Social Psychology Exam #3, Chapter #7

Subjective norms:

People's beliefs about how other people care about will view the behavior in question.

2nd Component of Attitude: Affective Component

People's emotional reactions toward the attitude object

1st Component of Attitude: Cognitive Component

The thoughts and beliefs that people form about the attitude object

Affectively-Based Attitudes are Grouped into one family because they

1. Do not result from a rational examination of the issues 2. Are not governed by logic 3. Are often linked to people's values, so that trying to change them challenges those values.

Affectively Based Attitude

1st Def: An attitude rooted more in emotions and values than on an objective appraisal of pluses and minuses is an affectively-based attitude. 2nd Def: An attitude based more on people's feelings and values than on their beliefs about the nature of an attitude object. Ex. As a guide to which attitudes are likely to be affectively based, consider the topics that etiquette manuals suggest should not be discussed at a dinner party; politics, sex, and religion. People seem to vote more with their hearts than their minds, for example, caring more about how they feel about a candidate than their beliefs about his or her specific policies. In fact, it has been estimated that one-third of the electorate knows virtually nothing about specific politicians but still has strong feelings about them. People's feelings are based more on their values than a cold hard examination of the fats (abortion, premarital sex, death penalty.)

Elaboration Likelihood Model

A model explaining two ways in which persuasive communication can cause attitude change; centrally, when people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication (logic of the arguments), and peripherally, when people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead swayed by surface characteristics. (ex. who gave the speech, how long was it?" The theory states that under certain conditions, people are motivated to pay attention to the facts in a communication, and so they will be most persuaded when these facts are compelling.

Need for Cognition

A personality variable reflecting the extent to which people engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities. Some people enjoy thinking things through more than others do. People high in the need for cognition are more likely to form their attitudes by paying close attention to relevant arguments (via the central route) whereas people low in the need for cognition are more likely to rely on peripheral cues, such as how attractive or credible a speaker is.

Behaviorally-Based Attitudes

An attitude based on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object. A behaviorally-based attitude stems from people's observations of how they behave toward an object. This may seem a little bit odd... how do we know how to behave if we don't already know how to feel? Ex. If you ask a friend how much she likes to exercise, and she replies "Well I guess I like it, because I am always going for a run or heading over to the gym to work out" we would say that she has a behaviorally-based attitude, as her attitude is based more on an observation of her behavior than on her cognitions or affect. This is only necessary if their initial attitude is weak or ambiguous; if your friend already has a strong attitude about exercising, there is no need to observe her behavior to infer how she feels about it. If you friend is only there to lose weight, she may be unlikely to assume that she runs and works out because she likes it.

Cognitively Based Attitude

An attitude based primarily on people's beliefs about the properties of an attitude object. Ex. Sometimes our attitudes are based primarily on the relevant facts, such as the objective merits of an automobile. "How many miles/gallon does it get? What are its safety features?" To the extent that people's evaluation is based primarily on their beliefs about the properties of an attitude object, we say it is a cognitively based attitude... Consider your attitude towards a vacuum cleaner... your attitude is likely to be based on your beliefs about the objective merits of particular brands, such as how well they vacuum up dirt and how much they cost- not how sexy they make you feel.

Heuristic-Systematic Model of Persuasion

An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communities can cause attitude change; either systematically processing the merit of the arguments or using mental shortcuts (heuristics) such as "experts are always right." "long messages are more persuasive than short ones" Heuristic is a simple rule people use to decide what their attitude is without having to spend a lot of time analyzing every little detail about the matter. We use the "How do I feel about it?" Heuristic in which if we feel good, we have a positive attitude, and if we feel bad, it's thumbs down. Ex. If you go shopping for a new couch, and you find one in your price range, you use the "how do I feel about it?" heuristic... do you feel good sitting in it? You'll probably buy it if you do. But you are forgetting other important variables, such as if you were in a good mood, etc, on something completely unrelated.

Implicit Attidue

Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable and at times unconscious. For example, students may believe explicitly that they dislike math but have a more positive attitude at an implicit level. Laurie Rudman et all (2007) found evidence that implicit attitudes are rooted more in people's childhood experiences whereas explicit attitudes are rooted more in their recent experiences. Ex. Someone who was overweight as a child but is a normal weight in adulthood may be more likely to have positive feelings towards those who are overweight.

