Chapter 6 - Attitudes, behaviour, and rationalisation Flashcards
(25 cards)
Fill in the blank:
The effect of attitudes on behaviour is _____ than suspected
Weaker
Fill in the blank:
The effect of behaviour on attitudes is _____ than suspected
Stronger
What 2 things do attitudes involve
- Affect (emotion)
- Cognitions (thoughts that reinforce a person’s feelings)
Which of the following stimuli generate greater brain activity:
- neutral
- negative
- positive
Negative
What is response latency
The time it takes to respond to a stimulus
Apart from Likert scales, what else can we use to measure attitudes?
- look at brain activity in the amygdala
- measure the accessibility of the attitude (response time)
- implicit attitude measures
- physiological indicators
What can weaken the relationship between attitudes and actions?
Prevailing norms e.g. not sharing a funny comment at the cinema
When is introspection about an attitude bad?
When the source of the attitude is hard to pin down
Which is better at predicting specific behaviours? Highly specific attitudes or general attitudes?
Highly specific attitudes
Which is better at predicting how a person acts “in general”? Highly specific attitudes or general attitudes?
General attitudes
What is cognitive dissonance theory?
The theory that inconsistency between a person’s thoughts, sentiments, and actions creates an aversive emotional state (dissonance) that leads to efforts to restore consistency
(typically by changing the cognition)
What is effort justification?
The tendency to reduce dissonance by justifying the time, effort, or money devoted to something that turned out to be unpleasant or disappointing
What is induced compliance and how is this related to cognitive dissonance theory?
Induced compliance = when you’re forced to act against your beliefs or values. This causes cognitive dissonance, so to fix the mismatch, people change their original values to match their actions.
What did Festinger & Carlsmith’s (1959) induced compliance experiment demonstrate about cognitive dissonance?
When paid $1 to lie about a boring task, participants changed their attitudes to reduce dissonance. $20 participants didn’t change attitudes because the high reward justified the lie.
When does inconsistency lead to cognitive dissonance?
Inconsistency causes dissonance when it challenges our core values and self-perception, especially if:
The behavior is freely chosen
It’s insufficiently justified
It has negative consequences
The consequences were foreseeable
How does self-affirmation help reduce cognitive dissonance?
Self-affirmation reduces dissonance by reminding people of their positive qualities and core values. This can be done directly (dealing with the specific threat) or indirectly (boosting self-esteem in other areas). For example, if someone fails to confront prejudice, they may justify it by focusing on their other positive traits, like being empathetic.
Is cognitive dissonance universal?
Dissonance is more common in Western cultures. In studies, Canadians showed dissonance effects, but Japanese participants didn’t—unless they were aware others were watching, suggesting cultural focus on others’ reactions influences dissonance.
How do we infer our own attitudes according to Bem’s self-perception theory?
Self-perception theory suggests we infer our attitudes by observing our behavior, especially when our prior attitudes are unclear. We don’t always introspect; instead, we deduce our feelings based on actions and context. For example, if we choose something, we infer that we like it.
What is the overjustification effect?
The tendency to devalue those activities we perform, even if they are pleasing, in order to get something else
How do cognitive dissonance theory and self-perception theory differ in explaining attitude change?
Dissonance theory says attitude change is driven by unpleasant arousal from inconsistency. Self-perception theory says there’s no arousal—just calm, rational inference. Testing which is right depends on whether arousal is present in dissonance situations.
When do dissonance vs. self-perception processes shape our attitudes?
Dissonance happens when behavior clashes with strong, clear attitudes. Self-perception kicks in when attitudes are vague or not super important. Both can influence how we see ourselves.
How does self-perception theory relate to body movements and attitudes?
Self-perception theory says we often infer our thoughts and feelings from our behavior—including body movements. Smiling, nodding, or pushing things away can influence our attitudes, because we use physical cues to understand what we believe or feel, often without realizing it.
What is system justification theory?
It’s the idea that people—even those disadvantaged by the system—are motivated to see the social and political systems they live in as fair, just, and desirable to reduce ideological dissonance.
How do people justify unequal systems according to system justification theory?
They adopt compensatory stereotypes like “poor people are happier” or “women are more nurturing,” which make inequality feel more acceptable and uphold the status quo.
