Lecture 4: Affective Influences on attitudes Flashcards
What is integral affect?
Feelings associated with an attitude object
What is incidental affect?
Affective state is not linked to an object that can influence judgement e.g., Mood
Incidental emotions are the emotions we carry with us to the decision that have nothing to do with the decision. For example, the way you feel because you had an extremely frustrating drive to work, or because you had an argument with your partner before leaving for work that morning
What is mere exposure?
psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them
What is conditioning?
Different ways where integral affect can be paired with an attitude
What is propinquity?
the state of being close to someone or something; proximity.
What did Festinger et al., (1950) find about physical vs functional distance and friendships
1950s: there was a large increase in individuals attending university
Looked at how the design of Uni apartments influences the way ppl form friendships
Ppl are more likely to report being close friends w/ the ppl their in the same unit as their friends
Physical distance & functional distance had an effect on friendships
What did Festinger et al., (1950) find about physical vs functional distance and friendships pt 2.
Positive affect was associated with these interactions
If a person’s door was only 1 away - 41% close friends vs 4 doors away - 10% close
The more we interact with a stimulus, on its won the more we like it
Positive affect that influences our evaluation
What did Zajonc (1968) find about mere exposure?
Different ppl would be shown diff. Types of stimuli at different times
Ppts asked to rate if they liked it
Mere exposure, even without interaction can produce a positive attitude toward a novel stimulus
Repeated exposure to novel stimuli elicited positive feelings
Moreland & Beach (1992) methodology
4 female confederates posed as students in class, and entered the class
Each confederate attended a different amount of lectures
Ppts had to rate how much they liked each person
Moreland & Beach (1992) findings
The more ppt saw the confederates in the class over the term the more they rated they liked them
Asked ppts when they had made these judgements if they were aware they had seen these ppl before
The effect wasn’t contingent on explicitly being aware they had seen the confederates before
What did Montoya et al., (2017) find about stimuli we don’t like?
Even though ppl dislike the negative stimuli, increasing exposure doesn’t increase liking for objects we dislike
weaker effect found for repeated presentation of disliked stimuli (than liked stimuli)
When does mere exposure occur?
-With complex stimuli
-With explicit & implicit measures of attitudes
-Across cultures, species, range of stimuli
-With more visual stimuli rather than audio
What does mere exposure result in?
Repeated exposure can reduced uncertainty; elicits less threat
Stimuli that we are repeatedly exposed to
Perceptual fluency - defined as the subjective feeling of ease or difficulty while processing perceptual information
What did Monohan et al., 2000 find about exposure and affect?
Study 1
Participants were presented with images - 25 images each shown once (single-exposure condition) or with five repetitions of 5 stimuli (repeated-exposure condition)
Previously exposed stimuli were rated most positively and novel different stimuli least positively. All stimuli were rated more positively in the repeated-exposure condition than in the single-exposure condition
What did Monohan et al., 2000 find about exposure and affect?
Study 2
Study 2 examined whether affect generated by subliminal repeated exposures transfers to unrelated stimuli
After a subliminal exposure phase, affective reactions to previously exposed stimuli, to new but similar stimuli, and to stimuli from a different category were obtained
What did Carr et al., 2017 find about exposure & affect?
Evidence that familiarity with faces we’ve seen before influences their perceived attractiveness and happiness
Evidence that thinking we’ve seen something predicts liking even if we haven’t
What is evaluative conditioning?
Repeated paring of an attitude object and a particular valence
Linked w/ Pavlovian Conditioning
After presentations, the object comes to evoke an internal affective response
Coca-Cola’s “have-a-Coke-and-a-smile” ads are a well-known example of evaluative conditioning using visual information - These ads feature Coke’s brand name (CS) being repeatedly presented next to the pleasant images of happy, smiling people (US) to increase the liking of the brand
What did Krosnick et al., (1992) find about evaluative conditioning?
Ppts shown photos of an unfamiliar person
Each photo briefly preceded by an affect-arousing stimulus
- Positive or negative (Between -S)
Measured their evaluations of the target
Attitudes toward an object can be generated through a processes other than deduction from beliefs about the attributes of the object
When target person was paired with positive affect she was liked more
Olson & Fazio (2006) methodology - evaluative conditioning
Showed P’s stimuli in context of “video surveillance”
Asked to press space key as soon as key object appears
Experimental group P’s saw black faces paired with +ve words, white faces paired with -ve words
Control Ps saw the same photos & affect stimuli, but not paired
Ppts then completed measure of racial attitudes
Between trials shown bearded dragon which ppts were told to pay attention to
Aimed to find out if this type of pairing would influence attitudes
Olzon & Fazio (2006) findings
Ppts in experimental condition showed more +ve implicit racial attitudes than controls (even 2 days later)
Implies effects on attitude change, not only attitude formation
Donnelly et al., (2018) methodology
Looked to link negative affect with food products that are unhealthy
Added labels near sugary drinks over successive two week -intervals
Labels either had factual info or emotive info
Donnelly et al., (2018) findings
Negative affect link decreased consumption of unhealthy drinks by 15% compared to baseline & facts condition
How does evaluative conditioning (EC) shape attitudes?
