Social PSY -Chapter 7-

cognitive information

facts and beliefs about the object

affective information

feelings and emotions about the object

direct measures of attitude

-Likert scales (-2 strongly disagree -- 2 strongly agree) -semantic differential scales

why do people have attitudes

-because of the complexity of the human wolrd humans need to have attitudes to guide them -attitudes are basically the sorting of things into 'good' and 'bad' categories -attitudes allow humans to make judgements more rapidly, easily, and make better quality judgements and decisions

deliberate attitudes

-controlled and conscious elaluative responses -reflective responses that people think more carefully about

automatic attitudes

-fact, nonconscious evaluative responses -very fast evaluative, 'gut level' responses that people dont think a great deal about

attitudes

-global evaluations toward some object or issue -an attitude is a cognitive representation that summarizes evaluation of an attitude object (self, other people, things, actions, events or ideas) -attitudes have direction and intensity -negative information weighed more heavily in forming the attitude than is positive information

four requirements for dissonance

-individual perceives action as inconsistent with attitude -individual takes personal responsibilty for action -individual experiences uncomfortable state of arousal -individual attributes arousal to the inconsistency straightforward way of reducing dissonance is to change attitude to match behavior often attitude change is the easiest way to reduce dissonance

The Implicit Associations Test (IAT)

-purports to measure attitudes and beliefs that poeple are either unwilling or unable to report -test works by testing reaction speed in assigning pairings of 'good' words with an attitude object (ex: pairing good and old)

measuring attitudes

-self report on attitude scales -observation of behavior -physiological measures (ex:EMG) -reaction time measures

operant conditioning (instrumental conditioning)

a type of learning in which people are more likely to repeat behaviors that have been rewarded and less likely to repeat behaviors that have been punished

dual attitudes

different evaluations of the same attitude object, automatic versus deliberate (implicit vs explicit)

belief perseverance

finding that once beliefs form, they are resistant to change, even if the information on which they are based is discredited

attitude polarization

finding that peoples attitudes become more extreme as they refelct on them

effort justification

finding that when people suffer or work hard or make sacrifices, they will try to convince themselves that it is worthwhile

contrast

information that opposes an established attitude is seen as even more inconsistent with the attitude, ignored and rejected

behavioral information

information about past, present, or future interactions with the object

assimilation

information that is somewhat supportive of an established attitude is viewed as strongly supporting the attitude

beliefs

pieces of information about something; facts or opinions

mere exposure effect

tendency for people to come to like things simply because they see/encounter them repeatedly

Heider's P-O-X Theory

the idea that rellationships among one person (P), the other person (O), and an attitude object (X) may be either balanced or unbalanced

cognitive dissonance theory

theory that inconsistencies produce psychological discomfort, leading people to rationalize their behavior or change their attitudes

classical conditioning

type of learning in which, through repeated pairings, a neutral stimulus comes to evoke a conditioned stimulus