Week 11 Flashcards
Attitude
An enduring evaluation, positive or negative, of a person, object, idea, or behaviour.
Self-report attitude measures
Likert Scale: people rate the extent to which they agree or disagree with an evaluative statement about a target
Semantic Differential: people rate a target on a scale that runs between two polar opposite adjectives
The Facial Electromyograph (EMG)
An electronic instrument that records facial muscle activity associated with emotions and attitudes
“frowning” muscles = negative evaluation
“smiling” muscles = positive evaluation
Vanman et al. (1997) used electromyography to measure electrical activity from facial muscle groups.
White volunteers viewed slides of White and Black people with whom they had to imagine interacting.
Direct self-report measures showed pro-Black bias.
BUT … indirect measure showed more activity from “frown muscles” to Black photos
Priming measures
Participants are shown an image, and then a word. Their job is to decide whether the word is “good” or “bad”
Liked objects prime positivity …
So after priming something positive you should be quick to identify “good” words, slow to identify “bad” words
Disliked objects prime negativity …
So after priming something negative you should be quick to identify “bad” words, slow to identify “good” words
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
eg- Good/chocolate or bad/broccoli
Where do attitudes come from?
Attitudes might emerge because of:
Direct experience
Associations (e.g., phobias; nostalgic memories)
Consequences for you (rewards and punishments)
Observational learning (seeing rewards and punishments for others)
Self-perception
Rationalizations
Rationalizing moral intuitions / disgust
Moral reasoning-Moral judgement
Rationalizing behaviour
According to Festinger (1957), inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviours create psychological tension … or “cognitive dissonance”.
This feeling of dissonance is unpleasant and we’re motivated to reduce it by either changing our behaviour, or developing new attitudes that are consistent with our behaviour.
-eg. Meat-eating and cognitive dissonance
What are the functions of attitudes?
Ego-defensive function Value-expressive function Knowledge function Utilitarian function Social adjustive function
Ego-defensive function
Sometimes attitudes are designed to make us feel good about ourselves: to protect our self-esteem or to ward off guilt.
Many ego-defensive mechanisms lie outside conscious awareness … denial, repression, projection and rationalization are all example of ego-defensive attitudes that Freud was interested in.
Value-expressive function
Value expressive attitudes are designed to project an idea of who we are … to communicate an identity.
For example if you see yourself as left-wing or as a militant radical, you might cultivate attitudes that are consistent with that self-image. Some of this is common sense … people who are concerned about their carbon footprint might develop negative attitudes towards cars.
This can also help explain why apparently random attitudes are often held in “clusters”, as people take on the attitudes that best advertise who they are (e.g., environmentalist, hipster).
Knowledge function
Sometimes attitudes serve the function of making the world more understandable and predictable.
Examples of attitudes that serve this function are stereotypes and worldviews that help make things fit together and make sense (e.g., I believe good things happen to good people, so when I see a beggar on the street I think they brought their problems on themselves).
Utilitarian function
Attitudes sometimes serve the utilitarian function of maximizing reward and minimizing punishment.
For example business people may favour a political party that keeps taxes low, whereas an unemployed person might favour a political party that protects welfare.
Social adjustive function
A subset of utilitarian attitudes are those that help us fit in: maximizing social gains and minimizing the potential for rejection and isolation.
Both attitudes and behaviour are heavily influenced by what other people think you should do (prescriptive norms) and what other people actually do (descriptive norms).
PERSUASION
Does “laying down the law” help?
Pennebaker & Sanders, 1976
IV: type of bathroom sign Strong prohibition “Do not write on these walls under any circumstances” Milder prohibition “Please don’t write on these walls.” DV: amount of graffiti two weeks later
Findings: more graffiti when the sign was strongly worded
the strong prohibition elicited reactance
performing the forbidden act restored a sense of freedom
Reactance in 2-year-olds and adults
Two-year olds were put in a room with 2 equally attractive toys: one next to a transparent barrier; one behind the barrier
If the barrier was low, children were equally drawn to the two toys. But if the barrier was high – requiring you to walk around it to reach the toy – the kids made contact with that toy 3x faster than the easily accessible toy.
“boomerang” effects common among adults when it comes to censorship
