Psychology social influence & attitudes

What is an attitude?

Is an evaluation a person makes about of an event, object, group or issue.

What is an attitude object?

The target of judgement related to an attitude such as an object, person, event or social group. 

Functions of attitudes?

an involuntary or automatic evaluation that occurs without consciousness. 

Functions of explicit attitudes

a response based on conscious judgement and can be measured directly by self-report.

Functions of implicit attitudes

an involuntary or automatic evaluation that occurs without consciousness

How is implicit attitudes measured?

Qualitative and quantitative

What is the tri-partite model of attitudes?

Affective, behavioural and cognitive component

What is the affective components?

feelings or emotions towards an object or person 

What is behavioural component?

Actions towards various people, objects or institutions, refer to past experiences or behaviour regarding an attitude object, infer attitudes from previous experiences

What is cognitive component?

Refer to the beliefs, thoughts and attributes that we would associate with that object, attitude may be positive/negative attributes they associate with an object 

What are the limitations of the tri-partite model?

• Doesn't indicate strength of attitude, only can be used for direction of attitude  

• Strong attitudes: resistant to big change, don't change over time and have big impact on behaviour (Olsen & Maio, 2003)  

• Accessibility of the attitude-how often and quickly the attitude comes to mind  

• Clash between thoughts and feelings (cognitive dissonance) 

• Doesn’t include ambivalent attitudes 

What is cognitive dissonance?

refers to an uncomfortable situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviours (found by Festinger's) 

What year is Festinger & theory?

(1957) Cognitive dissonance theory

What are the effects of Cognitive Dissonance on behaviour?

avoidance, reduction, rationalisation

What is avoidance?

inclination to avoid encountering situations or new information that would  increase dissonance

What is reduction?

to change one's beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours to reduce the inconsistency

What is rationalisation?

the process of constructing a logical justification or explanation for one's beliefs, attitudes or behaviours to make them seem less consistent  

What is a factor of cognitive dissonance?

Magnitude is subjective level of discomfort experiencing cognitive dissonance, Greater magnitude if dissonance = greater pressure to reduce it, factors that contribute to magnitude: personal value of the components contributing to dissonance, maximum level of dissonance an individual can handle.

What are three strategies used to respond to cognitive dissonance?

change in belief, change in behaviour and change perception of the action

What is the study relating to cognitive dissonance?

Cognitive consequences of forced compliance (Festinger & Carlsmith,1959) 

What are strengths of the cognitive dissonance theory?

• Can be tested scientifically using forced compliance. 

• Demonstrates how people do a behaviour a form a belief 

• Instead of form a belief à do an action

What are limitations of the cognitive dissonance theory?

• Doesn't consider individual differences (neurotic vs emotionally stable) 

• Relief on self-report measures which can be easily biased  

What are indicators of Attitude?

• Behaviour 

• Self-report  

• Affective reaction 

• Peer-report 

• Physiological measures  

What are behavioural indicators?

• Head movement 

• Eye contact 

• Galvanic skin response (GSR): drop in the resistance of the skin to the passage of a weak electric current indicative of emotion or physiological arousal (usually measured in the palm of the hand) 

• Implicit-Association Test (IAT): IATs measure our implicit attitudes towards topics etc. 

• IATs are used for measuring more controversial attitudes such as attitudes to race 

What is social psychology?

the scientific study of the nature and causes of individual behaviour in social situations 

What is attribution?

The process of assigning a cause to our own behaviour, and that of others, it aims to explain how people infer the reasons behind the behaviour of others