Lecture 5: Chapter 7: Attitudes and Attitude Change/Persuasion Flashcards

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1
Q

What are attitudes?

A

Mental representations that summarize an individual’s evaluation of a particular person, group, thing or idea

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2
Q

What is an attitude object?

A

Everything you have an opinion on, so basically everything

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3
Q

What is persuasion?

A

Actively trying to change an attitude through communication

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4
Q

Which 2 characteristics are important when measuring attitudes?

A
  1. Attitude direction: positive or negative
  2. Attitude intensity: how strong is the attitude
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5
Q

What are 3 ways to measure attitudes?

A
  1. Implicit measures
  2. Explicit measures
  3. Indirect measures
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6
Q

What are explicit measures of attitudes? What are 2 big problems with this?

A

Self-report, questionnaires or interviews

Problem: social desirable answering and lack of introspection

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7
Q

What kind of attitudes do explicit measures reflects?

A

Explicit attitudes: attitudes that people willingly express

These are attitudes that they see fit within de social norms

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8
Q

What are implicit measures of attitudes? What do implicit attitudes reflect?

A

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

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9
Q

What are indirect measures of attitudes?

A

Observing behavior and considering what attitudes someone probably holds that shows a certain behavior

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10
Q

What is the difference and a similarity between knowledge function and instrumental function of attitudes?

A

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

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11
Q

What is the similarity and difference between the social identity function and the impression management function of attitudes?

A

Both contribute to connectedness

Social identity: express important self/group identities/functions

Impression management: smoothing interactions and relationships

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12
Q

Why do we form attitudes (2)? Of which things do they consist?

A
  1. Mastery
    - knowledge + instrumental function
  2. Connectedness
    - social identity + impression management function
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13
Q

Give an example of instrumental function of attitudes

A

Inborn preferences for sweet tastes –> lead to high nutrition
Dislike bitterness –> leads to less poisoning

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14
Q

What is the ABC of the Tripartite model of attitudes?

A

Affective = emotional reactions to target

Behavioral = actions toward target

Cognitive = thoughts and beliefs about target

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15
Q

What are ambivalent attitudes?

A

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

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16
Q

What is the difference between implicit and explicit attitudes?

A

Implicit = unconscious
Explicit = conscious

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17
Q

What is facial electromyography (fEMG)?

A

Measures electric signals in muscles in face. It’s an implicit measure for attitudes

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18
Q

What are downsides of the implicit association test?

A
  • Noisy
  • Need to find the right stimuli
  • Need to contrast categories
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19
Q

What are 3 downsides of measuring attitudes with fMRI?

A
  • Expensive
  • Not precise
  • We don’t understand the brain that well
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20
Q

Which 3 types of information can be the base of attitudes?

A
  1. Cognitive info: facts, beliefs
  2. Affective info: feelings, emotions
  3. Behavioral info: past-present-future knowledge of interactions
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21
Q

In what 3 ways are attitudes shaped and changed?

A
  • Unconscious
  • Superficial processing
  • Systematic processing
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22
Q

What are the 6 main differences in characteristics of automatic and controlled processing?

A

Automatic = superficial
–> hot, implicit, non-conscious, fast, effortless, unintentional

Controlled = systematic
–> cold, explicit, conscious, slow, effortful, intentional

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23
Q

What are strong attitudes?

A

Extreme positive or negative evaluation which is resistant to change and affects information processing

24
Q

What is the impact of confirmation bias on the formation of attitudes?

A

Most info we gather will be one-sided, because we mostly interact with people who share the same attitudes.

Our attitudes won’t change much and consist mostly of negative or positive attitudes

25
Q

In which three steps do you link an attitude to an object?

A
  1. Evaluation of relevant info
  2. Consideration of info –> conclusion
  3. After repeated activation of attitude –> representation of attitude
26
Q

What is the mere exposure effect?

A

Neutral object –> repeated exposure –> positive/negative feelings and evaluations

So: we like what we know!

27
Q

Which 3 things influence attitude change/formation?

A
  1. Source: who
  2. Message: what
  3. Medium: how
28
Q

Which 2 heuristics fit with the source (who) of attitude changes?

A
  1. Expertise heuristic
  2. Attractiveness heuristic
29
Q

What is the expertise heuristic?

