Chapter 12 - Attitudes
Attitude Salience
The strength of an attitude
Affective Component
A component of an attitude that reflects a person's feelings or emotions about an attitude object
Behavioural Component
A component of an attitude that reflects how a person acts towards an attitude object
Cognitive Component
A component of attitude that reflects the thought processes and reasoning behind an attitude
Classical Conditioning
A form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus such that the neutral stimulus alone produces the same response as the unconditioned stimulus; the neutral stimulus thus becomes a conditioned stimulus.
Cognitive Dissonance
A state of mental discomfort arising from a discrepancy between one's attitude and behaviour
Attitude
A tendency toward expression of positive or negative feelings or evaluations of a person, place, thing, or situation.
Direct Experience
A type of attitude formation acquired through personal experience with an attitude object
Operant Conditioning
A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a positive consequence or diminished if followed by a negative consequence.
Observational Learning
A type of learning that occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models.
Effort Justification
An attempt to reduce cognitive dissonance by trying to reason the actions behind a behaviour
Attitude Change
Any significant modification in a persons attitude
Attitude Object
Anything towards which a person has an attitude
Tri-component Model of Attitudes
Explains/describe what attitudes are, how they are formed and the circumstances under which they may change. (Affective, Behavioral, Cognitive)
Implicit Attitudes
Involuntary and sometimes unconscious attitudes that we are unaware of until our actions reveal it
Attitude Formation
Refers to the different ways an attitude can be formed
Self-Perception Theory
The theory of atitude formation that suggests we acquire our attitudes by observing our own behaviors
Mere Exposure Effect
This effect states that the more one is exposed to something, the more one will come to form a positive attitude towards it
Explicit Attitudes
When we are aware of our attitude and behave in a way that reflects this attitude