Social Psych Exam 2

perception

likes and dislikes change

attitude

an association in memory between an object and a summary evaluation of an object

• attitude objects can include people, animals, places, tjings, and abstract concepts

positive attitude

primarily liking

negative attitude

primarily disliking

weak or neutral attitudes

little or no evaluation, “nonattitude”

ambivalent attitude

like and dislike at the same time

univalent attiude

positive or negative, non-ambivalent

valence

positive or negative

extremitiy

how much positivity or negativity

strength

how accessible (quick to mind) is the attitude

extreme resistant to change, persistent

ability to predict behavior

change of meaning

attitude objects can change across time or context

if the meaning of the object changes, the evaluation may change too

ex. same quote from Elon Musk and reporter

how to attitudes form?

ABC - affect, behavior, cognition

affect

feeling toward an attitude object

behavior

observing our own behavior toward attitude object

cognition

beliefs about an attitude object

thin bar between attitudes and objects

low association

think bar between attitudes and objects

high association

mere exposure effect

repeated exposure to an object can lead to liking it more but too much exposure can backfire due to boredom

processing fluency

subjective ease with which one understands (processes) information

evaluative conditioning

an attitude object becomes more positive or negative after it is repeatedly associated with something already liked or disliked

self-perception

we can infer our own attitudes by observing our behaviors

ex. we go to class so we must like it

learning

attitudes form as we learn positive and/or negative inofrmation about an object

attitudes may reflect affect, behavior and cognition but affect can be especially influential

specificity principle

specific attitudes predicts behaviors better than broad attitudes

ex. birth control → using birth control pills in next 2 years

subjective norm

our perceptions of what others think we should do

when higher, less predictive

perceived control

how much control people think they have over their own behavior

when low attitudes, don’t predict behavior

direct measure

ask people what they think or feel, often self-report

likert scale

scale of 1-7 agree to disagree

semantic differential

rate an object between opposite evaluations

ex. bad to good, gross to tasty (-3 to 3)

limitations of direct measures

may not want to report and race, gender, sexuality, religion, addiction, narcissism, or socially desirable responding

indirect measures

infer an attitude by observing something other than a direct self-report and can reduce socially desirable responding

physiological indirect approach example

facial EMG - records activity in muscles in face

EEG - records electrical activity brain from scalp

behavior indirect approach examples

nonverbal, eye contact, seating difference

implicit measures indirect approach examples

evaluating priming procedure

evaluative priming procedure (EEP)

a prime can elicit positivity or negativity depending on a persons attitude, allowing researchers to infer the attitude based on the effects of that prime

• the goal is to capture attitude

• ex. face is beautiful or ugly

persuasion

the process of changing an attitude

who - persuasion

the source

says what - persuasion

content/message

to whom - persuasion

the audience/recipient

source characteristics

credibility and likability

why might arguing against one’s self-interest increase persuasion?

ex. military professional says military spends too much vs Dr. Jesse says

less biased

comprehensibility

more persuasive when words are not understandable

argument quality

high quality arguments more persuasive (no effect)

one sided

gives no credit to opponents side

better if initially agrees

two sided

acknowledge opposing views but speak to won view

better if initially disagree

fear appeals

motivates attention, but can backfire

negative mood may increase

vigilance (thinking) and positive mood may reduce it

need for cognition

amount people enjoy thinking, more likely to process argument and increase argument quality

self monitoring

amount people think about and tailor their image

message matching

messages most effective when relevant

elaboration

thinking

likelihood of elaboration

motivation to think and ability to think

when people elaborate

persuasion depends on thoughts generated while considering the message

strong arguments lead to

logical/sensible thoughts which lead to positive attitude change

weak arguments lead to

illogical/senseless thoughts which lead to negative attitude changes

central route

strong/weak arguments lead to positive/negative attitude change

can change an attitude a lot positive or negative

peripheral route

barely notice the underlying meaning when distracting images present

change an attitude medium amount negatively and little positively

physical attraction

elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

central or peripheral route

personal relevance

a manipulation of motivation to deliberate

source credibaility

should affect people who are on the peripheral route

argument quality

should affect people who are on the central route

inoculation

exposure to a counter argument can increase resistance to a later argument

weak arguments lead to counterarguments which lead to

attitude change becomes stronger and later persuasion

cognitive dissonance

an uncomfortable state of arousal (anxiety) resulting from 2 conflicting thoughts that contradict each other

