Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

PSY 124 > Lecture 5: Attitudes > Flashcards

Lecture 5: Attitudes Flashcards

1
Q

What is Attitudes?

A

A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object,
or idea.

Not simply “bad” or “good”
* E.g., Modern Racism

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What ways can we measure attitude through Self-Report Measures ?

A
  1. Attitude scales
  2. Bogus pipeline
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is attitude scale?

A

Multi- item questionnaire
designed to measure a
person’s attitude toward
something

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is bogus pipeline?

A

Phony lie-detector device
designed to get truthful
answers to sensitive
questions

  • Improves honesty
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

How can we Measure Attitudes through Covert Measures?

A
  1. Facial electromyograph
    (EMG)
  2. Videotaping
  3. Brain imaging
    * EEG (brain waves)
    * fMRI (brain activity)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is EMG?

A

An electronic instrument that records facial muscle activity associated with emotions and attitudes.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is Implicit attitude?

A

Attitude, like prejudice, that one is not aware of having

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is the Implicit Association Test (IAT)?

A

A covert measure of unconscious attitudes derived from the speed at which people respond to pairings of concepts—such as black or white with good or bad.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is the observation of IAT?

A
  • Explicit attitudes better predict behavior than IAT
  • But IAT predicts socially sensitive behaviors better than
    explicit attitudes
  • E.g., Suicide attempts
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

How are Attitudes are Formed?

A

Genetic makeup (nature):
* Twin research

Learning (nurture):
* Exposure to attitude objects
* Rewards and punishments
* Attitudes that our parents, friends, and enemies express
* The social and cultural context

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What did Charlesworth & Banaji, 2019, study?

A

Attitudes about sexual orientation, people exhibited less negativity toward gays on both explicit measures and the IAT. Based on these changes, researchers estimate that Americans will exhibit zero preference on explicit measures in 5 years and on the IAT in 9 years. Charlesworth & Banaji, 2019

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What is Evaluative conditioning?

A

Forming attitudes toward a
neutral stimulus because of its association with a positive or negative person, place, or thing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Whats the link between Attitudes and Behaviour?

A
  • Attitudes do not always predict behaviour E.g., LaPiere (1934
  • Cultural attitudes about preference and choice can
    influence behaviour
  • The attitude measures ask about the exact behavior
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is the Theory of Planned Behavior?

A

According to the theory of planned behavior, attitudes toward a specific behavior combine with subjective norms and perceived behavior control to influence a person’s intentions. These intentions, in turn, guide but do not completely determine behavior. This theory places the link between attitudes and behavior within a broader context. From Ajzen (1991).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is Persuasion?

A

The process by which attitudes are changed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

what are the two routes to persuasion

A

central and peripheral route

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is the peripheral route to persuasion?

A

The process by which a person does not think carefully about a communication and is influenced instead by superficial cues.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is the central route to persuasion?

A

The process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strength of its arguments.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is Elaboration?

A

The process of thinking about and scrutinizing the arguments contained in a persuasive communication

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is Attitude embodiment effects?

A

our own body movements
cue our attitudes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What does our Route Selection depend on?

A
  • Depends on whether the recipients of a persuasive
    message have the ability and motivation to take the
    central route
  • The way we process persuasive communication depends on:
    1. Source: who is presenting the message
  1. Message: says what and in what context
  2. Audience: to whom the message is directed
22
Q

What is The Sources for route selection?

A
  • Credibility
  • Competence (ability or
    expertise)
  • Trustworthiness
  • Suspicious of self-interest
  • Likability
  • Similarity
  • Physical attractiveness
23
Q

Who are usually the most trusted, and who we depend on for making a decision?

A

nurses, doctors, pharmacists, high school teachers

24
Q

What was the Source Versus Message?

A

People who were high or low in their personal involvement
heard a strong or weak message from an expert or nonexpert.
Source characteristics have more impact on those who don’t care enough to take the central route. Reprinted by permission from Richard E. Petty

25
Q

How discrepant should a message be from the audience’s existing position to have the greatest impact?

A
  • Moderate discrepancy or else
    audience may reject completely
  • The more personally important
    an issue is to us, more stubborn
    and resistant to change we
    become
26
Q

What are messages that Appeals to Emotion?

A
  • Persuade through heart, not
    mind
  • Tend to spontaneously express
    more emotion when trying to
    persuade
  • Language used in each
    participant’s appeal by
    measuring the use of emotional
    words: amazing, awful, loved,
    and hated
27
Q

What are Fear Appeal messages?

A
  • Fear can work for people who don’t actively resist
    change
  • Strength of argument matters
  • Messages with clear and reassuring advice on how to
    cope with the danger are more effective
  • Must have specific instructions on how to cope
  • Otherwise, helpless, panic, tune out
28
Q

What are messages with Positive Emotions?

A
  • When people are in a good mood, they become more:
  • Sociable
  • Generous
  • Positive in their outlook
  • Positive feelings activate the peripheral route to persuasion
29
Q

What are Subliminal Messages?

A
  • Commercial messages outside of conscious awareness
  • Controlled experiments using subliminal self-help
    materials offer no therapeutic benefits
  • People may respond to subliminal cues in the short term
    when they are already motivated to take the action
30
Q

What was the study done on Subliminal Influence?

