Attitudes and BehaviorHow do attitudes guide behavior?Experience and learningAttitude: Evaluation of objects and ideas to indicate like or dislikeThe sources of attitudesClassical and operant conditioningAttitudes can be shaped through socializationHeritability of attitudesSpecific attitudes not directly inheritedInherited personal characteristics may influence acquiring certain attitudesAttitudes sometimes predict behaviorImplicit attitudes: Attitudes that influence behavior and feelings at an unconscious levelAttitude accessibility: Ease of conscious retrievalPredicts stability and strangth of effect on behaviorExplicit attitudes may not be predictiveWhen attitudes contradict normative social valuesWhen they cause embarrassmentCognitive dissonanceLeon Festinger, 1957An internal state of tension and anxietyCaused by discrepancies between two attitudes or an attitude and behaviorMotivates people to seek to reduce tensionby changing behaviorby changing attitudesFestinger & Carlsmith studyStudents performed boring taskThree conditionsStudent persuaded to lie about task to next participant for $20Student persuaded to lie about task to next participant for $1Control condition: no lyingResults: $1 group had insufficient justification (rated task as enjoyable)Postdecisional dissonanceAttitude change following difficult decisionFocus on positive characteristics of chosen optionFocus on negative characteristics of rejected optionSelective exposure: active seeking of information to support choice madeEffort justificationAttitude change following effort to achieve goalThe desirability of the goal is enhancedEffort justification can explain the power of initiation rites to organizations, cultsRelated to sunk costs (Economics)Attitude change through persuasionPersuasion: Active, conscious effort to change others’ attitudes through communicationElaboration likelihood modelCentral route to persuasionPersuasion by logical argumentPersistent attitude changePeripheral route to persuasionMinimal processing of messageTransient changes in attitudeOften based on irrelevant associationsHow do people form attitudes about others?AttributionsPeople’s causal explanations of other people’s behaviorPersonal attributionExplanation of behavior by reference to something within the person, such as abilities, traits, or personal effortSituational attributionExplanation by reference to events outside actor’s control, such as luck, accident, or actions of othersBiased social information processingCorrespondence biasThe tendency to expect people’s behavior to agree with their dispositionsBias towards personal attributions over situational attributionsMore common in Western culturesActor-observer discrepancyTendency to focus on situational factors when explaining one’s own behaviorTendency to focus on personal factors when explaining others’ behaviorStereotypesCognitive schemas allowing for quick inferences about people based on group membershipPrejudice: The affective or attitudinal responses associated with stereotypesDiscrimination: Inappropriate and unjustified treatment of people based on their group membershipAvoiding stereotyping behaviorStereotyping is automatic categorization of a personPeople who are low in prejudiceExperience the automatic reactionOverride it to act in a nondiscriminatory wayCognitive rebound effect:Active attempts to suppress thoughts can lead to later obsessionsCognitive aspects of stereotypingIllusory correlationBelief that stereotyped individuals show certain characteristics or behaviorsConfirmation bias: tendency to notice stereotype-consistent factsAlso a tendency not to attend to stereotype-inconsistent factsSubtyping: Creating a subcategory for individuals who do not fit a stereotypeTendency to favor our own groupsIn-group favoritismTendency to evaluate one’s own group favorably and provide more privileges to themOut-group homogeneity effectTendency to view outgroup members as more similar to each other than ingroup membersEvolutionary explanation: Group membership and group success was essential for survivalStigmaStrong devaluation of someone, extending to a person’s entire characterThe stigmatized person is viewed as deviant, even less than humanPeople who threaten a social group may be stigmatizedEvidence of evolutionary artifactsSelf-fulfilling prophesyThe process by which people behave in ways that confirm their own or others’ expectationsRosenthal’s study of “bloomers”Stereotype threatLeads to poor performance in cases where people feel their behavior may confirm a negative stereotypeReducing prejudice and discriminationThe contact hypothesisPrejudice comes from lack of familiarity with outgroup membersFamiliarity will reduce negative attitudesDesegregation demonstrated that simple contact was inadequateMore recent researchSeparate groups require superordinate goals to reduce hostilityValue of cooperationJigsaw classroomPsych 301, 9/19/3Attitudes and BehaviorHow do attitudes guide behavior?Experience and learning Attitude: Evaluation of objects and ideas to indicate like or dislikeThe sources of attitudesClassical and operant conditioningAttitudes can be shaped through socializationHeritability of attitudesSpecific attitudes not directly inheritedInherited personal characteristics may influence acquiring certain attitudesAttitudes sometimes predict behaviorImplicit attitudes: Attitudes that influence behavior and feelings at an unconscious levelAttitude accessibility: Ease of conscious retrievalPredicts stability and strangth of effect on behaviorExplicit attitudes may not be predictiveWhen attitudes contradict normative social values When they cause embarrassmentCognitive dissonanceLeon Festinger, 1957An internal state of tension and anxietyCaused by discrepancies between two attitudes or an attitude and behaviorMotivates people to seek to reduce tensionby changing behaviorby changing attitudesFestinger & Carlsmith studyStudents performed boring taskThree conditionsStudent persuaded to lie about task to next participant for $20Student persuaded to lie about task to next participant for $1Control condition: no lyingResults: $1 group had insufficient justification (rated task as enjoyable)Postdecisional dissonanceAttitude change following difficult decisionFocus on positive characteristics of chosen optionFocus on negative characteristics of rejected optionSelective exposure: active seeking of information to support choice madeEffort
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