POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY FINAL EXAM
the attitude is the _________________________
ADDED SUM OF WEIGHTED BELIEFS (in the Stanford example, that would be -14)
when we have attitudes about a particular object or subject, we put our beliefs into...
bundles
Who is susceptible to conformity?
characteristics of INDIVIDUALS and characteristics of GROUPS
certain beliefs may be either hot or cold cognitions. explain what both mean.
cold cognitions have no feelings associated to it; hot cognitions aka evaluative beliefs do have feelings associated to it
attitudes are...
enduring, labeled, object specific
Explain how people conform due to social approval motive:
fundamental here is people who deviate from a majority are often less liked. They can be shunned, yelled at, frowned at, etc. but deviance is disapproved so you go along with other people so you make sure you are socially approved of, or liked by others. You find yourself going along with others to avoid the pain of social disapproval; may not be conscious, but you may have experienced disapproval from not conforming and may instinctually conform
Understanding Extreme Attitudes - CCM
• 2 prototypes of people with extreme attitudes: ○ One person may have few other beliefs but their attitude toward something is dominated by one particular belief---that belief is central to them (single issue voter) this person can have a very strong attitude toward a candidate bc they primarily care about one thing (only info they see or care about bc its central) ○ Other people can be known as partisan schematic - they have a strong party identification; attachment in the form of a social identity - the partisan is a democrat or republican. Schematic means they have a lot of information... a lot of beliefs...people who are both highly knowledgeable and a partisans tend to have strong attitudes toward political candidates • These are two ways we can lean on the CCM to understand people with strong or extreme attitudes within politics
Affective Intelligence Theory
• Can be explained with Circumplex model □ Left to right - agitation dimension □ Up to down - enthusiastic dimension □ Both of these above have consequences; either positive or negative
head nodding/head shaking effect (influence on attitudes)
pen example. If you were shaking your head no, then they were not likely to choose the pen that was in front of them. If you were shaking your head yes, you were more likely to choose the pen in front of you.
Explain how people conform due to blind mimickery or imitation:
people are sheep and are doing what other people do--not thinking or making a judgment but following along with people mindlessly; "mindless conformity"
people tend to hide in the _________ _________. why?
people tend to hide in the neutral point. expressing an attitude may make them feel uncomfortable. however, we want to make people choose and pick either a positive or negative side.
Understanding extreme attitudes in relation to Consistency Theory:
• Consistency theory--if you like hilary clinton it is consistent to think she has all other sorts of positive attitudes
Disposition System in the Brain:
• Disposition system -- operating in the brain which shows whether you are moving up or down on the circle... it evaluates it in a positive or negative fashion (a neurological system in the brain) 1. Like BLT, this applies the same theory to toads and humans 2. Emotions are central, but are actually part of an underlying processes that we cant really control
Understanding extreme attitudes in relation to Schema Theory:
• If you know hilary is a democrat you have a schema of a democrat, and will infer she has a bunch of other democratic values that she likes (can come from your schema about democrats even if you do not know much about her (part of partisan schematic)
power posing (influence on moods)
stretched out body (big) vs. small, compact body. Streched and big versus little and pulled in. This is about the body; all about power posing, or being little (constrictive) vs. expansive. This difference has and makes big consequences!! If you are in this expansive mode, then you will feel powerful & self confident (affect on your mood) but you WILL ALSO be more resilient to pain & stress, but ALSO more likely to take risks or be more dishonest in your behavior • Had people pose for a minute either in power pose or constricted pose Subjects had to do a distractor task and were paid at the end - were told they would be given $4 and were actually given 3 ones and 1 five = $9. Did people say something or keep the money? 78% of the people kept it if they were power posing, and 38% of the constrictive pose kept it.
what is the most dominant framework for thinking about attitudes?
the classic cognitive model (CCM) of attitude
intensity means what?
the degree or strength of the feeling or affect ; it can be positive, negative, or neutral.
valence means what?
the direction of the feeling or affect (can be positive, negative, or neutral)
we can express attitude intensity and valence on a continuum. the line expresses what? below the one expresses what?
the line expresses the valence or direction of feeling. negative valence on the left, zero valence in the middle, positive valence on the right. below the line expresses the intensity or degree of feeling. we can see variation in intensity on the tails of the continuum (negative and positive) the further the attitude is in the tails, the strength of the intensity increases.
moods are...
transitory, labeled, diffuse
emotions are...
transitory, labeled, object specific
arousal states are...
transitory, unlabeled, diffuse
Explain how people conform due to informational motives:
what most people or everyone are doing conveys info to you, or a cue; "cueing role" or "informational role" of what others are doing. You don't know what is proper or expected; but what most people are doing is giving you an idea of what the right or proper or right/correct thing to do is.
mere recognition effect (influence on attitudes)
you like something more the more your are consciously exposed to it. (supraliminal) Just knowing someone's name may cause you to like them more!!
mere exposure effect (influence on attitudes)
you will like an object more, the more you have been subliminally exposed to it. The more you will like something when you are subliminally exposed to it (you like the familiar)
if an attitude is neutral it is said to have...
zero valence
Now that you have listed the steps to the Online Model of Attitude Formation, what is the main finding behind it?
