S2

Question 1

define attitude

Answer 1

A long lasting evaluation a person makes about an object, person, group, event or issue.

Question 2

what are the characteristics of attitudes

Answer 2

-persist over time, relatively stable.
-have a direction: can be positive,
negative or neutral
-vary in intensity (i.e., feel strongly
about an issue or take a mild interest).

Question 3

what factors influence attitude formation

Answer 3

-Direct personal experience
-Observation-Interaction with others
(observational learning)
-Conditioning- punishment and
reward
-Social Norms: Cultural values and
beliefs, social roles, media

Question 4

what are explicit attitudes

Answer 4

evaluations that are at the conscious level, are deliberately formed and are easy to self-report; ie one that you deliberately think about and report e.g., you could tell someone whether you like math.

Question 5

what are implicit roles

Answer 5

attitudes that are at the unconscious level, are involuntarily formed and are typically unknown to us; eg, you hold the belief that men and women are equally good at math, but unconsciously you associate math more strongly with men without being actively aware of it

Question 6

compare the awareness of explicit and implicit attitudes

Answer 6

People are aware of their explicit attitudes but not of their implicit attitudes.

Question 7

compare the change of explicit and implicit attitudes

Answer 7

Explicit attitudes are more dynamic and can change over time, while implicit attitudes are likely to be resistant to change.

Question 8

compare the measurement of explicit and implicit attitudes

Answer 8

Explicit attitudes involve direct measurement, while implicit attitudes involve indirect measurement.

Question 9

explain Need / Want Satisfaction Function in attitudes

Answer 9

Attitudes guide us to behave in a particular way to help us satisfy our needs and wants.
Attitudes serving these functions will change whenthe individual’s needs are changed or they convinced that new attitudes that are suggested to them can meet their existing needs better

Question 10

explain Knowledge Function in attitudes

Answer 10

Individuals need to understand the external world in a meaningful way to become a functional member of the society. Attitudes help us to understand and process information in a meaningful way.
for example if driving is not important to them they will not seek out knowledge about cars

Question 11

explain Value Expression Function in attitudes

Answer 11

enables an individual to express their central values and beliefs
ie someone who believes android is better than apple buying android products

Question 12

explain Self image Protection function in attitudes

Answer 12

helps people protect their self image from harm, shame or threat.

Question 13

what is the central hypothesis of social identity theory

Answer 13

that group members of an in-group will seek to find negative aspects of an out-group, to enhance their self-image/ the in-group will discriminate against the out-group to enhance their self-image.

Question 14

what was Tajfel Turner’s theory

Answer 14

the Social Categorization Theory

Question 15

describe the social categorization theory

Answer 15

evaluating others as “us” or “them” occurs due to three mental processes; social categorisation, social identification, social comparison

Question 16

what is the mental process of social categorisation

Answer 16

Being grouped by self or others.

Question 17

what is the mental process of social identification

Answer 17

Adoption of group norms, self image becomes linked to group membership/

The process by which we adopt the identity of the group we have categorized ourselves as belonging to and conform to group norms.

Self-image will become bound up with group membership.

Question 18

what is the mental process of social comparison

Answer 18

In group favoritism, out group negative bias

Once we have categorized ourselves as part of a group and have identified with that group, we then tend to compare that group with other groups.

To maintain self-esteem the group needs to compare favorably with other groups

The more prestigious the group the higher the self esteem of its members.

In order to increase our self- esteem, we enhance the status of the group to which we belong.

Question 19

what is the ‘in group’

Answer 19

In Group: Groups to which an individual perceives membership to (“us”).

Question 20

what is the ‘out group’

Answer 20

Out Group: Any group other than the groups to which individuals perceives themselves as belonging to (“them”).

Question 21

what is self image

Answer 21

Our definition of ourselves.

Question 22

what are group norms

Answer 22

rules and expectations of behaviours by group members/ Rules and expectations of behaviours by group members. Breaking of group norms can lead to exclusion from the group.

Question 23

what is social identity

Answer 23

a person’s sense of who they are based on their real or perceived group membership(s).

Question 24

what is ingroup favouritism

Answer 24

People favour those belonging to their in-group.

Question 25

what is negative Out group Bias

Answer 25

The in-group will seek to find negative aspects about the outgroup.

Question 26

what are the strengths of social identity theory

Answer 26

Explains Group Philanthropy-
The theory demonstrates why people empathize with and therefore want to help people like them.

Explains In-Group Bias-
The theory can explain why people preference people who look or act like them.

Question 27

what are some weaknesses of social identity thoery

Answer 27

Poor Predictive Power
It explains events, but doesn’t really make predictions about the future

Fails to Explain Group Harmony
In a liberal multicultural world order, there is a lot of group harmony that isn’t explained by this theory.

Question 28

how is the social identity theory applied in the real world

Answer 28

Accounts for dehumanizing of an enemy or immigrants and not allowing them full human status.
Accounts for prejudice and discrimination

Question 29

what is stereotyping

Answer 29

A form of social categorization where people are grouped based on perceived shared features.

Question 30

what are some features of stereotyping

Answer 30

Stereotypes maybe positive or negative.

Stereotypes lead us to hold expectations and make judgements about behaviour and attitudes.

Question 31

what are some positive/useful aspects of stereotypes

Answer 31

Stereotypes enable us to respond rapidly to situations because we may have had a similar experience before.

Saves us from having to deal with the unique aspects of every individual we meet.

We can make quick judgements about people (especially in new or dangerous situations) safety.

Question 32

what are some negative/harmful aspects of stereotypes

Answer 32

Stereotypes make us ignore differences between individuals; therefore, we think things about people that might not be true
(i.e., generalize).