Social Psychology Chapter 4 - Learning Objectives

What is the mere exposure effect and what were the methods and findings of the study on it that we discussed in class?

- The study explains that favorability increases with with greater exposure. Develop pleasant associations with stimulus. -Zajonc (1968) "Chinese" character study - Subliminal exposure to novel characters - Participants picked which character they liked most from the list -They chose the one they had been exposed to subliminally

What are some ways that we discussed in class that researchers measure attitude driven behaviors "under the radar"?

-IAT: Implicit Assoc. Test -GNAT: Only hit spacebar when see positive words or attractive woman -priming: Flash picture of Obama or... Respond to word "joy" vs. "vomit"

What is the Implicit Association Test and how does it work?

-A computer-driven assessment of implicit attitudes. The test uses reaction times to measure people's automatic associations between attitude objects and evaluative words. Easier pairings (and faster responses) are taken to indicate stronger unconscious associations.

What were the sources of attitudes covered in class? How does each source affect attitude formation?

-Affect, Cognition, Behavior, ...Experience In relation to any given idea: - Affect determines how we feel about it - Behavior affects what we do about it - Cognition determines what we think about it. The other influences include social anxieties, political movements, situational context, preexistent bias, etc.

What is attitude polarization? Know the studies (methods and results) from class about this concept.

-Attitude Polarization - attitudes become more extreme by convincing ourselves they are right. -LaPierce (1934) +Traveled with Asian couple +Expected anti-Asian attitudes would produce discrimination, yet the vast majority of hotels allowed them to stay +Wrote hotels months later, asking if they would accommodate Asians? =90% said "no" -Wicker (1969) - meta-analysis

When do attitudes affect behavior? Know the studies that demonstrate that attitudes affect behaviors.

-Attitudes affect behavior when these other influences on what we say and do are minimal, when the attitude is specific to the behavior, and when the attitude is potent. -Regan & Fazio (1977) +Housing crisis at Cornell +Some students in permanent housing vs. some in temporary housing +Both groups had negative attitudes toward housing crisis +Did they act on it? (guessing no?) -Fazio & Williams (1986) +1984 election (Reagan vs. Mondale) +Measured how quickly people rated candidates +4 months later -- who did you vote for? +Quicker responses = more accessible -Nagourney, 2002 +Post-9/11 senators +Public support for Bush's plan, private reservations +Feared criticism

What are attitudes? How are they different from beliefs?

-Attitudes are: A favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something or someone (often rooted in one's beliefs, and exhibited in one's feelings and intended behavior). ex. "I like johnny depp" -Beliefs are what you think to be true about a given thing and affect your attitude. Beliefs, along with Affect (feelings) and Behavior forms your attitude about a given thing. ex. "his name is johnny" Belief - a statement (no evaluation) Attitude - reaction towards something or someone, involves evaluation

How does the attitudes-follow-behavior principle relate to morality?

-Evil actions beget evil actions, but similarly, good actions beget good actions -Dissonance theory successfully explains what happens when we act contrary to clearly defined attitudes: We feel tensions, so we adjust our attitudes to reduce it. Dissonance theory, then, explains attitude change. -Self-perception theory explains attitude formation in situations where our attitudes are not well-formed. As we act and reflect, we develop more readily accessible attitudes to guide our future behavior.

What affect does attitude salience have on attitudes predicting behavior? (from the book)

-If you see your actions as insufficient you will change your beliefs about them in order to change your behavior in the future... Salience—the perceived importance of the attitude for the person holding it. Something is salient to us if we are personally affected by it; if the outcome impacts our lives in some direct fashion. Seldom does our behavior result from one single attitude

When are implicit vs. explicit attitudes formed?

-Implicit - mainly early on in life -Explicit - mainly recently

What are implicit and explicit attitudes and how do they differ? Is it possible to have opposing implicit and explicit attitudes?

-Implicit - unconscious -Explicit - conscious -Yes

How does social desirability affect our ability to measure attitudes?

-People will desire to be accepted socially, and therefore may be deceptive when prompted to speak on their attitudes, making them sound "better" or what they think the person asking wants to hear.

What is cognitive dissonance and what are the effects of it?

-Tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions. For example, dissonance may occur when we realize that we have, with little justification, acted contrary to our attitudes or made a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another. -In order to reduce discomfort, we justify our actions to ourselves. -Dissonance theory explains this attitude change by assuming that we feel tension after acting contrary to our attitudes or making difficult decisions. To reduce that arousal, we internally justify our behavior. Dissonance theory further proposes that the less external justification we have for our undesirable actions, the more we feel responsible for them, and thus the more dissonance arises and the more attitudes change.

How does insufficient justification affect cognitive dissonance effects and what was the study that demonstrated these effects (know methods and results)?

-insufficient justification - Reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one's behavior when external justification is "insufficient." -Festinger and J. Merrill Carlsmith's 1959 experiment +Turning doorknobs, have to lie to next participant and say it was interesting, fill out questionnaire last +Participants offered either $1 or $20 to fib +Contrary to the common notion that big rewards produce big effects, the two made an outrageous prediction: Those paid just $1 (hardly sufficient justification for a lie) would be most likely to adjust their attitudes to their actions. Having insufficient justification for their actions, they would experience more discomfort (dissonance) and thus be more motivated to believe in what they had done. Those paid $20 had sufficient justification for what they had done and hence should have experienced less dissonance. +Results fit the prediction. +Table: =Purple row: Condition: Control (no lie) - Dissonance Theory: No dissonance - "How much I enjoyed the experiment:" Right above the -0.5 mark =Orange row: Condition: $20 - Dissonance Theory: Low dissonance - "How much I enjoyed the experiment:" Right about the 0 mark - "I said the dull experiment was interesting. But I had sufficient reason for doing so -- $20." =Blue row: Condition: $1 - Dissonance Theory: High dissonance - "How much I enjoyed the experiment:" A little below the +1.5 mark - "I said the dull experiment was interesting. I had insufficient justification for doing so. Hmm, maybe it was sort on interesting."