PSY 2600 Social Psychology: Attitudes, Influence, Emotion & Groups

What is an attitude?

An evaluation—feeling positively, negatively, or ambivalently—of a person, place, object, or idea.

How does an attitude differ from a fact?

An attitude expresses an evaluation; a fact states information that can be checked.

What are the ABCs of attitudes?

Affect (emotions), Behavior, and Cognitions (thoughts).

What is affect?

The emotional core of an attitude: how much you like or dislike something.

What is the behavioral component of an attitude?

Attitudes are tied to approach/avoid tendencies: good things pull us toward them and bad things push us away.

What are cognitions in an attitude?

The thoughts, knowledge, beliefs, and memories associated with an attitude object.

What does 'bad is stronger than good' mean?

Negative experiences often have a stronger impact than comparable positive experiences.

Why do people have attitudes?

Attitudes work like heuristics, allowing quick judgments about good or bad.

What are possible downsides of pre-existing attitudes?

They can make people closed-minded and resistant to change.

What is confirmation bias?

The tendency to favor information that supports one's existing beliefs or attitudes.

What is attitude polarization?

Attitudes become stronger after considering supporting evidence.

What did Lord et al. (1979) study?

People read arguments for and against the death penalty and became biased toward supporting arguments.

What did the Ontario bar study show about attitudes and behavior?

Most bar patrons felt positively about condom use, but actual use was much lower.

Why do attitudes sometimes fail to predict behavior?

Conflicting attitudes, situational constraints, and implicit attitudes can affect behavior.

Why are specific attitudes better predictors of specific behavior?

Specific attitudes match behaviors more closely.

What are implicit attitudes?

Automatic, uncontrollable, and sometimes unconscious attitudes.

How can implicit and explicit attitudes differ?

A person may explicitly support a group but still feel fear or distrust toward its members.

What is the best predictor of behavior according to the slides?

Behavioral intention.

What is the Theory of Planned Behavior?

A theory explaining how attitudes relate to behavioral intentions and behavior.

What is cognitive dissonance?

Inconsistency among thoughts, feelings, and/or actions creates an unpleasant emotional state.

How can people reduce cognitive dissonance?

By changing their behavior or changing their attitude.

What situations can prompt dissonance?

Decisions, effort, and induced compliance.

What is post-decision dissonance?

After a difficult choice, conflicting evaluations of options can create dissonance.

What did the horse-race study by Knox & Inkster (1968) test?

Horse enthusiasts rated their horse's chance of winning before and after placing a bet.

What does the horse-race study demonstrate?

People may change their evaluation to feel more consistent with their decision after betting.

What is effort justification?

Convincing oneself that something is more worthwhile after investing time, effort, or money in it.

What is the IKEA effect?

People may like a product more after assembling it themselves.

What did Aronson & Mills (1959) test in the Psychology of Sex study?

Students underwent different levels of screening to join a group discussing the psychology of sex.

What did Aronson & Mills (1959) find?

Students with severe initiation liked the dull discussion more than those with mild or no initiation.

What did Aronson & Carlsmith (1963) test?

Children rated toys and were told not to play with their second-favorite toy under different threats.

What did Aronson & Carlsmith (1963) find?

Children given a mild threat devalued the forbidden toy, while those given a severe threat did not.

What is persuasion?

An attempt to change a person's attitudes.

What is the Elaboration Likelihood Model?

A model describing two routes to persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route.

What is the central route to persuasion?

Carefully thinking about a message and being influenced by the strength of its arguments.

What is the peripheral route to persuasion?

Being influenced by superficial cues rather than the strength of arguments.

What two factors influence which persuasion route a person uses?

Motivation and ability.

What conditions encourage the central route?

Personal relevance, knowledge of the topic, personal responsibility, motivation, and the ability to evaluate the message.

What conditions encourage the peripheral route?

Low personal relevance, distraction or tiredness, and a message that is incomplete or difficult to understand.

What did Petty et al. (1981) test in the Senior Comprehensive Exams study?

Students heard a speech arguing that all college seniors should take a comprehensive exam before graduation.

What were examples of strong arguments in Petty et al. (1981)?

Schools with comprehensive exams had higher average starting salaries; undergraduate teaching quality improved at schools with exams.

What were examples of weak arguments in Petty et al. (1981)?

Graduate students complained that undergraduates should also take exams; exams would create fear and anxiety to promote studying.

What was the dependent variable in Petty et al. (1981)?

How much students agreed with the speech.

What did Petty et al. (1981) find about personal relevance?

With high personal relevance, students used the central route and were influenced by argument quality.

When should a persuader use the central route?

When the audience has high motivation and ability and the persuader has strong arguments.

When might a persuader use the peripheral route?

When audience motivation or ability is low, or when the persuader does not have strong arguments.

What are the 'who, what, and to whom' components of persuasion?

Who = the source; what = the message/content; to whom = the target audience.

What are examples of source cues for central versus peripheral processing?