A

Thirsty and non-thirsty research participants were subliminally exposed to neutral or thirst-related words. Afterward, they participated in a beverage taste test in which the amount they drank was measured. You
can see that the subliminal thirst cues had little impact on non-thirsty participants but that they did increase consumption among those who were thirsty. Apparently, subliminal cues can influence our behavior when we are otherwise predisposed. Strahan et al., 2002

Strahan et al., 2002

31
Q

What is The Need for Cognition?

A

A personality variable
regarding how much a person enjoys effortful cognitive
activities

32
Q

What is Self-Monitoring?

A

Regulating own behaviors across
situations due to concern for public self-presentation

  • Regulatory Fit
  • E.g., Promotion-oriented vs. prevention-oriented
33
Q

What is Inoculation hypothesis?

A

Exposure to weak versions of a
persuasive argument increases later resistance to argument

34
Q

What is Psychological reactance?

A

The theory that people react
against threats to their freedom by asserting themselves
and perceiving the threatened freedom as more attractive

35
Q

How are Culture and Persuasion connected?

A
  • To be persuasive, appeal to the audience’s cultural
    factors
  • Individualistic cultures’ persuasive messages focus on
    personal benefits, individuality, competition, and self improvement
  • Collectivist cultures’ persuasive messages focus on integrity, achievement, and the well-being of one’s ingroups
36
Q

What is Cognitive Dissonance Theory?

A

Inconsistent cognitions arouses psychological tension that people
become motivated to reduce

  • E.g., Want to be healthy but eat only fast food
  • E.g., Want to be a good student but don’t study

Conditions for cognitive dissonance:
* An attitude-discrepant behavior
* Chosen freely
* With some knowledge of the consequences

37
Q

How to Reduce Dissonance?

A
  1. Change your attitude
  2. Minimize the importance of
    the conflict
  3. Change your perception of the
    behavior
38
Q

What was the Dissonance Classic: Festinger & Carlsmith
(1959) study?

A

Participants in a boring experiment (attitude) were
asked to say that it was enjoyable (behavior) to a fellow student.

Those in one group were paid $1 to lie; those in a second group were offered $20.

Members of a third group, who did not have to lie, admitted that the task was boring. So did the participants paid $20, which was ample justification for telling a lie. Participants paid only $1, however, rated the task as more enjoyable.

Behaving in an attitude-discrepant manner without justification, these latter participants reduced dissonance by changing their attitude. Based on Festinger & Carlsmith (1959).

39
Q

Cognitive dissonance and attitude change more likely if…

A
  1. insufficient justification
  2. insufficient deterrence
40
Q

What is insufficient justification?

A

A condition in which people freely perform an attitude-discrepant behavior without receiving a large reward.

41
Q

What is insufficient deterrence?

A

A condition in which people refrain from engaging in a desirable activity, even when only mild punishment is threatened.

42
Q

What is Justifying Effort?

A

We alter our attitudes to justify our suffering.

  • Change attitude and like
    the thing even if it disappoints
43
Q

How do we Justify Difficult Decisions?

A
  • People rationalize whatever they decide by..
    .
  • Exaggerating positive features of the chosen alternative
  • Exaggerating negative features of the unchosen alternative
  • These exaggerations occur after we make our decision
  • E.g., Which wedding venues
  • E.g., Which university to attend
  • E.g., Which job offer to accept
  • E.g., To try for children or not
44
Q

What is the new look at Cognitive Dissonance Theory?

A

Through systematic research, it became evident early on that Festinger’s (1957) original theory was not to be the last word. People do change their atti- tudes to justify attitude-discrepant behavior, effort, and difficult decisions. But for dissonance to be aroused, certain specific conditions must be present. Through Joel Cooper and Russell Fazio’s (1984) “new look” at dissonance theory, we now have a pretty good idea of what those conditions are….

45
Q

What are the 4 steps for arousal/reduction of dissonance (Cooper & Fazio, 1984)

A
  1. An attitude-discrepant behaviour must product unwanted negative consequences
  2. A feeling of personal responsibility for the unpleasant
    outcomes of behaviour
    * Must freely choose and foresee consequences to feel
    responsible
  3. Physiological arousal that produces a state of discomfort and tension that the person seeks to reduce
  4. Attribute that arousal to their own behaviour
46
Q

What is Self-perception theory?

A

We infer how we feel by
observing ourselves and the circumstances of our own
behavior

47
Q

What is Impression-management theory?

A

What matters is not a motive to be consistent but rather a motive to appear consistent

48
Q

What is Self-esteem theories?

A

Acts that arouse dissonance do
so because they threaten the self-concept

49
Q

What is t he connection between Culture and Cognitive Dissonance?

A
  • Cultural context impacts arousal & reduction of cognitive dissonance:
  • Western (individualist) cultures: Decisions are expected to be consistent with personal attitudes
  • East Asian (collectivist) cultures: Decisions are expected to benefit ingroup members
  • Post-decision justification effect occurs in both groups, but cultures influence the conditions under which these processes occur
50
Q

Revisiting the Outline….

A
  1. What is an attitude, how can it be measured, and what is its link to behavior?
  • “A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object, or
    idea”, self-report or covert measures, attitudes can (but don’t always) predict behavior
  1. What kinds of persuasive messages lead people to change their attitudes?
  • Credible and likable sources, information, appeals to emotion,
    appeals to fear, and positive emotions in messages can result in attitude change
  1. Why do we often change our attitudes because of our own actions?
  • Cognitive dissonance, self-perception, impression management, self-affirmation

PSY 124 (5 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions