ATTITUDES: MAKING SOCIAL JUDGMENTS Attitudes are positive or negative evaluations of objects of thought

COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE Cognitive component: beliefs people hold about the objects of an attitude Affective component: emotional feelings stimulated by an object of thought Behavioral component: predispositions to act in certain ways toward an object of thought COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE

DIMENSIONS OF ATTITUDE Strength: durable; powerful impact on behavior Accessibility: how often one thinks about something; how quickly it comes to mind Ambivalence: conflicted evaluations that include both pos and neg feelings about an object of thought DIMENSIONS OF ATTITUDE

ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR Attitude does not predict behavior Stronger attitudes are more predictive Behavior relies on situational constraints---especially subjective perceptions of how people expect you to behave ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR

PERSUASION Constant 4 basic elements: Source: sender of communication Receiver: to whom the msg is sent Message: info transmitted Channel: the medium PERSUASION

SOURCE FACTORS Persuasion more effective if source has credibility Source should by trustworthy Likable: similarity and physical attractiveness SOURCE FACTORS

Should you present a one-sided argument or two-sided argument Concentrate on your strong arguments Validity effect: repeating a statement causes it to be perceived as more valid or true Appeal to fear? MESSAGE FACTORS

RECEIVER FACTORS Stronger attitudes are more resistant to change Confirmation bias: arguments that conflict with beliefs are scrutinized longer Observers’ prior knowledge makes it difficult to persuade RECEIVER FACTORS

THEORIES OF ATTITUDE FORMATION AND CHANGE

Affective component can be created through classical conditioning Operant conditioning comes into play when you express ideas Peoples’ responses reinforce your tendency to repeat a specific attitude Observational learning: you repeat behavior you see LEARNING THEORY

DISSONANCE THEORY Leon Festinger Inconsistency among attitudes propels people in the direction of attitude change (counterattitudinal behavior) Cognitive dissonance exists when related cognitions are inconsistent—that is, when they contradict each other DISSONANCE THEORY

DISSONANCE THEORY CONTINUED Effort justification: when people switch attitudes to justify efforts that did not work out Cooper: dissonance occurs only when individuals feel personally responsible for causing aversive events that were unforeseeable Steele and Aronson: occurs when individuals behave in a way that threatens their sense of self-worth DISSONANCE THEORY CONTINUED

SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY Daryl Bem People often infer their attitudes from their behavior Very similar to dissonance SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY

ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL Petty and Cacioppo Asserts there are 2 basic routes to persuasion: 1) Central route: when people carefully ponder the content and logic of persuasive msgs 2) Peripheral route: when persuasion depends on nonmessage factors (attractiveness or credibility) or on conditioned emotional responses ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL

CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE

CONFORMITY DEF: when people yield to real or imagined social pressure Solomon Asch experiments Group size and unanimity are key determinants of conformity Ambiguous situations also lead to conformity CONFORMITY

DEF: form of compliance that occurs when people follow direct commands, usually from someone in a position of authority Stanley Milgram studies Studied tendency to obey authority figures OBEDIENCE

BEHAVIOR IN GROUPS Group: consists of 2 or more individuals who interact and are interdependent

DEF: people are less likely to provide needed help when they are in groups than when they are alone Why? People search their environments for behavior clues If people hesitate, perception is the situation is not that serious When alone, responsibility rest on you BYSTANDER EFFECT

GROUP PRODUCTIVITY AND SOCIAL LOAFING Individual productivity declines in large groups Due to loss of coordination Social loafing: a reduction in effort by individuals when they work in groups as compared to when they work by themselves Due to diffusion of responsibility GROUP PRODUCTIVITY AND SOCIAL LOAFING

DECISION MAKING IN GROUPS

DEF: occurs when group discussion strengthens a group’s dominant point of view and produces a shift toward a more extreme decision in that direction GROUP POLARIZATION

DEF: when members of a cohesive group emphasize concurrence at the expense of critical thinking in arriving at a decision Group cohesiveness: the strength of the liking relationships linking group members to each other and to the group itself GROUPTHINK