Social Psychology Exam 2 Chapter 7 Attitudes, Behavior, Rationalization

Affect

emotion response

Behavior

how they do (or don't) influence how we behave

Why is the forbidden toy undesirable, but only under mild threat?

"I liked that toy but didn't play with it" -Insufficient justification --Annoying an adult hasn't stopped me before -Perceived free choice --I could have played with it if I really wanted to -Negative consequences --I missed out (disappointment & frustration) -Foreseeability --I really wanted to play with that toy and knew I'd be unhappy without it

General Attitudes vs Specific Attitudes

-"I like ice-cream" -"I like pistachio ice-cream at 6:00AM"

Attitudes as Feelings vs Beliefs

-"do you like the way a flu shot FEELS?" -"do you THINK that getting a flu shot is good for you?"

General Justification of Effort (dissonance)

-imbalance between perceived effort (cost) and value returned, dissonance is aroused -balance is achieved if belief changes

What are the effects of mortality salience on the terror management theory?

-increased hostility towards those who criticize own country -increased negativity toward outgroups -more punitive to people who challenge current laws -more favorable towards George W Bush (defending country)

Conditions for Dissonance

-insufficient justification -perceived free choice -negative consequences & physical discomfort -foreseeability

Cognitive Dissonance Examples

-lying & cheating -initiation rites -doomsday cults

Resisting Forbidden Toys (Aronson & Carlsmith, 1963) Results

-mild threat → kids either have same liking for toy, or decreased liking -Severe threat → majority have increased liking for toy

Besides attitude, what affects behavior? (discrepancies)

-physiology -social norms -habit -situation -other attitudes

Measurement (attitude estimates)

-self-report (survey) -physical response (rxn time/latency) -physiological response (facial EMG) -behavior (choice of object, policy, etc)

Ego Defensive Function: Terror Management Theory

Awareness of one's own mortality produces existential anxiety (terror) that motivates a desire for "immortality" through support of one's culture & institutions

Dissonance vs Self-Perception Overall

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE may occur when behavior does not fit an attitude and is important to self-concept -inconsistency is threatening SELF-PERCEPTION may occur when attitudes are weak/ambiguous -no strong prior attitude --> no sense of inconsistency --> no dissonance -many attitudes are relatively weak/changeable

According to the logic of cognitive dissonance theory, which of the following would be the best strategy to help Dale adopt a lifelong new diet in which he eats less junk food and loses weight?

Give Dale small rewards each day for eating a healthy, moderate amount of food

Perception of Value on Justification of Effort (dissonance)

Greater cost = greater the perceived value UNLESS one of the conditions of dissonance is violated

Lying & Cheating (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959) Results

How much did the participant say they liked the study? no lie (control): negative, did not like the study 1$: REALLY liked the study 20$: no effect

Perceived Free Choice (dissonance)

I chose to do it -an external cause eliminates inconsistency (not my fault) GROUPS initiation/failed: -I wanted to be a member, this was my decision

Foreseeability (dissonance)

I should have known this would be bad -if negative consequences could NOT have been known, inconsistency is reduced (not my fault, I didn't know) GROUPS initiation/failed: I knew what I was getting into

Testing Terror Management Theory

IV: manipulate mortality salience -thoughts/images of death vs -thoughts/images of painful dental procedure (control) DV: compare conditions -attitudes/behaviors towards one's own group, social institutions, leaders

Jim spends three years in graduate school training to become a clinical social worker. His first job out of graduate school is, in actuality, horrible. Briefly, Jim worries that he has made the wrong choice for his career. But he quickly changes his mind and decides that, although it isn't his dream job, the position is not that bad after all. The most likely social psychological explanation for this attitude change is that

Jim's need to justify the effort he put into training has altered his attitude to be more favorable toward the job

Who is more likely to be committed to the club, according to cognitive dissonance theory? -paid nothing to join -paid 20$ to join -paid 100$ to join

Joined club, shitty club, doesn't really matter because you're not at any loss -Paid 100$ to join club, shitty club, will try best possible to justify joining shitty club due to investment

Natalie participates in a study in which she writes an essay in favor of legalizing marijuana, although she is actually opposed to such legalization. Nate, who is also opposed to legalizing marijuana, participates in the same study. In Natalie's condition of the study, she is told that high school students will read her essay. In Nate's condition of the study, he is told that the researchers in charge of the study will read his essay. Which of the following is most likely?

