Social Psychology PSY450 Instructor: Briana Harvey Welcome!

What Are Attitudes? Why Do People Have Them? How Attitudes Are Formed Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency

What do you see?

Beliefs – Pieces of information about something; facts or opinions – “It is cloudy outside” – “Obama is US president” Attitudes – Global evaluations toward some object or issue – “I hate cloudy days” – “I like Obama as a president” Attitudes and Beliefs

"Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone but only his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.“ -Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Dual Attitudes – Different evaluations of the same object – Implicit or Explicit Dual Attitudes

Explicit attitude – Conscious evaluative response – “Speak your mind” Implicit attitude – Automatic evaluative response – “Know your mind” Dual Attitudes

Measures implicit attitudes – Those we are unwilling or unable to report – Attitudes about stereotyped or stigmatized groups – e.g., The elderly, the obese, homosexuals, Muslims, ethnic/racial minorities, poor people – A stigma is an attribute that is perceived by others as broadly negative Implicit Association Test (IAT)(IAT)

Attitudes help us deal with a complex world Attitudes are evaluations (like or dislike) – Initial evaluations are immediate and unconscious Attitudes are helpful in making choices Why People Have Attitudes

Mere-exposure effect: – The tendency for people to come to like things simply because they see or encounter them repeatedly. – Exception - If you dislike something initially, repeated exposure will not change that attitude Stimuli may be presented at subliminal level How Attitudes Are Formed

Zajonc (1968) tested mere exposure hypothesis – Presented participants with Turkish words, Chinese characters, and yearbook photos – Varied how many times participants were exposed – Asked ‘How much do you like this?’ Mere-Exposure Effect

Can you recall the last time you were nauseous and/or vomiting? What is your attitude now toward whatever you drank/ate around that time? Classical Conditioning: – Type of learning in which, through repeated pairings, a neutral stimulus comes to evoke a conditioned response. How Attitudes Are Formed

Classical Conditioning – Can form both explicit and implicit attitudes – Develop a positive attitude toward the conditioned stimulus – Advertisers link celebrities and products – Advertisers drop celebrities when negative associations occur How Attitudes Are Formed

Operant Conditioning – A type of learning in which people are more likely to repeat behaviors that have been rewarded and less likely to repeat behaviors that have been punished. – Develop a positive attitude toward something being reinforced How Attitudes Are Formed

Operant Conditioning

Social Learning: – A type of learning in which people are more likely to imitate behaviors if they have seen others rewarded for performing them, and less likely to imitate behaviors if they have seen others punished for performing them. – Learn attitudes acceptable through observation – Vicarious learning How Attitudes Are Formed

Polarization - Attitudes become more extreme as we think about them – Especially true in strong initial attitude – Evaluate evidence in a biased manner – Accept evidence that confirms attitude For example: Dr. Kevorkian and assisted suicide How Attitudes Are Formed

Cognitive Dissonance Theory Do Attitudes Really Predict Behavior? Beliefs and Believing Attitudes, Beliefs, and Consistency

P-O-X Theory (or Balance theory) – Person – Other Person – Attitude Object (X) Relationships among P-O-X – Can be balanced or unbalanced – Individuals prefer balanced to unbalanced – Unbalanced – motivated to change – Balanced: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” Balance Theory

Multiply the signs (+ or -) and that tells you is if the outcome is positive (balanced) or negative (unbalanced)

Unlike other animals, humans feel the need to be consistent – Inconsistency is unpleasant – We specify conditions required to restore consistency Balance theory (P-O-X) explains that the relationships between person, other person, and attitude object are balanced or unbalanced – Unbalanced relationships (inconsistent states) motivate people to achieve balanced (consistent states) relationships Consistency

Cognitive dissonance refers to unpleasant state when attitude and behavior are inconsistent – Causes people to rationalize their behavior and bring their attitude into line with actions Cognitive Dissonance Theory

If not paid enough to soothe their dissonance, subjects lied to themselves.

Effort Justification: – People seek to justify and rationalize any suffering or effort they have made – Stronger attachment once this justification is made – For example: fraternity or sorority hazing Why does Cognitive Dissonance Theory happen?

