Chapter 7 - Attitudes, Beliefs & Consistency SLK 220 PDF

1 c h a p t e r 7 – attitudes, beliefs & consistency social psychology a south African perspective 2nd edition define attitudes and why people have them. describe how attitudes are formed. summarise how major consistency theories and the du...

1 c h a p t e r 7 – attitudes, beliefs & consistency social psychology a south African perspective 2nd edition define attitudes and why people have them. describe how attitudes are formed. summarise how major consistency theories and the duplex mind relate to attitudes. explain the relationship between attitudes and behaviour. debate the role of attitudes in coping with trauma. 7.1 what are attitudes and why do people have them?  attitudes can be important in that they predict behaviours.  for example, does a person’s attitude toward the environment predict whether they will recycle, save water etc. 7.1.1 attitudes versus beliefs: attitudes differ from beliefs: beliefs attitudes (def) beliefs – pieces of information (facts (def) attitudes - global evaluations toward or opinions) about an object, person, or some object or issue (for example, you like issue. or dislike something, you are in favour of or opposed to some position) if you think that a certain person is an attitude is whether you like this person president or that it is cloudy outside, that is as president, or the clouds. a belief. beliefs are for explaining. attitudes are for choosing.  beliefs and attitudes both serve interpersonal functions.  people need to influence how other choose & people also need to explain things to others. 7.1.2 dual attitudes: (def) dual attitudes – different evaluations of the same attitude object held by the same 222222222 person (perhaps one deliberate, the other automatic) this dual model of attitudes fits the duplex-mind theme: Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  2 1. automatic attitudes. 2. deliberate attitudes. automatic attitudes. deliberate attitudes. very fast evaluative, ‘gut-level’ responses reflective responses that people think more that people don’t think a great deal about carefully about.  sometimes automatic and deliberate attitudes are inconsistent. for example: few people from most ethnic groups admit to holding racial prejudices and most sincerely promote the ideals of racial equality. however, many people show negative automatic responses toward other races. some researchers have questioned the distinction between automatic and deliberate attitudes altogether: they argue that it is inappropriate and unjustified to conclude that there are two different types of attitudes solely on the basis of automatic and deliberate measures leading to differing assessments of individual’s attitudes. they argue that the automatic/deliberate distinction applies to the level of measurement, not to the actual attitudes. 7.1.3 why people have attitudes: most animals don’t need very many attitudes. - they know what they like to eat. - what fellow animals they like or dislike - where they like to sleep. their world is not very complex (compared to that of humans) and a few simple attitudes can serve them well. in contrast, human life is highly complex, and people therefore need to have a broad assortment of attitudes. when shopping, they are presented with thousands of different choices. even if they know they want a particular product, such as a cell phone, they face a vast range of potential choices.  having some attitudes can help (the make of the phone, its price, its functions etc)  attitudes are necessary and adaptive for humans.  they help us adjust to new situations and to seek out those things in our environment that reward us and to avoid those things that punish us. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  3 attitudes can even be a matter of life or death, influencing whether people take risks or not.  attitudes are mainly used to sort things into “good” and “bad” categories, which are the most basic categories of thought.  the world is full of information but just figuring things out and understanding them isn’t enough – you can only make your way through a complicated world if you can sort things into good and bad.  although these categories are abstract, children understand them very early in life, especially the category “bad”. this probably reflects one of the most basic psychological principles: bad is stronger than good. as soon as you know what something is, you start to know whether you like or dislike it. this initial evaluation is immediate and unconscious, occurring in the first microsecond of thought. this initial evaluation even occurs for things people have never encountered before, such as nonsense words. although people can easily override the initial, automatic evaluation with further thought, the initial evaluation stands if no further thought is given.  attitudes are tremendously helpful in making choices.  without attitudes, you face a confusing range of options.  previous research has shown that possessing an attitude increases the ease, speed and quality of decision making.  so, attitudes appear to have great functional value.  evidence for this came in a study in which students who entered university knowing their likes and dislikes on academically relevant issues experienced better physical and mental health in the new university setting than did other students.  having certainty with regard to attitudes can even be good for your health! 7.2 how attitudes are formed. 7.2.1 formation of attitudes. several explanations have been offered for how attitudes are formed, including: 1. the mere exposure effect. 2. embodied attitudes. 3. classical conditioning. 4. operant conditioning. 5. social learning.  “familiarity breeds contempt” – in other words, a close association with someone or close exposure to someone leads to a dislike of that person.  HOWEVER, THIS SAYING IS FALSE.  hundreds of studies have shown that “familiarity breeds liking”. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  4 (def) mere exposure effect – the tendency for people to come to like things simply because 222222 they see or encounter them repeatedly. in 1968, social psychologist Robert Zajonc proposed that “mere repeated exposure of the individual to a stimulus is a sufficient condition for the enhancement of his attitude toward it” – in plainer terms, simply or just (merely) seeing something over and over again and nothing else (no contact, no closer inspection like touching or smelling) is enough to make you like it.  it seems that when people are exposed to novel (unique or original) stimuli over and over again, they feel more positively about them.  subsequent research has shown that mere exposure to more meaningful stimuli, such as the faces of people from different races, can increase liking for similar faces never seen before.  this is also the principle on which much of the advertising industry is built.  the mere exposure effect can also influence attitudes toward yourself.  the mere exposure effect appears to be quite robust.  it even occurs for animals other than humans, such as crickets and chickens.  why does it occur? it seems that when people are exposed to novel stimuli over and over again, they feel more positively about them. there are a couple of exceptions to this general rule that you will like something by simply being exposed to it. if you initially dislike something, being exposed to it repeatedly will not make you like it more – in fact, it will make you like it less. for example, if you hear a song on the radio that you hate, the more you hear it, the more you will hate it AND the same is true for threatening stimuli like angry faces. the more people are exposed to them, the less they like them.  Charles Darwin thought attitudes were evident in the way we move and in our body language, such as leaning toward or away from something.  research has shown that attitudes can be formed through classical conditioning. (def) classical conditioning - a type of learning in which, through repeated pairings, a 22222222 neutral stimulus comes to evoke a conditioned response.  Ivan Pavlov, a Nobel Prize–winning Russian physiologist, developed the theory of classical conditioning and famously demonstrated it in his experiments with dogs. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  5  meat powder (unconditioned stimulus) makes the dog’s mouth water (unconditioned response). the first time a researcher rings a bell (neutral stimulus), the dog’s mouth does not water. (def) unconditioned stimulus – a stimulus (meat powder) that naturally evokes a particular 2222222222 response (salivation) (def) unconditioned response – a naturally occurring response (salivation) (def) neutral stimulus - a stimulus (Pavlov’s bell) that initially evokes no response. however, if the researcher rings the bell every time the dog gets meat powder (i.e., when the unconditioned stimulus is paired with the neutral stimulus), the dog begins to expect that every time it hears the bell it will be fed. the bell then becomes a conditioned stimulus. (def) conditioned stimulus – a neutral stimulus that, through repeated pairings with an 222222 unconditioned stimulus, comes to evoke a conditioned 222222222222 response. eventually, the sound of the bell alone will make the dog’s mouth water (conditioned response), even if there is no food around. (def) conditioned response – a response that, through repeated pairings, is evoked by a 222222222 formerly neutral stimulus. unconditioned stimulus unconditioned response (meat powder) (salivation) neutral stimulus (no salivation) (bell) conditioned stimulus conditioned response (bell) (salivation)  classical conditioning may furthermore help explain the development of prejudice against social groups that are frequently associated with negative information in the media, such as Muslims being associated with terrorism in the popular press.  advertisers use classical conditioning to their advantage by linking their products with famous or attractive people. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  6  it is difficult not to notice the giant billboards advertising sports products that are endorsed by pictures of famous athletes.  this may make people’s attitudes towards these products more positive.  that’s also why advertisers may cancel their contracts with famous people who behave badly or illegally, so that customers will not develop negative attitudes toward their products.  attitudes can also be formed through operant conditioning (also called instrumental conditioning). (def) operant conditioning – a type of learning in which people are more likely to repeat 222222 behaviours that have been rewarded and less likely to repeat 2222222222 behaviours that have been punished.  in this type of conditioning, developed by behaviourists such as Edward Thorndike and B. F. Skinner, people were found to be more likely to repeat behaviours that have been rewarded.  we are less likely to repeat behaviours that have been punished.  for example, if parents or teachers praise a child for doing well on his maths test, the child may develop a more positive attitude toward maths. students in one study received either an “A” or a “D” (the grade was actually decided by the flip of a coin) on the essays each of them wrote. even though the grades were randomly determined, students who received an ‘a’ reported more favourable attitudes toward the topic than students who received a “D”. you can also think of addictions in this regard. an alcoholic, for example, finds relief from their unhappiness in alcohol. the more often this occurs, the more often the addict wants to “hit the bottle” when they feel unhappy inside as the unhappiness goes away with the consumption of alcohol (although it might be just temporarily). 2222222222 the drinking behaviour is rewarding in this way.  by the early 1960s it became clear that conditioning by itself could not explain complex social behaviours.  