Attitudes | Social Psych Exam 3

Ambivalent attitudes

Having both positive and negative feelings toward something

Indifferent attitudes

Having little or no feelings toward something.

Dispositional attitudes

Relatively stable attitudes reflecting a person's general tendencies.

Attitude scales

Tools used to measure a person's attitudes.

Likert scale

A rating scale measuring agreement, usually from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Wells & Petty (1980)

Found that nodding increased agreement with a message, while shaking the head decreased agreement.

Issues with relying on head movements/body language

Movements can be unconscious, situational, or misleading and don't always reflect true attitudes.

Facial Electromyography (EMG)

Measures electrical activity in facial muscles to identify emotional reactions.

Zygomatic muscle

Associated with smiling and positive emotions.

Depressor muscles

Associated with lowering facial features and negative reactions.

Frontalis muscle

Raises the eyebrows, often associated with surprise or attention.

Corrugator muscle

Furrows the eyebrows and is associated with negative emotions.

Oxley et al. (2008)

Examined how exposure to loud noise influenced people's political attitudes and reactions.

Evaluative conditioning

Developing positive or negative attitudes through repeated associations.

Staats & Staats (1958)

Demonstrated evaluative conditioning by pairing neutral words with positive or negative words.

LaPiere (1934)

Found that people's stated attitudes toward Chinese individuals did not match their actual behavior toward them.

Conditions under which attitudes predict behavior

Attitudes predict behavior better when they are strong, specific, accessible, and personally important.

Theory of Planned Behavior

Behavior is influenced by intentions, shaped by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.

Davidson et al. (1985)

Studied how specific attitudes and intentions could predict voting behavior in mayoral elections.

Attitude polarization

When existing attitudes become stronger or more extreme.

Tormala & Petty (2002)

Found that counterarguing a persuasive message can strengthen existing attitudes.

Tormala & Petty (2002)

Found that counterarguing a persuasive message can strengthen existing attitudes.

Central route to persuasion

Changing attitudes through careful thinking about arguments and evidence.

Peripheral route to persuasion

Changing attitudes through superficial cues rather than carefully evaluating arguments.