unit 4, topic 3

Question 1

define attitude

Answer 1

attitudes are evaluative (positive or negative) judgements about people, objects, events, and thoughts.

they enable us to rapidly evaluate things as good or bad (the object appraisal function of attitudes). this speeds up decision making and reduces cognitive load.
express values and conveys a persons identity.
are learnt, and relatively stable over time.

our attitudes drive us to behave in particular ways when we vote, buy goods, make friends, choose subjects and make decisions in general.

Question 2

explain the tri-component model

who and when

Answer 2

(Rosenberg & Hovland, 1960) is the most influential model used to explain what attitudes are how they are formed.

it proposes that any attitude has three components including the affective component (emotions or feelings), behavioural component (action or expression), cognitive component (reflects our experiences and knowledge and includes thoughts, ideas or beliefs).

Question 3

describe implicit attitudes

Answer 3

at the unconscious level, are involuntarily formed and typically unknown by oneself. individuals may only become aware of their implicit attitude through their actions.

Question 4

describe explicit attitudes

Answer 4

at the conscious level, are deliberately formed and are easy to self-report. are easy to state and align with out behaviour

Question 5

what is the IAT

Answer 5

implicit association test can be used to measure attitudes and beliefs that people may be unwilling or unable to report.

assesses the strength of associations between concepts and evaluations or stereotypes.

Question 6

predict how discrepancies between attitudes and behaviours can lead to cognitive dissonance (Leon Festinger 1957)

Answer 6

Leon Festinger developed the cognitive dissonance theory that suggests we alter our attitudes because we experience an unpleasant state of tension - dissonance - between two or more conflicting thoughts - cognitions or behaviours.

Question 7

what are the factors influencing the relationship between attitudes and behaviour

Answer 7

attitude specificity - higher congruency between attitude and behaviour if more specific attitude.

information - higher congruency if personal or acquired through direct experience.

situation - context can influence our behaviour. this can sometime result in behaviour that is contrary to our attitudes.

Question 8

what factors influence the degree of dissonance

Answer 8

the importance/ value attached to each belief - cognitions that are more personal are highly valued and tend to result in greater dissonance.

the number of dissonant beliefs - the more dissonant (clashing) thoughts you have the greater strength of dissonance you experience.

situational factors

1. choice - perception of resposibility over the decision can impact the level of dissoance they experience.
   - freedom of choice - responsibility there more dissonance.

• if an individual doesnt feel as though they have a choice, they are less likely to feelcognitive dissonacne as they can put he responsibility on someone/somethigb else.
  2. negative consequences - if an action will reslt in negative consequences an individual is moer likely to seek a solutin ot cognitive dissonance.

Question 9

define attribution

Answer 9

is the process of assigning cause of our won and others peoples behaviour.

can be situational (external) or dispositional (internal) factors.

Question 10

fundamental attribution error

Answer 10

the tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences and underestimate situational influences on a persons behaviour.

Question 11

discuss Ross et al (1977)

Answer 11

to assess if people make the fundamental attribution error, even with factual knowledge to contradict this.

method: the study used student participants who were randomly assigned to one of three roles.
- a game show host
- contestants on the game show
- game show audience
participants were told that the game show host could design their own questions. the audience then warched the game show. whenteh show was over, observers were asked to determrine the intelligence of the people in teh show.

results:
participants consistently determined the host to be the most intelligent, despite being aware that the host had written the questions.

they attributed the hosts intelligence to dispositional factors, and were unable to attribute the intelligence to situational factors (i.e the host had written the questions, and therefore clearly already knew all the answers).

conclusion - this study confirmed that the fundamental attribution error can happen despite people having knowledge that it is incorrect.

Question 12

define bias

what are the types

Answer 12

the tendency to prefer one person or thing to another, especially in a way considered to be unfair, can also influence attributions.

self serving and confirmation

Question 13

what is self serving bias

Answer 13

refers to out tendency to attribute our success to ourselves (dispositional factors) and attribute out failures to other or situational factors.

one explanation of this bias is that we are motivated by desire to protect our self esteem.
another is that people expect to be succuessful (miller and ross). when an outcome is inconsistent with our expectations we will make situational attributes to justify the result.

Question 14

what is confirmation bias

Answer 14

refers to the tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypothesis or existing beliefs and ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
- is known to make stereotypes resistant to change

Question 15

what is grouping

Answer 15

people tend to categorise themselves into groups

in group - any group to which we belong to or identify with

• members of the in group are seen as belonging and similar to ourselves.
• group characteristics are viewed more favourably (positives exaggerated and negatives diminished) - confirmation bias.
• fosters loyalty.

out group - non group members.
members are seen as dissimilar to the in group and more similar to each other. consequently they are viewed less favourably.

Question 16

what is social identity theory

Answer 16

(Tajfel, 1970)
is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership.
- when we belong to a group we experience a sense of belonging.
- groups provide us with a social identity.
- groups are a source of pride and self esteem. consequently, to maintain self esteem , we increase the status of the group.

there were three mental processes that we use to determine and maintain who is part of an ingroup or outgroup.

social categorisation, social identification, social comparison = group membership

Question 17

what is social categorisation

Answer 17

grouping people based on characteristics we believe they have in common.
- source of stereotyping

Question 18

what is social identification

Answer 18

the process where people identify with the other members of the in-group, and actively modify their attitudes, belies, or behaviours to match the group.

Question 19

what is social comparison

Answer 19

comparing in group with outgroups to confirm identity.

to gain and maintain seek out and exaggerate in groups positives and diminish in group negatives.

opposite for out group.