psychologist Albert Bandura theorised that the most powerful learning processes in understanding social behaviour involved the process of social learning (also called observational learning imitation or vicarious learning) Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  7 (def) social learning – a type of learning in which people are more likely to imitate 222222222222 behaviours if they have seen others rewarded for performing them, 22222222222 and less likely to imitate behaviours if they have seen others punished 222222222 for performing them.  according to social learning theory, people learn how to behave by observing and imitating others.  in several classic experiments, Bandura showed that young children imitated specific aggressive acts they observed in aggressive models.  furthermore, he developed the concept of vicarious learning of aggression by showing that children were especially likely to imitate other people who had been rewarded for behaving aggressively.  Bandura argued that this imitation was the key to social learning.  the idea is that people do not just imitate the specific social behaviours they see, but they make cognitive or mental deductions based on their observations.  these deductions then lead to generalisations in behaviour.  what is important is how the child interprets or thinks about social events, and how competent the child feels in responding in different ways.  these cognitions provide a basis for stability of behaviour tendencies across a variety of situations – watching one parent hit the other parent may not only increase a child’s likelihood of hitting; it may also increase the child’s belief that hitting is acceptable when someone provokes you.  the capacity to learn from others is thus important for enabling humans to be cultural and social beings.  of course, social learning theory can also explain how attitudes are developed.  for example, many teens learn what attitudes are acceptable by watching whether other teens are rewarded or punished for endorsing certain music, clothing styles, hairstyles, and convictions.  social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube makes this process more efficient because much can be learnt about the attitudes of many other people.  the recording and counting of ‘likes’ has become a widely influential measure of popular attitudes, now seen throughout the business world too. 7.2.2 polarisation.  sometimes our attitudes can become stronger or weaker simply by thinking more about something.  when doing this, we may generate new ideas or insights that we did not consider when we formed our initial attitudes.  research suggests that as people reflect on their attitudes, they become more extreme.  this effect is known as attitude polarisation. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  8 (def) attitude polarisation – the finding that people’s attitudes become more extreme as 222222 they reflect on them.  even just thinking about an issue can move a person toward holding a more extreme attitude. this has to do with the way that the nerves operate and function in our brains.  in addition, people who hold strong attitudes on certain issues are likely to evaluate relevant evidence in a biased manner.  while they tend to accept evidence at face value that confirms what they already believe, at the same time they tend to be more critical of evidence that goes against their beliefs.  so, even if people see an equal amount of confirming and disconfirming evidence (so that logically their attitude should not change), they become even more convinced of their initial attitudes and hold onto them more strongly. the attitude polarisation effect is especially likely to occur in people who have strong initial attitudes. attitude polarisation also occurs sometimes because people are reluctant to admit they are wrong. as they think more about an issue, they tend to convince themselves that they were right all along. for example, think of people’s religious or political attitudes. it is virtually impossible to change a person’s mind in this regard because of the polarisation effect.  other studies show that people are more accepting of evidence presented by ingroup members (members of one’s own group) than by outgroup members (members of a different group).  people are especially sceptical of evidence presented by outgroup members who are different from themselves.  people rely on other people for information, and they especially rely on people who are similar to themselves. if people are biased to accept information from ingroup members, then most groups will tend to hold fairly similar opinions on many issues.  this may make it easier for the group to work together.  alternatively, it may promote poor decision making. 7.3 consistency of attitudes  inconsistency does not much trouble dogs or bugs, but people feel some inner pressure to resolve it. to reduce their feelings of inconsistency: people may have to seek out new information or reinterpret old information. realign or even abandon cherished beliefs. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  9 change patterns of behaviour.  people don’t like it when their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours are inconsistent.  nor do they approve of inconsistency in others!  this drive for consistency is a central component of several theories in social psychology. most consistency theories have three things in common. 1) first, they specify the conditions that are required for consistency and inconsistency of cognitions, behaviours, and beliefs. 2) second, they assume that inconsistency is unpleasant and that it therefore motivates people to restore consistency. 3) third, they specify the conditions that are needed to restore consistency. in general, people choose the path of least resistance to restore consistency – in other words, they take the easy route. because attitudes are easier to change than behaviours, people often change their attitudes instead of behaviours. 7.3.1 cognitive dissonance and attitude change.  one of the most important applications of consistency to social phenomena is cognitive dissonance theory. (def) cognitive dissonance theory – the theory that inconsistencies produce psychological 22222222222 discomfort, leading people to rationalise their behaviour 222222222 or change their attitudes.  