• motivate a change in attitude or behavior

• ex. do you want to live forever? yes and no

steps to cognitive dissonance

1. If thoughts are relevant, then:

2. Dissonance or consonance. If dissonance, then:

3. Negative arousal/anxiety

4. Motivation to reduce this anxiety, which may lead to:

5. a change in cognition or behavior

3 ways to reduce dissonance

change a cognition, add a consonant cognition, and minimize importance

change a congition example

exercise isn’t important

add a consonant cognition

add a new thought or behavior

ex. I’ll go on a run tomorrow

minimize importance

decide the conflict is not very important

ex. I’'ll focus on my diet tomorrow

insufficient justification

hypocrisy leads to attitude change, but only if people feel like hypocrisy was freely chosen

occurs when people contrary to an attitude but have too little external justification for the behavior

“I acted against my attitude (hypocrisy) without enough external reason” → “I acted consistently with my attitude”

participants complete boring task have have to tell people it was fun and paid either $1 or $20

$20- “I was coerced” (add a cognition)

$1 - “I must have liked it after all” (change cognition)

effort justifcation

after putting substantial effort into an outcome that is disappointing, people may change their attitude toward the outcome to justify it

“I worked hard, but the payoff was disappointing” → “It was worth it”

women in 50s have high effort (vulgar) and low effort (gentle) conversations that were intentionally boring.

women rated conversation with high effort most likable because it was harder and therefore more likely to stay in group

don’t want to lose something you worked hard for

spreading of alternatives

occurs after choosing between two similarly valued options. after choosing people tend to evaluate the chosen option more favorably and the rejected option more negatively

“I chose one of two similarly valued options” → “I naturally chose the better one”

system jusification threory

the face of negative information about a social system, people may become more favorable toward that system

“The system is bad” + “I am dependent on the system”

institution fails people during a crisis

the system failed me + I may need this system = It was my fault for leaving here

unequal rewards for work

my work is equal + I recieve less = I didn’t work as hard

oppressed entitlement

differences in wages

self concept

beliefs about oneself

• attributes, relationships, preferences

• identity makes us feel unique

• powerful schema

working self concept

self-beliefs are currently accessible

independent

uniqueness, self as relatively separate fro others, western/inidividualistic cultures

interdependent

belonging, self is embedded in relationship/groups, collectivistic/eastern cultures

optimal distinctiveness theory

people balance a need to be independent with a need for interdependence

• optimal is at the exact equal balance between

what age does self-concept appear?

18-24 months

socialized chimpanzees used a mirror to inspect them selves more than isolated chimpanzees because

other members of our own species helps us understand ourselves

reflected self appraisals

our self concepts are shaped partly by what we believe others think about us

sources of self knowledge

uncertainty, upward comparison, downward comparison

upward comparison

other people are better than you

• used when we want to improve ourselves

downward comparison

other people are below you, more common

• when we want feel better or protect our self esteem

introspection

looking inward at our own thoughts, feelings, and motives

self perception

inferring who we are by observing our own behavior

overjustification

when behavior is strongly coerced or externally rewarded, we may infer that we dislike the activity itself

self esteem

one’s overall self esteem evaluation, an appraisal of perceived self worth

• life satisfaction, friends, sports performance, positive outlook keeps us going

sociometer theory

self esteem monitors cues of potential rejection, it tends to rise with acceptance and fall with rejection

• self esteem increases most when accepted and decreases most when rejected

self enhancement motive

desire to maintain success or increase self esteem

dunning kruger effect

people with low skills in specific area overestimate ability while high performers tend to underestimate abilities

basking in reflected glory

aligning ourselves with success and distancing from lack of sucess

self serving attribution

dispositional attributions for success

self handicapping

tactically sabotaging own performance to preserve self esteem