social psych chapter 4

Low-ball technique

tactic for getting someone to agree; get them to agree with an initial request and then "up the ante" (used by salespeople!)

Diener & Wallborn

): self-conscious people are more aware of their attitudes. When stating attitudes and behaving in front of a mirror or while being recorded, attitudes were more likely to match behaviors (e.g., cheating).

Self-Presentation (Impression Management)

Assumes that people, especially those who self-monitor their behavior hoping to create good impressions, will adapt their attitude reports to appear consistent with their actions (to create a favorable impression)

EXTERNAL justification for our actions (because we feel more responsible for them).

Dissonance is highest when we have less

When attitudes specific to the behavior are examined Ajzen & Fishbein

In 26 of 27 studies measuring the link between a general attitude and a specific behavior, the relationship was very weak. In 26 of 26 studies measuring the link between a specific attitude and specific behavior, the relationship was very strong. Example: environmental attitudes & recycling behaviors Theory of Planned Behavior:

Self-Perception Theory:

In the absence of tension/arousal, or when our attitudes are not well-formed or well-defined, our actions help us develop more accessible/clear attitudes, when then guide future behavior.

Insufficient Justification Effect

Receive small reward > have no external justification for our behavior > begin to thing we believed in the behavior > attitude change

expressed attitudes."

Social Psychologists cannot measure actual attitudes, but only

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

Tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

"Deciding-becomes-believing!"

This effect is strong when we make a big, important decision (e.g., which college to attend

Snyder & Swann

When asked to first remember/consider one's attitudes, they become more potent and thus better predict behaviors

When Saying Becomes Believing

When there is no compelling external explanation for one's words, saying becomes believing

Attitude

a favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward someone or something often rooted in our beliefs often reflected in our feelings and behaviors Our attitudes often predict our behavior. how well? Our behaviors often affect our attitudes. when? why?

Role

a set of norms that defines how people in a given social position ought to behave

Measures such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT

allow researchers to identify implicit attitudes that may not match expressed attitudes. However, this test is not reliable and may reveal something other than what is assumed - for example, an apparent racial prejudice might instead be compassion or guilt (e.g., not wanting to appear prejudiced).

Daniel Batson: "moral hypocrisy

appearing moral while avoiding the costs of being moral

Dissonance theory

cannot explain "Overjustification Effect," since getting paid to do something we enjoy should not produce tension/arousal

Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison study

guards" and "prisoners" got caught up in the situation and played their roles too well - the 14-day experiment was canceled on day 6

predict behavior than either alone.

implicit + explicit attitudes TOGETHER

Batson

later added a mirror to his prior studies on "moral hypocrisy" and found the same thing.

A lot of our behaviors are automatic

likely this helps us be more efficient, as we don't have to think about things that have become habitual ("How was your meal?" Fine.)

Attitudes resulting from actual experience (not just hearsay) are

more accessible, more enduring, and more likely to influence actions.

Wells & Petty

people asked to nod up-and-down vs. side-to-side while listening to an editorial through headphones later reported more agreement vs. disagreement with what was heard

James Laird

people told to frown or smile actually reported altered feelings

Insufficient justification effect

reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one's behavior when external justification is insufficient we come to believe in what we have done

Steele (1988): "Self-Affirmation Theory"

states that when we volunteer to do something undesirable, we feel tension (embarrassment) and thus must justify our actions to feel better. We also compensate by affirming another aspect of the self. TENSION & AROUSAL are key to this theory.

(Cognitive Dissonance)

tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions (because our behavior doesn't match our attitude) to reduce this tension, we adjust our thinking to match our actions (or other thoughts) Dissonance is highest when we have less EXTERNAL justification for our actions (because we feel more responsible for them).

Principle of aggregation

the effects of an attitude become more obvious when we look at aggregate or average behavior, rather than isolated acts.

Self-Perception Theory

when we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer them as would someone observing us, by looking at our behavior and the circumstances under which it occurs Expressions and attitude

Overjustification Effect

when you bribe someone to do what they already enjoy, they then see their actions as externally controlled rather than internally reduced enjoyment of the activity