• source of prejudice.

Question 20

evaluate social identity theory

Answer 20

strengths:

• describes the processes that explain group loyalty and out group hostility.
• can explain some mechanisms involves in establishing positive distinctiveness to the in group by maximising differences to the outgroup.
• assumes that intergroup conflict is not requires for discrimination to occur.
• has been applied to understanding behaviours such as ethnocentrism, in group favouritism, conformity to ingroup norms, and stereotypes.

limitations:

• minimal group research criticises artificiality. experiemental set up is so far from natural behaviour. predicative value of study limits the theory.
• can not fully explain how ingroup favouritism may result in hostility and violent behaviour towards outgroups (overt behavioural outcomes).
• can not explain why cultural expectations, rewards or social constraints such as poverty could play a bigger role in behaviour than social identity.

Question 21

define stereotypes

Answer 21

are a generalised belief about one or more people based on superficial information about their group membership. stereotypes are form of social categorisation.

• are usually automatically.
• allows quick judgements, saving time and effort when forming opinion.
• can be about a group or an individual.
• assume all members of the group are the same time.
• form based on past experiences and social influences.

Question 22

define prejudice

Answer 22

is an unfavourable or negative/feeling towards a group of people (pre-judgement).

• can be implicit or explicit.
• is based on insufficient or incorrect info about the group to whom it is directed.
• often arises from stereotyping.
• directed towards an identifying group, not towards an isolated individual.

is antisocial.

Question 23

define discrimination

Answer 23

is a measurable action that expressed an attitude of prejudice, usually aimed at an individual.

can be in the form of:
- reluctance to help: passively or actively declining to assist the efforts of a group to improve their position in society.

• tokenism: publicly giving trivial assistance to avoid accusations of discrimination.
• reverse discim…: publicly being prejudiced in favour of a minority group in order to deflect accusation of discrimination.

Question 24

the tricomponent model

Answer 24

cognitive - stereotypes
affective - prejudice
behavioural - discrimination.

Question 25

explain prejudice formation

Answer 25

scapegoating -
direct experience -
personal and group prejudice -
prejudiced personality -

Question 26

what is scapegoating

Answer 26

is the act of blaming a person or group for a negative action, event, result.

• is often used when individuals try to explain their failures, misfortune or poor behaviours.
• results in blame being directed towards a scapegoat (usually a minority out group - leading people to discriminate against that group).

Question 27

what is direct experience

Answer 27

with a person, object or idea can influence the formation of a prejudicial attitude.
- negative: can result in strong attitudes that are difficult to overcome in the short term.

Question 28

personal and group prejudice

Answer 28

results from individual direct experiences, or through early childhood interactions with parents, friends, and social groups.

group prejudice develop when members of a majority group (or in- group) hold negative attitudes towards members of a minority group (or out group).

• tend to believe that are superior to the minority group to whom the prejudice is directed.
• see the minority group as different and that they do not belong.
• see themselves as a minority as different and that they do not belong.
• tends to be insecure and fearful of the minority group becoming more important and powerful than they are.

Question 29

prejudiced personality

Answer 29

suggests that some individuals, their prejudicial attitude is more related to how their brain works as opposed to a negative opinion of a specific group.

authoritarian personality - a belief in absolute obedience or submission to someone else’s authority, as well as the administration of that belief through the oppression of one’s subordinates.
- this personality style has been used by many researchers to explain why certain people are attracted to prejudicial thinking.

Question 30

define sexism

Answer 30

involves an individual making a prejudicial assumption about another individual on the basis of their sex.

• is the assumptions that because of differences that exist between men and women, an individual should and will behave in a specific manner.
• exists across occupational, domestic, emotional dimensions.
• typically women report experiencing prejudice more consistently than men.

Question 31

define ageism

Answer 31

is prejudice on the basis of someones age

• not restricted to one age.
• most normalised than any other prejudices.
• can present as digital ageism (belief that older members of society will not be digitally savvy), and visual ageism (belief that the elderly are underrepresented in society).

Question 32

define racism

Answer 32

prejudice towards someone based on race.
can be explicit (overt and intentional) or implicit (unintentional, unconscious).
includes culturally based expressions of prejudice include xenophobia and ethnocentrism.
can be learnt from media, family, community.

Question 33

prejudice reduction

Answer 33

prejudice can be reduced in the following ways.

• sustained and intergroup contact
• superordinate goals
• mutual independence
• equality

Question 34

sustained and intergroup contact

Answer 34

refers to the increasing duration (long term) contact with those we deem to be different from ourselves.

sustained and intergroup contact can reduce prejudice by:

• increasing sharing between the two groups or two individuals, which turn can increase the individuals awareness of shared ideals, values and goals.
• finding similarities between groups.

Question 35

superordinate goals

Answer 35

shared goals that are so big that no individual or single group achieve success on their own.

• requires cooperation and collaboration form both groups.
• must be more important than lesser goals so that both groups find value in achieving the goal.
• can reduce group conflict by fostering a sense of membership within a united group.
• individuals who were initially part of the out group are now considered part of the in group.

Question 36

mutual independence

Answer 36

is where people depend on another person or group to meet their goals.

proposes that:
- if all the people involved in a project or activity have a shared vision and a shared goal, then it is likely that they will cooperate with each otehr in order to achiee those goals.

Question 37

equality

Answer 37

known as equal status contact
suggests that social interactions need to occur where there is no power difference, and communication and actions are performed on the same level.

proposes that if those who have prejudice against a particular group have more regular context with that group, where one group cannot exert more power or dominance over the other.