Chapter 17 Attitudes and social cognition Flashcards
Attitude
an association between an act or object and an evaluation
Attitude strength
the durability and impact of an attitude on behaviour- influenced by attitude importance and attitude accessibility
Attitude importance
the personal relevance of an attitude and the psychological significance of that attitude for an individual
Attitude accessibility
the ease with which an attitude is activated or comes to mind
Persuasion
deliberate efforts to change an attitude
Central route
method of persuasion that involves inducing the recipient of a message to think carefully and weigh the arguments
Peripheral route
a method of persuasion that appeals less to rational and thoughtful processes than to automatic or emotional ones
Elaboration likelihood model
the model of persuasion that proposes that knowing how to appeal to a person requires figuring out the likelihood that he/she will think much about the arguments
First impressions
can have an important influence on subsequent info processing
Cognitive dissonance
occurs when a person experiences a discrepancy between an attitude an a behaviour or between an attitude and a new piece of info
Conservation psychology
involves studying the reciprocal relationships between human and nature with a focus on changing attitudes and behaviours to encourage conservation of the environment
Stereotypes
characteristics attributed to people based on their membership of groups
Social cognition
refers to the processes by which people make sense of themselves, others and social relationships
Identity
sense of who we are, influenced by social cognitions e.hg environment and role we play in life
Attribution
process of inferring the causes of one own and others behaviours and mental states
Racism
prejudicial attitudes towards members of a particular ethnic group on the belief that ones race is superior
Self-handicapping
a process by which people set themselves up to fail when success is uncertain to preserve their self-esteem
Prejudice
judging people based on negative stereotypes
Discrimination
behaviours that follow from negative attitudes towards particular group members
Self-consistency
motive to interpret info that fits the way one already see’s oneself
Self-esteem
the degree to which a person likes or respects themselves
Self-representation
mental models or representations of the self
Self
the person including, mental processes, body and personality characteristics
Biases in social info processing
fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias
Fundamental attribution error
the tendency to assume that other peoples behaviour corresponds to their internal states rather than external situations
Self-serving bias
the tendency to see ourselves in a more positive light than we deserve
Self-schema
a schema about the self that guides the way we think about and remember info relevant to ourselves
Social psychology
examines the influence of social processes on the way people think, feel and behave
Downside to high attitude accessibility
its potential to interfere without ability to detect changes in the attitude object
Cognitive complexity
the intricacy of thoughts about different attitude objects
Positive affect
a general category of emotions related to feeling good
Negative affect
a general category of emotions related to feeling bad
Ideal self
the self people would like to be
Ought self
the self they feel they should be
Implicit attitudes
associations between attitudes, objects and feelings about them that regulate thought and behaviour unconsciously and automatically
Attitudinal coherence
the extent to which an attitude is internally consistent
Attitudinal ambivalence
the extent to which a given attitude object is associated with conflicting evaluative responses- positive and negative dimensions that are relatively independent
self-presentation
process by which people try to control the impressions that others form of them
Actual self
how they really are
Attitude inoculation
building up a receivers resistance to an opposing attitude by presenting weak arguments for it or forewarning of a strong opposing persuasive appeal
Persuasion
deliberate efforts to change an attitude
Components of persuasion
source, message, channel, context and receiver
The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion
proposes that knowing how to appeal to a person requires figuring out the likelihood that he or she will think much about the arguments
Dissonance reduction
reducing an uncomfortable emotional state reinforces an attitude change- occurs automatically without conscious reflection
Self-perception theory
individual infer their attitudes, emotional and other internal states by observing their own behaviour
First impressions
the initial perceptions of another person that affects future beliefs about that person
Halo effect
tendency to assume that positive qualities cluster together
What is beautiful is good
people who are physically attractive are assumed to possess a number of other favourable qualities
Self-fulfilling prophecy
when feeling attractive leads to behaviours perceived by other as attractive
stereotypes
characteristics attributed to people based on their membership of a specific group
Prejudice
judging people based on stereotypes
Discrimination
behaviours that follow from evaluations or attitudes towards members of a particular group
Racism
specific form of prejudice based on a set of norms that their is a biological hierarchy that deems one ethnic group superior to another
Polyculturalism
that attitude that all cultures are interrelated and dynamic with loose boundaries
Authoritarian persona
a tendency to hate people who are different- individuals tend to have a dominant father and submissive mother
Social identity theory
suggest that people derive part of their identity from the groups to which they belong
IN-GROUPS
people perceived as belonging to a valued group
OUT-GROUPS
people perceived as not belonging to a valued group
Superordinate goals
goals requiring groups to cooperate for the benefit of all
Augmentation
increasing an internal attribution for behaviour that has occurred despite situational demands
Discounting
when people downplay the role of one variable, because they know that others may be contributing to the behaviour in question
External attributions
attributions to the situation
internal attributions
attributions to the person
Intuitive scientists
the concept of people as lay scientists who use intuitive theories, frame hypotheses and collect data about themselves
Attribution
the process of inferring the causes of ones own and others mental states and behaviour
Assimilation
acculturation that involves absorption into the dominant culture and abandonment of the traditional
Attributional style
a persons habitual manner of assigning causes to behaviours or events
3 types of attribution info
consensus, consistency and distinctiveness
Consensus
the way most people respond
Consistency
the extent to which a person always responds in the same way to the same stimulus
Distinctiveness
refers to the individuals likelihood to respond this way to many different stimulus
Ostracism
people are excluded, rejected or ignored
3 elements of attribution
people seek to understand why certain events happen, people attribute the outcome to a cause, people base their future behaviour on the attributions they make
BIRG
basking in reflected glory
3 step process to making attribution
categorise the behaviour you’ve observed, categorise the persons personality and this may discount the attribution
fundamental attribution error
tendency to assume that other peoples behaviour corresponds to their internal states rather than their external situations
confirmation bias
tendency to seek out info that confirms your own hypotheses
self-presentation
people attempt to control the impressions that others form of them
self-concept
concept of self- guides the way we think about and remember info about ourselves
self-presentational predicaments
instances which our desires to influence the impressions people form of us fail
self-monitoring
individual differences in the degree to which people manage their impressions
