lecture 7 slides Flashcards
what is an attitude?
- it exists in our mind and is about something, an “object”
- they can be explicit (conscious beliefs) or implicit (subconscious)
components of attitudes
- cognitions
- evaluations
- behavioural disposition
ex. we have cognitions about hamilton and an attitude that downtown hamilton is dangerous
distinct components
- affect based attitudes (more difficult to change with cognitive reasoning)
- cognition based attitudes
sources of attitudes
- instrumental conditioning
- classical conditioning
- observationsl learning
instrumental conditoning
- direct experience
- positive or negative forms attitude
classical conditoning
- learning a new behaviour via association
- 2 stimuli are linked together to response new attitude
observational learning
-agents of socialization can impact your beleifs and values, you will often have fhe same values as your paretns, but there are exceptions
functions of attitudes
- heuristic
- self and self worth
- self protection
heuristic function
- attitudes provide an efficient means of understanding objects once the attitudes are formed
- we can develop simplified attitudes that are prejudice
sense of self and self worth
-tend to adopt attitudes that are in tune with our identities
attitudes as protection
- we may adopt certain attitudes to protect our self image or self worth
- ex. if you get a failing grade you may shift your attitude to the prof is a hard marker
attitude structure
- embedded in cognitive structure, linked with other attitudes
- vertical and horizontal structures
vertical structure
- attitudes organized hierarchically
- primitive beliefs (rank high on vertical structure )
horizontal structure
- beliefs are linked to more than one set of beliefs
- harder to change
cognitive consistency
- cognitive consistency among our cognitions
- we want them consistent
- two theories (balance theory, cognitive dissonance)
balance theory
- 3 elements
- balance: 3 positive if 1 psoitve and 2 neg
- imbalance: 3 neg or 2 pos and 1 neg
cognitive dissonance
- a state where one or more attitudes are inconsistent with our cognitions
- dissonance after the act
- dissonance when act is counter attitudinal
do attitudes predict behaviour
- not always
- study on discrimination against chinese american people
relationship between attitude and behaviour
affective cognitive consistency
- relationship between the cognitive and affective (evaluative) components and behaviour
- significant consistency between the two is a strong predictor of behaviour
situational constraints
-behaviour determined by the situation and whether the people will respond negatively or postively