according to this theory, conflicting cognitions cause psychological discomfort or uneasiness (cognitive dissonance).  it is a theory about how people rationalise their behaviour so as to bring their attitudes into line with their actions.  the origins of cognitive dissonance theory lay in some confusing findings that emerged from persuasion research during its first emergence in the 1950s.  at that time, psychology was dominated by operant conditioning theory which was based on the simple idea that when people are rewarded, they will do more of whatever led to the reward. applied to persuasion, operant conditioning theory held that the best way to get people to change their attitudes was to get them to act in the desired manner, and then reward them for doing so. if you want people to like brussels sprouts, get them to say they like brussels sprouts, and then pay them big money for saying so. it sounded reasonable, but it never seemed to work very well. if anything, the people who said it for less money seemed to end up believing it more – opposite to what operant conditioning theory would predict. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  10  along came social psychologist Leon Festinger, who proposed that inconsistencies produce an unpleasant mental state called cognitive dissonance.  he said that people want to maintain consistency, so when they catch themselves being inconsistent, they feel bad. 7.3.2 justifying effort:  a second memorable study of cognitive dissonance introduced the idea of effort justification. (def) effort justification – the finding that when people suffer or work hard or make 2222222222 sacrifices, they will try to convince themselves that it is worthwhile.  according to cognitive dissonance theory, people want to convince themselves that their hard work and effort are worthwhile.  for example - prisoners have to go through stringent and brutal tests in order to be accepted into and to value their membership of their gang (such as the 26s, 27s or 28s)  the idea behind this is that if we have to expend an effort (and possibly even suffer) to join a group, the more we will value, like, be dedicated to and appreciate this closely knit group.  many experiments concluded that people who suffered more to get into a group ended up liking the group more. that was the only way to convince themselves that their suffering had been worthwhile. the mind’s own drive for consistency is behind the process.  dissonance makes people try to justify and rationalise any suffering or effort they have made. perhaps the dissonance reduction processes can make people accept their suffering and even choose to continue it. 7.3.3 justifying choices:  the next big advance in cognitive dissonance theory was centred on having a choice, which is very important to people.  if you perform an action but do not have any choice, you don’t have to rationalise or justify it.  people also experience dissonance when they make difficult choices.  every decision involves trade-offs, but people like to reduce their dissonance by justifying their choices.  this type of dissonance is called post-decision dissonance. (def) post-decision dissonance – cognitive dissonance experienced after making a difficult 2222222222 choice, typically reduced by increasing the attractiveness of Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  11 2222222222 the chosen alternative and decreasing the attractiveness of 222222222 rejected alternatives.  in particular, if the decision was a close call or if it was a decision involving lots of money or risk (like buying a house), you can reduce dissonance afterwards by deciding that what you chose was far better than what you rejected. 7.3.4 advances in dissonance theory: does dissonance resemble an emotional reaction?  a series of studies indicated that the answer is yes. when people performed actions contrary if this feeling was blocked, they did not to their attitudes, they often felt acutely change their attitude. uncomfortable. only people who felt if they had this feeling but thought it was discomfort and attributed it to their due to something else (specifically, a pill inconsistent behaviour, were driven to they had been given, along with rationalise what they had done. instructions that the pill would make they would find all kinds of reasons or them feel tense and aroused), they did excuses to justify their decision. not change their attitudes. they changed their attitudes to match their actions  dissonance is marked not only by arousal, but also by an unpleasant arousal. it feels bad.  another advance in dissonance theory linked the reaction to the interpersonal sphere.  people may have some desire to be consistent in the privacy of their minds, but they have a much stronger desire to be seen by other people as consistent.  we live in a social world in which people expect each other to be consistent. people who say one thing one day and something else another day are criticised as liars & hypocrites.  it is important to act consistently when in the presence of others.  this interpersonal dimension brings up the importance of self-presentation.  consistency may be yet another case where inner processes serve interpersonal relations. on the long road to social acceptance, people learn that other people expect them to be consistent and may reject them if they are inconsistent. