Attitudes- Behavior Consistency Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is attitude-behavior consistency?
It refers to the degree to which a person’s attitudes predict their behavior.
What did Wicker (1971) find about the attitude-behavior relationship?
He found weak or no correlations between attitudes and behavior in his meta-analysis.
Can behavior influence attitudes?
Yes, sometimes behavior guides or changes attitudes.
What are the three types of cognitive relationships?
Irrelevant, consonant (consistent), and dissonant (inconsistent).
What does dissonance create?
Uncomfortable psychological tension.
How is dissonance calculated in theory?
Importance × Number of dissonant cognitions / Importance × Number of consonant cognitions.
How do people reduce dissonance?
By adding new cognitions, trivializing the importance, or changing the cognition.
What principle guides dissonance reduction?
Path of least resistance.
What is induced compliance?
When someone is persuaded to act against their beliefs and changes their attitude to reduce dissonance.
Describe the $1 vs. $20 experiment.
Participants lied about enjoying a boring task. Those paid $1 had insufficient justification, so they changed their attitudes more than those paid $20.
What is the overjustification effect?
External rewards reduce intrinsic enjoyment of an activity.
What happens in belief disconfirmation?
When expectations are disconfirmed, people use dissonance-reducing strategies to maintain their beliefs.
What is effort justification?
When people exert great effort for a poor reward, they exaggerate the reward’s value to reduce dissonance.
What is free choice dissonance?
After choosing between similar options, people increase the attractiveness of the chosen and devalue the rejected.
What does Impression Management Theory propose?
People act consistently to appear good to others, not necessarily to reduce internal discomfort.
How does Self-Perception Theory differ?
It suggests people infer attitudes from behavior through logical reasoning rather than feeling discomfort.
What is the role of self-concept in Self-Affirmation Theory?
Dissonance occurs from threats to self-concept, and people reduce it by affirming other positive aspects of themselves.
