Attitudes, Stereotypes etc Psych

What is an attitude?

An evaluation a person makes about an object, person, group, event, or issue (personal opinion)

What are the components of the Tri-component model?

Affective (emotions), Cognitive (thoughts), Behavioural (actions)

What is the Affective component?

Feelings and emotional response to an attitude object.

What is the Cognitive component?

Thoughts, ideas, and understanding about an attitude object based on personal experiences and memories.

What is the Behavioural component?

A person’s behaviour towards an attitude object (interactions/actions with the object).

What is a stereotype?

A fixed, oversimplified, and often biased belief about a group of people, based on assumptions and judgements.

What are the problems with stereotyping?

Can create minority groups, belittle someone, lead to social stigma, ignore their individuality, and can lead to prejudice.

Common stereotypes about women

Emotional, submissive, irrational, physically weak

Common stereotypes about men

Unemotional, dominant, logical, physically strong

What is prejudice?

Negative thoughts about a group of people; pre-judgement based on insufficient or incorrect information.

Examples of prejudice

Ageism, Racism, Sexism, Ableism

The difference between stereotypes and prejudice

Prejudice has negative connotations, whereas stereotypes are just assumptions.

NOTE on Prejudice vs. Discrimination:

Prejudice: negative attitudes; Discrimination: harmful actions against minorities, acting on prejudice

What is discrimination?

Taking action on your negative thoughts; treating others unfairly.

Examples of discrimination

A restaurant does not let a customer dine in because they have a disability. An employer refuses to hire a suitably qualified person because they are Aboriginal

Chain of events

Stereotypes -> Prejudice -> Discrimination

What is Direct discrimination

When someone is treated unfairly because of their association with a particular group

What is Indirect discrimination:

Occurs when a practice or rule (policies) applies to all people and unfairly disadvantages a group.

What is Old fashioned prejudice

Openly reject minority group members

What is Modern prejudice

More subtle and hidden; agree with being progressive but have issues when a minority group may receive more support

Tri-component model applied to prejudice and discrimination

Negative beliefs (cognitive), dislike (affective), discriminating actions (behavioural)

The relationship between prejudice and discrimination

Prejudice often leads to discrimination. Discrimination can perpetuate and reinforce prejudiced attitudes.

What is Stigma

The feeling of shame or disgrace experienced by an individual for a characteristic that differentiates them from others.

What is Social stigma

Negative stereotypes define people and prevent them from being seen as an individual, leading to widespread discrimination.

What is Self-stigma

Internalisation of negative stereotypes and can lead to poor self-efficacy and low self-esteem.

How can Intergroup contact reduce prejudice

Increasing contact between two groups who are prejudiced against each other; assisted by reliance on each other, consistent contact, and equal status.

How can Cognitive interventions reduce prejudice

Reducing stereotyping through cognition (thoughts, fact, education, thinking).

How can Superordinate goals reduce prejudice

Working towards a common goal can facilitate knowledge and understanding between groups; the goal MUST BE SHARED and require the contribution of both groups.

What is the Contact Hypothesis

The idea that prejudice can be reduced when people from different groups interact with each other in the right way.

Four considerations to successfully reduce prejudice in the contact hypothesis

Equal Status, Common Goals, Cooperation, Support from authorities

What is Cognitive Dissonance

An unpleasant psychological state that occurs when people become aware that there is inconsistency among their various beliefs, attitudes, or other ‘cognitions’, or that their behaviour conflicts with their cognitions.

How To Reduce Cognitive Dissonance from occurring:

Change your behaviour, Change your beliefs, Justify your behaviour

What are Cognitive Biases

Unconscious tendencies to interpret information in a way that is neither rational nor based on objective reality.

What is Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek out, remember and interpret information in a way that supports preexisting beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence

What is Halo Effect

The tendency to let one positive characteristic influence overall opinions about a person.

What is False Consensus Bias

The tendency to overestimate how much others share our beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours.

What is Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to credit success to personal ability but blame failure on external factors.

What is Actor-Observer Bias

The tendency to attribute our own actions to external factors but others’ actions to internal traits.

What is a Heuristic

A mental shortcut or a rule of thumb that helps people make quick decisions or solve problems efficiently.

What is Availability Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of something happening based on how easily examples come to mind

What is Representativeness Heuristic

Judging the probability of something based on how similar it is to a stereotype rather than actual statistics

What is Affect Heuristic (think emotion)

Making decisions based on immediate emotions rather than logic or facts

How does 'changing your behaviour' reduce cognitive dissonance?

Altering one's actions to align with beliefs to reduce cognitive dissonance.

How does 'changing your beliefs' reduce cognitive dissonance?

Modifying one's thoughts to align with actions to reduce cognitive dissonance.

How does 'justifying your behaviour' reduce cognitive dissonance?

Finding a reason to make actions seem acceptable, easing cognitive dissonance.

What is an attitude object?

The attitude object, the person, situation, event, or topic about which an attitude is held.