Chapter 4 - Behavior and Attitudes

  • Vocabulary:

    • Attitude: Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond favorably or unfavorably to objects, people, and events

    • Implicit association test (IAT): A computer-driven assessment of implicit attitudes, the test uses reaction times to measure people’s automatic associations between attitude objects and evaluative words, easier pairings mean faster responses and are taken to indicate stronger unconscious associations. Should only be used as a research tool, not a diagnostic

    • Role: A set of norms that defines how people in a given social position ought to behave

    • Cognitive dissonance: Tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions. For example, when we realize that we have with little justification acted contrary to our attitudes or made a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another

    • Dissonancy Theory: Behaviors are justified in order to reduce internal discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance

    • Selective exposure: The tendency to seek information and media that agree with one’s views and to avoid dissonant information

    • Insufficient justification: Reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one’s behavior when external justification is “insufficient”

    • Thinking adjustment: Reduces tension formed by cognitive dissonance, requires either selective exposure or insufficient justification. Either the belief is adjusted, or the behavior is

    • Self-perception Theory: The theory that when we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer them much as would someone observing us, by looking at our behavior and the circumstances under which it occurs. Example, if someone only votes for conservatives, if asked about their opinions on liberal politicians they might say that they dislike them once realizing they never vote for them

    • Facial feedback effect: The tendency of facial expressions to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

    • Overjustification effect: The result of bribing people to do what they already like doing, they may see their actions as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing

    • Self-affirmation theory: A theory that people often experience a self-image threat after engaging in an undesirable behavior, and that they can compensate by affirming another aspect of the self. Self-concept is threatened in one domain, it will be enforced in another afterward

    • ABCs of attitude: There are 3 components of attitude, affective, behavioral, and cognitive, aka feelings, action, and thinking. These are not all always recognizable by an individual

    • Impression Management Theory: A theory of behavior, states people express attitudes and behaviors that make us appear consistent with how they want to be perceived. This is in opposition to actual attitudes, there is an internal true self and an external presented self, the external is shaped by how the individual wants others to perceive them. Abides by ‘dramatugical self

    • Self-presentation Theory: The idea that behavior might impact attitudes, via impression management

    • Dramaturgical self: There are two senses of self, the internal true self, and the external presentation of self that other people perceive. External is shaped by how someone wants to be perceived, behavior matches external

    • Self-monitoring scale: Used by someone to evaluate something about themself, they are aware of what they are doing.

  • It is important to recognize biases, and make conscious efforts to change them, particularly when the biases are negative or stereotypical towards groups of people

  • Attitudes are strongly subject to outside influences, which can give us implicit biases

  • Attitudes that are longer held tend to be more subconscious and automatic, they may not be actively understood until behavior is already influenced and examined for an explanation afterward, with the reasoning being the automatic attitude.

  • Attitudes don’t always predict human behavior. Attitudes aren’t always consistent, context and strength have influences. The stronger the attitude, the better a predictor it is.

  • If someone is smoking (behavior)

    • Self-presentation theory: Explains it by saying “I look cool like a smoker”, going through impression management and how other people view her.

    • Self-justification theory: Pertains to cognitive dissonance, she may know smoking is bad though also things she’s been waiting all day for it, therefore justifying it as she’s young and has time to get better, she might be personally healthy and reject statistics

    • Self-perception theory: Looks at the behavior (smoking) and sees that she is smoking, then concluding based on that that she likes it.