• The beliefs on which these attitudes have been based are lost; but you can say very confidently how you feel about someone/something, but when asked WHY, it is hard for you to come up with why. And if you do, it is likely not an accurate explanation • Online processing happens a lot! The beliefs people report or call to mind are the beliefs that shape their attitude & What is salient now doesn't matter • Bottom line -- there is an alternative cognitive model (attitudes reflect beliefs) and don't really understand the Online Cognitive Model all that well--research is still going
Bandwagon Effect (conformity continued)
□ Bandwagon effect: Information about public opinion; you take a poll and see how many people support Donald Trump; you will be influenced by the candidate who has the most support or the majority support. Undecided voter will tend to vote with majority
Climate of Opinions Effect (conformity continued)
□ Climate of opinion effects: generic idea that peoples opinions are effected by everyone else's opinions that they know if. If you don't know what to think on a given policy, the more you hear other people supporting it, the chances you will conform to that opinion go up
EXAMPLES OF CONFORMITY IN ACTION:
□ Non-political example: tip jar; if a tip jar is in front of you, will you tip more if the jar is full vs empty? You are more likely to tip if you see other people are tipping, than if the jar is empty because you assume others are not tipping. □ Petition signing; if you walk up to someone with a blank page, your probability you will sign is low, unless they have a paper full of signatures, you are more likely to sign.
Characteristics of individuals (that make them susceptible to conformity):
□ has to do with the personality trait of "self-esteem" aka "ego strength" people with weak egos/low self esteem and confidence tend to be more likely to conform than those with high self esteem and confidence. □ People who have weak views on a given subject, or uncertain opinions on something. If the judgment in question is uncertain than you are more susceptible to conformity
In Affective Intelligence Theory, the more your emotions are on the right of the circle, you are more likely to....
◊ More likely to acquire information ◊ More likely to engage in behavior "decoupled from habit" you will not do something habitual, but different.
In Affective Intelligence Theory, the more your emotions are on the left of the circle, you are....
◊ You are not acquiring behavior and you are acting habitually
List the steps of attitude formation within the Online Model:
○ Step 1: you form your attitude just like in the CCM (You call to mind beliefs and form your attitudes; initial attitude formation stage) ○ Step 2: Then you take your attitude (scale 1-10) and once you form that attitude for the first time, you store it in your brain somewhere. That number is called the AFFECTIVE TAG or summary evaluation. Affective tag is stored ○ Step 3: Then, you forget what all of those beliefs are that went into that affective tag (you will forget most, if not all of those beliefs) ○ Step 4: Then at some later date when asked to report your attitude, you go into your brain and just pull out that number
how can centrality increase the weight of a belief?
○ The importance to you of the attribute: Ex. TRUMP says he wants to build a wall at the border of Mexico. ○ Some people think is VERY important to them; for others, not so much ○ This is deeply connected to everything about you! Your present circumstances, how you were grown up, values, immigrant status, interests, ETC. ○ The crucial notion is that it varies across people for many different reasons ○ Centrality can also have an effect on salience! Once something is central it is often salient; but if something is salient, it does not have to be central. (This is because salience is a function of your environment and it is easily manipulated as well.... You can make things come easily to mind by just visualizing something; recency & frequency. Does not mean it is important to you, or central.)
Surveillance System in the Brain:
• Surveillance system in the brain decides where you are moving on the circle and what emotions you are going to feel left to right on the circle
Implicit vs. Explicit attitudes
(things you believe but do not know you believe & things you feel but don't know you feel vs. things you know you believe and are consciously aware of)
SOCIAL INFLUENCE: GROUP TIES
---how we are influenced by people that are members of our primary group and reference group? We are especially influenced by people that are members of our PRIMARY or REFERENCE groups. --> primary groups: family & friends reference. Have the closest ties to. Primary groups have more influence on what you do. --> reference groups: a social group that we think of our self as members of. A social group we categorize ourselves as members of. Our "in group". What you reference group thinks matters more to you.
how can salience increase the weight of a belief?
--Salience is the same as thing as a belief being readily available (in memory or possibly perception). --The belief comes easily to mind and also known as present in thought. Beliefs that come to mind are the most salient. --There has to be a minimal salience of 1, and things that aren't salient at all disappear (0) --Things that come to mind have variance in their salience
Alternative Model of Attitudes (ONLINE MODEL)
--We do not know a whole lot about it yet --Very simple to convey in comparison to CCM
Studies on Conformity: Littering Study AMUSEMENT PARK
AMUSEMENT PARK STUDY: # of pieces of litter/fliers on the ground when the subject walks in thru the corridor ○ When there is one piece of litter in a clean environment this is the least likely for a person to litter. If nothing is there you are 18% likely to litter. If there is one piece you are 10% likely to litter. As the litter goes up and up, 40% people were littering. The injunctive norm is salient when they see that one piece on the ground ○ You are quick to litter when its clean but you are slower to litter with one piece of litter on ground; but as environment gets more trashy you are more likely to litter (CALLED TIME TO LITTERING)
enduring feelings
An enduring feeling is one that will stay unless something else comes about to make it change. This will persist unless something actually causes it to change
Explain how people conform because conformity is functional:
Applies to any group setting--conformity is functional for attaining group goals; more likely to succeed in a group if you are unanimous; group goals may be interfered with if someone deviates from conformity . Groups goals more likely to be achieved if you go along with everyone else.
