Download intro to attitudes powerpoint

Draw these people & give them a
name
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Kindergarten teacher
Gymnast
Truck driver
Receptionist
President (of a country)
Emo
What is attitude?
•An attitude is an idea about ourselves or others,
or objects and experiences.
•Attitudes cause a person to respond in a positive
or negative way.
•The three components of an attitude are:
- Feelings (affective)
- Actions (behavioural)
- Thoughts (cognitive)
The ABC of attitudes
Affective component
• feelings towards the object or person – how you feel
Behavioural component
• a person’s actions towards various people, objects or
institutions – what you do/how you act
Cognitive component
• what a person thinks about the object or person – why
you believe this
How do we acquire attitudes?
Direct contact
• or personal experience with the object of the attitude
Eg: disliking someone who smokes because cigarette
smoke give you asthma
Interaction
• with others – through discussion with people who hold
a particular attitude
Eg: if your friends strongly oppose smoking in public
places and you discuss their beliefs, you will most likely
favour their ‘anti-smoking’ attitude
Child rearing
• The effects of parental values, beliefs, and
practices also affect attitudes
for example: if both parents of a child are
vegetarians, there is a 2/3 chance that
their child will also be a vegetarian
Group membership
• Our attitudes are influenced by our group
membership – this means the people with
whom you share common characteristics
For example, being a member of a certain
footy club will most likely cause you to
believe that your club is superior to all
others
Your attitudes towards a current
issue – AFL drug scandal
On Friday night, channel 7 reported some AFL players from a
Melbourne-based club had twice been detected using illegal substances
during drug testing.
The medical records were allegedly found outside an Ivanhoe rehab
centre.
The report was stopped mid-broadcast before the players names were
disclosed.
A court injunction was taken out by a doctor named in the report
preventing the publishing of names or clubs.
What is your opinion?
The media
• Attitudes are influenced and cleverly manipulated by the media
(radio, TV, magazines, newspapers)
• The media can target a large audience at any time
• having a media source (such as the TV) channelled constantly into
your home can have a powerful impact. Frequent TV viewers tend to
mistrust others and overestimate their chances of being harmed. This
can lead to a mean worldview.
Mean worldview
• considering the world to be a threatening and dangerous place
– vending machines
Chance conditioning
• Some attitudes are formed through chance
conditioning
• Chance conditioning is learning that takes
place through chance or coincidence
• Eg: developing an attitude towards
something based on one or two
experiences (deciding you dislike Thai
food after eating at a bad restaurant)
• 3 bad teachers = dislike for teachers
Reference groups
• Attitudes
are quite stable, but they can change
• A reference group is a group a person identifies with
and uses as a standard for social comparison
Persuasion
• Can
attitudes be changed by deliberate attempts to
persuade?
• Persuasion is a deliberate attempt to change attitudes or
beliefs through information and argument - advertising
Cognitive dissonance theory
• What is the cognitive dissonance theory?
• Cognitive dissonance is when you have contradicting or
clashing thoughts that cause discomfort.
• If you act in a way that does not align with your attitudes
or self-image, this contradiction will cause you to feel
uncomfortable
• Eg: if you get in a car with someone who you know has
taken drugs and your belief is that driving under the
influence is careless, you will feel upset and uneasy.
Check your understanding on P301
Prejudice
• Humans are drawn together by factors such as love
and friendship. Prejudice occurs when opposite
feelings come into play eg: hatred, suspicion.
• Prejudice is a negative emotional attitude held
towards members of a specific social group. Eg: a
culturally biased exam entrance exam at a school.
• Prejudice can be referred to as
- Sexism
- Racism - give examples of these
- Ageism
Sexism
• Sexism is a mixture of negative
stereotypes and thoughts, and feelings of
envy fear or hostility that results in
discrimination based on gender.
• Eg: a woman may get a job as a nurse
over a more highly qualified male nurse,
because females are generally better
nurses
Racism
• Racism is a mixture of negative
stereotypes and thoughts, and feelings of
envy fear or hostility that results in
discrimination based on race.
• Eg: employing a Mexican office cleaner
over a Caucasian office cleaner, because
the Mexican man will be more likely to
work for the minimum wage.
