Social psyc 2

Question 1

what are attitudes?

Answer 1

a positive or negative reaction to a stimulus

Question 2

Attitudes are compromised of 3 components

Answer 2

1. Cognitive - relates to thoughts
2. Affective - emotional component
3. Behavioural - extent to which we intend to behave in accordance w our attitudes

Question 3

Technique 1 of Attitude Measurement

Answer 3

Likert Scales (1-7 self rating)

• depend on honesty - people may lie or give socially desire-able answers (unobtrusive measures)

Question 4

Technique 2 of Attitude Measurement

Answer 4

Bogus Pipeline

Participants hooked up to impressive apparatus and told it assess true opinions - actually measures nothing
= no point in lying

Question 5

Technique 3 of Attitude Measurement

Answer 5

EMG - measures activity of facial muscles

Muscles associated w happiness moved when the video supported attitudes - vice versa

Question 6

LaPiere

Answer 6

investigated relations between racist attitudes and behaviours - toured w a Chinese couple, only 1 refused service (behaved in non-racist fashion), but LaPiere wrote to all establishments and 92% said they would refuse service

Question 7

Findings of LaPiere

Answer 7

people expressed a racist attitude but when it came to behaviour they did not ahve a racist manner

= inconcistency between attitude and behaviour, so attidues do not predict behaviour

Question 8

Theory of Planned Behaviour

Answer 8

According to this model attitudes can predict behaviour but they often do not because of the consequence of the context (Sieverding)

(when norms support our attitudes/ when behaviour is under our control) etc

Question 9

Attitude Stability

Answer 9

attitudes are relatively stable
- Himmelwiet - 15yr study - attitudes to capital punishment did not change

BUT they can

Question 10

Inconsistency between attitudes and behaviour

Answer 10

Cognitive Dissonance

• inconsistency between what we think and what we do
• we need to reconcile them
• behaviour is irrevocable so we change our attitudes

Question 11

Evidence for Cognitive Dissonance

Answer 11

Knox & Inkstery

• asked people to estimate chances of winning a bet, those who had placed a bet were more confident

Question 12

When can attitudes be changed…

Answer 12

if the source is credible/ trustworthy/ likeable

If the message is presented quickly/ long/ without hesitation

Question 13

how emotion works to change attitudes

Answer 13

fear can work in circumstances where…
1) the message evokes moderate to strong fear
2) the message provides a feasible way to reduce the threat

Question 14

Attitude avoidance
Dillard & Anderson

Answer 14

1 way to avoid attitude change is via the rehearsal of counter arguments. we are not necessarily at the mercy of those who would seek to influence us

Question 15

McAlister et al. on attitude ressiliance

Answer 15

sought to prevent teens from smoking - taught w arguments such as ‘i’d be a real chicken if I smoked just to impress you”

teens trained this way were less likely to smoke