Consider someone who buys an expensive car but discovers that it is not comfortable on long drives – Dissonance exists between their beliefs that they have bought a good car and that a good car should be comfortable Cognitive Dissonance Example

Dissonance could be eliminated by – Deciding that it does not matter since the car is mainly used for short trips (reducing the importance of the dissonant belief) – Focusing on the car’s strengths such as safety, appearance, and handling (thereby adding more consonant beliefs). – Getting rid of the car, but this behavior is a lot harder to achieve than changing beliefs. Cognitive Dissonance Example

Eat a worm? Change your attitude! (Comer & Laird, 1975) – Your task: – A: Which weight is heavier? – B: Eat this worm! No one had to eat worm – But those told to actually reported “okay” feeling toward it Sometimes people will choose to suffer an expected consequence, but only if they change their beliefs and attitudes. Food for Thought Would You Eat a Bug or a Worm?

If you perform an action but have no choice in the matter, then there is no need to rationalize it Justifying Choices

Post-decision dissonance – Difficult decisions involve tradeoffs – Justify our choices to reduce cognitive dissonance – By increasing the attractiveness of our choice – Decreasing the attractiveness of the rejected alternatievs Justifying Choices

Tyranny of choice – Some choice is better than none – Too many choices are not always better than less choices – Information overload Justifying Choices

Justifying Choices-Two types of people Maximizers vs. Best possible choice Never stop looking Never happy with decision Less life satisfaction Less optimistic Satisficers Good enough choice Stop looking Happier More life satisfaction More optimistic

Is dissonance an arousal state? Studies indicate Yes! Feel uncomfortable People have strong desire to be seen as consistent to others Don’t want to be labeled hypocrites Don’t want to be socially rejected Advances in Dissonance Theory

A-B Problem Problem of inconsistency between attitudes (A) and behaviors (B) Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency

Gender gap in Attitude-Behavior consistency – Men have little cognitive dissonance when it comes to sex! Men’s attitudes predict their sexual behavior much better than women – They are honest! Women’s sexual responses are specific to the person and the situation so general attitudes are not as relevant – Double standard?? The Social Side of Sex

Predictions of behavior based on attitudes is best when 1. Measures of attitude are very specific 2. Behaviors are aggregated over time and situations 3. Attitudes come to mind easily Defending Attitudes

When attitudes specific to the behavior are examined, we are better able to predict behavior – General attitudes (“I like old people”) are poor predictors of specific behaviors (“Will I help my elderly neighbor carry his groceries today?” ) 1. Specific Attitudes

When we can view attitudes and subsequent behavior over time, we can better predict future behavior – Attitude toward religion is a poor predictor of whether someone will go to church next weekend… – But it is a good predictor of religious behaviors over time (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1974; Kahle & Berman, 1979) 2. Aggregated (summed) Attitudes

When attitudes are strong and come easily to mind, they are more likely to predict behavior 3. Attitudes comes easy to mind..

Doing a favor for someone usually increases your liking for that individual (Blanchard & Cook, 1976) – “I must like him or I wouldn’t have done that favor for him” Behavior Does Influence Attitude!

Consistency is important for beliefs also!! Believing is automatic – Understanding requires controlled, conscious thought Duplex mind – Automatic system – Uncritical and accepting (facts, opinions) – Conscious system – Can override and change belief to disbelief Beliefs and Believing

Please complete Fire Fighter Story

Once beliefs form it is resist to change – Despite bogus evidence, continue to believe – Example: Two groups told: 1.Risky people make better firefighters 2.Cautious people make better firefighters – Both groups told they were given bogus info – But they kept their beliefs long after the study (Anderson, Leper & Ross, 1980) What SHOULD have happened

Coping – How people attempt to deal with traumas and go back to functioning effectively in life Assumptive Worlds-beliefs about reality 1.The world is benevolent 2.The world is fair and just 3.I am a good person – Tend to make downward comparisons if these assumptions are shattered- It could have been worse Beliefs and Coping