Social Psychology Ch. 19 Attitudes, Culture, and Human Relations

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Social Psychology Ch. 19 Attitudes, Culture, and
Human Relations

• McElhaney

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Project

• Create a typed, 35 item test.
• Include 15 matching, 15 fill in the blank, and 5
  multiple choice items based on the reading
  handout chapter 18 or 19. (to be assigned)
• All work must be original and must include answer
  key with page number.
• Or you may create a podcast (video) for one item
  related to this unit on Social Psychology

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Attitudes

• Connected to actions
• Connected to views of the world
• Tastes, friendships and goals
• Are a mixture between belief and emotions that
  predispose a person to respond to others in a
  positive or negative way.
• Can be predicted

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Attitudes are expressed in 3 ways

• Belief about an object or issue
• Emotionfeelings
• Actions

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Attitude Formation

• Direct Contact
• Interaction with others
• Child Rearing
• Group Membership
• Mass Media
• Chance conditioning

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There is a contrast between public behavior and
private attitudes.

• Factor of Immediate Consequence
• Some attitudes are acted on some not

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LaPiere- Study- Not Practicing What you Preach

• Correlations between attitudes and behavior
• Strength of attitude- the strength of the
  attitude increases or decreases behavior.
• Stability of attitude change overtime
• Stable attitudes are more predictable than one
  that changes
• Relevance of attitude to the behavior
• Attitudes will predict behavior much better if
  the attitude measured related as exactly as
  possible to the behavior of interest
• Salience of the attitude
• Attitude is conspicuous, important, and readily
  accessible from memory
• More Salience more likely attitude will predict
  behavior.
• Situational Pressure
• External pressure is so great-internal attitudes
  will have little effect on behavior
• Behavior is more influenced by external factors
  than internal attitudes
• LaPiere Study- found that strong situational
  pressure will override strength of attitude.

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Attitude Change

• Reference Group- is any group a person uses as
  standard for social comparison
• who do you identify with?
• When people change a Reference group they also
  change attitudes.
• Attitudes can be changed through role play- must
  include strong emotional experience

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Page 700 List of Conditions to Change Attitudes.
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Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• Cognition Thoughts
• Dissonance clashing
• Contradicting and clashing thoughts cause
  discomfort
• We have a need for consistency in thoughts
  perceptions and images.
• We tend to reject new information that
  contradicts ideas we already hold.

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Cognitive Dissonance 2

• When we make a bad decision
• We tend to convince ourselves that weve done the
  right thing-
• Also a tendency to excuse in light of
  contradicting evidence
• We tend to emphasize the positive aspects
• We try to minimize dissonance
• By justifying our bad choice

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Brain Washing

• Psychological manipulation
• Forced Attitude change
• Requires captive audience
• Is temporary
• Pge. 703 lists the requirements

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How To Brain Washing 2

• Target person is isolated form main reference
  group
• Target is made completely dependent on captors
  for needs
• Indoctrinating agent- is in a position to reward
  target for changes in attitude or behavior
• Make target completely helpless
• Physical and psych abuse
• Sleep deprivation
• Humiliation
• Isolation
• Target looses and or unfreezes formal values
• Exhaustion, pressure, fear becomes unbearable
• Change occurs when target abandons all beliefs
• Target cooperates to gain relief
• Pairing hope and fear with pressure to conform
• Refreezes new attitudes

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Jonestown Cult 1978

• Jim Jones Peoples Temple
• Jones was charismatic, persuasive leader
• Followers were Isolated, Intimidated, Obedient,
  committed and dependent

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Cults

• Leader is infallible
• Followers do not question
• Strategy- guilt manipulation, isolation,
  deception, fear, and escalating commitment
• High pressure
• 2.5 million people in cults

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Who Joins Cults? Profile

• Distressed
• Mild depression, indecission
• Alienation from family and friends
• Need as sense of belonging

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Conversion strategies

• Intense Affection- Understanding
• Isolate from people who are not cult members-
  family and friends
• (former reference group)
• Isolate from former values
• Use drills, discipline, rituals
• Wears people down physical and emotional
  resistance is reduced
• Discourages critical thinking
• Generates feelings of commitment
• Gets small commitment at first then encourages
  larger commitments

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Prejudice
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Discrimination
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Aggression
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Frustration Aggression Hypothesis
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Aversive Stimuli
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Aggressive Cues
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Social Learning, Aggression, and Bandura
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