Exam 2 Flashcards
Conformity, Persuasion, Attitudes & Behaviors
Attitudes
Evaluative judgments
- good or bad; like or dislike
- not all created equally (ex: hangers/carpet)
- attitudes influence behavior and vice versa
Tri component of conceptualizing attitudes
ABC (interchangeable and tridirectional)
- Affect (attitude)
- Behavior
- Cognition
Attitudes and predicting behavior
People expressed attitudes hardly predicted behavior
- wicker 1969 –> “systemic review”
when do attitudes predict behavior
- social (+ other) influences on what we say are minimized/minimal
- behavior is aggregate
- Attitudes are specific to behaviors of interest
- attitudes are potent
- self-awareness is higher (mirror study)
When does behavior affect attitude
- we come to believe in what we stand up for (saying is believing)
- foot in the door phenomenon
- Roleplaying
- individualists are more likely to hold tight to their beliefs (consistency/must commit to show healthy mental stability)
foot in the door phenomenon
smaller request increases the likelihood of larger requests
- escalating behavioral commitments (acts)
- a tends to fall in line with b
- Dr. M and Last Hope K-9
Role playing
social monitoring + social roles
- when we step into a new role, we may feel phony but soon it begins to “fit”
- we internalize and adopt the attitudes that reflect the role
role
a set of norms that defines how people ought to behave
Why does behavior affect attitudes?
“saying becomes believing”
no compelling external explanation for one’s words (check) vs forced or perceived no choice (X)
the science of self talk (does it work?)
could use this idea to help with life challenges/changes like…
- self-doubt
- body image
- performance anxiety
Zimbardo - Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)
best example of how attitudes are shaped on roles + Situations influence
- Zimbardo and the mock prison set up at the Stan. psych basement
- male college students through newspaper ad were randomly assigned to guard or prisoner
- finding: if the situation is powerful enough, morally good people can be convinced to engage in corrupt or evil behavior
- critiques: study designs, findings validity, tellings of the drawn conclusions
Critiques of the SPE
- UK replication attempt showed no violence (Hasham + Reicher)
- Can’t simulate real prison life
- Zimbardo encouraged and created a narrative that fostered reverence for his study (Gray + Blum)
- “Guards weren’t given instruction” skepticism –> prison consultant+undergrad research assistant
- Douglass Korpi breakdown (undue stress)
- Abusive guard –> social desirability (good results for researchers)
- archived audio –> coached participants
- Not all guards were equally abusive
- situation vs person (ad selection)
- participants who responded to the ad scored higher on social dominance, narcissism and lower on altruism
Based on the SPE study
perhaps certain types of people were drawn to the SPE
- same results, maybe not (Carnahan + McFarland)
Limitations of C + M
- Not a direct replication
- forever changing absolute truth overtime (re-examining is necessary to fully know)
Zimbardo Rebuttal to Critiques
- self-promotional
- said korpi changed the story –> in the film “Quiet Rage” he says Korpi broke down
- Only one guard “prodded to be tougher
- never claimed personality didn’t matter (variation in niceness)
- Eshelmans comments on how role playing doesn’t negate abusive behavior became extreme (nicer? intervention?)
making sense of SPE
- audio recorded evidence should not be ignored
- findings could still tell us something important
- recognize situation forces (individual variables matter)
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
inconsistent cognitions or doing something that is inconsistent with behavior
behavior does not equal attitude
- more dissonance when LESS external justification ($1 vs $20)
Why does behavior lead to attitude change
- cognitive dissonance theory
- Self-perception theory
Dissonance
the unpleasant psychological state that we are motivated to reduce
Example of CDT
I love smoking, despite knowing the health risks, and do it anyway
Festinger’s Main Ways to reduce Dissonance
- Change behavior
- Change cognitions/add new information
- Selective exposure -seek infor that agrees with ones views while avoiding dissonant information
Carlsmith + Festinger 1959
A: would counter-attitudinal action produce changes in how participants feel?
Would being paid $1 vs $20 to tell others that a boring task was interesting alter how ‘enjoyable’ the participants found the boring task
M: Peg/knob turning, 3 conditions:
1. paid $1 to lie about fun exp.
2. paid $20 to lie about fun exp.
3. Control no lying no $
DV = rated enjoyment of the exp.
