Social Influence: Attitudes and Behaviours

Question 1

GENERAL CONCEPTS

What does the ABC model stand for?

Answer 1

A= affective component (feelings)
B= behavioural component (actions
C= cognitive component (beliefs)

Question 2

PERSUASION

What external factors affect attitudes?

Answer 2

• Yale Atttitude Change Approach
• Central and Peripheral Processing Routes
• Direct Experience
• Indirect Experience

Question 3

PERSUASION

Define the Central Processing Route.

Answer 3

The central route to persuasion is a method of convincing others to take an action or make a decision based on facts and evidence of the merits of the outcome.

Question 4

PERSUASION

Name the 3 types of persuasion strageries

Answer 4

1. Norm of Reciprocity: feel obliged to return the favour
2. Door-in-the-face technique: large request denied followed by smaller request
3. Foot-in-the-door technique: agree to small favour followed by larger request

Question 5

PERSUASION

What is the Source, Audience and Message in the Yale Attitude Change Approach?

Answer 5

**Source: **a source that is perceived as trustworthy, knowledgeabe, and credible is more likely to be persuasive.
Audience: individuals’ existing attitudes, beliefs, and values can affect their response to persuasive messages
**Message: **persuasive messages should be clear, logical and present strong arguments. Messages that are easy to understand and process are more likely to be persuasive.

Question 6

PERSUASION

Define the Yale Attitude Change Approach.

Answer 6

The Yale Attitude Change Approach is a theory that examines how persuasion influences attitude change. It proposes that the credibility and likeability of the source, the content and delivery of the persuasive message, and the characteristics of the audience determines how much attitude change occurs.

Question 7

ATTITUDE TO BEHAVIOUR

What is attitude strength?

Answer 7

Strong attitudes are more resistant to change and influence behaviour. They are usually based on personal experience, while attitudes formed through mere exposure are more vulnerable to change and less intense.

Question 8

ATTITUDE TO BEHAVIOUR

What is attitude accessibility?

Answer 8

The ease with which an attitude comes to mind; more accessible attitudes are more likely to guide behaviour. Influenced by attitude strength as stronger attitudes are more easily remembered.

Question 9

ATTITUDE TO BEHAVIOUR

What is meant by Attitude Specificity?

Answer 9

Specific attitudes are more accurate predictors of behaviour than general attitudes.

Question 10

ATTITUDE TO BEHAVIOUR

General Attitude vs Specific Attitude

Answer 10

**General Attitude: **enjoys watching the AFL
Specific Attitude: not only enjoys the AFL in general but also actively watches all the games and passionately supports the Adelaide Crows.

Question 11

PERSUASION

What is the Peripheral processing routes?

Answer 11

Peripheral route persuasion is persuasion which does not rely on the intrinsic merits of an argument. It is concerned with cues around trustworthiness, emotions, and group identity rather than facts and logic.

Question 12

ATTITUDE TO BEHAVIOUR

What is ambivalence?

Answer 12

Ambivalence means mixed feelings (both positive and negative) towards an issue. Therefore, behaviour is unpredictable.

Question 13

ATTITUDE TO BEHAVIOUR

How does social situation affect attitude change?

Answer 13

A social situation affects how freely we express our attitude and act upon it. Attitudes are better predictors of behaviours when conflicitng social influences are lessened.

Question 14

ATTITUDE TO BEHAVIOUR

Describe the impact of personality on attitude change.

Answer 14

A personality type can influence how consistently their attitudes are reflected in their behaviour. For example, high-self-mointors are more focussed on external social environments therefore their behaviour is strongly determined by the social situation they find themselves in.

Question 15

BEHAVIOUR TO ATTITUDE

What is self-perception?

Answer 15

Self-perception occurs when we use our own behaviour as a guide to help us determine our own thoughts and feelings.

Question 16

BEHAVIOUR TO ATTITUDE

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 16

Cognitive dissonance refers to a feeling on tension/discomfort that occurs from an inconsistency between our behaviour and attitudes.

Question 17

BEHAVIOUR TO ATTITUDE

What occurs as a result of cognitive dissonance?

Answer 17

We reduce the discomfort by changing our attitude or reducing the importance we place on it. This is because we try to bring our attitudes into line with our actions.

Question 18

BEHAVIOUR TO ATTITUDE

Cognitive dissonance vs Self perception

Answer 18

Cognitive dissonance is a better explanation for behaviour that contradicts well-established attitudes.
Self perception explains situations in which our attitudes are not well-defined . We infer our attitudes from our behaviour.

Question 19

NEGATIVE ATTITUDES

Define Prejudice

Answer 19

Prejudice is a preconceived negative attitude and opinion towards an individual that is not based on reason or actual experience.

Question 20

NEGATIVE ATTITUDES

What is stereotyping?

Answer 20

A stereotype is a specific belief or assumption about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless of their individual characteristics.

Question 21

NEGATIVE ATTITUDES

Define discrimination

Answer 21

Discrimination refers to the act of prejudical attitudes towards an individual because they belong to a particular group.

Question 22

NEGATIVE ATTITUDES

Identify prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination to the ABC model

Answer 22

A: prejudice
B: discrimination
C: stereotype

Question 23

NEGATIVE ATTITUDES

What are the unintentional biases/ and causes that lead to prejudical attitudes?

Answer 23

1. Confirmation bias
2. Attribution bias
3. Gender bias
4. Conformity bias
5. Exposure
6. Learning

Question 24

NEGATIVE ATTITUDES

Break down the ways learning influences prejudical attitudes.

Answer 24

Association (eg. children may learn to associate a particular group with poverty, crime…)
Reinforcement (eg. someone laughs at a derogatory joke)
Modelling (eg. imitate the prejudices of parents or older family/friends)

Question 25

# NEGATIVE ATTITUDES What is confirmation bias?

Answer 25

Favouring information taht fits with your existing beliefs and is selective, meaning you might overlook or reject information that does not fit with your current views.

Question 26

# NEGATIVE ATTITUDES What is attribution bias?

Answer 26

This tendency can manifest as attributing someone's behavior to their personal characteristics instead of their situation.

Question 27

# NEGATIVE ATTITUDES What is conformity bias?

Answer 27

The tendency to behave the same as other members of the group

Question 28

# NEGATIVE ATTITUDES What are the effects of prejudice?

Answer 28

**Social stigma: **disapproval or discrimination against a person based on a stereotype that they may associate with. **Internalisation of others' evaluations: **person cognitively and emotionally absorbs negative messages and come to believe them and apply them to themselves. **Stereotyping threat:** people feel at risk to conforming to stereotypes about their social group

Question 29

# NEGATIVE ATTITUDES Strategies to reduce prejudice.

Answer 29

**Education: **provides awareness, understanding and empathy for others. **Intergroup contact: **direct contact between people with prejudical attitudes through mutual interdependence, equal status. **Superordinate goals: **working together towards a common goal supports knowledge and understanding between groups. **Direct experience:** cultural immersion fosters understanding and empathy towards another culture