Natalie will experience more dissonance than Nate because there is a chance that impressionable high school students might be convinced by her essay

Lying & Cheating (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959)

Participants complete a series of painfully boring tasks for 30 minutes. In talking with them about the tasks, the researcher asks if they would be willing to tell the next participant that the study is REALLY INTERESTING (lie). IV: receive 1$ vs 20$ for lying (vs. no-like control) DV: how much the participant says that he/she likes the study after telling the lie

Testing for Arousal

Participants told a placebo would make them feel anxious did not show attitude change after counter-attitudinal advocacy, BUT participants told the placebo would make them relaxed or would have no effect did show attitude change

After writing a counterattitudinal essay, a group of participants is asked to reflect on their best qualities and core values. These participants, unlike those in a control condition, do not show any dissonance-reducing attitude change. What can explain this seeming resilience to the effects of dissonance?

Participants were able to self-affirm and thus restored their sense of being rational, competent people

Attitudes-Behavior Consistency

People are more likely to behave in line w/ their attitude when the attitude is: -strong -internally consistent -consistent w/ social norms -personal experience -matched to behavior in specificity -matched to behavior in automaticity

Overjustification Effect

The overjustification effect explains that getting rewards for intrinsically interesting activities can undermine intrinsic interest in those activities, because the motivation for the behavior is assumed to be due to the rewards.

Tim participates in a psychology experiment about the aesthetics of various Impressionist painters. At the end of the study, he is given a thank-you gift and is allowed to choose between a poster of a cute kitten barely hanging on to a tree and a Monet landscape. Before making his final choice, Tim is asked to list reasons in favor of each picture. He is able to list several reasons for choosing the kitten picture (for example, "it is cute," "it reminds me of my cat at home, "my girlfriend will like it"). Although he knows he likes the Monet poster better, Tim can't articulate any reason for choosing the Monet landscape other than "I just like it." According to research done by Wilson and his colleagues, which of the following scenarios is MOST likely to result from Tim's introspection?

Tim will choose the kitten poster and regret the choice later

Maria wants to teach her daughter, Lisa, to value and enjoy reading. According to the logic of cognitive dissonance theory, which of the following strategies would be the best way to cultivate such an attitude?

When she chooses to read books, reward Lisa w/ small rewards, preferably simple verbal praise

Insufficient Justification (dissonance)

Why did I do it? -clear justification eliminates inconsistency GROUPS initiation/failed: -Why would I subject myself to pain, loss and degradation?

post-decision dissonance

a feeling of anxiety over whether the correct decision was made

attitude 3 components

affect, cognition, behavior

Attitude Definition

an evaluation of an object in a positive or negative fashion that includes 3 components -affect -cognition -behavior

Which of the following attitudes would be the best indicator of whether a person would buy the environmentally friendly Toyota Prius hybrid automobile in the next 6 months

attitude towards buying a Prius in the near future

Self-perception theory is most applicable in cases which

attitudes are weak and ambiguous

Predicting Behavior from Attitudes?

attitudes can be poor predictors of behavior

How are behavior & attitude adjusted for cognitive dissonance?

behaviors cannot be undone, changing thoughts & feelings (attitudes) can reduce dissonance -JUSTIFICATION!

Malena is asked to choose between two music CDs she likes equally well. After she finally makes her choice, her attitude toward the CD she didn't choose is likely to

change such that she reports likely the CD less than she initially did

Resisting Forbidden Toys (Aronson & Carlsmith, 1963)

children can play w/ any of the toys in the room, except for one (forbidden toy) IV: mild threat: if you play w/ the toy, teacher will be annoyed severe threat: the teacher will be ANGRY DV: how much do you like each toy in the room?

