Test 4 - 'Attitudes and Behaviour' Flashcards
Attitude
A learnt, stable and relatively enduring elevation of a person, object, even or idea that can affect an individual’s behaviour.
Social learning
Suggests that both pro-social and anti-social behaviour can be learned through vicarious experience, where one person learns a behaviour by watching another person’s behaviour and seeing the consequences of that behaviour.
Implicit attitude
Are involuntary, uncontrollable and sometimes unconscious. It is possible for individuals to be unaware that they hold a particular attitude until their actions reveal it.
Explicit attitude
Are where people openly state their attitude and behave in a way that reflects this attitude.
E.g. attitude: exercise is good for my health. Action: visit the gym daily.
Pro-social behaviour
Helping behaviour that benefits other people and society in general.
Anti-social behaviour
Behaviour that is harmful to others and, ultimately, to the community, for example prejudice or aggression.
Cognitive dissonance
The theory that emphasises that a person will feel uncomfortable and try to maintain an internal consistency and agreement between his/her beliefs and behaviours by altering beliefs to match behaviours.
Tri-component model of attitudes
Affective component: This is a person’s feelings and emotional response to an attitude object.
Behavioural component: This is a person’s behaviour towards and attitude object. This is what we say and how we act towards the object.
Cognitive component: A person’s thoughts, ideas and understanding about an attitude object. It is what we know, or think we know, about the attitude.
Attitude change
Any modification in a person’s attitude.
Operant conditioning
Learning in which a voluntary response comes to be controlled by its consequences.
Classical conditioning
whereby an animal or other organism can passively learn to show a naturally occurring reflex action, such as salivation, in response to any stimulus – learning through association.
Observational learning
is where children form their attitudes by observing those expressed by other people who are important to them, such as parents and teachers, and by the consequences for these people when they express their attitudes.
Elaboration-likelihood model
Is an example of a model that attempts to explain whether people are more likely to be influenced by the content of a message, or by its superficial characteristics.
Central route
Message: Content based on logic
Effort required: High elaboration (careful processing of information).
Influence on attitude: longer lasting
Peripheral route
Message: Content based on attractiveness, likeability, credibility of source, emotion arousing
Effort required: low elaboration (very little processing of information)
Influence on attitude: less permanent
Direct experience (ways of learning attitudes)
direct encounters with a person, object or idea can influence the formation of an attitude. Direct experiences that are negative or unpleasant can result in strong attitudes. For example if a person has a wound and the doctor stitching it up causes a lot of pain, this may result in a negative attitude to all doctors in the future.
Mere exposure effect (ways of learning attitudes)
repeated exposure to an attitude object may result in a positive or negative attitude towards it. The number of times that a person is exposed to the attitude will correlate with a stronger or weaker attitude towards it.
What are the three sources of learning attitudes?
- Parents
- Peer influence
- Mass media
Situation (pro-social behaviour)
the characteristics of the particular situation will have an influence on whether an individual will behave in a pro-social way. If a situation is a clear-cut need for help, it is more likely that people will assist. If the situation is ambiguous, then help might not be forthcoming.
Bystander (pro-social behaviour)
is where a person voluntarily helps someone else.
Potential helpers go through 5 stages in deciding to help:
1. Noticing the need for help
2. Deciding that it is an emergency
3. Deciding to take responsibility
4. Deciding on a way to help
5. Taking action to help
Social norms (pro-social behaviour)
it is a form of action or behaviour that is standardised and expected in society; in other words, behaviour that society regards as ‘normal’. Norms are learned, and they provide a background for human social interaction.
Personal characteristics of he helper (pro-social behaviour)
Both biological (nature) and environmental (nurture) factors influence pro-social behaviour. Although we might be born with a predisposition to act in a particular way, past experiences and the immediate circumstances of the individual will influence a person’s pro-social behaviour.
Empathy (pro-social behaviour)
we find it unpleasant to see another person suffering, so we take action to help and thus alleviate the suffering.
Mood (pro-social behaviour)
A person’s mood has been found to influence their propensity to behave in pro-social ways.
Competence (pro-social behaviour)
The way bystanders perceive their competence to deal with an emergency will influence whether they will provide help.
Altruism (pro-social behaviour)
is a unique influence on pro-social behaviour where, for no personal gain and sometimes a great personal cost, a person helps other due to a deeply felt concern for fellow human beings.
Situation (anti-social behaviour)
Just as a situation influences whether a person will behave in a pro-social way, it is also a factor that can influence anti-social behaviour.
the bystander effect (anti-social behaviour)
is where the likelihood of bystanders helping is influenced by the number of bystanders present at the scene. The more bystander there are, the less likely it is that one of them will provide help.
