Chapter 4 Attitudes: Definition and Structure

Question 1

How do attitudes play a role in our lives?

Answer 1

Calls on complex emotions, deep feelings, strong passions, and values and implicating what we do and say.

Question 2

Attitude #1

Answer 2

an association between a given object and a given evaluation

Question 3

Attitude #2

Answer 3

a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor

Question 4

Attitude #3

Answer 4

a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object

Question 5

Attitude #4

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Definition of Attitude according to the book

Answer 6

a learned, global evaluation of an object (person, place or issue) that influences thought and action

Question 7

What is a characteristic of attitude?

Answer 7

Attitudes are learned. Socialization in childhood and adolescence.

Question 8

Attitudes are…

Answer 8

evaluations

Question 9

Having an attitude means..

Answer 9

You have categorized something and made a judgment of its net value or worth.

Question 10

How are attitudes expressed?

Answer 10

Through thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Question 11

Attitudes shape..

Answer 11

perceptions and influence judgement

Question 12

Definition of Values

Answer 12

enduring ideals, guiding principles in one’s life, or overarching goals that people strive to obtain.

Question 13

Values are (more comprehensivley)

Answer 13

desirable end states or behaviors that transcend specific situation, guide selection or evaluation of behavior and events, and are ordered by relative importance.

Question 14

Beliefs

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Examples of beliefs

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

What is a challenge of persuasion?

Answer 16

Helping people realize that strong beliefs are false

Question 17

Descriptive beliefs

Answer 17

perceptions or hypotheses about the world that people carry around in their heads

Question 18

Prescriptive beliefs

Answer 18

“ought” or “should” statements that express conceptions of preferred end states

Question 19

Summary of values

Answer 19

values are broad, deeply held principles, the large macromolecules of our social brains

Question 20

Attitudes spring from..

Answer 20

values and contain beliefs, the smaller cognitive atoms that are part of the attitude molecule

Question 21

Symbolic Attitude Approach

Answer 21

Emphasizes that attitudes are dominated by emotional reactions, sweeping sentiments, and powerful prejudices.

Question 22

Conclusion of attitudes

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Conclusion of values

Answer 23

values underlie or shape attitudes. Values are guiding principles in an individuals life.

Question 24

Conclusion of beliefs

Answer 24

defined as cognitions about the world, in turn are views as components of attitudes.

Question 25

Structure of organization

Answer 25

Values shape attitudes; beliefs underpin attitudes