Social Psych.

On an individual level, how do attitudes affect us?

Attitudes can influence behavior, perception, thinking, and other people's attitudes.

Science is

prediction and explanation.

On an interpersonal level how do attitudes affect us?

Attitudes can influence liking and social cohesion.

Attitudes are key in understanding?

Social behavior and improving it.

On a societal level how do attitudes affect us?

Attitudes are at the core of intergroup cooperation and conflict.

Attitudes are about liking or disliking anything like:

Social groups, individuals, and the self.

Attitudes are a psychological tendency that is expressed by?

evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor.

Attitudes are a learned

predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object.

ABC Model of attitudes

We can think of attitudes as comprising 3 components.

Affect:

Feelings or emotions about an object, "High heels make me feel good."

Behavior:

How I act toward an object, "I buy high heels every weekend."

Cognition:

Evaluative beliefs about an object, "High heels make me look sexy."

Kinds of evaluation, square set up.

Specific point in time and a specific object: Emotion, judgment.

Extended over time and a specific object: Attitude

Specific point in time and in general: Mood.

Extended over time and in general: Temperament

Which one of these best captures an "attitude"

a. I hate everything

b. I like turtles

c. I'm in a bit of a funk

d. I'm mad at you

I like turtles.

Which one of these best captures an "temeprament"

a. I hate everything

b. I like turtles

c. I'm in a bit of a funk

d. I'm mad at you

I hate everything.

Do attitudes have to be conscious?

No, they are not necessarily conscious.

Implicit attitudes are?

Attitudes that are relatively unconscious, unintentional, uncontrolled, and effortless.

Implicit attitudes indirectly?

Assess thoughts through performance on implicit measures, not self-report.

Implicit attitudes assess evaluations that...

We hide from others (hating our spouse), hide from ourselves (racism), and are difficult to control (smoking).

selective exposure is the tendency to?

Selectively seek information that reinforces one's attitude or world view, while selectively avoiding information that contradicts one's attitudes.

Schemas

Organizes knowledge about the social world.

Functions of attitudes

-organizing knowledge about what's good or bad.

-mental shortcuts for deciding what to pursue or avoid.

Shared central property:

Guide expectations, inferences, and behavior.

File-drawer model:

Attitudes are well-formed, enduring evaluations stored in our memory. We "look up" attitudes when necessary.

Evidence of file-drawer?

Some attitudes are very stable over time, like political attitudes.

Temporary construction model.

No such thing as a true attitude, attitudes are constructed on the spot based on accessible information, and the evaluation is generated, not retrieved.

Self-perception Theory

We observe our own behavior or states of arousal and then infer the attitude that might have caused it.

Example of Self-Perception Theory

Every time you go out to a restaurant, every time you see something with avocado, you order it and then form the opinion that you 'must' like it very deeply.

Aron study

Interested in sampling men crossing a bridge in a park; as they crossed, they would encounter this survey/attractive woman. A picture was presented, and they were asked to write a short story, and then given a phone number in case they had more questions about the study. The other half were crossing a harder bridge, and what would they do with the phone number?

When you are in a more adrenaline-fueled situation, you might understand those emotions/feelings of first love or a stronger attraction.

People were more likely to call the woman when found in the bad bridge.

File Drawer Model

Attitudes are enduring, well-formed evaluations stored in memory.

temporary construction model

Attitudes are generated on the spot based on available information

Self-perception model

We infer our attitudes based on our own behavior.

Example of file drawer model:

Recalling that when you were little, a cousin was mean to you/their parents, and you did not want to socialize with them.

Example of temporary construction model:

Seeing someone not hold the door for another person and then concluding that they are rude. (First-impressions)

Example of self-perception model:

Spending a lot of time with a person, concluding that you must therefore like them a lot.

Persuasion

Efforts to change attitude-related behavior.

Examples of persuasion

Public health, Politics (MAGA/Biden), and Marketing/Advising (Get vaccines).

What are the basic principles of persuasion?

Automaticity, Sociality, Resonance, and Resistance.

Automaticity

Attitudes are influenced by sources outside of conscious awareness or control.

Sociality

Persuasion fundamentally depends on relationships with other people.

Resonance

Persuasion is more effective when it matches our motivation and ability, and it is relevant.

Resistance

Persuasion can be resisted.