Explicit Atitude

Attitudes we consciously endorse and easily report; what we think of as our evaluations when someone asks us a question like "What is your opinion about affirmative action?"

Persuasive communication

Communication (speech, tv ad, etc) advocating a particular side of the issue. How should you construct your message so that it would change people's attitudes?

Attitude Inoculation: Experiment Example

Ex. William McGuire inoculated people by giving them brief arguments against cultural truisms, beliefs that most members of a society accept uncritically, such as the idea that we should brush our teeth after every meal. Two days later, people came back and read a much stronger attack on the truism, one that contained a series of logical arguments about why brushing your teeth too frequently is a bad idea. The people who had been inoculated against these arguments were much less likely to change their attitudes than a control group who had not been inoculated. Why? The individuals who were inoculated with weak arguments had time to think about why these arguments were false, making them more able to contradict the stronger attack they heard 2 days later. The control group, never having thought about how often people should brush their teeth were particularly susceptible to the strong communication arguing against frequent brushing.

Success of Various Attitudes

Fight fire with fire. If an attitude is cognitively-based, enforce it with logic. Ex. vacuum cleaner is durable, price-effective, etc. If an attitude is affectively-based, enforce it with emotions. Ex. Perfume or designer jeans make you look/feel beautiful

Changing Attitudes by Changing Behavior: Cognitive Dissonance Theory

From last exam, CDT is when people behave inconsistently with their attitudes and cannot find external justification for their behavior. People experience cognitive dissonance when they do something that threatens their image.

3rd Component of Attitude: Behavioral Component

How people act toward the attitude object.

How do attitudes change?

In America, the popularity of the president often seems to rise and fall with surprising speed. In the weeks before 9/11, only about 50 percent of americans approved of the job GWB was doing, as opposed to 86 percent after. When attitudes change, they often do so in response to social influence. Our attitude toward everything from a presidential candidate to a brand of laundry detergent can be influenced by what other people do or say.

Attitude Inoculation

Making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by initially exposing them to small doses of the arguments against their position. One thing you can do is to consider the arguments against your attitude before someone attacks it. The more people have thought about pro and con arguments beforehand using this technique, the better they can ward off attempts to change their minds using logical arguments. Ex. Having considered the arguments beforehand, people are relatively immune to the effects of the later communication, just as exposing people to a small amount of a virus can inoculate them against exposure to the full-blown viral disease. In contrast, if people have not thought much about the issue- that is, they formed their attitude using the peripheral route, they are particularly susceptible to an attack on that attitude using logical appeals.

Two levels of attitude

Once an attitude develops, it can exist at two levels.

Where do Attitudes Come from?

One provocative answer to the question is that attitudes are linked with our genes. Evidence for this conclusion comes from the fact that identical twins share more attitudes than fraternal twins, even when the identical twins were raised in different homes and never knew each other. One study, for example, found that identical twins had more similar attitudes toward such things as the death penalty and jazz than fraternal twins did. Even if there is a genetic component, social psychologists claim that social experiences clearly play a major role in shaping our attitudes, by focusing on these experiences and how they result in different kinds of attitudes.

Implicit Association Task

People categorize words or pictures on a computer.

Central Route of Persuasion

People elaborate on what they hear, carefully thinking about and processing the content of the communication. The case whereby people elaborate on a persuasive communication, listening carefully to and thinking about arguments, as occurs when people have both the ability and the motivation to listen carefully to a communication. People are persuaded by surface characteristics of the message; is it long, ho attractive is the person, is that person an expert? People are swayed by things PERIPHERAL TO THE MESSAGE ITSELF.

Attitude toward the behavior:

People's specific attitude toward the behavior, not general. ex. would proprieters serve an educated, well-dressed, well-to-do chinese couple accompanied by a white american college professor

Fear-Arousing Communications

Persuasive messages that attempt to change people's attitudes by arousing their fears. Ex. messages in practicing safer sex, wearing seat belts, and staying away from drugs. In Canada, cigarette packs have been required to display graphic pictures of diseased gums and other body parts that cover at least 50% of the outside label.

Predicting Spontaneous Behaviors

Sometimes we act spontaneously, thinking little about what we are about to do. Similarly, when someone stops us on the street and asks us to sign a petition in favor of a change in the local zoning laws, we usually don't stop and think about it for 5 minutes, we decide whether to sign the petition on-the-spot.

