week 6 Attitudes & Persuasion Flashcards
Define the term ‘attitude’.
A relatively enduring organisation of beliefs/feelings/opinion on a given subject. A general evaluation of something being either positive or negative. Does NOT necessarily match behaviour.
What are the three proposed components of an attitude?
a. Cognition-the belief or thoughts
b. affect/emotionality-the feelings of either +ve or -ve
c. behaviour-the state of readiness to act
List the major functions of attitudes.
a. Heuristic-saves time, ie some knowledge of how to interact with a person/object exists.
b. to maximise chance of a positive experience
c. to appraise as +ve or -ve.
What are the basic propositions of cognitive consistency theories?
That people try to maintain consistencies amongst various internal cognitions.Thus, one or more beliefs will be changed, in order to restore harmony. Examples of consistency theories includes Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Balance Theory.
Dissonance
when 2 thoughts seem to contradict they give rise to a feeling of disharmony.
Describe Heider’s balance theory.
Focused on POX relationship triads where P=person, O =other person and X= object or topic.A triad is consistent if both parties like each other and agree on the evaluation of the topic (+ve or -ve), OR, if both parties dislike each other and have different opinions re the topic. But the triad is unbalanced if parties like each other but disagree on topic, OR if parties dislike each other but agree on topic. Balance is usually restored, in the manner requiring least effort. ie I like Paul, therefore not all shooting is a waste of time.
How do the following concepts explain attitude formation: (a) mere exposure effect; (b) conditioning; (c) social learning theory; (d) self-perception theory. Provide an example to illustrate your descriptions of each of these processes.
Formation of attitudes-form through combination of experience, social learning, emotional reaction and influence of others. Explanations of attitude formation:
Mere exposure effect; with repetitive exposure, attraction for object increases. Has its strongest influence when actual information is lacking. effect does peak (at approx 10 x)and taper though.
Conditioning-by using direct reinforcers (instrumental conditioning) or associated with a stimulus (classical conditioning).
Social Learning Theory a)Modelling-follow another’s behavioural template.
b) media views etc
Self-Perception Theory-gain knowledge of our attitudes by questioning why we behaved that way.
Describe some of the major differences between the cognitive and behavioural approaches to attitude formation. Which team are you on?
The behavioural approach to attitude formation lacks much effortful thought, as attitudes have “been absorbed” from proximity, conditioning or societal norms. Such methods include mere exposure, conditioning and modelling or social learning. In cognitive methods of attitude formation, some level of cognition has been applied, and these include Self Perception Theory and Cognitive consistency theories such s Balance Theory.
It is probable that both cognition and behaviour can form attitudes, under various circumstances.
The text mentions how parents and the media contribute to attitude development. What other influences do you think may contribute to attitude development? Discuss using an example.
other influences include other significant people, peers, music, reading, experiences, study area, significant local/global events, illnesses, abilities/disabilities, place in history etc
Describe the function and structure of a Likert scale.
a 5-point response system gauging how strongly subject agrees/disagrees with a statement. Best done with half statements in questionaire having “strongly agree” to be a +ve attitude, and the other half “strongly agree” to be negative attitude, so that acquiesence bias is overcome. In the initial set up, poorly correlated or ambiguous items are culled.
Describe and note the key advantages and disadvantages of each of the following methods of measuring attitudes: self-report measures; physiological measures; unobtrusive (observational) measures; and the bogus pipeline technique.
Physiologicial measures-quite “crude” such that widely differing causes can yield same result. False positives possible due to ambient temp, noise, etc etc.Advantage of not being under conscious control.
Unobtrusive observational methods (those which do not intrude on the processes being studied, nor induce falsebehaviours)-eg library book withdrawals of fiction vs non fiction over years or area etc-can give much info but is often open to interpretation. Measures may not be standard.
Bogus Pipeline technique-falsely lead people to believe there is a “lie detector” thus coercing subjects to give answers they may have otherwise chosen not to reveal. best used to reveal biases that the subject has awareness of.
