CH7 - Attitudes, behavior and rationalization Flashcards
What are the three core components of attitude?
Attitude is the evaluation of an object along a positive-negative dimension, with 3 core components:
- affect (emotion, like/dislike)
- cognition (thoughts + knowledge)
- behaviour (tendency to approach/avoid object)
When is a Likert-scale used?
A Likert scale is a close-ended, forced-choice scale used in a questionnaire that provides a series of answers that go from one extreme to another
What is response latency, and can you cite an example?
Response latency is the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, such as an attitude question. The quicker you answer, the stronger your attitude towards a topic is.
Would u vote for Reagan? – quick answer yes/no were more likely to actually follow through on it
What concept has the following definition?
how readily the attitude can become active in an individual’s mind
Attitude accessibility
What is gauge attitude centrality and an example of it?
It is how closely an attitude is correlated to attitudes about other issues. It determines the centrality of an attitude to a belief system.
Ex: people with strong feelings about abortion, normally agree with sex education as well
What are implicit attitude measures used for?
They examine attitudes people are unaware they have or may be unwilling to report. It affects priming + implicit association test – look for nonconscious attitudes.
Why is it hard to predict behavior from attitude?
There are other powerful determinants. A person’s understanding of prevailing norms of appropriate behavior can affect lien att/behavior. It is hard to pinpoint the reasons underlying attitudes, and coming up with the wrong attitude can be misleading.
When the basis of attitude is mainly cognitive, introspection tends to yield real reason. What is an example of a study showing this?
People were asked questions about the person they were dating :
- an overall evaluation of the relationship
or
- reasons for feelings + overall evaluation
1st group = much more accurate predictors of the current status
2nd group = not a good predictor of subsequent behavior,
tendency to focus on easiest-to-identify rather than real reasons
Introspection can mislead us in terms of true, full attitude towards a person.
What is the cognitive dissonance theory, and how do people try to reduce it?
Cognitive dissonance theory is when people experience dissonance/discomfort when attitudes and behaviour are inconsistent.
To reduce the dissonance, people try to align attitude + behavior,
🡪Dissonance reduction: after making a difficult choice between two objects/courses of action, ppl find new attractions in chosen alternative + undetected flaws in the unchosen alternative
What is the concept with the following definition?
It happens when they exert effort toward some goal that turns out to be disappointing – justify the expenditure of energy by deciding the goal is truly worthwhile.
Effort justification
Under which circumstances should inconsistency in behavior or attitude cause dissonance?
Only when it implicates the core sense of self:
- Free choice or illusion of it to engage in behave
- Insufficient justification for behavior
- Behavior has negative consequences
- Consequences were foreseeable
What is the consequence of induced compliance?
When induced to argue for a position diff from true attitude, those who are badly compensated for doing so justify their behaviour by changing their attitude to better align with their behaviour
= need to reduce dissonance
What is one way to reduce the negative effects of psychological inconsistency/threats to self-identity/self-esteem?
Through self-affirmation
From what core aspects of self does dissonance result?
Dissonance results from threats to people’s sense of themselves as rational, competent, and moral beings
Example of a study showing cultural differences in dissonance?
Japan: post-decision dissonance when asked to think about what other person would choose
Japanese prompted to choose between 2 CD’s
Poster w ppl on, prompting being observed by others schema = “social other”