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  12  many studies have shown the importance of self-presentation (that is, the effort to make a good impression or keep a good reputation) in cognitive dissonance. for example, when people act in ways that are contrary to their attitudes, the effects depend on who is looking. writing an essay that goes against your beliefs has little effect if it is done privately and anonymously. however, if you have to put your name on it, you are more likely to feel dissonance and to change your attitude to match what you wrote.4 dissonance theory and the media: to avoid the dissonance that comes from hearing conflicting attitudes, people often purposely seek out media that confirm what they already believe – called selective exposure. (def) selective exposure – refers to the tendency of individuals to select information that 222222222 supports their pre-existing views and avoid information that 2222222222222 contradicts their pre-existing views. example: conservative south africans might read rapport, ilanga, the isolezwe ngomgqibelo or die burger, whereas more open-minded south africans might read the mail & guardian, the sowetan or the sunday times. these are likely to confirm you in your beliefs, rather than challenge you. this also applies to your internet use. some internet sites (google, facebook) intentionally use algorithms to expose you to material that is consistent with your attitudes – called a filter bubble. the use of filter bubbles could be considered forced selective exposure. (def) filter bubble – are algorithms used on the internet to selectively guess what 2222222222 information a user would like to see based on information available 2222222222 about that use (previous web pages viewed, click behaviour) the opposite actually occurs (for many people) when they go to school and further education. students are exposed to new ideas, concepts and theories that challenge their existing cognitions and behaviours. education causes dissonance in student’s minds and produces motivation for people to change their thinking and eventually their attitudes. 7.3.5 is the drive for consistency rooted in nature or nurture? social psychologists have debated for decades the question of whether consistency is rooted in nature or nurture.  cultural variation would be one indication that it is learned. some evidence indicates that the same basic drive for consistency can be found in very different cultures, but making choices does not seem to cause dissonance processes among East Asians the way it does for North Americans. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  13  on the other hand, the influence of social pressures toward consistency probably strengthens the drive. the root probably lies in the fact that groups of people can get along better if the people understand each other and understanding each other is easier if people are consistent. people expect and pressure each other to be consistent, and people respond to these pressures and expectations by seeking to be consistent. quite possibly the drive for consistency is both rooted in our biological nature and strengthened by learning and socialisation. the drive toward consistency may also embody a principle which is that human thinking and reasoning processes seem designed primarily for arguing. it is not that there is some peculiar feature of brain cells that makes them try to avoid contradiction. rather, if you contradict yourself while arguing with someone, you are likely to lose the argument. thus, evolution may have shaped the brain for arguing and thereby instilled a sensitivity toward inconsistency. the way that people argue may be influenced by local, cultural conditions, so the consistency drive may vary somewhat from one culture to another. most likely the drive toward consistency involves both parts of the duplex mind. the automatic system can learn to detect the deliberate system then steps in and inconsistencies and send out alarm signals finds some resolution to the inconsistency (distress, arousal). by thinking about how to rationalise or rethink things.  it is also possible that some modes of dissonance reduction are automatic. 7.4 do attitudes really predict behaviours?  psychology calls itself a behavioural science, which means that it seeks to predict and explain people’s behaviour.  attitudes are supposedly worth studying because they guide behaviour.  social experiment – page 220-221. 7.4.1 attacking attitudes:  most social psychologists had accepted Gordon Allport’s assertion that the attitude is the most important concept in psychology.  but Alan wicker wrote an article in 1969 arguing that attitudes were a trivial, peripheral phenomenon. after reviewing the results from 47 studies, wicker concluded that attitudes did not cause behaviour or even predict it very well.  he even went so far as to suggest that social psychology abandon the concept of attitude, and that researchers should study more important things instead. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  14  once you set aside the assumption that people are generally consistent, it is not hard to find evidence that attitudes can differ from behaviour.  for example, America, which claims to stand for world peace, has gone to war all over the world causing enormous harm to an uncountable number of people.  hypocrisy surrounds all of us all the time and seems to be part of life. 7.4.2 defending attitudes:  Wicker’s 1969 critique provoked a crisis in the field.  many social psychologists had spent their careers studying attitudes, and they were very disturbed to hear that attitudes were just little ideas flitting around inside people’s minds that had no connection to what the people actually did. attitude researchers looked for ways to defend themselves, trying to show how attitudes actually might have a closer link to behaviour: a) general attitudes and a first response in defence of attitudes was that the gap specific behaviours between general attitudes and specific behaviours was too big. researchers might ask what someone’s attitude was toward helping people and then measure whether the person was willing to donate blood. the problem is that someone might be in favour of helping people generally but might be afraid of needles. in contrast, if researchers measured attitudes toward giving blood, these attitudes were much better predictors of whether the person would actually give blood. the solution, though it did help indicate that attitudes could predict behaviour, sacrificed broad general attitudes and put a burden on researchers to measure a vast number of very specific attitudes rather than a few general ones. b) behaviour another solution to the problem of attitude–behaviour aggregation