Psychology - Attitudes and Stereotypes

What is an Attitude

A learnt, stable and relatively enduring evaluation of a person, object, event or idea that can affect and individual's behaviour. they have both direction and intensity

whats an attitude object

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

what is intensity in attitude?

how strongly we feel about an issue

what is direction in attitude?

whether our attitude is positive, neutral or negative

what are the two main functions of attitudes

implicit, explicit attitudes

what are explicit attitudes?

conscious judgements held toward an attitude object and can be easily reported by individuals. can be easily changed

what are implicit attitudes?

unconscious or automatic evaluations that occur without conscious awareness or deliberate control. •Are resistant to change

what are the components of the tripartite model?

affective component, behavioural, cognitive

what is the affective component?

refers to your feelings or emotions linked to an attitude object

what is the behavioural component?

refers to past behaviours or experiences regarding an attitude object. The idea that people might infer their attitudes from their previous actions.

what is the cognitive component?

refer to the beliefs, thoughts, and attributes that we would associate with an object. Many times a person's attitude might be based on the negative and positive attributes they associate with an object.

what is cognitive dissonance?

the aversive state of arousal - feelings of tension & discomfort that occurs when a person holds two or more cognitions that are inconsistent with each other.

what are the effects of cognitive dissonance on behaviour?

Avoidance, reduction, rationalisation

what is avoidance in behaviour

People are inclined to avoid encountering situations and new information that could increase cognitive dissonance

what is reduction in behaviour

Taking actions to eliminate or reduce the conflict between thoughts and behaviour.

what is rationalism in behaviour

Individuals experiencing cognitive dissonance tend to rationalise, or justify their behaviour

what is magnitude in cognitive dissonance

Magnitude refers to the intensity or strength of the dissonance experienced. The greater the conflict between beliefs and behaviour, the stronger the discomfort, and the greater the motivation/pressure to reduce it.

Ways cognitive dissonance is reduced

Change Beliefs, behaviour, perception of action

change beliefs to reduce cognitive dissonance

Alter the original attitude or belief to match the behaviour.

Change Behaviour to reduce cognitive dissonance

Modify the behaviour to align with beliefs.

Change Perception of the Action

Reinterpret the meaning or context of the behaviour to make it seem less inconsistent.

what year was festingers theory of cognitive dissonance

1957

what are the strengths of the cognitive dissonance theory

The theory can be tested scientifically, Demonstrates how people can perform a behaviour (act first), then develop a belief, rather than initially forming a belief and then responding to it.

what are the limitations of the cognitive dissonance theory

Theory does not consider individual differences, Results of cognitive dissonance can be measured (e.g., through self-reports), but cognitive dissonance itself is unable to be observed

what year did festinger and carlsmiths cognitive consequences of forced compliance study take place

1959

explain the cognitive consequences of forced compliance study

71 male students from a psychology class at Stanford University. students participated in experiments under the false pretense that they were being evaluated for future improvement Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions:

•Control group

•One-dollar group

•Twenty-dollar group

Participants placed 12 spoons on a tray, emptied it, and repeated this for 1 hour. Then, they used one hand to turn 48 square pegs a quarter-turn clockwise for 30 minutes while the experimenter pretended to take notes. After completing the tasks, participants were told there were two experimental conditions:

•No introduction to the tasks

•An introduction by a student who says the tasks are interesting and fun

what did the control group do in the cognitive consequences of forced compliance study

Taken to the secretary's office under the pretense they'd meet another student (no further action).

what did the One-dollar and twenty-dollar groups do in the cognitive consequences of forced compliance study

•Told the regular student (confederate) was absent

•Asked to tell the next participant the tasks were fun and interesting

•Told they'd be added to a contact list for future help

•One-dollar group received $1; twenty-dollar group received $20. Participants were taken to the secretary's office to meet a female confederate (posing as another participant).

•A hidden recorder captured the conversation.

•Confederate acted surprised the tasks were described as fun (claiming a friend had found them boring).

Participants (especially those paid) insisted the tasks were enjoyable and encouraged her to participate

what were the key findings in the cognitive consequences of forced compliance study

$1 group rated tasks as more enjoyable than $20 group and control; more interested in future participation

$1 group experienced cognitive dissonance:

•Belief = tasks were boring

•Action = told another participant tasks were fun

•$1 not enough to justify lying → changed attitude to reduce dissonance

$20 group felt less dissonance:

•Payment was sufficient justification for lying

•No need to change attitude

Higher dissonance in $1 group → more pressure to reduce it → more attitude change

Negative relationship between incentive size and attitude change:

•Low incentive ($1) → high dissonance → greater attitude change

•High incentive ($20) → low dissonance → minimal attitude change

cognitive consequences of forced compliance study contribution to psychology

•This experiment provided inspiration for other researchers to perform alternative studies that demonstrated similar findings therefore resulting in good reliability

•Cognitive dissonance can be tested using the scientific method

Criticisms and limitations of the consequences of forced compliance study

•Explicit attitudes were measured using rating scales, rather than implicit attitudes. This means that unconscious cognitions or emotions were not recorded.

•As deception was used in the experiment, to prevent participants knowing the true purpose of the study and effect results, participants could not give informed consent.

It is argued that the experiment has poor validity as the tasks used unlikely to occur in everyday life

what is attribution theory

The theory that humans have an innate need to understand why people behave in certain ways. When we observe another's actions we make decisions about the intention of the actions and the responsibility

what is attribution

The process of attaching meaning to our behaviour, or the behaviour of others by looking for causes to explain the behaviour

Dispositional attribution

Assumption that behaviour is due to personal or internal factors

situational attribution

What is dispositional attribution

The assumption that behaviour is due to internal or personal factors

Examples of reasons:

•Traits

•Ability

•Motivation

•Attitude

•Mood

•Effort

what is situational attribution

The assumption that behaviour is due to environmental or external factors

Examples of reasons:

•Environmental setting

•Situation

•Luck

•Actions of another person

what is Fundamental Attribution Error

Refers to the tendency to overemphasise dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining others behaviour.

Common Example: Assuming someone is late to a meeting because they are disorganised, rather than considering they were stuck in traffic

why does Fundamental Attribution Error occur

•Perceptual focus is often on the person, not the environment.

•People have limited knowledge about others' situations.

•It's cognitively simpler and faster to make dispositional judgments

what is Self-serving bias

This is the tendency to attribute one's successes to internal factors (like ability or effort) and failures to external factors (like bad luck or unfair situations)

•Example: A student who does well on a test may say, "I'm smart" (dispositional), but if they fail, they may say, "The teacher made it too hard" (situational).

It serves to protect self-esteem and maintain a positive self-image

what is Group-Serving Bias

•People attribute positive outcomes for their ingroup to internal factors (e.g., "We won because we're talented") and negative outcomes to external factors (e.g., "We lost because the referees were biased").

•Example: A sports fan might believe their team won due to skill but blame a loss on poor officiating or unfair conditions.

what are the names of the theorists credited with social identity theory and the year it took place

Tajfel and Turner, 1979

what is social identity

Social identity is a person's sense of who they are based on their group membership

can be positive or negtive

Example:

•People who attend a local church (positive social identity)

•People part of a violent street gang (negative social identity)

what is the social identity theory

The central hypothesis of social identity theory is that group members of an in-group will seek to find negative aspects of an out-group, thus enhancing their self-image ('us' versus 'them' mentality).

•Dockers vs Eagles

•North of the river versus south

•Iona vs St Hilda's

what is in-group and out-group

•The group YOU belong to is YOUR INGROUP

•The group YOU DON'T belong to is the OUTGROUP

what did tajfel and turner do

•proposed three mental processes that we use to determine and maintain who is part of an in-group or out-group.

1.Social categorisation

2.Social identification