Shapes attitudes toward a range of things, including faces, sculptures, paintings, slogans, foods, shapes, sounds, animated characters & even objects that are merely touched
Emergence of work looking at the role of automatic & deliberative/controlled processes in understanding EC
What is behaviour conditioning?
Paired an emotion with a behaviour that has been performed e.g., Reinforcing child for +ve behaviour
Inkso & Cialdini (1969) methodology
Called students & asked opinions about pay TV
Experimental group: +ve reinforcement for response that supported pay TV
Control Group: no reinforcement
Hypothesis: Exp group would report more +ve attitudes
Inkso & Cialdini (1969) findings
More favorable attitudes in the pay experimental condition
P’s did not see link between response & reinforcement
Effect persisted over time
What is observational conditioning?
Learning by watching others
E.g., Kids learn to approach/avoid by watching parents & effective responses to parent’s behaviour
Gerull & Rapee (2002) Methodology & Findings
Children shown 2 stimuli, each paired w/ an emotion modelled by mother
Scary - (-ve)
Fun (+ve)
Emotionless (0)
Greater avoidance shown following -ve expressions than +ve
What is a mood?
A global, generalized, affective state not directed against a particular target
Mood does not = emotion
Emotions usually are more specific, short lived & have clear targets
Many different strategies to induce mood e.g., Music, Films, Facial expressions, statements
Mood as a variable
Mood can be both and IV or DV
What is mood congruence?
The mood congruency effect is a psychological phenomenon in which a person tends to remember information that is consistent with their particular mood. People also tend to recall memories that coincide with the mood they are experiencing at a certain time. In simpler terms, if you’re in a happy mood, you are more likely to recall happy memories, whereas, if you’re sad, you are more likely to remember sad and depressing events. Or, if you are angry when you are learning, you are less likely to remember the positive concepts, but you are more likely to focus on the negative ideas.
If people discount or misattribute the mood, mood congruence can disappear
Schwarz & Clore (1983) methodology
Used weather as mood manipulation
P’s called on sunny or rainy day
Some asked about the weather, or others weren’t
Misattribution - is the weather informative?
What did Forgas find?
Effects of affect are often exacerbated in complex situations which demand complex cognitive processing
Attitudes match our mood
What did Bower et al., find?
Moods activate congruent material in memory that is later used to interpret incoming information
Ppts were placed in -ve, +ve, & neutral mood and evaluation target groups
Mood congruence effects depending on individual differences
Some ppl feel emotions more deeply
Mood influenced attitudes only for the group who scored high on the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM)
Schwarz & Clore (1983) Findings
Weather or not
- In the condition where the weather is not mentioned; ppl report greater current happiness on the sunny day rather than the rainy day
*Negative impact of bad moods was eliminated when ppts were induced to attribute their present feelings to transient external sources irrelevant to the evaluation of their lives
*People in unpleasant affective states are more likely to search for and use information to explain their state than are people in pleasant affective states e.g., I’m in a bad mood because it’s raining
*Weather either informs are judgements of our mood or it doesn’t if it’s made salient
Effects of mood are larger when dealing with weak or constructed attitudes than strong attitudes
What did Haddock et al., (1994) methodology & findings
p’s place +ve or -ve or neutral mood & evaluated target group
Mood congruence effects depended upon individual differences in affect intensity - e.g., Some people have more intense emotions
Mood impacts ppts attitudes if they have weaker attitudes rather than stronger attitudes
Mood influenced attitudes towards the groups but only for high AIM
Is there a relationship between mood & attitude change?
Impact of mood persuasion varies depending upon elaboration likelihood
Elaboration Likelihood - the degree to which people scrutinize the content of relevant information
What is the central route to attitude change?
Ppl pay close attention to the content of an appeal, occurs when ppl are able & motivated to pay attention, long lasting attitude change results in changes in cognitive responses
What is the peripheral route to attitude change?
People do not elaborate on contents of message but instead are swayed by peripheral cues - more likely to produce short term change
Peripheral cues are images or words that attempt to grab attention by making the receiver think about something that they have a positive schema for: for example, core values, personal benefits or, more simply, a popular celebrity.
Petty et al., (1993)
“Petty- Pen”
Ppts watch a TV show containing a set of ads, one of which involved key object (pen)
Before viewing ads, involvement with the pen was manipulated (receive a free pen, receive a free coffee)
Mood was manipulated by embedding funny vs control TV advert
Assessed attitudes toward pen & thoughts while watching advert about pen
Petty et al., 1993 findings about positive mood and elaboration?
positive mood had a direct effect on attitudes in the low-elaboration conditions but influenced attitudes indirectly by modifying the positivity of thoughts in the high-elaboration conditions
Those with high levels of elaboration are more likely to process information via a central route, and those with low levels of elaboration are more apt to process information via a peripheral route, where they are more prone to distraction
Elaboration can also be relatively objective or biased
High vs Low elaboration
Under high elaboration, mood influences attitudes but in an indirect way (mediated by thought content)
- Mood influences how people scrutinise & interpret relevant info e.g., Message
Under low elaboration, mood influences attitudes in a direct way (unmediated by thoughts)