inconsistency comes from aggregating behaviour, which means combining many different behaviours on different occasions. a person’s attitude toward helping others might do better if we didn’t measure behaviour by a single test, such as giving blood. instead, we could add up whether the person gives Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  15 blood, plus whether the person donates money to charity, plus whether the person volunteers to work with homeless people, plus whether the person stops to help a disabled person cross the street, and so on. a person with a more positive attitude toward helping others will perform more of these behaviours, and this could add up to a substantial difference, even though the general attitude’s link to any single behaviour may be weak or unreliable. c) broad attitude in a third solution is that general attitudes can help cause context behaviour, but only if they are prominent in the person’s conscious mind and influence how the person thinks about the choices they face. when asked to give blood, the person might say “no” despite having a favourable attitude toward helping others, because the person might not think of the question in terms of helping others. (the person might think of it in terms of being scared of needles, or of needing all their blood for a soccer match or a hot date later that day!) if you first caused the person to reflect on their attitude toward helping others, then when the request for a blood donation came along, the person would see it as an opportunity to help. so hence the person’s willingness to give blood would be shaped by that broad attitude. the broad attitude can influence specific behaviour, but only if it has a chance to shape how the person interprets and understands the specifics of the here-and-now situation. d) attitude accessibility (def) attitude accessibility – refers to how easily the attitude comes to mind. highly accessible attitudes can be quite influential because they come to mind very easily. obviously, an attitude that does not easily come to mind will have little opportunity to influence thought, emotion, and behaviour. one meta-analysis of 88 studies found that attitudes that are certain, stable, consistent, accessible, and based on direct experience are especially effective in predicting behaviour. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  16 7.4.3 behavioural intentions  another approach was to consider the role of behavioural intentions on the link between attitudes and behaviours. behavioural intentions refer to whether the person plans to perform the behaviour in question. if a person intends to do a behaviour, then it is likely that they will actually do it. (def) behavioural intentions – an individual’s plans to perform the behaviour in question.  behavioural intentions are a key component of the theory of planned behaviour (as illustrated down below) behavioural attitude behaviour subjective norms intention perceived behavioural control the theory of planned behaviour. 1. the dashed line indicates a direct effect of perceived behavioural control on behaviour. 2. the solid lines indicate indirect effects of behavioural attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control through intention on behaviour. as seen in the illustration, behavioural intentions are not only determined by the person’s attitude but also by subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. subjective norms. perceived behavioural control. are the person’s perceptions about whether refers to the person’s beliefs about whether significant others think they should (or they can actually perform the behaviour in should not) perform the behaviour in question. question. 7.5 beliefs and believing consistency is not only an important issue for attitudes but just as much also for beliefs. 22 you want your beliefs about the world to be consistent with the world. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  17 7.5.1 believing versus doubting:  recent research has suggested that doubting/disbelieving is separate from understanding – but that believing immediately, automatically accompanies understanding.  as soon as you understand something, you believe it; only then, and only maybe, do you stand back and take the next, more conscious second step of changing your mind.  for example – if someone tells you the moon is made of cheese, you believe it for a brief moment, even though you probably quickly change your mind. BELIEVING AND DISBELIEVING ARE NOT THE SAME THING !!! if for some reason your mind is prevented from taking the second step of changing its opinion, you might just go on believing that the moon is made of cheese. it is very hard to take in information while withholding all judgement about whether it is correct. the first impulse is to believe what you hear (or read). the duplex mind may be implicated here. the automatic system automatically believes the deliberate system can override this the information it is given. belief by deciding that it is false.  if you only use automatic processing, you will believe lots of things that aren’t true. young children, for example, are known to be very gullible. if believing and disbelieving were equal acts that occurred at the same step, then children would first learn to understand without either believing or disbelieving anything, and then gradually learn to judge information as true or false. this is not what happens, though. children first believe everything they are told (for example, to believe in father Christmas or to believe that the stork brings children). it is only later in life that they learn to doubt and question. likewise, in lab studies, people who are supplied with information while they are distracted (such as when the experimenter tells them to remember a phone number for later) end up believing things they are told more than people who are not distracted. the distraction prevents them from taking the second step of thinking something like, “wait a minute, this can’t be right!”  religious and political cults are sometimes accused of “brainwashing” their members into believing strange things. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  18  to strengthen belief in their ideas, they often make sure their converts are tired or distracted (sometimes by physical pain, hunger from fasting, or discomfort) when the doctrines are presented.  if you wanted people to understand your cult’s ideas best, you would want them rested and alert when you presented your teachings, but if you want someone to believe everything, then you should present your ideas when the person is not at full mental power.  tired or distracted people do not make it to the second step (of doubt); they stop at the first step, which combines understanding and believing.  when you understand something, believing it is automatic, whereas doubting and questioning it may require controlled, conscious thought.  the automatic system is fairly uncritical and accepts whatever it is told as true.  the deliberate mind can override this and can change from belief to disbelief.  but deliberate activity requires time and effort, which people do not always have. 7.5.2 belief perseverance:  once beliefs form, they are resistant to change.  think of political views or religious beliefs.  this is true even of false beliefs that have been proven to be wrong. (def) belief perseverance – the finding that once beliefs form, they are resistant to change, 2222222222 even if the information on which they are based is discredited.  there is a remedy for belief perseverance if you are open-minded.  explaining the opposite theory (for example, why a cautious person might make a better firefighter than a risk-taking person) reduces or eliminates belief perseverance.  if you want to understand things correctly, it is good to cultivate the habit of trying out the opposite theory to whatever theory you initially believe.  this trick makes use of the social cognition principle that reasoning is for arguing.  to get a balanced, unbiased view in your mind, it helps to try to argue both sides.  if you try to play the “devil’s advocate”, you deliberately argue the opposite point of view. 7.5.3 belief and coping:  beliefs help people understand the world around them.  this is especially apparent when people experience serious problems, such as misfortunes or disasters. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  19  the general term for how people attempt to deal with traumas and go back to functioning effectively in life is coping. (def) coping – how people attempt to deal with stressful traumas and go back to 22222222222 functioning effectively in life. something that puzzled psychologists for decades was that the psychological harm can be far more lasting, or even permanent, compared to the physical or practical harm. people get upset over being burgled in their own home, even though they may not have lost much of value, and even though most of the loss is repaid by an insurance company. bodily injury and monetary loss may be two components of trauma, but clearly there is something else.  one important answer is that crime affects a victim’s beliefs about the world.  these beliefs are called assumptive worlds. (def) assumptive worlds – the view that people live in social worlds based on certain beliefs 2222222222 (assumptions) about reality.  this is a term that expresses the view that people live in social worlds based on their assumptions about how things ought to operate. three main types of assumptions help people live healthy and happy lives, but any of these can be shattered when having become a victim of a crime: 1. the world is benevolent. basically, people are nice, life is safe, and one can count on good things happening most of the time. 2. the world is fair and just. the world is fair, so people generally get what they deserve and deserve what they get. if you follow the rules and treat others with fairness and kindness, you can expect to be treated that way yourself. 3. i am a good person. I am someone of value and therefore I deserve good things to happen to me.  if someone steals your wallet, vandalises your car or assaults you on your way home from varsity, this creates a problem because it violates your assumptive worlds.  as you try to explain to yourself how such a thing can happen, you may feel that you cannot continue to maintain those three beliefs as well as you did before.  ultimately, effective coping may involve figuring out how to explain the crime while still permitting yourself to continue believing that, by and large, the world is benevolent and fair and that you are a good person who deserves good things. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  20  this view of coping helps explain a surprising finding that emerged from a study that showed blaming oneself is often a good way to cope.  therapists who heard a patient blame themselves would often rush in to insist that such an explanation was wrong, and the person should avoid self-blame.  yet self-blame seemed to work just fine in helping people cope.  the researchers’ explanation was that blaming oneself can actually help people achieve a sense of control.  if people believe that their own foolish actions caused their misfortunes, it helps them feel that they can avoid future misfortunes by not repeating those mistakes.  in contrast, people who cannot explain their misfortunes to themselves are more likely to think that something bad could happen to them again, regardless of what they do. they feel much more vulnerable and have a hard time getting over what happened.  not all self-blame is good, of course. there is an important distinction between blaming oneself for one’s actions versus blaming oneself for being a bad person. 1. someone who reacts to being robbed or injured by thinking, “I am a worthless person and I deserve to have bad things happen to me” is not going to bounce back very effectively. this type of thinking is likely to lead to feelings of shame, which are destructive. 