Chapter 4 - Behaviuors and Attitudes

Question 1

define attitude

Answer 1

a favourable or unfavourable evaluative reaction towards something or someone exhibited in one’s beliefs, feelings, or intended behaviour

Question 2

what is an IAT?

Answer 2

implicit association test

it uses reaction times to measure people’s automatic associations between attitudes objects and evaluative words, easier paring are taken to indicate stronger unconscious associations

ex. using this can determine if someone if racist or not

Question 3

what are the 3 conditions in which attitudes will predict behaviour?

Answer 3

1. when we minimize other influence on our attitude statement and our behaviours
2. when the attitude is specifically relevant to the observed behaviour
3. when it is POTENT, strong and on one’s mind

Question 4

define norms

Answer 4

rules for accepted and expected behaviours that prescribe proper behaviours

Question 5

what is the main take away from Zimbardo’s Prison experiment?

Answer 5

that role-playing studies concern how what is unreal can evolve into what is real.

ex. the uni boys playing a role of a guard and then doing behaviours that guards are seen to do like abusing the prisoners.

Question 6

define gender roles

Answer 6

behaviour expectations for males and females

Question 7

define the foot-in-the-door phenomenon

Answer 7

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

ex. people allowing a small sign first, and then more likely to allow for a large sign 2 weeks later. the first sign makes you think that you believe in it so now you have to continue this behaviour or you feel uncomfortable and then need to adjust your attitudes.

Question 8

define the low-ball technique

Answer 8

a tactic for getting people to agree to something. people who agree to an initial request will often still comply when the requester ups the ante people who receive only the costly request are less likely to comply with it

Question 9

define the door-in-the-face technique

Answer 9

tendency for people who have first declined a large request to comply with a subsequent, but smaller, request. this works with the principle of reciprocity.

Question 10

define self-presentation theory

Answer 10

we express attitudes to make us appear more consistent, even if we pretend (we may even seem hypocritical if it means we maintain the impression we are making)

NOT A PERMANENT CHANGE TO ATTITUDE

ex. factour (wants to make a good impression on romantic partner) influences behaviour (plays with niece to impress them) and your attitudes (says they love kids now)

Question 11

define cogntivie dissonance

Answer 11

that to reduce discomfort, we justify our actions to ourselves.

it assumes that we feel tension when two simultaneously accessible thoughts or beliefs are psychologically inconsistent- as when we decide to say or do something when we have mixed feelings.

we feel pressured to change either in attitudes or beliefs. when we cant take back out behaviours, we change our attitudes.
- MORE PERMANENT

ex. boring tasks being paid $1 or $20 and having to tell someone it was fun

Question 12

define self-perception

Answer 12

our actions are self-revealing (when uncertain about our beliefs, we look to our behaviour)

we make similar inferences when we observe our own behaviour.

we infer our attitudes and feelings based on observations of our own behaviour (from past to see how we previously acted)

Question 13

define insufficient justification

Answer 13

reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one’s behaviour when external justification is insufficient. you almost make you believe what you want to believe to give yourself that justification.

attitudes follow behaviours for which we feel some responsability

ex. doing boring task and having to tell someone it was really fun when you are only getting payed $1

Question 14

how does dissonance change when you make decisions

Answer 14

after making important decision, we usually reduce dissonance by upgrading the chosen alternative and downgrading the unchosen option

Question 15

define dissonance

Answer 15

a tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements

Question 16

give an example for all self adjustments with smoking

Answer 16

presentation: I look like a cool smoker

justification: i know its bad for me, but the statistics arent as awful as they say. I’m very healthy and wont get sick anyways

perception: here i am smoking again, i must like smoking

Question 17

define the overjustification effect

Answer 17

the result of bribing people to do what they already like doing, they may then see their actions as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing

occurs when someone offers an unnecessary reward beforehand in an obvious effort to control behaviour.

Question 18

define self-affirmation theory

Answer 18

that people often experience self-image threat after engaging in an undesirable behaviour, and they compensate for this threat by affirming another aspect of the self.

threaten people’s self-conepts in one domain, and they will compensate by refocusing or doing good deeds in another domain,

Question 19

define attitudes

Answer 19

beliefs or feelings related to a person or an event

Question 20

define evaluative conditioning

Answer 20

a change in liking, whihc occurs due to an association with a positive or negative stimulus

ex. hot girl in burger commercial with typically America things. makes you like the burger more because you link it to being American which you say you are.

Question 21

define the mere-exposure effect

Answer 21

people tend to develop liking or disliking for things merely because they are familiar with them.

ex. having certain people show their class in face a different amount of times with no interaction. the more shown face, people tend to say that they looked more likable but not familaire.

Question 22

define moral hypocrisy

Answer 22

you want to appear as a moral person, but don’t live those morals out.

ex. saying that you will give someone the easier tasks, but when allowed to flip a coin in private, you are more likely to make the results in your favourite because you can blame the odds on the coins.

Question 23

what are the 3 theories that show when behaviour predicts attitudes?

Answer 23

self-presentation, cognitive dissonance, and self-perception

Question 24

what study showed that postures affect behaviour in relation to self-perception?

Answer 24

A study explained that depending on your posture, it would change the way you thought about yourself and your future.

Question 25

what did the study with holding a pen in your mouth influence on the topic of self-perception

Answer 25

There was two conditions, on where you held a pen between your teeth and one were you only held it with your lips. people were shown the same cartoon and had to then say how funny they thought it was. People looked at the behaviour they were showing when watching the cartoon to tell about their attitudes. people who help the pen between the teeth activated the same muscles as if you were to smile, so they thought it was funny.

Question 26

define the saying is believing phenomenon

Answer 26

This is where if you saying something, like someone is likeable, you are more likely to act on these actions in the future and say that same person is likeable.

ex. where someone had to read a passage about a person and the other participants either likes or dislikes that person. you changed how you described the person depending on how they felt. this then changed you overall attitude on the person because you were saying it out loud which made you believe that is what you believe to be true.

Question 27

do we infer attitudes based on observations of our physiological states?

Answer 27

Yes, we can do it when we detect changes in heart rate, body language, etc.

ex. shaky bridge study to see if a more shaky bridge would cause an increase in arousal for people making them more prone to call a girls number. The people who walked the shaky bridge were way more likely to call because they felt more excited and that can be mistaken as arousal for men.

Question 28

briefly describe how the 3 theories explain how behaviours changes our attitudes

Answer 28

Self-presentation: express attitues to make them appear consistent with our behaviour, do what people want us to do

Cognitive dissonacne: change our attitudes to justify our actions, to reduce discomfort ATTITUDE CHANGE

Self-perceptionL observe our own behaviours to figure out our attitudes (for 1st time) ATTITUDE FORMATION

Question 29

explain the experiment done with dissonance and the pill

Answer 29

People had to write an essay about banning speakers at university. they either were given the choice or not.

they were given a placebo pill, and was told that they would feel more relaxed, aroused or told nothing.

Question 30

explain the results of the dissonance and the pill experiment

Answer 30

Aroused: there wasnt much of a chnge within choice variation. if they had to write about something they didn’t believe in, they were able to plan their behaviours on the arousalness to justify their actions

Relaxed: if people choice to writing the opposing argument, there was a lot of anxiety that went with this as it conflicted with past attitudes. sicen they were suppose to be more relaxed, this made people uncomfy cause they were feeling levels of anxiety. they had to adjust their attitudes to reflect onto their behaviuor.