Deindividuation (anti-social behaviour)
is where individuals are more likely to commit anti-social behaviour in a situation where they can’t be identified personally. Being in a crowd gives a person anonymity because personal identity is concealed. It also removes the feeling of guilt.
Decision stage model (5 stages)
It says that when confronted with a situation that might require their assistance, potential helpers go through five stages in deciding to help:
- Noticing the need for help
- Deciding that it is an emergency
- Deciding to take responsibility
- Deciding on a way to help
- Taking action to help
bystander effect during anti-social behaviour
It occurs in a variety of situations, and a number of different factors are involved: • Diffusion of responsibility • Audience inhibition • Social influence • Proximity of the victim • Nature of the bystander
Recipient of the message
The characteristics of the audience - their intelligence, mood, self-esteem, concentration, personality, existing attitude and persuadability
Source of the message
The source is the person who sends the message. Generally, a message is more likely to change the attitude of an audience if the source has either one or a combination of the following qualities:
• High credibility
• Appeal
• Similarity
Medium for communicating the message
The impact of the message depends on the medium of the message. The medium can be in one of several formats:
• Electronic
• In person
• Written
Hostile aggression
behaviour intended to hurt another person, even if it results in damage to personal relationships or property. Usually a response to pain, perceived danger or threats, or an uncomfortable environment, such as extreme temperature.
Instrumental aggression
behaviour that is the result of deliberate planning where the aggressor has no personal feeling toward the person or people they are hurting.
Aggression
behaviour, directed towards another person or people, which intended to cause harm.
Personal factors (influencing aggression)
these include characteristics of the individual (age, gender, culture, experience, self-esteem etc.) and emotional triggers (grief, provocation and the effects of alcohol or illicit drugs.)
Circumstances of the aggressor (influencing aggression)
The physical environment can influence the tendency to aggression in humans; riots are more likely to occur when the temperature is hotter than normal. Crowding and invasion of personal space, for example night clubs and sport venues, can lead to brawls.
Perceived disadvantage (influencing aggression)
where people compare their socio-economic circumstances with other who are perceived to be better off than themselves: this can lead to the ‘disadvantaged’ person acting aggressively (keying someone’s nice car).
Deindividuation (influencing aggression)
in cases where a person is not identified as an individual, for example when wearing a uniform, in disguise or when surrounded by a crowd. They have greater opportunity to behave badly because there is less chance of them being ‘identified’.
Conformity to norms (influencing aggression)
where people behave in ways that society expects and accepts: some communities accept and permit aggression more than others. Therefore, when individuals or groups engage in acts of aggression, they might simply be conforming to the culture of their community, even if their behaviour is abhorrent to people from other communities.
Prejudice
an unfavourable attitude towards a group of people.
Discrimination
prejudice expressed through behaviour.
Learning
The factors that influence the formation of prejudice are the same factors that influence the formation of attitudes.
In-groups and out-groups
People in groups sometimes perceive themselves as ‘us’ (the in-group) and ‘them’ (the out-group). Members of a perceived group tend to classify themselves as being better than other people.
Social identity
People categorise themselves into a group and gain their individual identity by belonging to the group. Belonging to a group boosts people self-esteem.
Social categorisation
Social categorisation is a natural human tendency to classify people into groups on characteristics that we perceive them to have in common.
Stigma
A group of individuals is perceived by others to possess qualities that are undesirable, and is therefore rejected.
Scapegoating
is sometimes referred to as the frustration- aggression theory. It involved socially frustrating conditions, such as economic depression and unemployment.
Education
The formation of prejudice can be impeded through education programs in schools where children are taught about tolerance, the consequences of prejudice, and what constitutes discrimination.
Intergroup contact
it can be reduced through direct contact between groups of people who have prejudicial attitudes towards each other.
cognitive interventions
prejudice can be countered by reducing stereotyping through cognition. For example, making information available to individuals reduces stereotypes by minimising irrelevant information about groups of people.
superordinate goals
working towards a common goal can facilitate knowledge and understanding between groups. However, the goal must be shared, and it must require the contribution of both groups.
direct experience
directly experiencing another culture or lifestyle - either in another country or within our own - can help reduce prejudice.
Table 13.3 Biological (nature)
Anti-social behaviour such as aggression, are seen as genetic, where humans instinctively behave to protect themselves and other members of their species, and to compete for scarce resources.
Table 13.3 Environmental (nurture)
This is the view that anti-social behaviour is not innate, but is learned during the socialisation process.
Table 13.3 The interaction between nature and nurture
This approach suggests that, although we might be born with an innate tendency to some forms of anti-social behaviour, exactly how we act in anti-social ways is the product of learning from the environment.
