Chapter 1 - What are Attitudes Flashcards
Attitude
evaluation of object based on cognitive, affective, behavioural info
2 ways attitudes differ
- valence (direction of evaluation)
2. strength
Attitude Object
Anything evaluation on dimension of favourability
Cognitive Dissonance
Inconsistent attitudes produce -ve feelings we want to reduce so change one of them
Object Appraisal Function of attitudes
save energy and making DMing easier
Strong attitudes differ from weak attitudes (4)
- persistent over time
- resistant to change
- influence info processing
- predict behaviour
Explicit Measurement
requires conscious attention to attitude object (usually self-report)
Equal Appearing Intervals Method (Thurstone)
EXPLICIT: belief statements constructed that are relevant to attitude and Ps indicate whether they agree w/ items (unidimensional) (score is median of item scores)
Likert Scale
EXPLICIT: Rate extent to which agree/disagree w/ statements, involves neutral point
Cannot compare attitudes toward diff objects using this
Semantic Differential Approach
EXPLICIT: Ps given and rate set of bipolar adjective scales (ex. favourable/unfavourable, good/bad)
Importance of context (ex. cold/warm Canada vs. Best friend)
Issues of explicit measures (4)
- Awareness of attitude
- Effects of item order
- Finer distinctions in +ve than -ve direction
- Impression Management (social desirability)
Implicit Measurement
Assesses attitudes w/o requiring individual’s awareness of their attitude or how it is measured
Evaluative Priming
IMPLICIT: Measures extent to which presence of attitude object primes +ve/-ve evaluations (RT should be faster at classification after seeing stimulu prime we like, ex. Clinton (prime) -> Adj (horrible, wonderful) -> RT
Implicit Association Test
IMPLICIT: Based on assumption that attitude objects can be spontaneously activated evaluations influencing future RT (5 blocks w/ 2 blocks of pairing ‘or’)
Affect Misattribution Paradigm
IMPLICIT: complements EP, show pics of attitude object over trials then briefly shown ambiguous stimulus and asked to rate pleasantness of ambiguous stimulus
Personalized IAT
IMPLICIT: Like IAT but removes criticism of what others think; use “I”
Galvanic Skin Responses
IMPLICIT: polygraph (not sensitive to valence), facial EMGs etc.
Reliability
Degree to which test scores are free from errors in measurement (Implicit and Explicit both reasonably high consistency)
Two types of reliability
- Test-retest - consistency over time
2. Internal consistency - whether individual items are assessing same construct
Validity
Extent that is assesses construct it is designed to measure (Implicit and Explicit reasonably support validity)
Three types of validity
- Convergent Validity - related to other measures of same object
- Discriminant Validity - unrelated to measures of irrelevant constructs
- Predictive Validity - predictive of future behaviour
Why might explicit/implicit measures not correlate? (2)
- Might not be honest (explicit)
2. Do not understand attitudes (implicit)
Weapon Bias Paradigm
Forced to make fast decisions, Ps detect gun faster when preceded by black face (and mistakenly see gun); Paradigm due to time constraint