Thurston Scale
measured attitudes by collecting wide variations on a topic, refining to a favourable/unfavourable continuum, then using a person’s average values on a topic to measure their attitude.
Guttman Scale
a statement on a belief implies all lesser examples are agreed. more of an individual measurement of where each person’s attitide sits.
Osgood’s semantic differential
Considered gaining an understanding of other’s attitudes by the words they used. Descriptively evaluative
Expectancy value model
one’s encounters with an object sets one’s future attitude towards the object
Semantic differential
measures attitude by giving opposite options to chose from.
Define ‘priming’ and describe how it has been used to measure attitudes.
Activation of accessible schemas in memory, which thus influences how new information is processed.Typically, when primed, response times are faster for the correlating attitude.
What is the implicit association test (IAT)? What is the underlying logic of the IAT?
A reaction time test used to test especially for hidden or unpopular biases. to overcome social desirability bias.Most typically applied across inter-ethnic groups whose differences are known. It’s predictive value has been questioned, but does seem superior to self-report measures in socially-sensitive domains. The underlying logic is that reactions are faster with agreed associative pairings (eg of words eg money-hungry and lawyer) and slower with pairings one disagrees with. Has been used to reveal implicit thinking on such things as self esteem and suicide prevention, and also in kids as notoriously difficult to get to what they really think otherwise.
Describe the classic study by LaPierre (1934) and summarise the major findings. Indicate why this study is considered to be a classic
With 2 Chinese associates. LaPierre visited numerous hotels, caravan parks, restaurants in US. Anti-Chinese feeling was quite high in general. Very rarely were they refused service. A survey 6 months later indicated most would refuse service. Considered a classic because highlights difference between what would do in private and public.
The link between attitudes and behaviour depends upon a number of factors. Describe how each of these factors affects the attitude-behaviour relationship. Provide examples to illustrate: attitude strength; attitude accessibility; and moderator variables, such as situation and personality variables.
factors as to whether an attitude will result in a behaviour have components related to the attitude PLUS components related to the situation.
An attitude which is more ACCESSIBLE are more stable and more likely to result in a behaviour. attitudes become more accessible with experience or with priming. Experienced attitude has a stronger correlation with behaviour.
Attitudes which are STRONG allow automatic activation and are more likely to result in the behaviour.
Other personal factors also play a role. The more conviction of being able to control ones behaviour, the more likely an action is.
Then there are situational factors-the action is more likely if it is a societal norm.
Describe Ajzen and Fishbein’s theory of reasoned action. Identify the main components of the theory and explain how they relate to behaviour.
Proposes that the INTENT to act is more strongly correlated with the action , than the attitude. Thus, the action is most likely if all of the following are strong;
a) subjective norm-one thinks others believe is the right thing to do
b) attitude towards behaviour (not the object)
c) behavioural intention
Describe how the theory of planned behaviour modified the theory of reasoned action. Illustrate this theory with a flow diagram.
modified the theory further by adding the factor of how much control individual thinks one has (beliefs about opportunities, talents, resources etc), and if believed could do it, more likely to act.
What is the central hypothesis of Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance?
Theory of Cognitive Dissonance is a Cognitive Consistency Theory. Assumes people wish to believe they are consistent across how they think, feel and behave.Inconsistencies between them will be experienced as “tension” and an effort will be made to reduce the disparity.The greater bthe dissonance, the greater the attempt to reduce it.
What is effort justification? Describe the general model of the effort justification paradigm using one of your own experiences as an example.
This is a particular case of cognitive dissonance, where a considerable effort is exerted in order to achieve a very modest goal. Thus, to reduce the dissonance, one might downplay the effort required, or promote the achievement as much more superior. eh Having been through a marked ordeal to be allowed to join a group and heard only extremely tedious discussions, participants claimed it to be more interesting…
Define induced compliance. Describe Festinger and Carlsmith’s (1959) classic study and use dissonance theory to explain why their findings.