SOCIAL INFLUENCE: CONFORMITY
Conformity: ○ About how you are influenced by your peers. Peers means people like you, but not necessarily people you know. ---How are you influenced by humans in general? When it comes to conformity the persons status (in group/out group/high status/low does not matter. ---The more one group does something, you will tend to follow what they are doing. The number or quantity of others doing something is the crucial notion here; people like you in some generic human sense.
Studies on Conformity: Littering Study DORM MAILBOXES
DORM MAILBOX STUDY ○ People handed a flier--do they throw it on the ground in that little area? ○ 0 litter on ground = 11% do it ○ 1 piece of litter = 4% ○ Lots of trash = 27% ○ Once again one piece of trash makes that injunctive norm more salient
Dehumanization (consistency theory and compliance in Milgram Study)
Dehumanization: if the person is worthy of harm
In Affective Intelligence Theory, the direction of up and down on the circle means what?
Up and down directs your choices--you are learning here but whether its positive or negative will direct your choices This ties into the automatic/controlled distinction (left- more automatic processing) (right- more controlled processing)
CCM represented in a circle diagram
We can represent the Classic Cognitive Model in a more simple way: circle diagram. --Circle represents an object --Little circles represent beliefs about the object --The bigger/smaller the inside circles are means bigger weight --The valence is inside the little circles ( - or + or 0 )
Primary groups: Why are they so influential?
Why are primary groups so influential? 1. We tend to trust these people more and trust their judgments more and look for cues on what is right 2. Social disapproval by them hurts more than someone you are not close with 3. There is cohesion and dense ties between you. Everyone cares about their role within friends and family
3. How you are influenced by what others are doing but it is not unanimous (everyone fully in agreement)? In other words, how are you influenced by the quantity of other people doing something, even when that other group of people isn't unanimous???
Here we are now thinking if they aren't unanimous & how the power varies within the size of the majority or group. What happens if just bare majority favors or does something vs. a super majority does something? As the numbers grow from few to many, conformity pressure grows; as the percentage goes from 50 to 99 percent your choice to do that thing will grow.
HOPE (emotion)
Hope: an interesting emotion; known as a mixed emotion; when you find hope, you always find another emotion. Ex--when you find hope you can also find anxiety. With hope, there is a positive future you can envision and desire, but whether that future will be attained is deeply uncertain; this is the cognitive bundle that comes with the emotion of hope
Issues with the Milgram Study
Problems with Milgram's study: • Many questions still remain about why/when/under what circumstances people will engage in a crime of obedience--and now we have things that prevent these kinds of experiments • Human rights was put below science in this particular experiment (protection of human subjects; many things are now not allowed) • Lying is immoral and not conducive to advancement in science/society (deception is very carefully scrutinized) • Some subjects are categorized as vulnerable; strong scrutiny towards prisoners, children, & pregnant women • We cannot do more research like this; it is off limits so we are left with questions, many we cannot answer ○ How would results differ if we had a woman experimenter, or if they were power posing, etc. • We have lingering doubts of how well this travels to the real world; does the behavior of subjects in this experiment actually explain anything in the Vietnam or Cold War??
Other Main Points taken away from The Milgram Studies:
Proximity Variation: **If you can make this noxiousness (+) ------- (-) less salient, the noxiousness will go down** (the extent to which you can get your mind away from it ---Avoidance was also found in the subjects: they would turn their heads, they would focus very narrowly on the task at hand in a way where it seemed they were trying to shut off their senses. "avoiding what is going on; make it not part of your present thought or less salient could decrease noxiousness
Rationalization (consistency theory and compliance in Milgram Study)
Rationalization: all about blaming someone else; not taking personal responsibility.
