* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Chapter 7 Attitudes, Beliefs and Consistency Our “self” is not the
Psychometrics wikipedia , lookup
Cognitive load wikipedia , lookup
Developmental psychology wikipedia , lookup
Object relations theory wikipedia , lookup
Psychological behaviorism wikipedia , lookup
Music psychology wikipedia , lookup
Group polarization wikipedia , lookup
Operant conditioning wikipedia , lookup
Neuroeconomics wikipedia , lookup
Behaviorism wikipedia , lookup
Cognitive psychology wikipedia , lookup
Social perception wikipedia , lookup
Attribution (psychology) wikipedia , lookup
Cross-cultural differences in decision-making wikipedia , lookup
Theory of planned behavior wikipedia , lookup
Cognitive science wikipedia , lookup
Impression formation wikipedia , lookup
Social psychology wikipedia , lookup
Insufficient justification wikipedia , lookup
Cognitive development wikipedia , lookup
Theory of reasoned action wikipedia , lookup
Implicit attitude wikipedia , lookup
Cognitive dissonance wikipedia , lookup
19.03.2012 Chapter 7 Attitudes, Beliefs and Consistency Pp 197 – 214 Our “self” is not the only thing we evaluate! We are not neutral observers of the world. We evaluate what we encounter: Other people, objects, events, ideas… As good-bad; like- dislike; positive- negative; favor-disfavor; approve-disapprove... An attitude is an overall evaluation of a stimulus. A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object, or idea expressed at some level of intensity. Is relatively enduring. Can differ in terms of direction and strength Is not directly observable but guides our choices and decisions for action. (often) influences behavior (especially when is strong, accessible and longstanding) 1 19.03.2012 Why Study Attitudes? We have attitudes towards “everything” Prejudice, liking/attraction, voting behavior, conformity, attention to health, prosocial behavior,persuasion in advertising Attitudes towards certain attitude objects have specific names. E.g. Prejudice; attitude towards social group (especially negative) Self-esteem; attitude towards yourself Values; attitudes towards abstract entities (e.g. Vegetarianism) Why Study Attitudes? Attitudes: are pervasive help predict future behavior influence our social perceptions and memories They operate like schemas to organize information and guide behavior. Attitudes are “the most distinctive and indispensable concept in contemporary social psychology” (Gordon Allport, 1935) What is an attitude like? Is it only: Feeling? like vs. dislike Cognition? Good vs bad Mental readiness to act? Will do vs. not do One-component attitude model Three-component attitude model Affect Behavior (or behavioral intent) Cognition 2 19.03.2012 "Mmmmm... Gummi Beer." Homer Simpson’s Attitudes Toward Beer Affective Evaluation Beer Homer’s Attitude Toward Beer Behavior Regarding Beer Cognitions Regarding Beer "Oh Lisa, you and your stories: 'Bart is a vampire', 'Beer kills brain cells'. Now let's go back to that building... thingy... where our beds and TV... is." "The other day, I was so desperate for a beer, I snuck into the football stadium and ate the dirt under the bleachers." The ABC of Attitudes Attitudes are made up of three parts that together form our (general) evaluation of the “attitude object”: 1. An affective component, consisting of your emotional reactions toward the attitude object. 2. A behavioral component, consisting of your actions or observable behavior toward the attitude object 3. A cognitive component, consisting of your thoughts and beliefs about the attitude object. Positivity – Negativity of the evaluation: Four possible reactions Cacciopo, et al. 1997 3 19.03.2012 Attitudes also vary by their strength Positive Weak Strong Negative Where Do Attitudes Come From? Genetic background MZ twins more similar than DZ twins Is there a gene for “reading books”? inherited sensory structures might influence our attitudes toward spicy foods or loud music inherited body chemistry might influence our attitudes toward stimulants such as caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine genetic differences in activity level might influence our attitudes toward various leisure activities 4 19.03.2012 Social experience and learning Direct experience Mere-exposure effect Facial expression, head movement, and body posture Classical conditioning Operant/ Instrumental conditioning Observational learning / modelling Direct experience and mere exposure Direct experience with a stimulus provide us with information about its attributes, and we form attitudes based on our beliefs of how much we like/dislike them. First experiences are important. (e.g. Dentist). Mere exposure effect: By simply exposing a person repeatedly to a particular object causes them to develop a more positive attitude toward the object. Has most effect when we don’t have much information about the stimulus. The effect of continued repeated exposure diminishes. Ex: Mere exposure to novel stimuli (Zajonc, 1968) Participants were initially shown 12 different Chinese characters. either 25 times, 10 times, 5 times, twice, once or not at all Then were asked to indicate how much they liked each character: 5 19.03.2012 Attitudes are influenced by changes in facial expression, head movement and body posture Facial Feedback Hypothesis, Strack, 1988 Conditioning Classical conditioning: Pairing a neutral