2. it is much more helpful to think: “I am basically a good and competent person, and I foolishly took a risk that brought this harm to me – so if I act more wisely in the future, I can avoid further problems”. this type of thinking is likely to lead to feelings of guilt and even confidence in one’s agency and future competence, which is constructive.  so mental processes play a central role in helping people cope with and recover from misfortunes.  a broad theory of cognitive coping was put forward by Shelley Taylor, who outlined several kinds of beliefs that need to be held up or restored in the wake of trauma. (def) cognitive coping – the idea that beliefs play a central role in helping people cope with 22222222222 and recover from misfortunes. (her original work focused on women who had breast cancer, but the ideas have been applied in many other contexts since then)  one important type of cognitive coping is based on the belief that whatever happened could have been worse, so at least the person was somewhat lucky.  the technical term for this is downward comparison. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  21 (def) downward comparison – the act of comparing oneself to people who are worse off.  people compare themselves and their situations to other people who are worse off, and this makes people feel better about themselves.  for example, women whose breast cancer resulted in surgery to remove a lump from the breast (a lumpectomy) compared themselves to others who had lost an entire breast or both breasts.  the reverse comparison, called an upward comparison, was rare or absent: no woman who lost an entire breast compared herself with women who had only had the lumpectomy. (def) upward comparison – the act of comparing oneself to people who are better off. in everyday life, many people seem to understand this principle because “it could have been a lot worse” is a standard phrase that people say to someone to whom something bad has just happened.  other beliefs in cognitive coping relate to self-esteem and control.  victims of trauma and misfortune often need to find some way to restore their belief that they are good people and that they can exert control over what happens to them.  another type of helpful belief is that all things have some useful or higher purpose.  religious beliefs are also helpful to people under these circumstances because people can accept on faith that god has some purpose for letting these misfortunes occur to them, or even that their suffering made them stronger or helped test and improve their faith.  when people encounter disasters or suffering, it is their beliefs that help them get by, and sometimes these beliefs must change.  even so, consistency is important in determining whether beliefs will be helpful or not.  some traumas seem to contradict beliefs – such as assumptions about the world being a safe, benevolent, and fair place – that people need in order to go on living.  coping requires finding a way to make the trauma seem compatible or even consistent with those beliefs.  other beliefs help frame the problem in a way that makes it more tolerable, such as believing that the misfortune could have been much worse or believing that the bad event led to some good purpose. 7.5.3 religious beliefs: what psychology can do is shed light on why some people accept religious beliefs while other people reject those same beliefs. it can also explore the benefits that people get from believing in religion, again regardless of whether those beliefs cannot be proven to be true.  the appeal of religion throughout history has been partly its ability to explain or make meaning of the world, especially those things that cannot be explained by science. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY  22 religion can explain both large and small things: it can explain grand issues, such as where but religion can also explain smaller things, the sun, earth and moon came from; where such as why your child got sick the person (or soul) existed before birth; and what happens after death.  religious beliefs can help people cope with stress.  for example, people recover more quickly from being sexually assaulted if they use religion to cope with the traumatic event.  people who rely on religion to help them cope are also less likely to fall back on ineffective coping strategies, such as drinking alcohol.  research has shown that appealing to a superordinate (high, all-encompassing) principle or power is an effective way to reduce dissonance.  the road to religious belief sometimes contains obstacles.  at a cognitive level, people may have trouble dealing with inconsistent belief systems or resolving existential questions & at a more emotional level, some religious doctrines and practices can bring forth feelings of fear and guilt.  people may also experience feelings of anger or resentment towards god when tragedies occur in their lives.  religion offers great benefits to many believers, but maintaining faith is not always easy. 7.5.4 irrational belief:  people believe many unfounded things, even though they have no rational basis for these beliefs.  these include paranormal beliefs about UFO’s, spirits of the departed or witches.  they also have beliefs that are logically and statistically flawed, such as the belief that you can influence the outcome of a sports match that you are watching on television, or the belief that random events even out in the short run. when it comes to irrational beliefs, the disadvantages probably outweigh the advantages: people who hold irrational beliefs are: more anxious & cope less well with terminal illnesses. are more likely to become depressed over time. have lower levels of self-esteem. people who think they are lucky are more likely to gamble and may therefore lose their money trying to beat long odds or to regain large amounts of money that they have already lost. how do gamblers retain their optimism as their losses grow? gamblers maintain their positive (irrational) beliefs by using a series of tricks. they convince themselves that many losses were “near wins”, so they don’t count those against themselves. Jenna Minnaar SLK 220 – CHAPTER 7 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY