Social psychology Flashcards
Define attitude.
Attitude is a relatively enduring organisation of beliefs, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events and symbols
three components of attitude
- cognitive (thinking)
- emotional (feeling)
- Behavioural (acting)
Dimensions of Attitude
strength - durability and impact
complexity - degree of reasoning that forms an attitude
importance - personal relevance
Ambivalence - conflicting evaluative responses toward an attitude object
Coherence - internal consistency
what is persuasion?
deliberate efforts to change attitudes
What is Social cognition?
the study of how people attend to, perceive, interpret and respond to social stimuli
what are Schemas?
Cognitive structures that represent knowledge about a concept or type of stimulus
- When one schema is activated, related schemas are activated too
factors that influence the attitude/behaviour link.
- specificity of attitude
- other influences (practical constraints)
- appeal/endorsement of attitudes by others
- attitude dimensions
what aspects of a persuasive situation did the Yale studies manipulated which effected attitudinal change.
Communicator (message source)
- credibility
- attractiveness
Message (content)
- fear
Channel (medium of message delivered)
Context (background factors)
Audience variables (receiver)
Explain the Elaboration Likelihood Model
Central Route: message recipient is highly attentive and processes information through careful thought and rational thinking
Peripheral Route: bypasses rational process and appeals to other processes such as heart or stomach (senses)
explain Cognitive Dissonance Theory
when behaviour or received information is inconsistent with attitude cognitive dissonance occurs - leading to attitudinal change
Dissonance = negative psychological tension
How do you reduce Dissonance?
- change one of the cognitions
- reduce the importance o on of the cognitions
- adding additional consonant cognitions
- reducing dissonance changes attitude
What are the different types of Schemas?
Event Schemas
- associated with a particular situation, they tell us what to expect
Self-schemas
- self-concept
Personal schemas
- knowledge structures about specific people/types of people
define conformity
occurs when people yield to social pressure (real or imagined)
Define obedience
an extreme form of compliance that occurs when people follow direct commands usually from someone in a position of authority
What is Realistic Conflict Theory
conflict produced not by personality, but by competition for scarce resources
