social psychology

Question 1

what is an attitude

Answer 1

a positive or negative feeling towards an object

Question 2

what do attitudes come from

Answer 2

direct experience
mere exposure (continued exposure to something novel/strange = developing positive att)
modelling
internally (ppl desire COGNITIVE CONSISTENCY, so are motivated to alter attitudes to maintain it)

Question 3

explicit attitudes (4)

Answer 3

consciously stored in memory
constructed after experience
complex & cognitively demanding
easy to lie about

Question 4

implicit attitudes (4)

Answer 4

long term associations
unconscious
simple & undemanding
hard to lie about

Question 5

dual process model

Answer 5

a thought can arise as a result of either implicit or explicit attitudes

Question 6

how can the two types of attitudes be measured?

Answer 6

explicit - self-report questionnaire
implicit - implicit association test (cognitive)
- brain scans of limbic system (neuroscientific)

Question 7

what role does the limbic system play in implicit attitudes

Answer 7

there may be brain activation in the amygdala when ppts have unconscious (negative) beliefs towards something

Question 8

theory of planned behaviour

Answer 8

attitude –> intention –> behaviour
subjective norms |^
perceived behavioural control |^

Question 9

criticism of planned behaviour theory

Answer 9

assumes behaviour is rational & attitudes are monolithic (overlooks implicit/explicit)

Question 10

motivation and opportunity as determinants (mode)

Answer 10

explicit attitudes are cognitively demanding = we need motivation and time as incentive

Question 11

MODE study

Answer 11

ppts given info about 2 stores, then asked about them
when given little time, they went with the pos store = implicit attitude
when given lots of time and motivation, they went with neg store but good for the specific camera = explicit attitude

Question 12

how can implicit attitudes be changed

Answer 12

forcing associations - can be done unconsciously to ppts, or consciously to ourselves if we wish to change
changing the activation - when the object is actively presented as pos/neg this feature becomes salient (shortlived)

Question 13

how can explicit attitudes be changed

Answer 13

cognitive dissonance - when attitudes are at odds with each other, we are motivated to change this as it causes emotional tension
— some ppl avoid conflicting info to avoid dissonance

Question 14

elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

Answer 14

message received
–> central route (consider the quality of the argument carefully)
OR
–> peripheral route (only attend to cues associated with the message)
- depends on time & motivation

Question 15

what are the main components forming an impression

Answer 15

INTENTION (morality)
ABILITY (competence)
SOCIABILITY (warmth)

Question 16

traditional model of forming impressions

Answer 16

valence

—-> competence / warmth / morality

Question 17

stereotype content model of forming impressions (fiske)

Answer 17

valence ——- warmth ——> morality
-> competence
[warmth is central; Asch found that when given list of indentical traits, ppts rated the one + warm as more positive]

Question 18

goodwin version of impression formation

Answer 18

valence ——> morality ——> warmth ——> competence

[morality and warmth are separate]

Question 19

faces in impression formation

Answer 19

central - give off observable cues

more ‘threatening’ found to be : more mature, masculine, negative expression, darker skin [role of racial prejudice!!]

Question 20

bodies in impression formation

Answer 20

historically, women have been presented as face and body whereas men are just face == ppts judged portraits of just faces as more intelligent/competent
== just body portraits were seen as less human

Question 21

top 3 traits found in attractiveness

Answer 21

warmth/kindness
intelligence
interesting personality
[over 37 cultures]

Question 22

gender difference in attractiveness

Answer 22

men tend to look for more attractive, and women for financial security = age differences

Question 23

three main components of finding faces attractive

Answer 23

symmetry
averageness
sexual dimorphism

Question 24

role of smell in attraction - MHC

Answer 24

major histocompatibility complex

humans search for MHC heterozygosity

Question 25

stereotype

Answer 25

a generalisation about the thoughts/motives/feelings/behaviours of a certain group

Question 26

meaning-making in stereotypes

Answer 26

social identity theory, stereotypes help us make sense of ourselves and our place in society

Question 27

social cognitive approach to stereotypes

Answer 27

we must simplify the world to make sense of it, and stereotypes help us to categorise the information around us

Question 28

stereotypes & saving cognitive energy

Answer 28

MACREA - ppts looked at personality traits while distracted
- those who received an accompanying category label could recall both the traits AND the distracting info much better
= categorisation saves cognitive energy

Question 29

negative impacts of stereotypes

Answer 29

racism - devastating consequences, especially when examining the weapon identification tasks and police brutality
white faces = item misidentified as a tool
black faces = item misidentified as a gun

Question 30

self stereotyping

Answer 30

members of groups with negative stereotypes tend to self-sabotage in attempts to not confirm them

• IQ test study = when ppts were told it was an IQ test, black ppts performed worse than white ppts [but equal when the IQ test warning wasn’t given]
• when reminded of neg stereotypes, women performed worse on driving practical