University:
California State University, Northridge
Course:
PSY 321/L | Research Methods in Psychology and Lab
Academic year:

2019
Views:

254

Pages:

2
Author:

Shyanne Johnson

BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES 1. Attitude - Beliefs and feelings related to a person or an event (often rooted in one’s beliefs and exhibited in one’s feelings and intended behavior). ABCs of attitudes Affect (feelings), Behavior tendency, and Cognition (thoughts) Our attitudes do predict our behavior when these other influences on what we say and do are minimal, when the attitude is specific to the behavior, and when the attitude is potent. 2. Implicit association test (IAT) - A computer-driven assessment of implicit attitudes. The test uses reaction times to measure people’s automatic associations between attitude objects and evaluative words. Easier pairings (and faster responses) are taken to indicate stronger unconscious associations. 3. Role -A set of norms that defines how people in a given social position ought to behave. When does our behavior affect our attitude ? When we are role playing , when saying becomes believing , evil and moral acts and social movements Which theories seek to explain the attitudes-follow-behavior? Self-presentation theory assumes that for strategic reasons we express attitudes that make us appear consistent. Cognitive dissonance theory assumes that to reduce discomfort, we justify our actions to ourselves. Self-perception theory - assumes that our actions are self-revealing: when uncertain about our feelings or beliefs, we look to our behavior, much as anyone else would. (that we observe our behavior and make reasonable inferences about our attitudes, much as we observe other people and infer their attitudes) 4. Cognitive dissonance - Tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions. For example, dissonance may occur when we realize that we have, with little justification, acted contrary to our attitudes or made a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another How to minimize dissonance 5. Selective exposure - The tendency to seek information and media that agree with one’s views and to avoid dissonant information 6. Insufficient justification - Reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one’s behavior when external justification is “insufficient.” And lastly , dissonance after decisions - dissonance is reduced by upgrading the chosen alternative and downgrading unchosen alternative 7. Facial feedback effect - The tendency of facial expressions to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness 8. Over justification effect - The result of bribing people to do what they already like doing; they may then see their actions as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing 9. Self-affirmation theory - A theory that (a) people often experience a self-image threat after engaging in an undesirable behavior; and (b) they can compensate by affirming another aspect of the self. Threaten people’s self-concept in one domain, and they will compensate either by refocusing or by doing good deeds in some other domain