Week 5 Exam Notes: Attitudes, Schemas, Heuristics, and Behaviours PDF

**Week 5 Exam Notes: Attitudes, Schemas, Heuristics, and Behaviours** **Attitudes: Definition and Components** - **Attitude**: An evaluation of people, objects, or ideas. - **Components of Attitude (ABC Model)**: 1. **Cognitive**: Beliefs and thoughts about a target (e.g., \"I t...

**Week 5 Exam Notes: Attitudes, Schemas, Heuristics, and Behaviours** **Attitudes: Definition and Components** - **Attitude**: An evaluation of people, objects, or ideas. - **Components of Attitude (ABC Model)**: 1. **Cognitive**: Beliefs and thoughts about a target (e.g., \"I think puppies are friendly\"). 2. **Affective**: Emotions and feelings towards a target (e.g., \"I feel happy when I see a puppy\"). 3. **Behavioural**: Actions or observable behaviour toward a target (e.g., \"I pet the puppy\"). **Example**: - **Target**: Puppy - **Cognitive**: Belief the puppy is friendly. - **Affective**: Feeling of adorableness. - **Behavioural**: Action of petting the puppy. **Types of Attitudes** 1. **Explicit Attitudes**: - **Conscious** and **aware** of these attitudes. - Endorsed **deliberately** and **in control**. - **Social desirability bias**: We may lie to align with social norms. - **Measurable through introspection** (self-reflection). 2. **Implicit Attitudes**: - **Subconscious** and **less accessible** to awareness. - **Automatic** and **outside our control**. - Less affected by **social desirability bias**. - 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 whether 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. - **Findings**: The first thought is **conditioned** by past experiences, but the second thought reflects **who we are today**. **Implicit vs Explicit Attitudes (Gawronski, 2019)** - **Findings**: - People are **aware** of their implicit attitudes. - **Low correlation** between implicit and explicit attitudes due to: 1. **Motivation** and **opportunity** influencing attitudes. 2. Different **content** in implicit and explicit attitudes. 3. People can **predict** their own implicit attitudes. 4. 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:** 1. **Representative Heuristic**: - Assessing similarity to a category or prototype. - Can ignore **base-rate information** (statistical data). - Example: **Claudette** assumes a chihuahua is a dog because it looks like other dogs. 2. **Availability Heuristic**: - Judging likelihood based on how easily something comes to mind. - Common or recent events are more easily recalled, leading to biased judgments. - **Example**: **Meg** believes school shootings are more common in the USA than China because they are more frequently reported in the media. - **Schwarz et al. (1991)**: Found that recalling **more examples** makes people believe something is more common. Conversely, the **difficulty** of recalling examples reduces belief in its frequency. **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** 1. **Cognitive Miser**: - Uses heuristics and schemas to **conserve cognitive resources**. - Makes **quick decisions** with minimal effort. - **Reluctant** to spend time analyzing information. - Example: **Stereotyping** and **automatic judgments** based on minimal information. 2. **Naïve Scientist**: - Seeks **logical explanations** and **evidence** for decisions. - Spends more **time and effort** to analyze situations. - **Flexible thinking** and **reasoned decision-making**. - **Motivational Tactician Framework**: - Explains how people switch between the Cognitive Miser and Naïve Scientist approaches based on: 1. **Time** available to think. 2. **Cognitive resources** used to make decisions. 3. The **importance** of the decision. **Attribution Theory** - **Attributions**: Beliefs about **why things happen**. - We often attribute events to either internal factors (traits) or external factors (situational influences). **Types of Attribution Biases:** 1. **Actor-Observer Bias**: - We attribute **our own** behavior to external factors (e.g., situational). - We attribute **others\'** behavior to internal factors (e.g., personality). - Example: If you fail an exam, you blame the exam\'s difficulty. If someone else fails, you think they didn\'t study hard enough. 2. **Self-Serving Bias**: - We attribute **positive outcomes** to internal factors (e.g., skills or effort). - We attribute **negative outcomes** to external factors (e.g., bad luck). - **Example**: You get a good grade on a test and think it\'s because you're smart; you fail and blame the exam for being unfair. **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** (USA, etc.) tend to have higher **self-serving biases** (internal attributions for success, external for failure). - **Non-Western cultures** (China, Korea) tend to attribute success to **external** factors and failure to **internal**factors. **Origin of Attitudes** 1. **Genetic Influences**: - Studies (e.g., **Eaves & Hatemi, 2008**) suggest that **genetics** play a role in attitudes toward political issues, social issues (e.g., abortion, gay rights), and personal preferences (e.g., music, religion). 2. **Social Learning**: - **Bandura\'s Social Learning Theory**: People acquire attitudes through **observation and imitation**. - **Attitudes and Conditioning**: Classical and operant conditioning can shape attitudes. **Classical Conditioning & Operant Conditioning** 1. **Classical Conditioning**: - A **neutral stimulus** is paired with an emotional stimulus to elicit an emotional response. - **Example**: Pairing a positive experience with a product can change people's attitudes towards it (e.g., ads). 2. **Operant Conditioning**: - Behaviours 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 (e.g., Zajonc, 1968). - **Example**: **Morgenstern et al. (2013)** found that people's attitudes toward cigarettes improved after repeated exposure to ads. **Self-Perception Theory** - We infer our **attitudes** by observing our own behaviour in a given situation. - **Example**: If you frequently engage in environmentally-friendly actions, you may infer that you hold a **positive attitude** toward the environment. **Cognitive Dissonance** - **Cognitive Dissonance**: The discomfort experienced when holding two contradictory beliefs or when behaviour conflicts with beliefs. - **Example**: If you value health but smoke, you experience dissonance. **Reducing Cognitive Dissonance:** 1. **Change behaviour** to align with cognition. 2. **Change cognition** to justify behaviour. 3. **Add new cognitions** to justify the behaviour. **Examples**: - **Brehm (1956)**: 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. - **Aronson & Mills (1959)**: People who undergo an **embarrassing initiation** to join a group are likely to **increase their liking** for the group to justify the effort. **Key Takeaways** - **Attitudes** are shaped by a mix of \*\*cognitive, affective