Social Cognition Flashcards
(32 cards)
What is an attitude?
A learnt, evaluative statement directed to a person, object, idea, etc. in our environment.
The three attitudes
- positive
- negative
- ambivalent
What model explains the structure of attitudes?
- the tri-part model (ABC model)
What are the components that make up an attitude?
- affective component (feeling)
- behavioural component (actions)
- cognitive component (beliefs)
What are the functions of attitudes?
- utilitarian
- self expressive
- ego-defensive
- knowledge
What is the utilitarian function?
- allows person to maximise rewards and minimise punishments by guiding behaviour towards desired goals and away from undesired ones
What is the self expressive function?
- allows attitude to give meaning to our lives by allowing us to tell others about ourselves
What is the ego-defensive function?
- relates to self, but protects self esteem by shielding us from harsh realities of our own lives
- helps us to feel better about ourselves
What is the knowledge function?
- deals with how we process information from our social world
- helps us make sense of the world
What are the factors that affect attitude formation?
- mere exposure (by word, ad, etc… you need to hear about it
- direct experience (actual experience)
- learning (by classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning, etc.)
What are the factors that affect attitude change?
- source
- message
- audience
What is the model that explains factors of attitude change?
Yale Communication Model
What are the two routes to persuasion?
- central
- peripheral
What model explains the route to persuasion?
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Describe the central route of persuasion.
- high elaboration (people think carefully about content)
- takes longer to influence
- harder to change
Describe the peripheral route of persuasion.
- low elaboration (people think don’t think carefully about content)
- influences quickly
- not as long-lasting
- often uses celebrities
What does the source need to be?
- expert in field
- credible
- likeable, attractive
- trustworthy
- fast-talking
What does the message need to be?
- emotion evoking (fear, humour, empathy)
What is the relationship between attitudes and behaviour?
Bidirectional - attitudes influence behaviours and vice versa
What determines the attitude-behaviour link?
- strength of attitude (how strong is attitude held?)
- accessibility (easily accessible thoughts - more consistency in behaviour)
- specificity
What is impression formation?
first impression
What is impression management?
long-term management of emotions
What are the two levels of verbal communication?
- semantic
- expressive
What is the semantic level of verbal communication?
- disclosure of information
- interpretation, meaning of words
