Attitudes and Attitude Change

Question 1

What is an attitude?

Answer 1

Relatively enduring and stable evaluation of an object, person, group that may influence one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors towards it.

Question 2

What are the 3 attitude models?

Answer 2

One-component model (affective response), two-components model (affective, cognitive response) and three-components model(affective, cognitive, behavioral response).

Question 3

What are the functions of attitudes?

Answer 3

They help individuals evaluate, express themselves, protect themselves, and save energy.

Question 4

What does the balance theory say about cognitive consistency?

Answer 4

People prefer consistency in their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

Question 5

How does one form an attitude?

Answer 5

Through personal experiences, influences from others and one’s emotional reactions.

Question 6

What are behavioral approaches to attitude formation?

Answer 6

Mere exposure effect, evaluative conditioning, spreading attitude effect.

Question 7

What is evaluative conditioning?

Answer 7

Forming an attitude based on pairing a stimulus with either a positive or a negative stimulus.

Question 8

What is the “expectancy-value” model?

Answer 8

Theory proposing that attitudes are determined by the beliefs one holds about an object/ act and what value they ascribe to it.

Question 9

What is the “acquiescent response set”?

Answer 9

It is the tendency for people to agree with statements, regardless of their actual beliefs or attitudes.

Question 10

How can we measure attitudes physiologically?

Answer 10

Social neuroscience (brain activity), skin resistance, heart rate, pupil dilation, facial expression.

Question 11

What is the relative homogeneity effect?

Answer 11

Seeing members of the outgroup to be the same.

Question 12

What is the “bogus pipeline technique”?

Answer 12

Participants are lead to believe that they cannot hide their true attitudes by using a “lie detector” leading them to be more honest.

Question 13

What are some covert measurements of behavior?

Answer 13

Priming, and implicit association test.

Question 14

In connection with measuring the consistency between attitudes and behavior, what is the multiple-act criterion?

Answer 14

Examining if a person engages in a behavior repeatedly, in different situations and with various opportunities for choice.

Question 15

Describe the theory of reasoned action.

Answer 15

Theory that suggests behavior is confined by one’s intention to perform the behavior. The intention is determined by subjective norms and the attitude towards the behavior.

Question 16

Describe theory of planned behavior.

Answer 16

Suggests predicting behavior from attitudes is improved if one believes they have control over the behavior. The behavior is determined by intention, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control.

Question 17

What is “protection motivation theory”?

Answer 17

Theory that explains how people react to threat.

Question 18

What are the 4 steps in persuasion process?

Answer 18

Attention, Comprehension, Acceptance, Retention.

Question 19

What is the “third person effect”?

Answer 19

People believe they are less influenced by advertisement than others.

Question 20

What is the terror management theory?

Answer 20

The notion that the utmost human motive is to reduce the terror of death.

Question 21

What is “sleeper effect”?

Answer 21

The effect where the impact of persuasive message can increase over time if a person cannot remember what made it non-credible in the first place.

Question 22

What are the 2 processes in dual processing?

Answer 22

1. Automatic thinking and 2. Controlled thinking

Question 23

Describe the processing according to the elaboration-likelihood model.

Answer 23

When people attend to a message carefully, they use central route to process it, otherwise they use a peripheral route

Question 24

Describe the processing of information according to the “heuristic-systematic model.”

Answer 24

When people attend to a message carefully, they use systematic processing, otherwise they process information by using heuristics.

Question 25

What is “compliance”?

Answer 25

It is the superficial, public, transitory change in behavior usually as a response to requests, coercion, group pressure. Does not involve taking in and adopting the attitudes.

Question 26

How can we increase compliance in a person?

Answer 26

By using intimidation, exemplification (getting others to see you as morally reasonable), or supplication (attempt to elicit pity by getting others to think you are needy and helpless)

Question 27

What are other manipulation techniques?

Answer 27

Self-promotion (making people believe you are competent), ingratitation (strategic attempt to make smo like you to obtain compliance on a quest), reciprocity principle, multiple requests.

Question 28

What is the foot-in-the-door technique?

Answer 28

Making a small request, with the goal of eventually making a larger one.

Question 29

What is the door-in-the-face technique?

Answer 29

Making an initial request that is intentionally large so that the actual request (which is smaller) gets accepted.

Question 30

What is “lowballing” technique?

Answer 30

An initial, reasonable request that is accepted and after that additional costs are revealed.

Question 31

What is “cognitive dissonance”?

Answer 31

An uncomfortable feeling that motivates the desire to get rid of it.

Question 32

What is the “selective exposure hypothesis”?

Answer 32

People try to avoid dissonant information.

Question 33

What is the effort justification dissonance?

Answer 33

Dissonance triggered by putting a lot of effort into something that turns out less rewarding than expected.

Question 34

What is the post-decision conflict? (dissonance)

Answer 34

Dissonance arising after behaving opposed to attitudes.

Question 35

Describe self-affirmation theory.

Answer 35

People reduce the effect of threats to their self-concept by focusing on and affirming their competence in other areas.

Question 36

Describe vicarious dissonance.

Answer 36

Dissonance experienced by observer about the dissonant behaviour/beliefs of someone they are close to.

Question 37

What could help an individual resist persuasion?

Answer 37

Supporting defense or inoculation defense.

Question 38

What is the concept of “reactance”?

Answer 38

People’s tendency to protect their freedom when threat is perceived.

Question 39

What is the concept of inoculation?

Answer 39

It is immunizing someone with a weak counterargument, which is met with resistance so that when they are met with stronger argument, they will not fall prey to being persuaded.