This is a particular case of cognitive dissonance, where someone is induced (but not in forced manner) to act contrary to attitude. eg do a very boring task, then (for money) tell someone it was very interesting. When paid large sum , no dissonance as can justify to self did it for the money, but when paid tiny amount, large amount dissonance, thus to reduce it, will actually later claim the task was not so boring.
Describe the role of free choice in reducing dissonance.
Before a decision is made, there is uncertainty and dissonance. Once decision is made, dissonance is reduced. eg people are more confident of having backed a winner once bet has been laid. (prior to result)
What is the Yale approach to persuasive communication? According to this approach, what factors contribute to persuasion?
This was an in depth research program by Yale University in 1940’s/1950’s into persuasion. Came up with FACTORS;
1. Message (the argument, one sided/2 sided, type of appeal etc)
2. The Source (speaker)(ie expert, attractive, likeable, status, race etc)
3. Audience (how easily persudaded, how intelligent, age, self esteem personality etc etc)
and PROCESSES;
1. Attention
2.Comprehenson
3. acceptance
which leads to (possible)OUTCOME;
1. opinion change2.perception chane
3.affect change
4.action change etc
Persuasion
a) Just as successful on high self esteem audience as low (high prefers not to admit were persuaded)
b) Once persuaded, someone may conveniently fail to recall their previous opposing view
c) expert more successful
d) popularity/likeable more persuasive
d) fast talker more persuasive
e) when receiver thinks message is not obviously trying to manipulate, will be more easily persuaded
g) message delivered well (no hesitations etc) more successful
h) if audience distracted from a simple message, can be more easily persuaded, but if message is complex, need audience to not be distracted.
i) age of audience , if at impressionable age, more easily persuaded.
j) personality of audience: high self monitors persuaded more by speaker’s attractiveness whereas low self monitor persuaded more by an expert.
k) most people believe (erroneously) that they are less easily persuaded than others (this is called the third person effect)
Explain the role of fear in persuasive communications. When and why are fearful messages effective? (You should draw upon the protection motivation theory in your explanation).
Fear is sometimes a very effective persuader, and sometimes not. Described as “inverted u” shape with amount of attitude change on y axis and increase in fear on x axis. According to Protection Motivation Theory, fear campaigns work to eliminate dangerous health practices if has an effective strategy to deal with the danger, but will not work if one feels does not have the resources to cope with it. Fear more successful if not only does compaign point out severity of disease, but also who is vulnerable, and vulnerable ones more likely to be persuaded. If fear is overwhelming, paralyses us to do anything, and sometimes induces Terror Management Theory which makes us conscious of our impending death, so we seek solace in known beliefs etc.
What are the elaboration-likelihood and the heuristic-systematic models of persuasion? What do they propose?
The Elaboration Likelihood model of attitude change proposes there are 2 possible routes of attending to a message employed by the receiver:
a)Central route;requires careful processing , a high level of elaborating or contemplating the arguments presented, and whether attitude is changed, depends upon the quality of the arguments presented.
or b) Peripheral route; information is not closely attended, arguments do not require elaboration, and success depends on presence of persuasion cues eg product is a fantastic colour….
The Heuristic Systematic Model of persuasion proposes 2 possible routes for receiver to process a message;
a) Systematic processing-deeply consider the arguments presented
or b) Heuristic processing-short cuts in mental processing are employed such as “statistics don’t lie” or “you can’t trust a politician”
This model further suggests that we will use Heuristic processing unless we reach a sufficiency threshold at which point we do not have the confidence in our attitude/decision etc without seeking further information (which we get by systematic processing).
Reactance
according to Brehm, if one feels one’s freedom to act is being curtailed, one will strive to restore said freedom.
forewarning
being aware in advance that one will be targeted by a persuasion technique. Such knowledge may provide some immunity to being persuaded.
inoculation
if one is made aware of a weaker argument and how to counter it, one may have some ability to later resist or overcome a stronger argument.
