Chapter 5: Attitudes

Question 1

Define attitude

Answer 1

Evaluation of various aspects of the social world

Question 2

What is concensus

Answer 2

The extent to which other people react to some stimulus,

or even in the same manner as the person we are considering

Question 3

What is meant by explicit attitudes

Answer 3

Consciously accessible attitudes that are controllable and easy to report

Question 4

What are implicit attitudes

Answer 4

Unconscious associations between objects and

evaluative responses

Question 5

What are implicit association

Answer 5

between group membership and trait
associations or evaluations that the perceiver may be unaware of.
They can be activated automatically based on the group membership of a target.

Question 6

What is social learning

Answer 6

The process through which we acquire new information, forms of behavior, or attitudes from other people

Question 7

What is classical conditioning

Answer 7

A basic form of learning in which one
stimulus, initially neutral, acquires the capacity to evoke reactions
through repeated pairing with another stimulus. In a sense, one
stimulus becomes a signal for the presentation or occurrence of the
other

Question 8

What is the conditioned stimulus in classical conditioning

Answer 8

The stimulus that comes to stand for or signal

a prior unconditioned stimulus

Question 9

What is an unconditioned stimulus in classical conditioning

Answer 9

A stimulus that evokes a positive or negative response without substantial learning

Question 10

What is subliminal conditioning

Answer 10

Classical conditioning of attitudes by exposure to stimuli that are below individuals’ threshold of conscious
awareness.

Question 11

What is meant by mere exposure

Answer 11

having seen before, but not necessarily remembering having done so, attitudes toward an object can be formed

Question 12

State what the illusion of truth effect is

Answer 12

The mere repetition of information creates a

sense of familiarity and more positive attitudes.

Question 13

What is instrumental conditioning

Answer 13

It is differential rewards and punishments sometimes where the conditioning process is rather subtle with the reward being psychological acceptance

Question 14

What are our social networks

Answer 14

Composed of individuals with whom we have

interpersonal relationships and interact with on a regular basis.

Question 15

What’s observational learning

Answer 15

A basic form of learning in which individuals acquire new forms of behavior as a result of observing others.

Question 16

Define social comparison

Answer 16

The process through which we compare ourselves to others to determine whether our view of social reality is, or
is not, correc

Question 17

Define pluralistic ignorance

Answer 17

When we collectively misunderstand what

attitudes others hold and believe erroneously that others have different attitudes than us

Question 18

What’s attitude correctness

Answer 18

Believing one’s attitude is the valid or proper

one to hold.

Question 19

What’s attitude clarity

Answer 19

When there is no ambivalence in attitude; the person

feels clear about what attitude to hold.

Question 20

Define attitude similarity

Answer 20

The extent to which two individuals share the

same attitud

Question 21

What is the theory of reasoned action

Answer 21

A theory suggesting that the decision to
engage in a particular behavior is the result of a rational process in
which behavioral options are considered, consequences or outcomes
of each are evaluated, and a decision is reached to act or not to
act. That decision is then reflected in behavioral intentions, which
strongly influence overt behavior

Question 22

State what the theory of planned behaviour is

Answer 22

An extension of the theory of reasoned
action, suggesting that in addition to attitudes toward a given behavior and subjective norms about it, individuals also consider their
ability to perform the behavior

Question 23

What is an implementation plan

Answer 23

A plan for how to implement our intentions to

carry out some action

Question 24

Define persuasion

Answer 24

Efforts to change others’ attitudes through the use of

various kinds of messages

Question 25

What are fear appeal

Answer 25

Attempting to change people’s behaviors by use of a

message that induces fear

Question 26

What is systematic processing

Answer 26

Processing of information in a persuasive
message that involves careful consideration of message content and
ideas.

Question 27

What is heuristic processing

Answer 27

Processing of information in a persuasive
message that involves the use of simple rules of thumb or mental
shortcuts.

Question 28

Define reactance

Answer 28

Negative reactions to threats to one’s personal freedom.
Reactance often increases resistance to persuasion and can even
produce negative attitude change or opposite to what was intended

Question 29

What is forewarning

Answer 29

Advance knowledge that one is about to become the
target of an attempt at persuasion; Forewarning often increases
resistance to the persuasion that follows

Question 30

What’s meant by selective avoidance

Answer 30

A tendency to direct attention away from information that challenges existing attitudes. Such avoidance increases
resistance to persuasion.

Question 31

What is selective exposure

Answer 31

Selective in what we make the focus of our attention that helps ensure that many of our attitude remain intact for long periods of time

Question 32

What’s ego depletion

Answer 32

The lowered capacity to exert subsequent self-control
following earlier efforts to exert self-control. Performance decrements occur when people’s ego strength has been depleted by prior
efforts at self-control.

Question 33

Define self regulation

Answer 33

Limited capacity to engage our willpower and control our own thinking and emotions

Question 34

What is cognitive dissonance

Answer 34

An internal state that results when individuals
notice inconsistency between two or more attitudes or between their
attitudes and their behavior

Question 35

Explain the less leads to more effect

Answer 35

The fact that offering individuals small
rewards for engaging in counterattitudinal behavior often produces
more dissonance, and so more attitude change, than offering them
larger rewards.

Question 36

What’s trivialization.

Answer 36

Concluding that either the attitude or behaviours in question aren’t important so any inconsistency between them is of no importance.

Question 37

What is self affirmations

Answer 37

Refers to the tendency to respond to a threat to
one’s self-concept by affirming one’s competence in another area
(different from the threat

Question 38

Define hypocrisy

Answer 38

Publicly advocating some attitudes or behavior and
thenacting in a way that is inconsistent with these attitudes or
behavior

Question 39

What is meant by tightness vs looseness

Answer 39

some cultures people are expected
to adhere to many strong social norms (tight cultures), whereas in
other cultures norms are weaker and less strongly enforced (loose
cultures).