PSYC-ch6 (TMT, Attitudes, Behaviours)

Question 1

Define Attitude

Answer 1

An evaluation of an object from a positive-negative dimension

Question 2

Attitudes influence behaviours (less/more) than we think they do.

Answer 2

less

Question 3

Behaviorus influence attitudes (less/more) than we think they do.

Answer 3

more

Question 4

What are the 3 factors that impact your attitude?

Answer 4

1. Affect (emotion) – how much you like/dislike the thing
2. Cognition: your thoughts/memories/beliefs that reinforce your feelings
3. Behaviour: your liking of an object is tied to your behavioural tendencies to approach/avoid it.

Question 5

When an attitude is primed, are you more or less likely to behave consistently with the attitude?

Answer 5

When an attitude is primed, you will behave more consistently with that attitude.

Question 6

Name the 4 general methods and/or measures that are used to measure your attitudes.

Answer 6

1. Likert Scale (numerical scales with statements like ‘totally agree’ & ‘kind of agree’)
2. Accessibility of the attitude (using response latency to see how long you respond)
3. Centrality of the attitude (if that attitude is central to you / consistent with your other beliefs)
4. Implicit attitude measures (IATs)

Question 7

What did the Lapiere Study (1934), about Chinese people in establishments, say about attitudes and behaviours?

Answer 7

People do not behave consistent with their attitudes; most restaurants served the Asian couple even if their attitudes towards Asians were negative.

Question 8

Which is more true?
- positive behaviour predicts positive attitude
- positive attitude predicts positive behaviour

Answer 8

positive behaviour usually predicts positive attitude

(at bowling alley => like bowling)
(like bowling =/=> at bowling alley)

Question 9

Name 3 reasons attitude does not predict behaviour

Answer 9

1. Attitudes can conflict with other powerful determinants of behaviour (we like dieting, but we don’t diet b/c we also like ice cream)
2. Introspecting about the reasons for our attitudes (the attitude we generate after introspecting is not representative and is therefore not a good predictor of subsequent behaviour)
3. general attitudes are good at predicting general behaviour but not specific behaviour.

Question 10

Cognitive Consistency Theory

Answer 10

People are motivated to seek coherent attitudes, thoughts, beliefs, values, etc.

Question 11

Cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 11

The theory that inconsistency between a person’s thoughts and actions creates an aversive emotional state that leads to efforts to restore consistency

Question 12

When does dissonance reduction take place?

Answer 12

After we’ve made an irrevocable decision

Question 13

Effort justification

Answer 13

The tendency to reduce dissonance by trying to justify the time/effort/$ devoted to something that turned out disappointing.

Question 14

Induced (forced) compliance & dissonance effects

Answer 14

Subtly compelling people to behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their beliefs -> thus eliciting dissonance -> this changed their original attitudes & values (consistent w/ dissonance theory)

Question 15

If you want to persuade someone to do something they don’t wanna do (and change their behaviour long term), should you give them lots of incentive or little incentive?

Answer 15

Only a little incentive

They will act inconsistent w/ their behaviours -> dissonance -> change their attitudes to be in line with the new behaviour.

Question 16

Name the 1+4 conditions under which inconsistency produces dissonance?

Answer 16

Inconsistencies => dissonance IFF
it implicates our sense of self
AND the behaviour
1. was freely chosen
2. wasn’t justified
3. had negative consequences
4. had foreseeable negative consequences

Question 17

Standard dissonance effect

Answer 17

if your behaviour is inconsistent with your beliefs and you only get a small reward for it, your attitudes will change to match your behaviour.

Question 18

Name 2 ways people deal with cognitive dissonance

Answer 18

1. Standard dissonance effect; they change their attitudes
2. They self-affirm (take stock of our other good qualities)

Question 19

Are all kinds of dissonance universal?

Answer 19

No.
East Asian people do not display dissonance effects when they are making decisions for themselves.

They do display dissonance effects in social situations (making decisions for others/ in front of others)

Question 20

Self perception Theory

Answer 20

The theory that people come to know their own attitudes by looking at their behaviour and the context in which it occurred => inferring their attitudes.

Question 21

Which is true, dissonance theory or self-perception theory? When are they true?

Answer 21

Both are true.

Dissonance reduction processes are activated when behaviour is inconsistent with pre-existing attitudes that are clear-cut / important.

Self-perception processes are invoked when behaviour conflicts with attitudes that are vague/less important.

Question 22

Embodied cognition

Answer 22

The idea that thoughts and feelings are grounded in our physical states and bodily movements.

To understand something, people must simulate it.

We subconsciously draw on what our body is doing when we are trying to figure out how we feel about something.

Question 23

Define System justification theory.

Why do we do it?

Answer 23

SJT: The theory that people are motivated to see the existing sociopolitical system as desirable, fair, legit.

We do it to reduce the dissonance between your opinion of the system and the system; it is easier to line up your opinion to fit the system than to protect & change the system to fit your opinions.

Question 24

Terror Management Theory (TMT)

Answer 24

The theory that people deal with the anxiety-inducing thought of death by
-striving for symbolic immortality
-by believing they have lived up to their culture’s standards (linked to self-esteem)

Question 25

TMT: how do people strive for symbolic immortality

Answer 25

-believing in an afterlife
-believing that the things /institutions we value will live beyond us (e.g. children, religions)

Question 26

How does TMT link to self-esteem?

Answer 26

TMT maintains that when our mortality is salient, we should be especially concerned with striving to maintain high self-esteem

(We want to be in ‘good standing’ with the world)

Question 27

In the study where they asked homophobic people to give college tours to a gay man, what would influence whether or not they accepted to do the tour? Why?

Answer 27

If the description of the gay man was stereotypical, the person would more likely refuse.

If the description of the gay man was less stereotypical, the person was more likely to accept.

People are base their general attitudes on stereotypical specific cases.