SOCPSY 1Z03 Lecture Notes - Cognitive Dissonance, Leon Festinger, Doomsday Cult
10 Mar 2014
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Document Summary
An attitude is a predisposition to respond to a particular object in a favorable or unfavorable way. We have a number of attitudes and may shape how we will act in a certain situation. Components: cognitive - thought/idea (schema, evaluative - positive/negative view, behavioural - inclined to act on your attitude(s) The more we are exposed to a positive thing about a behaviour the stronger the attitude. = stronger attitude of words ex. being dirty = punished. about america as a culture, etc. Certain attitudes about things we haven"t met. Leon festinger (1959: a psychological social psychology theory. Dissonance theory deals with consistency between two or more elements (behaviours and attitudes: cognitive dissonance = psychological tension between dissonant cognitions. Whenever we make a decision, there are some cognitions (attitudes, beliefs, knowledge) Dissonance: that are consonant with that decision, other cognitions that are dissonant with it. Prediction: we will change/adjust our attitudes to resolve dissonance.
