Ch 6.4

Question 1

attitude

Answer 1

personès feelings and beliefs about other people or events around them and their tendency to react behaviorally based on those underlying evaluations

Question 2

attitudes are useeful

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Three components of attitudes

Answer 3

Affect ( emotion)
Behavior tendency
Cognition ( thought)

Question 4

4 situations where attitudes better predict behaviors

Answer 4

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

Question 5

when social influences are reduced

Answer 5

external behavor is much more susceptible to social influences compared to attitudes which are internal

Question 6

ex of when social influences are reduced

Answer 6

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

Question 7

when general patterns of behavior, rather than specific behaviors are observed

Answer 7

attitudes are better at predicting overall decision making rather than specific behaviors

Question 8

ex of when general patterns of behavior, rather than specific behaviors are observed

Answer 8

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

Question 9

principle of aggregation

Answer 9

attitude affecs a person’s aggregate or average behavior but not necessarily each isolated act

Question 10

when specific, rather than general, attitudes are considered

Answer 10

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

Question 11

when attitudes are made more powerful through self reflection

Answer 11

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

Question 12

James Lange theory of emotion

Answer 12

proposes behaviors may precede and influence emotions

Question 13

3 situations in which behaviors are likely to influence attitudes

Answer 13

role playing
public declarations
justification of effort

Question 14

role playing

Answer 14

most notable influence of behavior on attitudes

Question 15

social role

Answer 15

script for how to act

Question 16

most powerful influence of the power of roles

Answer 16

Philip Zimbardo’s prison study at Stanford

Question 17

Stanford prison exp set up

Answer 17

Zimbardo divided stanford students into prisoners and guards in a mock prison

Question 18

Stanford prison results

Answer 18

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

Question 19

participants of stanford prison exp reported

Answer 19

feeling a sense of confusion about reality and fantasy as they became caught up in their roles

Question 20

study was intended to be

Answer 20

2 weeks long, discontinued after 6 days

Question 21

stanford prison study demonstrates

Answer 21

the powerful lesson about the influence that social roles can have

Question 22

ex of tole playing on attiutdes

Answer 22

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

Question 23

someone who is identified with a role of citizen

Answer 23

may be influenced toward wholesome actions in order to better play out the role

Question 24

public declaration

Answer 24

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

Question 25

individual may or may not be aware of social pressure

Answer 25

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

Question 26

ex of public declarations and attitudes

Answer 26

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

Question 27

justification of effort

Answer 27

people modify their attitudes to match their behaviors similar to how they modify to match their language

Question 28

foot in the door phenomenon

Answer 28

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

Question 29

ex of foot in the door phenomenon

Answer 29

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

Question 30

ex of justification of effort

Answer 30

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

Question 31

self justification

Answer 31

plays an important part in how behaviors can shape attitudes

Question 32

cognitive dissonance theory seeks to

Answer 32

explain why self justification is such a powerful influence on atitude modification

Question 33

cognitive dissonance explains

Answer 33

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

Question 34

cognitive dissonance and insufficient justification for actions that were taken

Answer 34

people are likely to experience dissonance without justification and thus adjust their beliefs to match what they have done

Question 35

ex of cognitive dissonance and insufficient justification for actions that were taken

Answer 35

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

Question 36

cognitive dissonance explains punishments

Answer 36

why mild punishment of appropriate severity is more effective at creating internal attitude change than unjustifiably harsh punishments

Question 37

cognitive dissonace and how people act after decisions

Answer 37

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