Chapter 6: Attitudes

^^Attitude^^: is a positive, negative or mixed evaluation or reaction to a person, object, or idea, expressed at some level of intensity

^^How Attitudes Are Measured^^: (a) self reports - opinion polls or attitude scales that use multiple questions to assess attitudes toward a particular person, object or idea (b) covert measures - facial EMG or IAT

^^Are Attitudes And Behaviour Linked?^^: (a) sometimes yes, sometimes no (b) hold an attitude but act a different way (c) difference of saying versus doing

^^When Do Attitudes Correspond To Behaviour^^: (a) when attitudes concerns a specific rather than general, behaviour (b) when we think others feel we should engage in target behaviours (c) we feel we have the confidence to engage in the target behaviour

^^Theory Of Planned Behaviour^^: theory that attitudes toward a specific behaviour combine with subjective norms and perceived control to influence a person’s actions

^^Two Routes Of Persuasion^^: (a) central route - person thinks carefully about a message ex. influenced by quality and strength of message (b) peripheral route - person does not think critically about the contents of a message ex. influenced by superficial cues like picture of attractive person or humourous cartoon

^^The Elements Of Persuasion^^: “who says what to whom, with what effect?” (a) who - the communicator (b) what - the message (c) to whom - the audience

^^Cognitive Dissonance^^: when two cognitions or an attitude and a behaviour are inconsistent, people feel dissonance and are motivated to reduce dissonance

^^Cognitive Dissonance Theory^^: inconsistent cognitions arouse psychological tension that people become motivated to reduce