or bad
Public conformity can lead to private acceptance- if you do things repeatedly over time, more likely to have attitudes
e.g., political rituals such as singing “O
Canada” or greeting people with “Heil Hitler” - more positive feeling towards country
One does what one is; one becomes what one does” (Robert Musil, Kleine Prosa, 1930)
Impression management
Varies person to person and in different situations
Being concerned with making a good impression in order to gain social and material rewards, to feel better about ourselves, or to become more secure in our social identities
Wanting to appear consistent- in behaviours
Dimensions
Self monitoring High vs Low
High-trying to fit into a situation- degree to match- larger gap in matching behaviours and attitudes
Low- attitudes and behaviours are closer- aren’t shifting based on group
Cognitive dissonance
We feel tension (dissonance) when we are aware that we have two thoughts that are inconsistent or incompatible.
Also occurs when our behaviour is inconsistent with our attitudes
Recognizing your discreptancy
Selective exposure
People prefer to expose themselves to information that agrees with their point of view
Ie/reading something that matches your thoughts
Can drive conformation bias
We look for things that agree with our viewpoint, rarely look for things that go against it
Insufficient justification
Give them incentive to do something, but your lying and it’s not worth it
Insufficient returns
Given a small reward for doing something you are more likely to change Your attitude. If people got a lot they were like I only did it cause I paid
Dissonance after decisions
Going to have dissonance until you make the choice
Occurs when we choose between two equally attractive (or equally unattractive) alternatives
This can create dissonance
We “manage” this dissonance by upgrading the chosen alternative and downgrading the rejected alternative
Self perception
When we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer them by looking at our behaviour and the circumstances under which it occurs
Darryl Bem
Was like why do we have to have a negative feeling to change our attitude.
On a dare made self-perception theory
facial feedback theory
Smile make you feel better, infer emotional state based on the expression we have
Smile= better mood
Frown= worse mood
Over justification effect
Rewarding someone for a task they like doing. Making them do it for a reward instead of enjoyment.
Must be decent, valuable reward
Can undermine intrinsic motivation
Self-perceiving when not self-contradicting
Dissonance theory is inconsistent with two findings
People with no change arousal can have attitude change
Overjustification effect
