Chapter 4—Behaviours & Attitudes Flashcards
What is an attitude?
a mental state that is directed toward “something,” and it influences how we evaluate that “something” in terms of our beliefs, emotions, and behaviours.
That “something” is the attitude object
Attitudes don’t predict behaviour as well as most people believe, but when is it a better predictor of behaviour?
When social influences are minimal
When attitudes are specific to behaviours
When attitudes are strong and on one’s mind
When does our behaviour affect our attitudes?
When we take on a role, our actions in that role shape our attitudes
When we engage in moral or immoral acts
When we participate in social movements
Why does our behaviour affect our attitudes?
Because holding beliefs inconsistent with our actions is uncomfortable; OFTEN EASIER TO CHANGE OUR BELIEFS THAN OUR ACTIONS, so we change our beliefs to match our actions and reduce discomfort.
How our behaviour shape our attitudes—Cognitive dissonance theory
Best at explaining what happens when the discrepancy between attitudes and behaviour is?
When we are aware of two simultaneous, contradicting beliefs/attitudes/behaviours, discomfort arises.
This discomfort motivates us to change/justify our attitudes/behaviours/beliefs
Best at explaining what happens when the discrepancy between attitudes and behaviour is LARGE
How our behaviour shape our attitudes—self-perception theory (derived from self-presentation theory)
Best at explaining what happens when the discrepancy between attitudes and behaviour is?
We behave in ways that create a positive impression to manage how others perceive us (self-presentation)
When we act in a certain way, we start to align with that way of being, even if it wasn’t how we felt at first.
This happens because we infer our attitudes from our behaviours.
Best at explaining what happens when the discrepancy between attitudes and behaviour is SMALL.
What are gender roles?
Behavioural norms and expectations for males and females
How can we measure attitudes?
Implicit Association Test (IAT): an assessment of implicit attitudes that uses rxn times to measure people’s automatic associations between attitude objects and evaluative words
Easier pairings (faster responses) are taken to indicate stronger unconscious associations
Describe the overjustification effect
External rewards undermine a person’s intrinsic motivation to do something they already enjoy
When a person is rewarded for an activity they already find enjoyable, they may come to see the activity as something they are doing for the reward, rather than for the enjoyment itself
What is a role in the context of norms?
A role is a set of norms that define how ppl in a given position ought to behave
What is moral hypocrisy?
People say they have these moral beliefs yet they don’t actually follow through or act on these beliefs
What makes up our attitudes? Tripartite theory
An attitude is based on affective, behavioural and cognitive components
- affect: feelings, emotions
- we don’t actively think abt attitudes
- behaviour: history of behaviours
- we think about past behaviours that are associated with the attitude object
- cognition: thoughts, facts
- after you act on your feelings, you will have a thought about it
Example: sushi.
Affect: “raw fish ew” Behaviour: never bought it Cognition: sushi can have parasites
What function do attitudes serve?
Similar to schemas;
- Simplify info processing
- Guide behaviour towards valued goals/away from aversive events
- Help us express our values and communicate them
- Help us fit in with groups
Define social desirability bias. How can we reduce it?
the tendency for survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favourably by others
It’s impression management
Bogus pipeline: hood participants up to a fake lie detector
Differ implicit vs explicit attitudes
Implicit attitudes are unconscious attitudes we are not aware
Explicit attitudes are conscious attitudes that we can articulate
What is implicit bias (attitudes)
implicit bias is when your unconscious attitudes influence your judgements
Describe the theory of planned behaviour
Attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control affect our intentions and then our behaviour
Posits that to change a behavior, it’s important to target and change the person’s
1. attitude
2. subjective norms
- social pressure an individual feels to perform or not perform the behaviour
3. perceived control over the behaviour
- related to self-efficacy; their perceived ability to perform the behaviour
Differ choice justification vs effort justification
Choice justification: after making a decision, we convince ourselves that our choice was good even if there were drawbacks, to avoid cognitive dissonance
Effort justification: ppl value something more highly if they put in a lot of effort to obtain it, even if the outcome isn’t as good as expected
- save up to buy a Porsche but its not as fast as you thought, so to avoid dissonance you justify your effort as worthwhile because it has great handling and torque
How do we accommodate for cognitive dissonance effects?
Classic views (Festinger): change incongruent thoughts/behaviour to reduce dissonance
Self-perception (Bem): we infer our attitudes from our behaviour
Self-affirmation (Steele): we affirm our self-worth in another area of life to reduce discomfort without changing the dissonant behaviour
