Chapter 6: Attitudes, Behavior, and Rationalization Flashcards
What is attitude?
an evaluation of a target
the target can be a person, object, issue, group, or behaviour
the valence of an attitude can be
positive or negative (direction)
ambivalent (sometimes positive and sometines negative)
neutral (neither favourable nor unfavourable)
Attitudes are most commonly assessed through …
simple self-report measures, such as survey with likert scale or sematin differential scales (ex. mark a line from good to bad)
advantages of likery types sales and semantic differential scales?
advantages: easy to construct
disadv: people are not always willing to hinestly report beliefs)
why do we develop attitude?
- object appraisal function: determine whether attitude object is helpful or harmful
- value-expressive function: allow us to identify to others
where do attitudes stem from?
- affective reactions: emotions
- cognitive appraisals: beliefs
- assessment of past behaviour
when do attitudes rely of affect (emotions)?
controversial issues: politics, sex, religion), not giverned by logic and often linked to religious or moral values
What are the soruces of affective attitudes (emotion based)?
- evaluative conditioning: associate attitude towards something positive or negative
- mere exposure effect: tendency for repeated contect with an object/person to increase liking for it (ambivalent -> pos or neg)
when does mere exposure effect not work?
when target initially causes negative affect
when do cognitive appraisals form for attitudes?
positive attutudes based on positive experiences/features (ex type of car or household item)
w
when do behavioural sources of attitude form
self perception: when attitudes/feelings are uncertain, we infe them by observing our behaviour and situation in which it occurs
role play: fake it till you make it
is bag stronger than good?
generally yes,
negative stimuli elicit faster and stronger physiological response that positive
What is response latency?
accessibility of the attitude
- how readily attitude comes to mind
What is centrality?
a way to assess importance of one’s attitude
- how central is the attitude to a person’s belief system
What is implicit attitude measures?
An indirect measure of attitudes that doesn’t involve a self-report
associations or physiological indicators
how does neuroscience detect attitudes
amygdala: central to initial core components of attitude and received sensory information from thalamus and then gives information about positive or negative value (valence) of the object (gut feeling - occurs prior to fully knwoing what object is)
are attitudes a good predictor of behaviour?
no – inconsistent attitudes
when do attitudes predict behaviour?
when attitude is strong (extremity, importance, based on direct experience)
behaviour is controllable
behaviour compatible with attitude (specific/general attitude -> specific/general behaviour)
attitude is implicit
when is behaviour not controllable?
- external threat
- lack of alternate
- lack of time
- biological need or addiction
what is an implicit attitude?
an automatic, affective evaluation response toward a target (ex how long does it take to associate certain words)
what is explicit attitude?
can be affective, cognitive, and behavioural sourced controlled evaluation
is introspection a good indicator of attitude?
- can mislead you to the wrong reasons for why you have an attitude towards something
- tend to focus on easy to idenitify reasons for liking/disliking something
- ineffective with affective/emotional basis
- effective for cognitive stimuli
highly specific attitudes versus general attitude?
- highly specific attitude = likely behave consistently
- general attitude = less lilely to behave consistently
attitude influences behaviour or behaviour influences attitude? why?
behaviour influences attitude
- cognitive dissonance theory: justify/rationalize behaviour to reflect attitudes and minimize inconsistencies between attitude and actions
What is the aversive emotional state?
dissonance - aroused when people experience inconsistency between 2 cognitions
How do decisions cause dissonance?
- All hard decisions cause some feelings of dissonance, so we rationalize the decision that was made
- Directly after making a decision, compared to before, when the decision can’t be undone (ex. Bets, votes) to make oneself feel more confident about selection
- Option not chosen likely has some attractive features
- Option chosen likely has some unfavorable features
What is effort justification? example
- Pay high price for something and it is disappointing = experience dissonance
Ex. “it’s not so bad” exaggerate negatives when others have pets or children - Payment can be physical labor (enjoy self made furniture) or monetary (cash vs credit)
military or fraternitiy hazing/team bonding rituals
What is induced (forced) compliance or counterattitudinal advocacy?
does this cause dissonance?
people are induced to behave inconsistently with their beliefs given the illusion that they have freely performed the counter attitudinal behaviour
- dissonance: easiest way to acheive consistiency is to change attitude for the compliance bc whatever the action was, it can’t be take back
How does the use of incentive in an experiment affect the participant?
Should use smallest amount of incentive or coercion necessary ($1 vs $20 for mind numbing activity)
* if you want people to internalize the broader message behind the behavior ie the attitude - internal justification
* If incentive was too large, rationalization is on money - external justification
* If incentive is small, rationalization is attitude change
What situation are likely to cause dissonance?
we ought to experience dissonance when we act in ways that are inconsistent with our core values and beliefs and
(a) the behavior was freely chosen
(b) the behavior wasn’t sufficiently justifed,
(c) the behavior had negative consequences
(d) the negative consequences were foreseeable
how do you reduce dissonance?
- change behaviour
- add consonant cognition (add matching attitude)
- reduce importance of dissonant cognition (not care about attitude)
How do attitudes change when extinguishing undesired behaviour?
not allowed to do something mildly desireable – dissonace -> devalue object
severe punishment for going against expmter and obtaining desirable thing -> same value of object
HOw does self-affirmation relate to dissonance?
is you do a behaviour that causes dissonance but affirm your self that you are good at something else – ward off dissonance
How does dissonance compare in different cultures?
less dissonance effects for Asians more dissonance for westerners
What is self perception theory?
the theory that people come to know their own attitudes by looking at their behavior and the context in which it occurred and then inferring what their attitudes must be.
how is self-perception theory different from coginitive dissonance theory?
self perception: no arousal involved
people rationally infer what their attitudes must be in light of their behaviour and the content
which theory is correct, self perception or cognitive dissonace?
implicit and explict measures show that there is arosual in the face of dissonace, so cognitive dissonance
when is self perception used? when is cognitive dissonance used?
self-perception: when behaviour conflicts with attitudes that are relatively vague or of less importance
cognitive dissonance: when behaviour is inconsistent with preexisting attitudes that are clear-cut and of some importance
a surpising ptoportion of out attitudes are
rather weak and ambiguous, so self-perception is relevant theory
how do we embody self-perception theory?
physical boldily movents (frowning, nodding, etc.)
What is system justification theory?
the theory that people are motivated to see the existing sociopolitical system as desirable, fair, and legitimate.
What is terror management theory?
the theory that people deal with the potentially crippling anxiety associated with the **inevitability of death **by striving for **symbolic immortality **through preserving valued cultural worldviews and by believing they have lived up to their culture’s standards
how does dissonance relate to commitments?
difficult to admit we were worng and move on from commitments so we change attitude
how is dissonance seen in the brain?
prefrontal cortex affected when Ps have dissonance becasue this area is involved in decision making and reasoning
dissonance reduced = pleasure circuits activated
What is the hypocrisy paradigm?
arouse dissonance by having people publicly promote a socially desireable behaviour and remind them they have not always done this behaviour