Routinization (consistency theory and compliance in Milgram Study)
Routinazation: a term that maps onto avoidance; paying attention to performing your own little task & not thinking about what you are doing and whether or not you are harming someone. Am I performing my task properly? Not thinking about harming somebody. ○ ^^ these two (rationalization & routinazation) are often combined into bureaucratization
How Attitudes Change (simple explanation) - CCM
• The CCM says attitudes change is the same 5 basic ideas as to why attitudes DIFFER. (easy explanation) • Why would my attitude toward somebody/something change? ○ I acquire more information/acquire a new belief & forming new beliefs about things you didn't have before ○ My beliefs about what is the facts or what true of someone or something can shift ○ Shifts can occur in your evaluation of an attribute - changing your mind toward something; attitudes toward attributes (or evaluations) can shift then my evaluation of the object that has that attribute (or evaluation) will change ○ Shifts in the salience of an attribute - an attitude that didn't come to mind could now come to mind, or even now be the most prominent thing that comes to mind (attitude change thru priming, which means you are making some particular attribute more salient or readily available.) changes a bit more quickly than changes in centrality ○ Changes in centrality; centrality can change slowly and only thru major transformations in your life. EX) The politics of pain and loss--people have traumatic issues that cause pain and loss which cause certain issues to become central that were not central before; □ Tragedies of all kinds cause this- family member killed by drunk driver/family member a victim of a violent crime.
Conformity (continued) UNANIMITY: Study Associated the Asch Line Study Experiment: elevator study
---(associated with Asch - line study experiment) Individual faces unanimous set of others -- 3 people faced backwards in an elevator, you will do the same thing as them. You can find yourself in a situation where there is a set of people aligned together and you will be influenced to go along with them. The size of the unanimous group - three people is when conformity and influence tends to happen. The size of the unanimous group--at three it goes up, but plateaus around 3 or 4 and stays the same all the way up. 1) When unanimity is broken, you are still influenced but it is vastly diminished □ It doesn't matter if you have a partner that gives is the right answer, all you need is a person who is not going along. If someone else picks something else that others are not picking or breaks away from the ppl even if they pick the wrong answer, YOU ARE FREED OF CONFORMITY PRESSURE. This all shows just how all of this can be very powerful if everyone is doing something...
Status Deference (continued...) THREE DIFFERENT STUDIES FOCUSED ON WEALTH:
---> Three different studies all focused on wealth <---- 1) At an intersection you see two confederates; one who looks extremely poor and one who seems to be extremely wealthy -- one person jaywalks; so the question is how many people jaywalk or follow the rich person vs. the poor person across the street on a red light? People will follow the rich person but not follow the homeless person 2) There are coins in phone booths and if your phone call didn't go through the coin would be returned--people are lined up--there is a wealthy and a poor confederate. The call doesn't go through, the coin is returned, and the person walks out. If you know there is money in there do you give it back or keep it? You tend to give the money back to the rich guy but keep it if it was the poor guy's 3) You are sitting in your car and the light turns green--the person in front of you doesn't move. Do you honk? If it is a nice car, you will quietly sit there. If it is not a nice car, you will honk.
Characteristics of groups (that make them susceptible to conformity):
---Conformity is more likely in some groups than others: 1. Group cohesiveness or cohesion; how cohesive or how much cohesion is in the group??? If a group is cohesive it means two things: the group members care about each other, and the group members care about being in the group; conformity is higher in this situation 2. Groups with dense network ties; conformity power will be greater. A group with dense network ties when everybody interacts with everybody else. DENSE VS. SPARSE NETWORKS! In a dense network you often have a cohesive group and effects conformity levels or how fast it emerges
Division of Authority (consistency theory and compliance in Milgram Study)
---Division of Authority ties into how bureaucracies and other organizations are organized into hierarchies. In most bureaucracies, you have a division of authority where there is one boss and a bunch of subordinates. In a situation with a single authority where people are working in a team, you have an evil figure that produces these commands ----You can also have a team of authorities where if one thinks something is wrong they can stop the other. You will have a bunch of employees or subordinates that can feel some level of protection bc of this Two authorities can also happen if there is a boss and then a boss above that boss that all manage the employees or subordinates. That way the employees can go to either boss and put pressure
Measuring Implicit Attitudes: (techniques or methods to measuring implicit attitudes) TWO WAYS
---Measuring Implicit Attitudes: 1. AFFECT MISSATTRIBUTION PROCEDURE OR AMP 2. IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST OR IAT. (techniques or methods to measuring implicit attitudes) ---We aren't consciously aware of these attitudes so these are sneaky ways we can measure them. • Affect Misattribution Procedure or AMP ○ Shows a picture of the attitude object (ex. Hillary Clinton) ○ The other half of people get a picture of some other attitude object (ex. Trump) ○ Then both are exposed sub sequentially to another image (ex. Child's fingerpaint drawing) ○ Research showed that if you liked/disliked the picture shown after, this means you have had a positive/negative attitude toward the previous picture... • The Implicit Association Test or IAT (attitudes toward two subjects simultaneously) ex--Clinton & Trump • TASK 1: ○ HC = good woods ○ DT = bad words • TASK 2: • HC = bad words • DT = good words ---If you like Hilary, task one will be easy and if you like her, task 2 will be hard The amount of time it took you to hit the button meant if you liked the person or object
Cognitive Appraisal Theory
---Says that every emotion is associated with a typical set of "cognitions" and emotions are experienced when that set of cognitions (thoughts/beliefs) are present. In other words, for every emotion, there are a set of beliefs. ---The first claim is you can experience or feel those emotions as a result of an event that you experience, an event that you imagine, or an event that you remember. Any one of those 3 can cause you to feel emotions or create an emotional response within you. ---An emotional response can either be automatic or controlled--can be either or both. Automatic responses are ones that are not intentional and is effortless and does not involve conscious awareness. Controlled responses are intentional, voluntary, effortful, and conscious. (ex. seeing a spider on your leg is an automatic response of fear)
Anger vs. Anxiety (emotions)
---With anger, something has happened to you (some negative event) that is negative that frustrates a goal or objective of yours & you can identify a cause or causes of that event, and you think what has happened to you is unjust or unfair. ---Anxiety, which always comes with hope, there is always a future that is uncertain--but there is a threat in the environment, something looming that could possibly harm you, and you crucially do not have a clear sense of how to get rid of it. ---When you feel anxious: 1. You start learning (you acquire info) bc you are paying more attention to information 2. You also tend to be risk-averse or avoid risks in your behavior 3. You tend to overestimate risk of taking action. ---When you feel angry: 1. You do not give things a lot of thought 2. You under-estimate risk 3. You take risky action
When you feel emotions, what is happening in your brain?
