1 Intro

Question 1

Attitude - definition

Answer 1

An attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor

Question 2

3 Component View of attitudes

Answer 2

Affection, Cognition, Behavior

Question 3

Measures of attitudes

Answer 3

1. Self-report
2. Physiological measures: GSR, EMG(Electromyogram), Amygdala activation, etc.
3. Observation measures: seating arrangements, lost letter technique, bogus pipeline, etc.
4. Implicit Measures (are evaluations that are automatically activated by the mere presence of the attitude object, usually involving reaction time measures. Some paradigms include IAT).

Question 4

Problems with self report measures

Answer 4

1. People may misrepresent their attitude (e.g., give socially desirable responses)
2. Susceptible to misinterpretation
3. Reactive reporting: only when asked, they come up with some spontaneous view (very unstable; poor predictors of behaviour)
4. Explicit - may miss implicit attitudes

Question 5

Problems with physiological measures

Answer 5

1. GSR : assesses the intensity of emotional responses, not their direction
2. EMG/social neuroscience measures:
   - Insensitivity to the quality of an attitudinal response
   - Time, Cost, Impractical outside lab (limits external validity)

Question 6

Methods

Answer 6

1. Lab
2. Field
3. Surveys & Observation
4. Social network analysis
5. Archival analysis

Question 7

Methodological Triangulation

Answer 7

1. Use of multiple methods/measure to study a given issue
2. Each method has its own strengths and weaknesses
3. Strengths of one compensate for the weaknesses of another

Question 8

Programmatic research

Answer 8

An example of methodological triangulation.
1. Multiple methods, lab ↔ field
2. All experiments conducted in variety of settings
3. Hypotheses tested in both laboratory and field
AIM: internal and external validity

Question 9

How is social psychology unique? How does it differ from: Genpsy, Personalitypsy, Sociology?

Answer 9

1. Rather than keep the social context constant, we manipulate it, study how it has an impact on measured variables
2. We focus on impact of situation, not individual differences
3. Sociologists focus more on social structural variables (e.g., class), while Social psychologists study individuals’ goals, motives, cognitions

Question 10

Dovidio et al 1986

Answer 10

1. Participants primed by two groups: black and white. Then they were asked to respond to traits and judge whether they could ever be true of one of the groups. All traits could be true of both groups. Response time measured.
2. For a white prime people were quicker to say yes to positive traits and slower to say yes to negative traits than a black prime, revealing an implicit bias.