Lecture 5: Chapter 7: Attitudes and Attitude Change/Persuasion Flashcards
What are attitudes?
Mental representations that summarize an individual’s evaluation of a particular person, group, thing or idea
What is an attitude object?
Everything you have an opinion on, so basically everything
What is persuasion?
Actively trying to change an attitude through communication
Which 2 characteristics are important when measuring attitudes?
- Attitude direction: positive or negative
- Attitude intensity: how strong is the attitude
What are 3 ways to measure attitudes?
- Implicit measures
- Explicit measures
- Indirect measures
What are explicit measures of attitudes? What are 2 big problems with this?
Self-report, questionnaires or interviews
Problem: social desirable answering and lack of introspection
What kind of attitudes do explicit measures reflects?
Explicit attitudes: attitudes that people willingly express
These are attitudes that they see fit within de social norms
What are implicit measures of attitudes? What do implicit attitudes reflect?
Facial EMG (muscle activity face), implicit association task (IAT)
They reveal opinions that aren’t in line with social norms. They can differ from explicit attitudes
What are indirect measures of attitudes?
Observing behavior and considering what attitudes someone probably holds that shows a certain behavior
What is the difference and a similarity between knowledge function and instrumental function of attitudes?
They both contribute to mastery
Knowledge: organizing, summarizing and simplifying experiences with attitude object
Instrumental: guiding our approach to positive objects and avoid negative objects
What is the similarity and difference between the social identity function and the impression management function of attitudes?
Both contribute to connectedness
Social identity: express important self/group identities/functions
Impression management: smoothing interactions and relationships
Why do we form attitudes (2)? Of which things do they consist?
- Mastery
- knowledge + instrumental function - Connectedness
- social identity + impression management function
Give an example of instrumental function of attitudes
Inborn preferences for sweet tastes –> lead to high nutrition
Dislike bitterness –> leads to less poisoning
What is the ABC of the Tripartite model of attitudes?
Affective = emotional reactions to target
Behavioral = actions toward target
Cognitive = thoughts and beliefs about target
What are ambivalent attitudes?
When you have both a positive and a negative attitude/opinion about something
They don’t help connectedness, because they don’t show what you stand for
What is the difference between implicit and explicit attitudes?
Implicit = unconscious
Explicit = conscious
What is facial electromyography (fEMG)?
Measures electric signals in muscles in face. It’s an implicit measure for attitudes
What are downsides of the implicit association test?
- Noisy
- Need to find the right stimuli
- Need to contrast categories
What are 3 downsides of measuring attitudes with fMRI?
- Expensive
- Not precise
- We don’t understand the brain that well
Which 3 types of information can be the base of attitudes?
- Cognitive info: facts, beliefs
- Affective info: feelings, emotions
- Behavioral info: past-present-future knowledge of interactions
In what 3 ways are attitudes shaped and changed?
- Unconscious
- Superficial processing
- Systematic processing
What are the 6 main differences in characteristics of automatic and controlled processing?
Automatic = superficial
–> hot, implicit, non-conscious, fast, effortless, unintentional
Controlled = systematic
–> cold, explicit, conscious, slow, effortful, intentional