Central-route cues include competence and trust; peripheral-route cues include physical attractiveness and similarity.

What are examples of message cues for central versus peripheral processing?

Central cues include strong arguments; peripheral cues can include message length and emotional arousal.

What do the slides say about fear-based messages?

Messages that arouse fear can be highly persuasive, especially when providing information on how to act.

What were the three conditions in the smoking study?

Fear only, information only, and fear plus information.

What is reactance theory?

People are less persuadable when their freedom is threatened.

What is attitude inoculation?

Exposure to small doses of arguments makes people more 'immune' to later attitude change.

What did the forewarning study about teenage driving find?

Students warned beforehand were less persuaded than those who received no warning.

What is social influence?

The ways people adjust their behavior to meet the expectations of others.

What is conformity?

A change in behavior due to the influence of other people.

What is compliance?

A change in behavior due to a request from another person.

What is obedience?

A change in behavior due to a command from an authority figure.

What are the two reasons people conform?

Informational social influence and normative social influence.

What is informational social influence?

Conforming because we see others as a source of correct information.

What is normative social influence?

Conforming to fit in and be accepted.

What is private acceptance?

Actually accepting and internalizing other people's perceptions.

What is public compliance?

Agreeing with a group publicly while believing something different privately.

What did Sherif (1936) investigate with the autokinetic effect?

Participants estimated how far a stationary dot of light appeared to move.

What did Sherif (1936) find?

Participants' estimates converged toward a group norm.

What was the autokinetic effect?

In a dark room, a stationary point of light appears to move.

What did Asch (1956) investigate?

Conformity when a person's judgment conflicts with the majority's judgment.

What did the Asch studies find?

76% of participants conformed to the erroneous majority at least once.

What did the Asch written-answer variation show?

Participants' written answers were consistently correct, indicating normative influence.

How did group size affect conformity in Asch's studies?

Conformity increased with the number of actors up to about 4 people.

How does a dissenter affect conformity?

Even one person who disagrees reduces conformity.

What proportion of Asch participants never conformed?

24% never yielded to the group.

What characteristics are associated with people who do not conform?

They tend to be less concerned with approval, have higher self-esteem, and be less conscientious.

What characteristics did other researchers associate with people who do not conform?

They tended to be less concerned with obtaining others' approval, have higher self-esteem, and be less conscientious.

What did the hand-washing study by Pederson et al. (1986) test?

Whether social norms about hand washing influence behavior.

What did Pederson et al. (1986) find regarding hand washing?

10% washed when the experimenter was present and 84% washed when alone.

What is nonverbal mimicry?

A subtle form of conformity in which people nonconsciously imitate others' behavior.

What is the Chameleon Effect (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999)?

People tend to unconsciously mimic another person's nonverbal behavior.

What did Hove & Risen (2009) find about synchrony?

Tapping in sync led participants to like the experimenter more.

What did Wiltermuth & Heath (2009) find about walking in step?

Groups of three who walked in step felt more connected, trusted one another more, and cooperated more.

What did Milgram's obedience studies examine?

Whether powerful situations and authority can lead ordinary people to obey commands.

What were the main findings reported from Milgram's study?

63% delivered the maximum level of electric shock, and 80% went up to 360 volts.

How did making the learner more physically present affect obedience?

Obedience decreased when the learner was more directly present.

How did distance from the experimenter affect obedience?

Obedience decreased when the experimenter gave orders from another room.

How did reducing the study's authority affect obedience?

Moving the study to a run-down office building and changing the experimenter's attire decreased obedience.

What situational changes decreased obedience in Milgram-style studies?

Non-gradual escalation of shocks and the presence of defiant actors.

What are Cialdini's six principles of compliance?

Reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency/commitment, liking, and consensus.

What is reciprocity?

The principle that people feel they should repay others for what they give them.

What did Cialdini's gift-giving study find?

36% donated when address labels were included as a gift versus 17% without.

Why does reciprocity work?

Receiving a favor creates a sense of obligation.

What is the door-in-the-face technique?

The influencer begins with an inflated request and then retreats to a smaller request.

What did the juvenile delinquent study demonstrate?

The door-in-the-face technique increased agreement from 17% to 50%.

What is the "that's-not-all" technique?

The influencer starts with an inflated request and adds a discount or bonus.

What did Burger (1986) find about the "that's-not-all" technique?

Cupcakes discounted from $1 to 75 cents sold better than those initially offered at 75 cents.

What is scarcity?

Opportunities seem more valuable when they appear less available.

How do marketers create a sense of scarcity?

By limiting the number of products or the time to purchase.

What is the authority principle?

People are more likely to comply when the requester is in a position of authority.

What did the uniform study find?

Pedestrians complied more with a uniformed request (72%) than with professional attire (48%).

Why does authority work as a compliance principle?

People are socialized to respect and comply with authority figures.

What is consistency/commitment?

After making a commitment, people feel pressure to behave consistently with it.

What did the restaurant reservation study find?

Changing a statement into a question reduced no-shows from 30% to 10%.