F: control had the lowest exp. enjoyment while $1 (high dissonance group) had the highest
- more dissonance when less external justification
counter-attitudinal action
behaving one way that is inconsistent with the way we are thinking or feeling
external justification that effects dissonance
blatant coercion
directly ordered
strong/highly desired external rewards
steps of dissonance
- imitation: actions conflict with important aspects of self
- Amplification: more dissonance arises when the action is seen as freely chosen
- Motivation: dissonance is experienced as unpleasant arousal
- Reduction: due to change designed to remove unpleasant arousal (conscious or unconscious)
applied value of CDT
Decision making - post decisional dissonance
and
effort justification
post decisional dissonance
the tension we feel after deciding between two options that offer both positive and negative features
effort justification
we come to like what we “suffer” for
- the tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain
limitations to dissonance theory
- culture –> doesn’t generalize well. holds better in western individualistic cultures. collectivists are all abt the group goal and therefore are more comfortable doing things inconsistent with there attitudes
- affirming oneself in another domain –> resolve the dissonance in a different way (won’t feel as much)
- you do something wrong, feel bad, then do other nice things to make up for it (resolving the dissonance)
Self-perception theory (SPT)
internal cues to our mental and feeling states are weak
we look at our own behavior to develop attitudes
behavior –> attitude
- attributional reasoning –> look to behavior and external constraints
- more parsimonious than CDT
- INFER ATTITUDE based on behavior and external factors
- Overjustification effect
overjustification effect
a decrease in intrinsic motivation caused by providing external rewards
- many life tasks contain both int and ext rewards
- overjustification effect is about necessary rewards
lepper et al (1973)
- 3 groups (expected reward, unexpected, no reward)
- DV = % time spent drawing w markers (mins)
- random assignment of kids
- kids are placed in a toy room and asked “to color and when you are done you get [condition dependent]”
- ER = 8.59%. UR = 18.09% NR = 16.73%
- RESULT: If we are given unnecessary rewards –> there is less intrinsic motivation (doing something for reward takes away the joy)
comparing CDT and SPT
NO ONE THEORY CAN EXPLAIN ALL FINDINGS
hard to compare + inconsistent b + a produce arousal (hr)
CDT
- cant explain attitude change w/o dissonance
- cant explain overjustification theory
- focuses on contradictions in behavior and attitude
- looks at the presence of rewards on motivation
SPT
- cant explain attitude change that occurs via arousal
- overall better explains attitude formation
- looks at readily available attitudes to guide behavior
- neutral attitudes when they aren’t strongly formed
implications of B to A research
changing one’s own attitude: alter your own behavior to change your attitudes
- clinician strategy –> tell patients “go outside for x amount of time or interact with x individuals”
how to change other’s attitudes: change how other behave hoping their attitude follows
social influence
the exercise of social power by a person or group to change the attitudes/behavior of others in a particular direction
conformity
a change in behavior or belief as the result of real or imagined (perceived) group pressure
types of conformity
- acceptance - acting/believing in line with the social pressure
- compliance - publicly acting in line with an implied or explicit request (privately disagree)
- obedience (compliance type) –> acting in line with
direct order or command
conformity + social norms
we often conform due to social norms
ex: walking on the right side
norms concerning sympathy
- do not make unwarranted claims of sympathy
- dont claim too much sympathy too often
- dont claim sympathy too readily/quickly
- claim + accept some sympathy (symp lines open)
- repay sympathy w gratitude and/or sympathy
what factors allow for sympathy even when the rules are not always followed?
kids or people in a vulnerable situation that require it
what happens when sympathy roles are violated
negative impressions and relationships suffer
sympathy
feeling sorry for or with another person
what are some ways that we give sympathy in our digital era?
- reposting content –> sad current events
- phone calls and txts to check in on loved ones
- user bio
- dedicating a post to someone
motivations underlying conformity
- normative social influence
- informational social influence
normative social influence
conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill other expectations often to gain acceptance
- driven by a desire to be liked
information social influence
conformity occurs when people accept evidence about reality provided by other people
- driven by a desire to be right
who has extra influence on you for both informational and normative reasons
FRIENDS
Informational and social influence in the real world
- hotels have increased the number of ppl who reuse bath towels (reducing water and energy use)
informational: signs w information on saving energy/conserving water
normative: signs saying “most guests reuse”
normative or informational influence?
informational –> a task is difficult, a person cares abt being correct, to feel competent
important factors = the duration of the behavior, and presence of a punishing agent, in the real world both are happening simultaneously
classic conformity studies
- asch (1951)
- sherif (1935) –> norm formation