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