---Your brain is going through processing or taking in sensory information (seeing, hearing, touching, etc.) ---It is all being processed in the back of the brain, known as the limbic system, and that part of the brain decides if that info is novel or produces a threatened response to the environment. ---If it is novel, it goes to one part of the brain, and if it threatening it goes to another part of the brain. ---Again, your emotions you feel are bc of a neurological process in the brain and depending what your brain is taking in will shift your emotions on the circle scale
Types of Affects (4)
1. Attitude or Evaluation 2. Mood (sometimes called mood states) 3. Emotion 4. Arousal State
The CCM can help us understand the following 5 things:
1. Attitudinal Instability 2. Forms of Zero Valence Attitudes (neutral types of attitudes) 3. Differences of Opinion 4. How Attitudes Change (simple and complex versions) 5. Understanding Extreme Attitudes
WHY DO PEOPLE CONFORM? (4 REASONS)
1. Blind mimickery or imitation 2. Informational motive: 3. Social approval motive: 4. Conformity can be functional
Emotions are similar to attitudes in the sense they are object specific and labeled. There are TWO primary approaches/theories within emotion research in political psychology: name them.
1. COGNITIVE APPRAISAL THEORY 2. AFFECTIVE INTELLIGENCE THEORY
labeled feelings
A labeled feeling is about some thing, that is identifiable; you can put a name to it. If it is unlabeled you cannot identify or put a name to it; you don't really know
How Attitudes Change (complicated explanation) - CCM using the example Hilary Clinton wants to decrease taxes on the rich
1. Changing information - My attitude will change because I have acquired a new belief. Say you actually do not have prior knowledge about Clinton and these people are the ones who will think this is a great thing -- they don't know she's a democrat (people who start off at the neutral point can easily float around on the continuum) THE FLOATING VOTERS is the name for people at the neutral point; these people usually do not know much and learn a few things that change their views easily -- readily movable -- floating voters tend to SHIFT IN THE VALENCE from neutral to positive or positive to neutral, etc... ○ Other people's responses will merely be shifts in intensity (will tend not to change choices) but just shifts in intensity .... SO IF YOU DO HAVE A BELIEF..... 2 & 3: 2. Persuasion 1: is an attempt to change one's beliefs about the object; you begin thinking Hillary wants to increase taxes on the rich, but media says the wants to DECREASE. So why wouldn't you believe this new information??? This is not schema consistent with democrats; most democrats want to increase taxes on the rich. A typical person who has a schema will say this doesn't make sense and will not believe it; we are not persuaded easily by schema inconsistent facts. If someone gives you new info that is schema consistent you tend to believe it; we tend to forget the schema inconsistent things and remember the schema consistent things--you may not notice it or selective remember it. (persuasion of this type is not easy at all) 3. Persuasion 2: Being told Clinton wants to raise taxes, and you currently may think this is fabulous. Now a new message from the media shows up saying Raising taxes on the rich is a terrible idea. You think it's a good thing, but the media is trying to convince you to shift your evaluation of that idea. Changing your evaluation of that object. We resist info or communication that is inconsistent. "Hilary, a person I don't like, did a good thing." changing this depends on If you began not liking Hilary (denial B) this third form will typically not work (bc someone is trying to make us engage in denial B) so persuasion can work but not always because we start off with consistent thoughts. If you start off inconsistent, it will be easier to shift 4. Salience changes; taking something you don't like, and making it REALLY important (priming) (this has nothing to do with informing or persuasion) (priming runs against nothing -- the first three change what you THINK, but the 4th changes WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT (what is at the top of your head) 5. Shifts in centrality; have to do with some specific life stage
where do attitudes come from? (2 explanations or models)
1. Classic Cognitive Model (CCM) of Attitude 2. Alternative Cognitive Model of Attitude (aka Online Model)
List the types of Social Influence:
1. Compliance aka obedience 2. Status Deference 3. Conformity 4. Group Ties
when determining an attitude, we pick a subject or object and then list our beliefs or considerations about the object. then we consider whether each belief about the object is good or bad ( + or - ). then we give each belief a weight; some beliefs matter more to us, or are more important to us, than others. EX. STANFORD UNIVERSITY
1. Full of spoiled undergrads -1 2. Full of cheaters -2 3. Highly rated +1 4. Highly overrated -4 5. Expensive -5 6. Snobby faculty -3 7. It has trees 0
modest challenges
1. HALO EFFECT; if you like/disliked a person before, then your attitude will predict your belief 2. DENIAL A; 3. BALANCE HEURISTIC; if you like someone, you assume they have characteristics that are similar to your own
In the CCM and Online model, BELIEFS COME FIRST, AND THEN ATTITUDES FOLLOW. There are challenges to this statement, where ATTITUDES have come BEFORE BELIEFS. --modest challenges to the CCM and ONLINE MODEL --full blown challenges to the CCM and ONLINE MODEL
1. MODEST challenges to the CCM and ONLINE MODEL 2. FULL BLOWN challenges to the CCM and ONLINE MODEL
Differences of Opinion (CCM) - why do people differ in opinions?