Perceived behavioral control

The ease with which people believe they can perform the behavior

Theory of Planned Behavior

The idea that the best predictors of a person's planned, deliberate behaviors are the person's attitudes toward specific behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.

Reactance Theory

The idea that when people feel their freedom to perform a certain behavior is threatened, an unpleasant state of reluctance is aroused, which they can reduce by performing the threatened behavior. The "boomerang" effect. The stronger the prohibition is, the more likely they will boomerang, causing an increase in interest in the prohibited activity. Ex. Researchers place two signs in the bathrooms in a college campus. One is labeled "do not write under these walls under any circumstances" and the other "please do not write on these walls." People who receive strong admonitions against smoking, taking drugs, or getting their nosed pierced become more likely to perform these behaviors to restore their sense of personal freedom and choice.

What determines whether people take the central versus the peripheral route to persuasion?

The key is whether people have both the motivation and the ability to pay attention to the facts. If people are truly interested in the topic and thus motivated to pay close attention to the arguments AND if people have the ability to pay attention-for example, if nothing is distracting them- they are more likely to take the central route. How important is the topic to the person's well-being? How personally relevant is this to you? Ex. College students asked to listen to a speech arguing that all college seniors should be required to pass a comprehensive exam in their major before they graduate. Half were told this was something the university was doing. Half were told the speaker arguing towards this was a Princeton professor, half were told it was a HS grad. Results showed that when the issue was highly relevant, people were swayed by the quality of the arguments more than the expertise of the speaker. (Central route of persuasion.) When the issue was low in relevance, people were swayed by the expertise of the speaker more than the quality of the arguments (peripheral route to persuasion)

Classical Conditioning

The phenomenon whereby a stimulus that elicits an emotional response (ex. your grandmother) is repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus that does not (ex. meatballs,) until the neutral stimulus takes on the emotional properties of the first stimulus.

Operant conditioning

The phenomenon whereby behaviors we freely choose to perform become more or less frequent, depending on whether they are followed by a reward (positive reinforcement) or a punishment. Ex. Imagine that a 4-year-old girl white girl goes to the playground with her father and begins to play with a black girl. Her father tells her "we don't play with that kind of child." It doesn't take long before the child associates interacting with African Americans with disapproval, adopting her fathers racist attitudes.

Attitude Accessibility

The strength of the association between an attitude object and a person's evaluation of that object, measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about the object. When accessibility is high, your attitude comes to mind whenever you see or think about the attitude object. When accessibility is low, your attitude comes to mind more slowly. Highly accessible attitudes are more likely to predict spontaneous behaviors because people are more likely to be thinking about their attitude when they are called to act.

Yale Attitude Change Model

The study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages, focusing on "who said what to whom" the SOURCE of the communication (who), the NATURE of the communication, (what) the NATURE of the audience (whom). Ex. credible speakers persuade people more than speakers with less credibility. Attractive speakers persuade more than unattractive. People are more persuaded by messages that do not seem to be designed to influence hem. An audience that is distracted during the persuasive communication will often be persuaded more than one that is not.

Culture and Different Types of Attitudes

Western cultures stress independence and individualism, whereas asian cultures stress interdependence and collectivism. People in western culture may base their attitudes more on concerns about individuality and self-improvement, whereas people in asian cultures base their attitudes about their standing in social group, such as in their families. Ex. Researchers created different ads for the same product that stressed interdependence (ex. an ad for shoes that said "it's easy when you have the right shoes) and interdependence "the shoes for your family") and showed them to americans/koreans. Americans were persuaded by 1st one, koreans the 2nd.

The Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion

When is it best to stress factors central to the communication- such as the strength of the arguments- and when is it best to stress factors peripheral to the logic of the arguments, such as the credibility or attractiveness of the person delivering the speech?

When will attitudes predict behavior?

When people change their attitudes (the don't like cigarettes as much) they change their behaviors (they stop smoking.)

Subliminal Messages

Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may nevertheless influence people's judgments, attitudes, and behaviors. Ex. "drink coke" "eat popcorn"

Attitudes

evaluations of people, object, and ideas. Each of us evaluates our world; it would be very odd to hear someone say "I feel completely neutral toward anchovies, chocolate, Radiohead, and Barack Obama." Attitudes often determine what we do- whether we eat anchovies and chocolate, attend Radiohead concerts, and vote for Barack Obama.