Unpleasant Arousal (dissonance)

critical difference between cognitive dissonance theory and self-perception theory!

Ambivalent Attitude

high positivity + high negativity

Positive Attitude

high positivity + low negativity

According to terror management theory, one reason people strive to have high self-esteem is because

high self-esteem means you are meeting the standards dictated by your world view

Mis-match in type of attitude & behavior measured

implicit (automatic) vs explicit (controlled) attitudes

A researcher wants to measure people's attitudes about abortion. Given the sensitive nature of the topic, she has reason to believe that participants may not be willing to report their true feelings. Which of the following should she use to capture their attitudes?

implicit attitudes measure

self-affirmation

in the context of dissonance theory, a way of reducing dissonance by reminding oneself of one or more of one's positive attributes

How Dissonance Changes Attitudes

inconsistency -experiment was horrible (not equal to) I said it was enjoyable How can I feel better? 20$ JUSTIFIES behavior -- "i did it for the money, that study sucks) 1$ does NOT JUSTIFY behavior -- "the study was really interesting ha ah ah aha h ah!!"

Cognition

knowledge, beliefs, memories

induced compliance

lead to a need to reduce dissonance -- when induced to argue for a position at variance w/ their true attitudes, those who are poorly compensated feel they must justify their behavior and typically do so by changing their attitudes to align w/ their behavior

Negative Attitude

low positivity + high negativity

Non-attitude

low positivity + low negativity

Nyla has a strongly held cognition that donating blood is a good and worthy activity. Her feelings about donating blood, however, are more mixed. In this instance, Nyla's attitude about donating blood will probably

not be a good predictor of whether she will donate blood

Participants are asked to write a counter attitudinal essay. Dissonance is most likely to occur when

participants write an essay of their own free will

According to system justification theory

people are motivated to see the world as desirable and fair

Self-Perception Theory (alternative to dissonance)

people learn/change their own attitudes by looking at their behavior and the context in which it occurred, and inferring what their attitudes must be

Negativity Bias

people typically have stronger negative than positive responses -negative response easily contaminates positive responses, but not the reverse "a burger does not make worms appetizing"

Negative consequences & physical discomfort (dissonance)

positive outcomes justify behavior, if I don't feel bad, it must be OK GROUPS initiation/failed: -I got hurt and humiliated, lost family, friends, jobs, housing

LaPiere Study 1930s

predicting behavior from attitude -traveled across US w/ Chinese couple (when anti-Chinese prejudice high) -denied service at only 1/250 places -90% of places said they would NOT serve Chinese customers

In 1934, Richard LaPiere published a study reporting how he had toured the United States with a Chinese couple and later asked the restaurants they had visited about their general policy toward serving "Orientals." His work revealed

prejudiced attitudes toward "Orientals" and a lack of correspondence between attitudes and behavior

Elliot Aronson found that cognitive dissonance was more likely in cases in which inconsistency

reflected poorly on a person's self image

Example of system justification theory

stereotypes that play up the advantages of belonging to a disadvantaged group e.g. belief that poor people are happier than the rich

implicit attitude measures

tap into attitudes people are unaware they have or may be unwilling to report

The main difference between self-perception theory and cognitive dissonance theory is

the role of arousal

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

the theory that we ACT TO REDUCE the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent -the DISCOMFORT is the cognitive dissonance

People from independent cultures are most likely to experience dissonance in situations in which they are making decisions for ____________, while people from interdependent cultures are likely to experience dissonance when making decisions for ____________.

themselves, their friends

Terror Management Theory Study Results

those with increased mortality salience more likely to favor George W Bush, those with dental pain for John Kerry

Attitude Behavior Correlations

we like to think that attitudes predict behavior, BUT people frequently behave in ways that are discordant w/ their attitudes