1. One person may have more ignorance or more information for one evaluator. Having more info makes a difference. One person may be ignorant of info that the other person isn't ignorant of. □ One person may not know Sarah Palin is a TP-er □ The other person has knowledge that Sarah Palin is a TP-er 2. They may differ in their beliefs about the facts; they disagree about the facts or what is true/false □ One person believes Obama was not born in the US □ Other person believes he was born in the US 3. They may agree on the facts, but disagree on the valence of the facts □ Todd is a TP-er, and believes SP is a TP-er □ Tina hates the TP, but believes SP is a TP-er 4. Differences in Salience -comes from how often things come readily to mind 5. Differences in Centrality -comes from entire life history and circumstances; weight of the matter.
full blown challenges
1. Psychodynamic Approach: the whole reason the AP hates the out-group is bc it helps that person function; your own personality dysfunction in the AP gives rise to your attitudes that affect what you believe about the outgroup. Having an attitude serves a function toward an AP person and this is helpful for the AP personality and helps them function thru projecting their feelings and sustain their attitudes. People tend to be pretty screwed up, but they still have to function in the world and get by--they want to feel worthy/normal, etc. And attitudes do this for the AP personality (matters when thinking about in group vs out group) 2. BLT; people can be classically conditioned to hold an attitude
There are sets of cognitions or cognitive bundles that produce certain emotions; the Cognitive Appraisal Theory says there are FOUR BASIC EMOTIONS:
1. fear (afraid, anxious, worried) 2. anger (angry, bitter, resentful) 3. happiness (proud, hope, enthusiastic) 4. disgust (disgusted, hatred, contempt)
alternatives to attitude formation; out attitudes may be influenced by other things: INFERENCE FREE SOURCES OF ATTITUDES (7)
1. mere exposure effect 2. mere recognition effect 3. head nodding/head shaking effect 4. face characteristics effect -specific features, similarity to self, whole faces, facial feedback 5. mood effects 6. power posing 7. somatic responses
what can increase a weight of a belief according to the CCM?
1. the salience of the attribute 2. the centrality of the attribute
transitory feelings
A feeling is transitory if it exists and then dissipates on its own; short life span. It's there but will disappear on its own
Conformity (continued) AUTO KINETIC EFFECT: associated with Sherif
Associated with a scientist named Sherif (unanimous): ---Auto kinetic effect: brought people together in a group and watched how conformity happened within that group. Conformity arises over time in a group... if I were to turn off all the lights and shine a projector flashlight on the screen, that light will look like its moving even when it is from an unmoving source like a projector. The question the subjects were asked is how far is the light moving? 1cm, 2, 3, inches, etc? The light was not really moving but you see it moving - visual effect. What happens to the group? ---Say you have trials and the light can be bigger/smaller/ etc. The people would start off all over the place but quickly and eventually converge. Pretty soon they were all giving the same answers. At some point they would be separated but in the end they stayed all together; the judgments persisted over time. This is the conformity demonstration from Sherif showing it emerges and will eventually arise even if you began on different pages.