stimulus with an object that evokes an attitude response can cause the neutral object to come to evoke the same attitude response. Instrumental (operant) conditioning:Attitudes can be formed /shaped by rewards/punishments. E.g. More persuasion when persuasive messages are repeatedly paired with soft-drinks E.g. Parents praise children for reading books Observational (social/vicarious) conditioning (Modelling ): learning in which individuals acquire new forms of behavior (e.g., attitudes) as a result of observing others E.g. Media exposure Properties of an attitude object Relevant information. Classify based on positives and negatives of an evaluation object 6 19.03.2012 Cognitive development As we have more information about stimuli, we from connections and integrate information to form attitudes. More focus on what is going on internally. Self-perception theory – connects both behavioral and cognitive processes People acquire knowledge about themselves & their attitudes by examining their own behaviors. People act and form attitudes without much deliberate thinking Cognitive development Prior attitudes influence formation of new ones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Egi8EoQc8 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 Accept evidence from ingroup members Mutual Causation Model (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993) Cognitive Processes Affective Processes Behavioral Processes – Beliefs + – Attitude + – Feelings + – Actions + 7 19.03.2012 Attitudes are strongest when they Attitude strength: The importance of the attitude for the self directly affect own outcomes and self-interest are related to deeply held values are concerned friends, family, or social ingroups are formed through direct experience Are you aware of all of your attitudes Dual Attitudes: Explicit (overt) attitudes Conscious evaluative response Implicit (covert) attitudes Automatic evaluative response We can have both explicit and implicit attitudes towards certain objects (they may even contradict) E.g: feeling uneasy around a new acquaintance because you unconsciously associate him with a disagreeable person from your past. How do we measure attitudes? Measuring explicit attitudes Attitude scales Measuring implicit attitudes: Physiological measures E.g. Hear rate, galvanic skin response Behavioral Measures E.g. seating distance, eye contact, amount of recycled goods in your neighborhood. Implicit association test Measures the automatic associations we make with stimuli 24 8 19.03.2012 Attitude scales Please indicate the extent to which you agree with each of the statements below, with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 5 being “strongly agree” 1. Engaging in regular physical exercise 3 times a week promotes good health. 2. Eating a variety of foods each day, including 5 or more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, contributes to wellness. 3. It is essential that all citizens exercise their right to vote if government is to effectively reflect the will of the people. 4. It is all citizens duty to protect the environment for the benefit of the natural environment and future generations. 26 Implicit Association Test Similar to the attitude priming task Classify objects and adjectives on a computer screen using a keyboard & Assess reaction times Measure your attitudes : https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/ 9 19.03.2012 Physiological measures galvanic skin response (GSR) Subtle changes in the facial muscles can be used to detect positive and negative reactions to attitude objects Attitude priming (Fazio, 1995) Attitudes are associations between an attitude object and a summary evaluation. These association vary in strength.This strength determines the accessibility of the attitude and affects how quickly an individual responds to an evaluative word regarding this attitude object. Broccoli --- disgusting (react) ---- tastes good (react) What if there is an inconsistency between an individual’s cognitions (or behaviors) Humans are motivated to maintain consistency between beliefs, attitudes and behaviours Dissonance (inconsistency) is aversive; produces physiological arousal One way of restoring balance is “attitude change” Consistency theories Heider’s (1946) balance theory Festinger’s theory (1957) of cognitive dissonance 10 19.03.2012 Balance Theory (Heider, 1946) Focuses on the cognitive unit P (the person) – O (another person) – X (attitude) and seeks balance between them. 32 Balance Theory My friend’s friend is my friend My friend’s enemy is my enemy My enemy’s friend is my enemy My enemy’s firend is my enemy (Festinger’s) Cognitive Dissonance Theory People’s attitudes or beliefs can be consonant (in line), dissonant (at odds), or not related to each other If dissonant, we experience psychological discomfort We are motivated to reinstate consonance by changing beliefs or behaviour about attitude object. Induced compliance paradigm 11 19.03.2012 Cognitive Dissonance Theory People are motivated by a desire for consistency in their beliefs, attitudes and behaviors (selfperceptions). If you simultaneously hold two cognitions that are inconsistent or engage in a behavior that is inconsistent with your attitude, you will experience a feeling of discomfort, or dissonance. Will try to reduce this dissonance Also studied within the concept of “Self – concept maintenance” Classic