A

If an expert gives an opinion, you are convinced quicker

30
Q

What is the attractiveness heuristic?

A

We agree more with people we find attractive

31
Q

What is evaluative conditioning?

A

Positive or negative attitudes are formed by association with other positively/negatively valued objects

32
Q

What is the familiarity heuristic? What is the name of the effect that fits with this?

A

the more familiar, the more positive something is evaluated => mere-exposure effect!!

33
Q

What is the message-length heuristic?

A

If we process superficially, sometimes the mere length of an argument convinces us

The longer, the more convincing

34
Q

What is the difference in route of superficial and systematic processing?

A

Superficial = peripheral
Systematic = central

35
Q

What are the 4 steps of systematic information processing?

A
  1. Attention
  2. Understanding
  3. Elaborating/reacting/reasoning
  4. Acceptance/rejecting initial position
36
Q

What is the consequence of elaboration on attitudes?

A

Stronger attitudes
–> stable, resistant and stronger predictions of behavior

37
Q

What is the elaboration likelihood model? What are the 2 things necessary?

A

Model of persuasion that claims attitude changes occur through central or peripheral route that involves elaboration

We need motivation and ability/capacity to engage in systematic processing

38
Q

When do we have low motivation for systematic processing? Give 3 reasons

A
  • Don’t believe it’s an issue
  • Not personally involved
  • Because you’re happy
39
Q

When do we have a low ability for systematic reasoning? Give 2 reasons and which heuristic could we use for the two?

A
  • Fatigue: representativeness heuristic
  • Scarcity mindset: affect heuristic
40
Q

Whe don’t change attitudes when we… (5)

A

ignore, reinterpret, resist, we know a persuasion attempt is happening, process systematically

41
Q

How does resistance to attitude changes evolve with age?

A

More resistance when older (>25y)

42
Q

What is the relationship between intelligence and resistance of attitude changes?

A

Low intelligence = more suggestible
High intelligence = less suggestible

43
Q

What is metacognition?

A

Thoughts about thoughts or about thought processes

44
Q

How does metacognition fit in the steps of systematic processing?

A
  1. Attending
  2. Comprehending/understanding
  3. Reacting/elaboration
  4. Metacognition
  5. Acceptance/rejecting
  6. Persistent and resistent attitudes
45
Q

Is it better to present your arguments first or last?

A

If you have strong arguments people have to think about, go first

46
Q

What are the 3 types of motivation? When are they triggered?

A
  1. Mastery: triggered when evidence seems mixed
  2. Connectedness: self-monitors spend more time processing info that advances their goals
  3. Valuing me/mine: triggered when info personally affects us
47
Q

What is the difference between low and high self-monitors?

A

Low self-monitors are more focused on expressing who they really are

High self-monitors are conscious of how others evaluate them

48
Q

What are 2 obstacles in processing systematically concerning ability?

A
  1. Ability to process: not enough resources
  2. Opportunity to concentrate without distraction
49
Q

Which types of messages are most persuasive?

A

Messages that match people’s motivation and capacity

50
Q

How do emotions influence processing?

A

Emotions are accompanied by strong physiological arousal

If high arousal, resources for processing is less

51
Q

Do people use only superficial of systematic processing?

A

No, there is an interplay between cues and content

52
Q

Name 3 ways cues and content (superficial and systematic processing) interplay

A
  1. Persuasion-relevant info can play multiple roles (length + content message)
  2. Engage in both types of processing can have additive effect (heuristic cue + careful processing suggest same attitude)
  3. When content isn’t strong/weak, processing is biased by heuristic cues that make elaborations more favorable
53
Q

What is the difference between attenuation and additive effects? What is the consequence of each?

A

Additive effect = result superficial and systematic processing are the same –> better liking

Attenuation = processing leads to different results –> systematic processing overwhelms, attitudes will be more according to content

54
Q

What are 4 ways of defending yourself against other people/companies that want to change your attitude?

A
  1. Ignore information
  2. Re-interpret info in different way
  3. Have a critical look at the info
  4. Inoculation: preparing yourself to defend your attitude and thinking of possible arguments
55
Q

What is inoculation?

A

Preparing yourself to defend your attitude and thinking of possible arguments

56
Q

What is the relation of construction of reality with attitudes?

A

We construct attitudes based on our beliefs, feelings and behaviors about objects