Studies on Conformity: Littering Study PARKING GARAGE SCENARIO #2
BACK TO PARKING GARAGE (after a windstorm; blew the fliers into a corner) ○ Varied whether the litter was swept up vs. not swept up into a pile; scattered vs in a pile---tried to manipulate the salience of the injunctive norm; had a situation where ... ○ Unswept up = 33% litter ○ Swept up = 29% litter ○ But with a confederate littering in swept up = 18% litter ○ With the conferate littering in unswept = 45% litter
SOCIAL INFLUENCE: COMPLAIANCE aka Obedience ( big part of Milgram study )
Compliance (aka obedience) meaning: If I told you to do something and you did it. The behavior of a subject t is influenced by a command or order given to them by someone who holds a position of power or authority over them. People refer to the command when asked why they obeyed. ○ Humans are influenced by people around them: social influence ○ How is your behavior influenced by people over you? Hierarchical; we follow authorities; "I was told to do so" Crimes of obedience is where it gets problematic ○ Ex. In the military, professor vs. student, etc. ○ How far will compliance go? Crimes of obedience - a term coined after Milgram's research. If someone is told by an authority to do something terrible, will they do it? ---Milgram's book & research experiments: he advertised in newspaper for people to participate in the experiment.
attitudinal instability (CCM)
EX) You are asked to recall your beliefs about Barack Obama ii. The things that come to mind are often called considerations. You get a different collection of considerations every time you are asked because of SALIENCE. The stuff that comes to mind is variable, depending on who you talked to, what the news said, what paper you read, what you ate, ETC. iii. People tend to have a central or average attitude; only some things are salient when called to mind, but even those have variability!!! iv. Because attributes vary in their salience and they will not always come up with the same beliefs. What is salient or called to mind can fluctuate or bounce around without the attitude actually changing. There will be variability or instability across a narrow change even with there is no change in the attitude; people's attitudes will have intrinsic fluctuations and attitudes are going to be unstable even if their attitudes are the same, simply because of what is salient or what has been called to mind.
Emotions are symptomatic of ....
Emotions are symptomatic of what the brain is doing and how the brain is processing information--is the information NOVEL ? Or is it THREATENING?
object-specific feelings
Feelings that are object-specific are about an object, about an object or towards something Feelings that are diffused are not really about something; just feelings you have not really directed toward anything
Studies on Conformity: Littering Study CHANGING THE MESSAGE ON THE FLIER
MESSAGE IS VARIED ON THE FLIER ○ Messages were: § Visit a museum! (25%) § Vote! (22%) § Turn of the lights! (18%) § Recycle! (15%) § Do not litter! (10%) ○ Injunctive norm salience is important - moving from things that have nothing to do with littering vs more to do with littering . DROPPING BECAUSE THE INUNCTIVE NORM IS GAINING SALIENCE!
Compliance in light of CONSISTENCY THEORY: 10 different points to make here in order to reduce the noxiousness of: The problem: (+)------(-) I, a good person, did a bad thing (harm)
Me (+) --------- (-) did something terrible ---To get rid of this noxiousness, we can disobey; say you aren't going to do it anymore. (+) - - - - - (-) 1. DISOBEY 2. Denial A "I am not really harming" (+) - - - - - (-) You can believe that the study is fake & the learner is not really being shocked - RARE; most people were actually convinced. 3. Denial B "I am punishing the idiot" aka known as a version of dehumanization. (+) --------- (+) I am not doing anything bad bc I am punishing an idiot. 4. Denial C "I, the monster, did this terrible harm." (-) ---------- (-) 5. Minimal compliance: cheating by using low voltage or trying to hit the shock as quickly as possible in hope to not administer a prolonged, more painful shock, or tried to signal the correct answer by placing emphasis on the correct word. 6. Avoidance (routinization) 7. Rationalization - find the prime mover a. Experimenter b. Peers 8. Bolstering: You could use bolstering here when you call to mind all the other good things or positive characteristics about yourself which drown out the one negative characteristic to feel better about yourself. 9. Transcendence ---> I am contributing to/helping science (+)-----(+) 10. Deflect through physical expression (people laughing to minimize the noxiousness they were feeling
Studies on Conformity: Littering Study PARKING GARAGE
PARKING GARAGE: Littering behavior: are you influenced by conformity pressures when you decide whether or not to litter? We have an idea in our society that it is wrong to litter. If there is a rule of what is proper to do it is called an injunctive norm. ○ ** Do not litter ** = injunctive norm ○ Descriptive norm; what is normal behavior? How many people are doing it/what are most people doing? § 5 experiments: take place in a parking garage. If you are handed a flier, do you throw it on the ground? § What was the percentage of people who littered within both conditions? □ In one condition there is a littered environment (32%) □ In the other condition there is a clean environment (14%) □ In another condition they had a confederate littering into a dirty environment = more likely to litter (54%) □ In another they have the confederate littering into a clean environment = less likely to litter (6%) This has made the injunctive norm salient; we are terribly influenced by other people however there is a special case which is sometimes the behavior of other people make the injunctive norm SALIENT!
