social psychology Flashcards
(30 cards)
what is an attitude
a positive or negative feeling towards an object
what do attitudes come from
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)
explicit attitudes (4)
consciously stored in memory
constructed after experience
complex & cognitively demanding
easy to lie about
implicit attitudes (4)
long term associations
unconscious
simple & undemanding
hard to lie about
dual process model
a thought can arise as a result of either implicit or explicit attitudes
how can the two types of attitudes be measured?
explicit - self-report questionnaire
implicit - implicit association test (cognitive)
- brain scans of limbic system (neuroscientific)
what role does the limbic system play in implicit attitudes
there may be brain activation in the amygdala when ppts have unconscious (negative) beliefs towards something
theory of planned behaviour
attitude –> intention –> behaviour
subjective norms |^
perceived behavioural control |^
criticism of planned behaviour theory
assumes behaviour is rational & attitudes are monolithic (overlooks implicit/explicit)
motivation and opportunity as determinants (mode)
explicit attitudes are cognitively demanding = we need motivation and time as incentive
MODE study
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
how can implicit attitudes be changed
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)
how can explicit attitudes be changed
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
elaboration likelihood model of persuasion
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
what are the main components forming an impression
INTENTION (morality)
ABILITY (competence)
SOCIABILITY (warmth)
traditional model of forming impressions
valence
—-> competence / warmth / morality
stereotype content model of forming impressions (fiske)
valence ——- warmth ——> morality
-> competence
[warmth is central; Asch found that when given list of indentical traits, ppts rated the one + warm as more positive]
goodwin version of impression formation
valence ——> morality ——> warmth ——> competence
[morality and warmth are separate]
faces in impression formation
central - give off observable cues
more ‘threatening’ found to be : more mature, masculine, negative expression, darker skin [role of racial prejudice!!]
bodies in impression formation
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
top 3 traits found in attractiveness
warmth/kindness
intelligence
interesting personality
[over 37 cultures]
gender difference in attractiveness
men tend to look for more attractive, and women for financial security = age differences
three main components of finding faces attractive
symmetry
averageness
sexual dimorphism
role of smell in attraction - MHC
major histocompatibility complex
humans search for MHC heterozygosity
