Chapter 7 - Attitude Change

Question 1

What arouses cognitive dissonance?

Answer 1

Feeling bad about irrational behaviour.

Question 2

How do we reduce cognitive dissonance? 4 ways

Answer 2

ways that dissonance can be reduced:

• change attitude to be consonant with their behaviour
• change behaviour to be consonant with their attitude
• maintain both the attitude and the behaviour, but introduce an additional consonant cognition to restore consonance between them both, rationalizing undesirable behaviour by arguing that it has some positive benefits
• reducing the importance of one of the dissonant cognitions and/or increasing the importance of one of the consonant cognitions

Question 3

According to effort justification paradigm, does a severe initiation increase or decrease new recruits’ commitment to the group?

Answer 3

A severe initiation to join a group might increase recruits’ evaluations of the group, because they will be motivated to justify their suffering by perceiving the group as attractive or worthwhile.

Question 4

Defone/explain: cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 4

a model that states that awareness of consonant cognitions makes us feel good, whereas awareness of dissonant cognitions makes us feel bad, the unpleasant feelings produced by dissonant cognitions motivate us to do something to change our state

Question 5

What are: consonant cognitions

Answer 5

beliefs that are consistent or compatible with one another, imply that the other is valid/good, ex. “I brush my teeth twice a day” &“tooth brushing prevents cavities”

Question 6

What are: dissonant cognitions

Answer 6

beliefs that are inconsistent or logically discrepant with one another, imply that the other is wrong/bad, ex. “I smoke” & “Smoking causes cancer”

Question 7

Define/explain: induced compliance paradigm

Answer 7

a research methodology used to test dissonance theory that arouses dissonance by getting people to engage in counterattitudinal behaviour, participants are induced to comply with an experimenter’s request so that they behave in a way that is inconsistent with their attitudes, tests how people change their attitudes in order to reduce the dissonance they create

Question 8

Define/explain: counterattitudinal behaviour

Answer 8

behaviour that is counter to, or inconsistent with, an individual’s attitudes

Question 9

What are the 3 major experimental domains of cognitive dissonance theory?

Answer 9

1. Induced Compliance Paradigm
2. Effort Justification Paradigm
3. Free Choice Paradigm

Question 10

Define/explain: effort justification paradigm

Answer 10

a research methodology used to test dissonance theory, arouses dissonance by getting people to invest time or energy to achieve a goal that may not be worthwhile, prediction is that participants would reduce dissonance by convincing themselves that the goal was actually worthwhile

Question 11

Define/explain: free choice paradigm

Answer 11

a research methodology used to test dissonance theory, arouses dissonance by getting people to choose between 2 or more desirable alternatives, used to study postdecisional dissonance

Question 12

Define/explain: impression management theory

Answer 12

an alternative to dissonance theory that argues that participants in dissonance experiments want to appear consistent to the experimenter and therefore lie about their attitudes

Question 13

Define/explain: self-affirmation theory

Answer 13

an alternative to dissonance theory that argues that people are threatened by behaviour that challenges their self-worth, implies they are foolish/dishonest, and can deal with this threat by reaffirming an important value, people want to see themselves as honest, moral and capable

Question 14

Define/explain: hypocrisy paradigm

Answer 14

a research methodology used to test dissonance theory, arouses dissonance by having people publicly promote a socially desirable behaviour and then be made aware that they have not always exhibited the behaviour themselves in the past, predict that dissonance aroused by hypocrisy would motivate individuals to change their behaviour to be more consistent with what they publicly promoted

Question 15

Define/explain: preference for consistency (PFC) scale

Answer 15

a scale to measure differences in sensitivity to dissonance, a disposition that represents the extent to which people desire predictability and consistency within their own responses and within others’ responses, high scorers are more bothered than low scorers by ambivalent attitudes

Question 16

What are: persuasive communications

Answer 16

attempts (oral, written, face-to-face, media based) by and individual or group to convince another person/persons to adopt a particular position

Question 17

Define/explain: cognitive response theory

Answer 17

a model of persuasion that assumes that the impact of a message on attitudes depends on the thoughts evoked by the message, cognitive responses are assumed to cause the acceptance or rejection of the advocated position
if the message elicits mostly positive thoughts (proarguments), then the individual will be inclined to adopt the position advocated in the message, if the message elicits mostly negative thoughts (counterarguments), then the individual will be inclined to reject the position advocated in the message
thoughts can be about the communicator, the issue, or the message

Question 18

Define: propaganda

Answer 18

persuasion that is motivated by a specific ideology and that is biased in its presentation

Question 19

Define: destructive cult

Answer 19

a rigidly structured group, led by a charismatic leader, that recruits and retains members using manipulative, deceptive techniques

Question 20

Explain the 2 routes to persuasion.

Answer 20

1. systematic processing; occurs when people attend to and think about the message
2. heuristic processing; occurs when people rely on simple cues to make judgments