Lecture 4: Affective Influences on Attitudes Flashcards
1
Q
mere exposure effect (2)
A
- When people develop a favourable attitude towards an object just by becoming familiar with it.
- Has been demonstrated for many different attitude objects in many populations.
2
Q
Zajonc (1968) (4)
A
- Demonstrated the mere exposure effect.
- Participants shown unfamiliar stimuli 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, or 25 times, then rated each on a good-bad scale.
- Participants rated stimuli they had seen more times more favourably.
- Effect diminished somewhat with increasing exposure levels.
3
Q
Moreland & Beach (1968) (5)
A
- Demonstrated the mere exposure effect in non-lab settings.
- Four female confederates attended a university class either 0, 5, 10, or 15 times.
- None interacted with any students.
- At the end of the semester, the students rated each confederate on attractiveness, how much they’d like to work with her and be friends with her, etc.
- Found that people favoured the confederate who appeared more often in class, even though there was no interaction.
4
Q
Brickman et al. (1972) (5)
A
- Found that mere exposure may not be effective in changing a negative attitude.
- Participants gave their attitudes towards 20 abstract paintings.
- Then viewed 4 paintings they liked, 4 disliked, and 4 neutral.
- Rated attitudes again, and found that mere exposure increased liking for neutral and liked paintings.
- But found lower subsequent attitudes for disliked paintings.
5
Q
mere exposure effect is strongest when: (4)
A
- Stimuli are complex;
- Stimuli are presented a limited number of times, for short durations;
- Presentation and evaluation of stimuli are completed in the same context;
- Stimulus presentation includes both repeated and unrepeated stimuli.
6
Q
Berlyne (1970) or two-factor model (3)
A
- Support for this model:
- People who are more prone to boredom are less likely to experience the mere exposure effect.
- No effect for people high in tolerance for ambiguity, i.e. those who find novel situations less threatening.
- But this model doesn’t explain subliminal mere exposure.
7
Q
modified two-factor model (4)
A
- Accounts for habituation via both conscious and nonconscious processing.
- Conscious level: recognition → reduces uncertainty → positive affect.
- Nonconscious level: find it easier to process familiar object (“perceptual fluency”) → feelings of certainty & familiarity → positive affect.
- Support for this model: liking for similar stimuli, even if we aren’t consciously aware of the familiarity.
8
Q
emotion leaning (3)
A
- Works by pairing a novel attitude object with something positive.
- One step further than mere exposure.
- Evaluative conditioning, behaviour conditioning, observational (vicarious) conditioning.
9
Q
evaluative conditioning (6)
A
- Repeated presentation of an attitude object paired with a stimulus that produces an affective sensation.
- Resembles classical conditioning; except the US evokes an emotional (vs. behavioural) response.
- More dependent on absolute number of CS-US pairings than the proportion between them; i.e. just has to happen enough times, even if it’s a small number.
- Don’t have to be consciously aware of the pairing.
- Attitudes formed this way are resistant to change from extinction procedures.
- Generalizable.
10
Q
Krosnick et al. (1992) (4)
A
- Demonstrated the effect of emotion learning on attitudes about strangers.
- Participants shown a series of pictures of an unfamiliar person, preceded by a subliminally affect-inducing image (positive or negative).
- Rated the unfamiliar person on overall attitude, various personality traits, and attractiveness.
- Those primed with positive images rated the unfamiliar face more positively than those primed with negative images.
11
Q
behaviour conditioning (1)
A
- A type of emotion leaning; when emotional reinforcement is provided for a specific behaviour.
12
Q
Insko & Cialdini (1969) (6)
A
- Demonstrated behaviour learning with phone interviews about pay TV.
- Participants got the response “good” either after pro- or anti-pay TV responses.
- Looked at the extent they agreed/disagreed with statements about pay TV.
- Participants indicated more positive/negative attitudes depending on which statements researchers said “good” after.
- Weren’t aware of what the researchers were doing.
- Difference in attitudes still apparent 1 week later.
13
Q
boundary conditions of behaviour conditioning (2)
A
- overjustification effect: Offering blatant, strong rewards after good performance is effective in producing continued/better performance, but only when rewards continue to be in place; when rewards are removed, performance worsens.
- Large, obvious rewards can also produce an ambivalent attitude towards the behaviour because it seems like it’s something unpleasant in order to justify the reward.
14
Q
observational (vicarious) conditioning (1)
A
- A type of emotion learning, when someone sees and experiences or empathizes with the emotional response that happens to another person who has performed a particular behaviour.
15
Q
Gerull & Rapee (2002) (6)
A
- Demonstrated observational conditioning with toddlers and their parents.
- Toddlers shown 2 toys, paired with positive vs. negative reaction from the mother.
- Sessions videotaped and then rated toddlers on approach/avoidance behaviour and fear/positive affect.
- Mother’s affective response influenced the toddlers’ subsequent behaviours and emotions.
- Expressions of fear/disgust resulted in strong avoidance and expressions of fear in the child, persisting for 10 minutes.
- Gender difference in negative reaction trials only, suggesting females may model more avoidance & fear after mothers.