Mere-Exposure Effect

Repeated exposure to a stimulus renders it more positive.

Example of the mere-exposure effect:

The more people were exposed to a Chinese character, the more they liked it later.

According to (Moreland & Beach 1992)

Mere exposure can shape preferences without awareness.

So basically, seeing things more

Makes you like things more.

Sociality

A principle that highlights persuasion is not something we do by ourselves, but rather by how we are connected to other people.

Attribution in persuasion.

A message recipient infers reasons why a communicator presents a certain position. We try to understand the communicator's role, goals, and desires.

For persuasion, what is key in who says it?

Trust is key for communicators.

For persuasion, is there a universally effective way?

There is not one type of communicator who is universally effective.

The Triad of Trust Piramid.

Authority, Social Attractiveness and Credibility.

Credibility

Is this source believable? Believability can come from expertise (Doctor), honesty (Judge), and goodwill.

Social Attractiveness

Am I drawn to the source? Likability (A celebrity that aligns to you), physical attractiveness, similarity(family, group, celebrity you look up to).

Authority

Does the source have authority over me? Train conductor, police officer.

Using source factors to persuade: Testimonials and endorsements.

Sunglasses collaboration, dentist toothpaste.

Word of Mouth

Relying on personal advice when selecting a doctor, relying on another person's recommendation when making a major purchase.

Resonance

When it resonates, depending on the moment you are in your life. Matches the ability to process information.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Central and peripheral route.

Central route

Central route, route to persuasion where people think carefully and deliberately about the content of a persuasive message.

Examples of central route

Attending to logic, argument strength, and related evidence.

Peripheral Route

The route to persuasion is where people attend to easy-to-process, superficial cues related to a persuasive message.

Example of peripheral route

Length of message, expertise, or attractiveness of source.

High elaboration on the line of the likelihood model. (Rent, electronic device)

Central route is more influential

Low elaboration on the line of the likelihood model.

The peripheral route is more influential.

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

Elaboration will be highest when both ability and motivation are high.

Ability is influenced by

Distraction, fatigue, attention, and intelligence.

Central and peripheral routes are both essential to?

navigating the social world.

Central route is useful for what type of decisions?

Important decisions.

Peripheral route is useful for what type of decisions?

quick or trivial decisions.

Motivation is influenced by

Personal relevance and need for cognition.

Need to cognition is the...

Extent to which one enjoys thinking.

Message Matching

Whether the message matches the structure of the attitude.

Examples of message matching:

Moral values, affect, and cognition.

Affective appeals better for attitudes based on?

Affect.

Cognitive appeals are better for attitudes based on?

Beliefs.

Message matching

Whether the message matches the structure of the attitude.

Example of message matchings?

Moral values, affect, and cognition.

Message Content

The messages appeals and arguments.

Example of message content:

Fear

Fear appeals are?

Persuasive messages that attempt to change people's attitudes or behavior by arousing their fear. (aids, smoking)

Affective appeal examples:

Trying to buy a new laptop, looking at reviews.

Threat has to be perceived as both

Likely and severe.

Moderate amounts of fear work best or worse?

Work best.

Strong amounts of fear fail if they overwhelm people by causing people to:

Become defensive, and deny the importance of a threat.

Fear should come with?

An action plan.

Making people afraid without advice on how to deal with it is ineffective, instead...

-Recommend an action plan that works.

-Arm people with a sense that they can do the recommended action.

Example of a recommendation of an action plan that works?

Sunscreen is the most effective way to prevent melanoma.

Example of arming people with a sense that they can do the recommended action?

Here are some tips to remember to put on sunscreen.

Automaticity

Attitudes are influenced by sources outside of conscious awareness or control.

Sociality

Persuasion fundamentally depends on relationships with other people.

Resonance

Persuasion is more effective when it matches our motivation and ability, and it is relevant.

Resistance

Persuasion can be resisted.

How can a person resist persuasion?

-Biases in information processing.

-Awareness of being persuaded.

lalalalalla

Biases in informational processing guard against?

Persuasion

Therefore biases in information processing guard against persuasion in what way?

Selective exposure and motivated reasoning.

Selective exposure

-Attention and encoding.

Example of selective exposure

"Cant be influenced if I am never exposed to it."

Motivated reasoning

-Interpretation, judgment, and what we remember.

Example of motivated reasoning

"Can't be influenced if I don't believe or remember it."