Ageism
• Ageism is a mixture of negative
stereotypes and thoughts, and feelings of
envy fear or hostility that results in
discrimination based on age.
• Eg: not considering the viewpoint of a
young child because you feel they lack the
life experience to have a valid opinion.
What is a stereotype?
• Most people publicly support equality and
fairness, yet many people have negative images
of certain groups, most likely minorities.
Deciding to become unprejudiced does not
necessarily negate prejudiced thoughts and
feelings. This usually reflects stereotypes
learned from a young age.
• A stereotype is an oversimplified image of
people who belong to a particular social group,
causing them to appear more similar than they
really are.
5 ways of reducing prejudice
• Inter-group contact – interactions that occur between the
holder of the stereotype and the target of the stereotype.
Eg: mixed classrooms
• Sustained contact – prolonged and involved cooperative
activity or interaction. Eg: working together
• Superordinate goals – shared goals that groups or
individuals cannot achieve alone or without the other
person or group. Eg: ANZACS
• Mutual interdependence – depending on one another to
meet each person’s goals. Eg: footy team
• Equality – social interactions that occur at the same
level, without obvious differences in power or status.
Eg: pay rates
Cognitive interventions
• Learned skills and behaviours that can be
used to combat prejudice
• Cognitive interventions can help us to be
less easily manipulated by others,
understand our own attitudes and promote
pleasant interactions.
The 7 cognitive interventions
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Beware of stereotypes
Seek individuating information
Don’t fall into just-world beliefs
Be aware of self-fulfilling prophecies
Different does not mean inferior
Look for commonalities
Develop cultural awareness
What is discrimination?
Check your understanding p 306
The 4 bases of prejudice
• Scapegoating – blaming a person or a group for the
actions of others or for circumstances out of their control
• Direct experience – repeated interactions with members
of the rejected group
• Personal and group prejudice – personal: when
members of another racial or ethnic group are perceived
as a threat to one’s own interests. Group: prejudice due
to group views or conformity
• Prejudiced personality – certain personality types are
more likely to be prejudiced. Eg: an authoritarian
personality is someone who is rigid, inhibited and
prejudiced
Sexism
• Women have historically suffered because
of low positions of power
• Although things have changed a lot,
women still suffer certain prejudices.
• Social hierarchy P 310 – do you agree? Will this
ever change?
• Sexism against men – paternal roles
Racism
• Racism is not a new concept
• Racism is largely caused by ignorance
towards cultural practices
• Subtle racism is prevalent
Multiculturalism
• Giving equal status to different ethnic,
racial and cultural groups
• Race is socially constructed, biologically
and genetically we are equal
Ageism
• Elderly people are not respected and
treated as a burden
• Businesses perpetuate ageism by not
hiring older workers
What are some common misconceptions about
older people?
Measuring attitudes
• Psychologists try to measure
people’s attitudes through
observation and the use of surveys.
Observation
• Involves people being observed without them
knowing. This is conducted to determine their attitude
towards issues such as racism and sexism.
Self-report method
• Sometimes data on attitudes is impossible to
observe. Eg. Attitudes towards sexual activity. Self
reports are written or spoken answers to questions,
asked by the researcher. They can be in the form of
Questionnaires or interviews. Questionnaires can be
used to determine how strongly a person’s attitude is.
This can be seen in the form of a LIKERT scale.
Likert Scales
A Likert Scale is a measurement of attitude that
consists of statements expressing various
possible views on an issue.
Eg: people who eat fast food are not as healthy
as those who don’t.
- People rank their responses on a 5-point scale
from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
How to create a Likert Scale
• Include an equal number of positive and
negative attitudes.
Eating too much fast food is bad for your health
Negative – eating fast food does not have a great
effect on how healthy you are
Positive – Limiting the consumption of fast food will
improve your health
Scoring your Scale
• Each response (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree
and strongly disagree) is allocated a numerical value of
1-5.
• The order of the numbers is dependent on the positivity
or negativity of the statement.
Eating too much fast food is bad for your health
Negative – eating fast food does not have a great effect on how healthy
you are
1= strongly agree 5= strongly disagree
Positive – Limiting the consumption of fast food will improve your health
5= strongly agree 1= strongly disagree
Quantitative Data
• Information that is collected in
numerical form and can therefore
be used statistically.