experimental work (Festinger and Carlsmith, 1959) After participants perform two extremely boring tasks for an hour, the experimenter asks them whether they would be willing to tell the next participant that the task they were about to take was very enjoyable & interesting. IV: offered no money, $1 or $20 to lie DV1: reported liking of the experiment DV2: would like to participate in a similar study Predictions? Results: enjoyable would participate similar 1.5 1 0.5 0 -0.5 -1 control $1 $20 DV: Ratings from –5 to +5 12 19.03.2012 Dissonance and Insufficient Justification Ways to Reduce Dissonance 13 19.03.2012 Variations of Cognitive Dissonance Induced compliance Effort justification Free choice Post-Decision Dissonance Induced Compliance When people are induced to act in ways that are inconsistent with their beliefs, when they act in a counter-attitudinal way, they experience cognitive dissonance and seek to justify their action. The Festinger and Carlsmith’s (1959) research we talked above is an example to induced compliance. Should use a smaller rewards to bring about a larger attitude change. Foot –in-the-door tactic: If you are to ask for a big favor, or ask people to take some risks, or do something complex - start by making them engaging in smaller acts Effort Justification The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain. 14 19.03.2012 Research on effort justification (Aronson & Mills, 1989) Female college students volunteered to join a group that would be meeting regularly to discuss various aspects of the psychology of sex. And were exposed to one of three screening procedures: Severe Initiation, Mild Initiation; Control Free Choice When individuals have to make a choice between alternative courses of action that are equally attractive, they are feel dissonance after they make a choice (post-decision dissonance) This dissonance is reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives. Post-Decision Dissonance As soon as we commit ourselves to a particular course of action: The attractive aspects of the unchosen alternatives and the unattractive aspects of our choice are inconsistent with our decision. Dissonance increases with importance. We alter our perceptions to reduce dissonance. We improve our evaluation of chosen alternative. We lower evaluation of unchosen alternative. 15 19.03.2012 Cognitive dissonance Earlier research claimed that cognitive dissonance could be caused by any two conflicting cognitions (thoughts or opinions) Now dissonance is most powerful and most upsetting when people behave in ways that threaten their selfesteem. Confront the discrepancy between who we think we are and how we have in fact behaved. Advances in dissonance theory Dissonance resemble an emotional reaction – matters only one feels discomfort and attributes it to the inconsistent behavior/thoughts. Causes an arousal state When the arousal was blocked (through a pill) no dissonance It is important to act/seem consistent when in the presence of others, than when in private Effect of self-presentation on cognitive-dissonance Vicarious dissonance (Cooper & Hogg, 2007) People can experience dissonance vicariously, especially if there is a strong bond with the person experiencing dissonance. Is consistency rooted in nature or nurture? Preference for Consistency (PFC) measures individual differences in wanting predictability and consonance. Individual differences may mediate the effects found in traditional dissonance research. Culture: some basic drive for consistency can be found in very different cultures, but consistency seems to be a stronger motive in individualist than collectivist cultures. Within a given culture, some people are better able to tolerate inconsistencies than others. 16 19.03.2012 Other theories of Cognitive Dissonance Self-Affirmation Theory (Steele, 1988) People want to view themselves as moral, capable individuals. Counterattitudinal behavior threatens the feelings of self-worth. People change their attitudes to reduce these threats to selfworth. Self-esteem? Self-Perception Theory (Bem, 1972) Individuals simply observe their own behavior and infer their own attitudes from it. Self-perception works best with weak attitudes “I did the boring task; I must like the boring task.” 51 Other theories of cognitive dissonance Self-perception theory and cognitive dissonance theory may complement each other: When an individual’s actions fall within his/her range of acceptance – self-perception theory best accounts for an individual’s response When an individual’s actions fall outside his/her range of acceptance (or inside his/her range of rejection) – cognitive dissonance theory best accounts for an individual’s response Vicarious dissonance (Cooper & Hogg, 2007) People can experience dissonance vicariously, especially if there is a strong bond with the person experiencing dissonance. To sum up: Cognitive consistency is an important motive in many people’s attitudes and behavior Cognitive dissonance theory contends that if people hold inconsistent cognitions, they experience an unpleasant emotion, which they try to reduce. CD does not always occur when one acts inconsistently CD is most likely when: The attitude is important to the self The inconsistency is substantial Need for cognitive consistency appears to be less is collectivistic cultures Cognitive dissonance can be reduced through self- affirmation. 17