social psychology Flashcards
(162 cards)
what are attitudes
“a person’s general feeling of un/favourableness toward a concept”
“general and enduring about person, object or issue”
where do attitudes come from
affect: feelings and values related to attitude object
cognition: person’s beliefs about properties of attitude object
behaviour: observation of how one behaves towards attitude object
types of attitudes
explicit: deliberate, controlled and conscious appraisal process of object and its evaluation
implicit: automatic, unconscious and intuitive association between attitude obejct and its evaluation
measuring attitudes
explicit: asked how +/- feelings are towards particular thing
implicit: implicit association test
when attitudes bets predict behavioru
- social influences minimised
- level sphericity of attitude and behaviour match
- attitudes strong
what are subjective norms
perception what others think you should or should not perfrom behaviour
perception of social pressure to perform or not perfrom behaviour
what is perceived behavioural control
perception fo degree to which can control performing behaviour
belief how easy or hard to perform behaviour
problems with theory of planned behaviour
intentions not great predictors
can predict rational and deliberate behaviours but not spontaneous ones
not take into account implicit attitudes
tells important factors but how to change them
what is cognitive consistency
-beliefs, attitudes, behaviours and mental representations are inter-dependent and are harmonious
maintaining this -consistency is a human motive
what is cognitive dissonance
state of emotional discomfort that comes from inconsistency between attitudes and behaviour
cognitive dissonance theory
based on idea we are sensitive to inconsistencies
if there is dissonance, we experience this as aversive
aversive experience motivates to reduce or eliminate the inconsistency
causes of dissonance
insufficient justification: forced to behave in way that contradicts our beliefs
effort: when put considerable effort into task and it doesn’t turn out as well as hope
decision making: forced to reject options that also had benefits
insufficient justification
-look for external justification for inconsistency, if can’t get it, motivated to reduce dissonance by generating internal motivation
post decision dissonance
typically reduced by enhancing attractiveness of chosen alternative and de-evaluating rejected alternatives and downplaying negative aspects of own choice
effort justification
tendency for individuals increase liking for something they worked hard for
if put in effort to achieve something and not do as well, dissonance created
factors that influence dissonance
the more important the belief/attitude is, the greater the dissonance
dissonance most powerful and upsetting when threatens self-image
decisions with greater consequences have greater dissonance
methods to reduce dissonance
change attitude or behaviour
decrease perception of conflict: add extra info to decrease inconsistency and decrease importance of conflicting cognitions
how to reduce dissonance by adding new info
- acquire new info that outweighs dissonant beliefs or makes conflicting behaviour more justifiable
- seek info to contradict belief
- add cognitions or behaviours consistent with attitude
- self-affirmation and thinking about own positive qualities
how to reduce dissonance by reducing importance
- rationalise
- devalue conflicting knowledge
- deny responsibility for dissonant behaviour
inter-changeable words for person perception
impression information
social perception
social judgement
social cognition
raw material for social perception
physical appearance behaviour situational factors communications from others communications from person themselves
sources of personality misinterpretations
- overestimate unity of personality
- success and failure
- stereotyped classifications
- limits of insight
- mechanisms of rigidity
- overestimate/underestimate role of personal/situational factors
primacy effects
first trait encountered in a identical lists influences the perception of individual (Asch 1946)
central traits
Asch 1946
two identical lists of traits except for warm/cold
greatly influenced perceptions
-warmth and competence are fundamental and universal dimensions of social judgement, social cognition and stereotyped content