PSY124 attitudes and persuasion

attitude

A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, place,object or idea;

multidimensional;

explicit (aware)/ implicit (not aware)

dispositional attitudes

tendency to be more positive or negative in their attitudes.

genetic (parents) and learning( experience)

evaluate conditioning

a stimulus can be shaped by its association with something you already like or dislike

attitude scales

series of self-report questions measuring your attitude toward something

bogus pipeline

phony lie detector used to increase honest self response

covert measures/non verbal

person is unaware of mesurement/unable to control it

Implicit association test (IAT)

measures the relative reaction time it takes to associate concepts together

could be:

in-group positivity

stereotypes

awareness of privilege

Theory of Planned Behavior

Specific Attitude + Social Norms + Perceived Control → Intention → Specific Behavior

attitude strength

self interest

personal values

close others

source effects

Characteristics of the person delivering the message

credibility

must be competent and trustworthy 

likeability

must be similarity to self and attractiveness

sleeper effect

if a source seems unreliable at first, its message can start to seem more believable later (soc media)

discounting cue hypothesis

we ignore unreliable sources at first, but as time passes, we forget who said it and only remember the message → so we start to believe it more.

2 routes of persuasion

central - rational, see a message strength

peripheral - mental shortcuts, surface cues

2 routes of persuasion

timing effect

primacy: if messages are close together, the 1st is more persuasive

recency: if messages are spaced out, the latter is more persuasive 

fear appeals

can be effective,but must give instruction on what to do

positive emotions

good mood can enhance persuasion via peripheral route

audience factors

need for cognition - prefer thinking

psychol reactance - you trying to persuade me, i will resist it

inoculation hyp - a small “dose” of the opposing view builds resistance to stronger persuasion later

cognitive dissonance th

Feeling uneasy when your actions don’t match your beliefs, which pushes you to reduce the mismatch.

(it happens when what you do doesn’t fit what you believe)

Insufficient Justification:

the beh was freely chosen/done without any real rewards

Insufficient deterrence

the beh was done without real punishment

options to reduce dissonance

change the attitude/ beh

change your perception of the beh

create a beh-supporting cognition

minimize the importance of dissonance

reduce perceived choice

Justifying Effort and Cost

tend to like something more if it cost us dearly

Justifying Decisions

exaggerate the positive features of what we chose and the negative features of what we did not choose

cognitive dissonance (new look)

negative consequences of beh

personal responsibility outcomes (freedom of choice)

physiological aroussal occurs

attribution of arousal to beh