Module 74: Attributions, Attitudes, & Actions

Question 1

Social Pschology

Answer 1

Explores these connections by scientifically how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Question 2

What do social psychologist study?

Answer 2

Focus on the situation. Study the social influences that explain why the same person act differently in different situations

Question 3

Attribution Theory

Answer 3

We can credit or blame (attribute) the behavior to the person’s internal stable, enduing traits (a dispositional attribution), or we can attribute is to the external situation (a situational attribution)

Question 4

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 4

The tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
Ex. homeless person - we think homeless cause they are lazy or unmotivated rather than a situation like loss of a job or break in the family

Question 5

What factors affect our attributions?

Answer 5

Culture
- individualist westerners most often attribute to people’s traits while East Asian collectivist cultures are more sensitive to the power of the situation

• when we explain our own behavior we are sensitive to how behavior changes with the situation
• after behaving badly, we recognize how the situation affected our actions (Self-serving bias)

Question 6

Why do attributions matter?

Answer 6

Whether we attribute poverty and homelessness to social circumstances or to personal dispositions affects and reflects our political views

Question 7

Attitudes

Answer 7

Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to object , people, and events

note: the relationship between our attitudes and our actions is two way

Question 8

Note:

Answer 8

the relationship between our attitudes and our actions is two way

Our Attitudes affect our Actions. Our Actions affect our Attitudes

Question 9

Peripheral Route Persuasion

Answer 9

Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness
- attention-getting cues to trigger emotion-based snap judgments

Question 10

Central Route Persuasion

Answer 10

Occurs when people are influenced by arguments and respond with favorable thoughts
- offers evidence and arguments that trigger careful thinking

Question 11

Can actions impact attitudes?

Answer 11

Not only will we stand up for what we believe, we also will more strongly believe in what we have stood up for.

Question 12

Attitudes can follow behavior?

Answer 12

Cooperative actions feed mutual liking. Such attitudes, in turn, promote positive behavior
ex. people in sports teams - Germany celebrating World Cup victory

Question 13

Foot-In-The-Door Phenomenon

Answer 13

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

• to get people to agree to something big, start small and build
• trivial act makes the next act easier
• succumb to temptation and you will find the next temptation harder to resist

Question 14

Role

Answer 14

A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave

• we adopt a new role - you strive to follow the social scripts or norms
• at first may feel fake but then the play acting life becomes you

Question 15

Stanford Prison Study

Answer 15

Role playing morphed into real life in one famous and controversial study in which male college students volunteered to spend time in a simulated prison

• 1972 Philip Zimbardo conducted study to see the effect roles have on behavior
• random assignment: guard or prisoner (gave costumes and such)
• some guard developed disparaging attitudes and 1/3 became tyrannical, devising cruel and degrading routines for the prisoners
• the prisoners broke down one by one, rebelled, or became passively resigned
• shut down after 6 days

Question 16

What did the Stanford Prison study demonstrate about roles?

Answer 16

• what we do, we gradually become
• every time we act like the people around us, we slightly change ourselves to be more like them, and less like who we used to be
• the volunteers in Zimbardo’s study took on the roles and performed the behaviors expected in that role (norms)

Question 17

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Answer 17

Leon Festinger’s theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) or our thoughts and behaviors are inconsistent
- become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes
ex. smoker enjoys smoking cigarettes but knows it correlates with lung cancer - dissonance - they will change the thought. “i’m young and at least I’m enjoying myself
harder to quit smoking so change the thought