PSY 274 1st Edition Lecture 15Outline of Last Lecture I. Consistency Theories of Attitude ChangeII. Balance Theory III. Cognitive Dissonance a. Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance StudyIV. Effort JustificationV. Post-Decision SpreadVI. Reducing dissonance/restoring balance can be done by:VII. Spontaneous behaviorsVIII. Deliberative behaviorsIX. Aggregation principleCurrent Lecture I. Attitudes II. Behavior controversyIII. Attitude accessibilityIV. Specificity principleV. Aggregation Principle:VI. PersuasionVII. WhoVIII. WhatIX. ConformityX. Informational influenceXI. Normative influenceCurrent Lecture:Attitude > behavior controversy-Allport (1935) attitudes are the primary building stone in the edifice of social psychology (attitudes predict behavior)But…They don’t always.These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.LaPier: “restaurant” restaurant told him they wouldn’t serve him but they actually did. Behavior was different then attitudeCorey: asked all students’ attitudes on cheating then installed a bunch of cameras in the class and administered tests of different level of difficulty. Attitudes toward cheating did not predict likelihood of the person to cheat.Wicker (1969) – we should throw out attitude conceptNow attitude predicts IF a person feels a certain way and may behave a certain way but not WHENPredicting spontaneous behaviorsAttitude accessibility- When high (strength): attitude arises every time the object doesOther strength related properties:- Affective –cognitive consistency- Certainty- Stability- Extremity- Ambivalence Specificity principle- more closely attitude relates to behavior, greater predictive ability- when you are trying to predict a specific thing you need to have a specific attitude measure focused on that specific outcomeex. When specifically asked about “using birth control pills during the next two years” then there is an actual correlation with using BC pills during next 2 years rather when just asked about their attitudes on “birth control” which showed no correlationAggregation Principle:General attitudes predict aggregates of behavior (this is if you want to predict groups of behaviors not specific)Origin of persuasion researchHow to change people’s attitudes matters if it changes behavior.Persuasion research looks at how this is done.Yale attitude Change Approach (research teams were from all over the U.S and moved to one place since this was near WW2 - Who said what to whom (target; some easier to persuade than others) through what channel?Peruasion: focuses on changing underlying attitude rather than simply behaviorPeople prefer others who have gone what they have gone through themselves to persuade them, or help them to change.Ex. Gillian Michaels- Who: Source effects- Credibilityo Expertiseo Trustworthiness (different contexts evoke different levels of trustworthiness because maybe they have something at stake so they are lying)o Ex. Least trustworthy “car salesperson, insurance, sales person, advertisers, and lawyers (a car sales person knows a lot about cars but they gain something by lying so we cant trust them)o Most trustworthy pharmacists, clergy, physicians, and professors have nothing to gain- Other ways to seem credible (even if you lack expertise or trustworthiness)o Talk fast (makes you more credible)o Talk powerfully (not use compound requests: would you please closethe door? Instead, close the door. Powerful people use less pronouns)o Covert communicators: People who are perceived as credible because they are arguing against their own previously held beliefs or behaviors. (ex. Gillian Michaels; she used to struggle with her weight and now doesn’t/ ex. Jared subway guy)o Sleeper Effect- when you hear something that you don’t believe in their credibility so you shrug it off and don’t believe it but then months later you hear it somewhere else and think that sounds familiar and remember the message, forgot the source then you believe it. (ex. Paid spokes people not doctors on TV give messages)- Likabilityo Attractiveness(interacting with people who are physically attractive we seem them as similar to us)o Similarity (ex. Car sales people match you demographically)- Power- salient cues to authority What: Message effects- Most persuasive messages are those that do not seem designed to influenceo Overheard messageso Product placement – the less likely it seems like it is intended to persuade, the more persuasive it is. o Conclusion drawing Better to let listener draw their own conclusion rather than me do it, unless they wouldn’t draw the conclusion you wantthem too Conformity: Going along with the wishes of a group Not always conscious Informational influence: Going along with the group to be correct- Leads to private acceptance of the norm- Private acceptance- Sherif autokinetic effect experiment Normative influence: Going along with the crowd to be liked and accepted- Public conformity- Asch line judging experimento ~75% of people erroneously conformed at least onceo Overall conformity rate ~37%o 5% of people erroneously conformed every timeo In the control group, almost no one gave the wrong answer When do people conform?- Strength: the importance of the group- Immediacy: the closeness of the group to you in time and space- Number: size of the group- Persuasion : Communication advocating a particular side of an issueo Yale attitude change approach: Who said what to whom through what channel?- One-sided versus two-sidedo Two-sided generally better, unless: You cannot refute the other side The listener already agrees with you- Emotional appealso Humoro Fear- Self-interest of sourceo Stealing thunder: revealing potentially incriminating evidence first tonegate its impact- Repetition Whom: Recipient effects- Intelligence / Self-esteem- Personal relevance- Need for Cognition- Age Channel effects- Medium of message (e.g., face to face, print, radio, TV)o Print is self-pacedo Face to face, radio & TV are not self-paced, but get nonverbal and voice inflection (and perhaps more attention