Chapter 4 Attitudes: Definition and Structure Flashcards
How do attitudes play a role in our lives?
Calls on complex emotions, deep feelings, strong passions, and values and implicating what we do and say.
Attitude #1
an association between a given object and a given evaluation
Attitude #2
a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor
Attitude #3
a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object
Attitude #4
a more or less permanently enduring state of readiness of mental organization which predis-poses an individual to react in a characteristic way to any object or situation with which it is related
Definition of Attitude according to the book
a learned, global evaluation of an object (person, place or issue) that influences thought and action
What is a characteristic of attitude?
Attitudes are learned. Socialization in childhood and adolescence.
Attitudes are…
evaluations
Having an attitude means..
You have categorized something and made a judgment of its net value or worth.
How are attitudes expressed?
Through thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
Attitudes shape..
perceptions and influence judgement
Definition of Values
enduring ideals, guiding principles in one’s life, or overarching goals that people strive to obtain.
Values are (more comprehensivley)
desirable end states or behaviors that transcend specific situation, guide selection or evaluation of behavior and events, and are ordered by relative importance.
Beliefs
more cognitive than values or attitudes. Beliefs are cognitions about the world - subjective probabilities that an object has a particular attribute or than an action will lead to a particular outcome.
Examples of beliefs
- stricter gun control laws reduce violent crime
- maintaining a vegetarian diet improves your state of mind
- video games are addictive
- college students drink too much
- girls talk more about relationships than guys do
- a daily dose of religion uplifts the spirits
What is a challenge of persuasion?
Helping people realize that strong beliefs are false
Descriptive beliefs
perceptions or hypotheses about the world that people carry around in their heads
Prescriptive beliefs
“ought” or “should” statements that express conceptions of preferred end states
Summary of values
values are broad, deeply held principles, the large macromolecules of our social brains
Attitudes spring from..
values and contain beliefs, the smaller cognitive atoms that are part of the attitude molecule
Symbolic Attitude Approach
Emphasizes that attitudes are dominated by emotional reactions, sweeping sentiments, and powerful prejudices.
Conclusion of attitudes
emotional, evaluative, frequently formed at a young age - are a core dimension of persuasion. Attitudes are the entities that communicators seek to shape, reinforce, mold, and change
Conclusion of values
values underlie or shape attitudes. Values are guiding principles in an individuals life.
Conclusion of beliefs
defined as cognitions about the world, in turn are views as components of attitudes.
Structure of organization
Values shape attitudes; beliefs underpin attitudes
