Psychology Chapter on Attitudes

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Questions and Answers

What does the representative heuristic primarily assess?

Statistical data about a situation

The likelihood of an event based on media coverage

Similarity to a category or prototype (correct)

The cognitive load required for decision-making

How does the availability heuristic affect decision-making?

By using complex statistical analysis for better predictions

By promoting logical reasoning and evidence gathering

By relying solely on historical facts for judgment

By influencing judgments based on how easily examples come to mind (correct)

What characterizes illusory correlations?

Factual connections supported by evidence

Perceived associations between unrelated events (correct)

Causal relationships proven by extensive research

Accurate associations based on statistical data

Which of the following best describes a cognitive miser?

A person who uses heuristics to save cognitive resources Signup and view all the answers

In what situation would someone likely adopt a naive scientist approach?

When sufficient cognitive resources are available Signup and view all the answers

What role does base-rate information play in the representative heuristic?

It is often ignored in judgments. Signup and view all the answers

Which framework explains why individuals alternate between cognitive miser and naive scientist approaches?

Motivational Tactician Framework Signup and view all the answers

What can lead to biased judgments when employing the availability heuristic?

Recalling more examples of common events Signup and view all the answers

What is an example of Actor-Observer Bias?

Thinking others didn't prepare enough when they fail. Signup and view all the answers

What do Self-Serving Biases typically involve?

Attributing positive outcomes to internal factors. Signup and view all the answers

Which cultural perspective tends to show higher Self-Serving Bias?

Western cultures Signup and view all the answers

What method suggests that attitudes can be shaped through observation and imitation?

Social Learning Theory Signup and view all the answers

How do Operant Conditioning principles influence behavior?

They indicate that rewards increase the likelihood of behavior repetition. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes Classical Conditioning?

Associating a neutral stimulus with an emotional one to produce a response. Signup and view all the answers

What does the term 'Attribution' refer to in psychology?

The explanation of the cause of events. Signup and view all the answers

Which age group has been found to exhibit a larger Self-Serving Bias according to research by Mezulis et al. (2004)?

Children and older adults. Signup and view all the answers

What does the concept of cognitive dissonance primarily explain?

The discomfort of holding contradictory beliefs or behaviors Signup and view all the answers

Which method helps in reducing cognitive dissonance when behavior contradicts beliefs?

Changing cognition to align with behavior Signup and view all the answers

What was the finding of Morgenstern et al. (2013) regarding repeated exposure to cigarette ads?

It improved attitudes toward smoking Signup and view all the answers

Self-Perception Theory suggests that individuals infer their attitudes based on what?

Their own observed behaviors Signup and view all the answers

In Brehm's (1956) experiment, what tendency is observed after making a choice between two similar options?

The attractiveness of the chosen option increases Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Attitudes: Definition and Components

Attitude: An evaluation of people, objects, or ideas
Components of Attitude (ABC Model):
- Cognitive: Beliefs and thoughts about a target (e.g., "I think puppies are friendly")
- Affective: Emotions and feelings towards a target (e.g., "I feel happy when I see a puppy")
- Behavioral: Actions or observable behavior towards a target (e.g., "I pet the puppy")

Types of Attitudes

Explicit Attitudes:
- Conscious and aware of these attitudes
- Endorsed deliberately and in control
- Social desirability bias: May lie to align with social norms
- Measurable through introspection (self-reflection)
Implicit Attitudes:
- Subconscious and less accessible to awareness
- Automatic and outside of control
- Less affected by social desirability biases
- Can conflict with explicit attitudes
- Measured using reaction time (e.g., Implicit Association Test or IAT)

Implicit Attitudes Test (IAT)

Purpose: Measures implicit attitudes by assessing response speed
Criticisms:
- Validity: Questions if it truly measures implicit attitudes or cultural associations
- Reliability: Poor consistency in results upon retesting
- Language and cultural factors (e.g., non-native speakers) can affect results

Implicit vs Explicit Attitudes (Gawronski, 2019)

Findings:
- People are aware of their implicit attitudes
- Low correlation between implicit and explicit attitudes due to:
  - Motivation and opportunity influencing attitudes
  - Different content in implicit and explicit attitudes
  - People can predict their own implicit attitudes
  - People believe they are aware of their implicit attitudes

Schemas

Schema: Mental frameworks or blueprints of knowledge and expectations
- Purpose: Reduce cognitive load, save time, and help predict how things work.
- Example: Feng Min expects to line up at a fast-food restaurant based on previous experiences.
Schemas help us navigate the world by simplifying complex information

Heuristics

Heuristics: Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb for decision-making and judgment
- Purpose: Reduce cognitive effort and make quick decisions
- Example: Judging how likely something is based on how easily examples come to mind
Types of Heuristics:
- Representative Heuristic: Assessing similarity to a category or prototype (Ignoring base-rate information). Example: Claudette assumes a chihuahua is a dog because it looks like other dogs
- Availability Heuristic: Judging likelihood based on how easily something comes to mind (Common or recent events are more easily recalled). Example: Meg believes school shootings are more common in the USA than China because they are more frequently reported in the media.

Illusory Correlations

Illusory Correlation: Perceived association between two events or variables that are not actually related.
- Example: Yui believes people act stranger on full moons despite no actual connection

Cognitive Miser vs Naïve Scientist

Cognitive Miser: Uses heuristics and schemas to conserve cognitive resources, makes quick decisions, reluctant to analyze information
- Example: Stereotyping, automatic judgments based on minimal information
Naïve Scientist: Seeks logical explanations and evidence for decisions, spends more time to analyze situations, flexible thinking
- Example: Logical explanations and evidence for decisions, more time and effort to analyze situations

Motivational Tactician Framework

Explains how people switch between the Cognitive Miser and Naïve Scientist approaches based on time, cognitive resources, and the importance of the decision

Attribution Theory

Attributions: Beliefs about why things happen (Internal or external factors)
Types of Attribution Biases:
- Actor-Observer Bias: We attribute our own behavior to external factors (e.g., situational), and others' behavior to internal factors (e.g., personality)

Cultural and Psychological Attributions

Mezulis et al. (2004): Found that children and older adults have a larger self-serving bias compared to middle-aged people.
Cultural Differences: Western cultures (e.g., USA) tend to have higher self-serving biases, and non-Western cultures (e.g., China, Korea) tend to attribute success to external factors.

Origin of Attitudes

Genetic Influences: Suggest genetics play a role in attitudes toward various issues (political, social etc.).
Social Learning: Attitudes acquired through observation and imitation (e.g., Bandura's Social Learning Theory).
- Attitudes and conditioning: Classical and operant conditioning can shape attitudes

Classical Conditioning & Operant Conditioning

Classical Conditioning: A neutral stimulus is paired with an emotional stimulus to elicit an emotional response (e.g., neutral stimulus paired with positive experience to elicit positive feelings towards the product).
Operant Conditioning: Behaviors followed by rewards are more likely to be repeated, those followed by punishments are less likely to recur

Attitudes and Experiences

Direct Experience or Mere Exposure: Repeated exposure to a stimulus increases familiarity and positive feelings.
Example: Repeated exposure to a foreign word can increase positive associations.
Self-Perception Theory: We infer our attitudes by observing our own behaviorin a given situation.
Example: If you frequently engage in environmentally-friendly actions, you may infer that you have a positive attitude toward the environment.
Cognitive Dissonance: Discomfort from conflicting beliefs or behaviors.
- Reducing cognitive dissonance: Change behavior to align with cognition, change cognition to justify behavior, add new cognitions to justify behavior
Example: After making a choice between two similar options, people tend to increase the attractiveness of the chosen option and decrease the attractiveness of the rejected option (Brehm, 1956).

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Description

Explore the definition and components of attitudes, including the cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects. Discover the difference between explicit and implicit attitudes, and learn about the Implicit Attitudes Test (IAT) as a measurement tool in psychology.