SOCIAL INFLUENCE: STATUS DEFERENCE
Status Deference: ○ Continuum with people of low to high status; you can put individuals, groups, etc. These people can be put on a continuum of status (groups/individuals/etc.) --------------------------------------------------- Low Status High Status ○ People differ from the amount or extent of valued attributes; you can have either low or high amount ○ What is a valued attribute or valued resource? Think about American society; what do most people value? § MONEY § YOUTH § EDUCATION § ENTREPRENEURSHIP § FAME § HEALTH § CHARISMA § HUMOR § BEAUTY § POWER § IQ ○ NOT everyone values the same things in America to the same extent; there are socially valued attributes & also individually valued attributes ○ There is variation! People in general value wealth, some don't, but most people do ○ Status is socially constructed or culturally specific; example--who has high status or low status in prison subculture? --Status deference is the extent to which people are affected by people with higher status -- we tend to defer or give people with higher status priority or can be very influenced by people of high status - we imitate them, etc. --We do not usually recognize that we are doing this and when asked to explain our behavior we do not cite status deference
Dual Processing Systems
These are about your responses, which are normally thought of as attitudes & beliefs! We have explicit attitudes & explicit beliefs, as well as implicit attitudes & implicit beliefs, and BOTH SHAPE OUR ATTITUDES ○ System 2: "controlled" explicit attitudes/explicit beliefs (Responses are under the intentional control of the individual, effortful, and the individual is consciously aware of them.) ○ System 1: "automatic" implicit attitudes/implicit beliefs (Responses are unintentional, involuntary, effortless, and outside conscious awareness. (associational or implicit learning)
Within the full blown challenges we have the BLT. A theory that comes out of the BLT is the SYMBOLIC THEORY OF ATTITUDES. What is this theory?
This is a theory that relies on Classical Conditioning and comes out of the BLT It says that..... • Attitudes are symbols or sets of symbols to which people have classically conditioned responses; the CC occurs in childhood, & then the attitude persists • (think of a symbol as a word...) (examples of symbols below) As a child when you are young, you have been classically conditioned to have a response to these "symbols" -- this could have been classical or higher order conditioning, but you have learned over time to have a positive/negative innate response to these words aka symbols: -TERROR -WAR -FREEDOM -HATE -EQUALITY -DEMOCRAT Examples of SETS of symbols: -WAR IN IRAQ -IRAQUI FREEDOM CAMPAIGN EX. You will get different attitudes in sets of symbols... • Saying: government food stamps program vs. Food stamps program • Or using different words such as "not allowing" vs "forbidding"
Affects
has to do with emotions and attitudes. your mood can affect your attitudes. affects are direct cursors that shape your behavior.
somatic responses (influence on moods)
has to do with what your body is doing. Somatic = body. Representation = literally a representation. If you make an angry face, you will be in an angry mood. If you make a scary face, you will be fearful. Ex. Constipation may affect your mood (lol). Whatever faces you make will affect your mood. We are always trying to change our moods. Affect is at some level physiological
SOCIAL INFLUENCE: what does it mean?
how people around you shapes your behavior in what they are saying or doing--there are multiple forms of social influence.
face characteristics effect (influence on attitudes)
how we like/dislike facial characteristics (people have preferences over this stuff) ex. Unibrow a. Specific features - ex. People have a tendency to prefer certain facial characteristics and to not prefer others (such as the unibrow, or liking a particular eye color) b. Similarity to self - if your face was morphed with the composite male, then you would like it more than any other female face morphed with a composite male; you have a stronger preference to like a face if it's morphed with your face than any other random female. Similarity to self! You tend to like faces that are more similar to yourself. c. Whole faces: Finding 1: people agreed on which faces were competent and which faces were not... even within different countries, the agreements among people were pretty consistent. We all look at faces and come to similar judgments on which faces are competent or not. Finding 2: The percentage of people that judge a face as competent is very correlated with how many votes they get (higher margins--least competence face will have lower margins) One idea of this is that people are simply making an inference from the picture that shapes their attitude without them really knowing it (they aren't really forming a belief here) d. Facial feedback: if someone smiles at you, you tend to smile back. You feel good when someone smiles at you. You like people more if they are smiling at you, because you smile back, and you feel good. People feel better when others are smiling at them. Candidates smile all the time; if you look at Fox news the opponent candidate show atrocious faces and the candidate they want to win they will show better faces.
forms of zero valence attitudes (neutral types of attitudes) - CCM
i. People with zero valence attitudes are often the ones campaigns are trying to reach (neutral attitudes have 3 sources listed below) 1) No beliefs - neutral - Ignorance 2) Have beliefs but they do not matter - Indifferent 3) Torn - beliefs equally positive and negative, making neutral; Ambivalence
attitude concept (in affect) can vary in two ways:
intensity and valence
mood effects (influence on attitudes)
moods are diffused, not object specific, are labeled (we can identify) and are transitory (they tend to come and go) a. Good mood = express more positive things toward everything. Bad mood = express more negative things toward everything i. They had people in a study think about happy & then think about sad stuff. Then they looked at candidates who had both good issue positions and then bad issue positions. In the middle the average candidate. On a 100 point scale, 0 most negative and 100 most positive. Found that if you are in a good mood you tend to rate people a little higher than if you were in a bad mood. Moods matter, but that doesn't mean the CCM is not a good measure. □ Seasonal affect disorder; how weather, in particular sunlight, can affect your mood. WEATHER MATTERS.
