Ch 6.4 Flashcards
attitude
personès feelings and beliefs about other people or events around them and their tendency to react behaviorally based on those underlying evaluations
attitudes are useeful
in that they provide a quick way to size things up and make decisions, but they can also lead us astray when they lead to inaccurate snap judgements or when they remain fixed beliefs in the face of disconfirming evidence
Three components of attitudes
Affect ( emotion)
Behavior tendency
Cognition ( thought)
4 situations where attitudes better predict behaviors
1 when social influences are reduced
2 when general patterns of behavior, rather than specific behaviors are observed
3 when specific rather than general, attitudes are considered
4 when attitudes are made more powerful through self reflection
when social influences are reduced
external behavor is much more susceptible to social influences compared to attitudes which are internal
ex of when social influences are reduced
people are much more likely to be honest in secret ballot process than if they must overtly express their opinions . this is a in large part due to fear of criticism and the powerful influence of factors such as conformity and group think
when general patterns of behavior, rather than specific behaviors are observed
attitudes are better at predicting overall decision making rather than specific behaviors
ex of when general patterns of behavior, rather than specific behaviors are observed
one who believes in a healthy lifestyle will tend to make healthier decison tshan someone who does not , yet this attitude does not ecessarily prevent someone from occasionally reachhng for a slice of cheesecake
principle of aggregation
attitude affecs a person’s aggregate or average behavior but not necessarily each isolated act
when specific, rather than general, attitudes are considered
belief in a healthy lifestyle can be a poor predictor of a specific behavior such as eating properly
it would be wiser to compare specific attitude that the individual has towards eating properly
this is more accurate to consider specific attitudes closely related to a specific behavior of interest
when attitudes are made more powerful through self reflection
poeple are likely to behave in accordance with their attitudes if they are given some time to prepare themselves to do so
when peopel act automatically, they may be impulsive and act in ways that do not match expressed beliefs
when more time is given to deliberate over actions they are more likely to act in ways that macth
when people are made more sellf concious they more likley behave morally self awareness reminds us of the beliefs that we have attached to our identities
James Lange theory of emotion
proposes behaviors may precede and influence emotions
3 situations in which behaviors are likely to influence attitudes
role playing
public declarations
justification of effort
role playing
most notable influence of behavior on attitudes
social role
script for how to act
most powerful influence of the power of roles
Philip Zimbardo’s prison study at Stanford
Stanford prison exp set up
Zimbardo divided stanford students into prisoners and guards in a mock prison
Stanford prison results
after initial light hearted period, guards and prisoners began really acting out their characters to the point that the guards were actively humiliating and degrading the prisoners
some prisoners actively rebelled while others broke down and became apathetic
participants of stanford prison exp reported
feeling a sense of confusion about reality and fantasy as they became caught up in their roles
study was intended to be
2 weeks long, discontinued after 6 days
stanford prison study demonstrates
the powerful lesson about the influence that social roles can have
ex of tole playing on attiutdes
soldier and slave may have affected people acted over he course of history
wartime soldier’s beliefs about the enemy became dramatically altered over time with feelings of ambivalence giving way to the perception of the enemy as evil
someone who is identified with a role of citizen
may be influenced toward wholesome actions in order to better play out the role
public declaration
saying something publicly can become believing it in the absence of bribery coercion or some other blatant external motive
in order to please others people may feel pressured to adapt to what they say
individual may or may not be aware of social pressure
that could have caused his statement and he or she may justify by concluding teh statement is a personal belief
as we continue to extress ourselves we become more and more entrenched in believing what we say , a habit that is even stronger for for statements made publicly
ex of public declarations and attitudes
politician who voices opinion on the issue of abortion which mirrors the belief of the majority of her supporters although she is somehwat ambivalent on the issue, as she continues to express the opion she will find herself becoming more polarized toward that opinion and her feelings of ambivalence will start to subside
justification of effort
people modify their attitudes to match their behaviors similar to how they modify to match their language
foot in the door phenomenon
compliance tactic that involves getting a person to agree to a large request by first setting them up by having that person agree to a modest request
ex of foot in the door phenomenon
strategy of enticing people to take small actions such as signing a free petition and joining a mailing list , upon obtaining this level of involvement the stakes are raised to accepting bumper stickers or lawn signs
further involvement is ecouraged when donations or volunteer time is requisted
people find themselves feeling internal pressure to consent to larger requests to justify their acceptance of smaller requests
ex of justification of effort
consider a student who works hard to study for MCAT and earns a fantastic score only to feel a calling to becomme an actor rather than going to medical school, to justify the effort put into the process, the student will feel pressured to go to medical school
self justification
plays an important part in how behaviors can shape attitudes
cognitive dissonance theory seeks to
explain why self justification is such a powerful influence on atitude modification
cognitive dissonance explains
that we feel tension whenever we hold two thoughts or beliefs ( cognitions) that are incompatible or when attitudes and behaviors don’t match
in order to reduce unpleasant feeling of tension, we make our views of the world match how we feel or what we have done
cognitive dissonance and insufficient justification for actions that were taken
people are likely to experience dissonance without justification and thus adjust their beliefs to match what they have done
ex of cognitive dissonance and insufficient justification for actions that were taken
parents trying to motivate children to study and ear good grades can reward the child 100 for every A or 5 for every A
1st situation child feel coerced to earning good grades , he or she may study hard for reward and earn a lot of money child will be less likely to have belief that grades are important
2nd situation child strives to receive As but has insufficient external justification for having done so because reward is insufficient
in cases of insufficient justification cognitive dissonance theory indicates that there will be some tension that needs to be resolved the child will be likely to adopt an attitude that grades are important to him or her
cognitive dissonance explains punishments
why mild punishment of appropriate severity is more effective at creating internal attitude change than unjustifiably harsh punishments
cognitive dissonace and how people act after decisions
woman choosing betwen exciting and passionate but utterly undependable and irresponsible or subdued but considerate and dependable
after making decisions no matter who she decides she will experience dissonant thoughts about man she rejected
she will change her attitudes to accentuate the positive qualities of her choice and the negative qualitiees ofthe alternative ex if she chooses exciting man she may internalize beliefs that excitement and passion are important to a relationship and dependability is overrated
endorsement of beliefs will come after she makes her decision to allevate tension of losing what she turned down
