Ch 7: Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency

Flashcards covering key vocabulary from the lecture on attitudes, beliefs, and consistency in social psychology.

Attitude

A global evaluation toward some object or issue.

Example of an attitude

I don’t like cold weather

Belief

Pieces of information about something.

Example of a belief

Cold weather makes me sick

Why do people have attitudes?

• Sort things into good or bad

• Helps make decisions faster

Cognitive miser

Spending less time actively thinking

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

A theory stating that inconsistencies produce psychological discomfort, prompting individuals to rationalize behavior or change attitudes.

• When your beliefs are opposite from your actions

Rationalizing Behavior

Actively thinking about our action and finding reasons why we act that way

Rationalizing Behavior example

Yeah, smoking is bad, but it helps me relax and reduces my stress, which is also bad for my health.

Change attitudes example

Quitting smoking or realizing that they need help

Mere Exposure Effect

The tendency to come to like things simply because they are encountered repeatedly.

• If we have a neutral or good reaction to something we begin to like it more

• If we have a negative reaction to something we begin to dislike it more

Embodied attitudes

Bodily movements shape people’s attitudes

Example of embodied attitudes 🧘‍♀

Half smile in yoga makes you feel better

Classical conditioning

• Learning in which, through repeated pairings, a neutral stimulus comes to evoke a conditioned response

Example of classical conditioning (Jordans)

Dual Attitudes

Different evaluations of the same attitude object held by the same person, often one being deliberate and the other automatic.

Dual attitude example (tech)

• Positive: A person might love the convenience of smartphones and the ability to stay connected to the world.

• Negative: However, they may also feel frustrated with how technology makes people more distracted and less present in face-to-face interactions.

Deliberate attitudes

• Aka explicit attitudes

• Consciously choosing

Deliberate attitude example

• Choosing to not lock the door because nothing is going to happen is a racial miority is near by

• Cultural diversity is valuable

Automatic attitudes

• Aka implicit attitudes

• Very fast

• Gut-like response

Automatic attitude example

• Locking the doors while driving by a racial minority

• Associate people from that culture with certain stereotypes

Operant Conditioning

Learning in which people are more likely to repeat behaviors that have been rewarded and less likely to repeat behaviors that have been punished.

Reinforcement

• Positive: Add a pleasant stimulus

  • Giving a child a cookie for completing their homework

• Negative: Remove an unpleasant stimulus

  • Taking an aspirin to relieve a headache, so you keep using it.

• Increases a behavior

Punishment

• Positive: Add an unpleasant stimulus

  • Scolding a dog for barking loudly.

• Negative: Remove a pleasant stimulus

  • Taking away a teenager's phone for breaking curfew

• Decreases behavior

Social learning

learning which occurs when people are more likely to imitate behaviors if they have seen others rewarded for them

Attitude Polarization

The phenomenon where people’s attitudes become more extreme as they reflect on them.

Attitude polarization example (parenting)

A parent who leans slightly toward natural parenting reads blogs that support that style. Their views become more extreme, rejecting any modern medicine or structured approaches.

Effort Justification

The tendency to convince oneself that suffering, hard work, or sacrifice is worthwhile.

• Immigrants with their children

Post-decision Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance experienced after making a difficult choice.

Post-decision dissonance example (cars)

You choose a red car over a blue one. Later, you start to wonder, “What if the blue one had better features?” To ease that tension, you tell yourself, “The red one has better mileage anyway — I definitely made the right choice.”

How does the automatic and the deliberate systems help with consistency?

• Automatic: learns to detect inconsistencies and send out alarm signals (distress, arousal)

  • Ex. Feeling discomfort about a race

• Deliberate: steps in and finds some resolution to the inconsistency by thinking about how to rationalize or rethink things. Overrides the inconsistency.

  • Ex. ______ is why I avoid them, or they are not all the same

Belief Perseverance

The tendency for beliefs to remain unchanged even when the information on which they are based is discredited.

Belief vs Doubt

• Automatic (if you understand and believe it)

• Controlled and conscious thought (adding a but to the belief)

Self-Validation Theory

The theory that our thoughts become more consequential as the perceived validity of those thoughts increases.

The more we believe our own thoughts are correct or valid, the more influence those thoughts have on how we feel and what we do.

Self validation theory example (mess up)

You have a thought: “I’m probably going to mess this up.”

• If you strongly believe that thought (you think it’s valid and true), you’ll probably feel more anxious, perform worse, and avoid future speaking opportunities.

• If you don’t believe that thought or you challenge it (“Wait, I’ve done well before — I’m just nervous”), then it won’t affect your confidence as much, and you’ll likely perform better.

Accessibility of Attitudes

How easily an attitude comes to mind when making decisions or evaluations.

Cognitive Coping

The concept that beliefs play a central role in helping people cope with and recover from misfortunes.

Downward comparison

it was bad but could have been worse

Upward comparison

It could have been better

• Does not help recover

Assumptive Worlds

Social worlds based on certain beliefs about reality such as the belief that the world is benevolent and just.

Assumptive worlds example

“The world is fair.”

We assume good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.

• Example: After someone is kind and generous but gets seriously hurt in an accident, this assumption may be shaken — “Why did something so awful happen to someone so good?”

Religious Belief

Beliefs that can help people cope with stress and promote effective coping strategies.

Irrational Beliefs

Beliefs that lack a rational basis and can negatively impact mental health.