PSY 235 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Embeddedness, Cognitive Dissonance
Document Summary
Attitude: a construct representing the degree of positivity or negativity toward a person, place, thing, or event. Strong attitudes are more likely to remain unchanged as time passes & withstand persuasive attacks or appeals. Commitment - people are sure they are correct. Embeddedness - people have connected these attitudes to other features of their self-concept, values, and identity. Persuasion: change in attitude/belief as a result of receiving a message. We can"t think deeply about everything, so we use shortcuts. Consistency principle: people change attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and actions to make them consistent with each other. Seeking balance is the root of cognitive dissonance. When our system is out of balance (e. g. a friend likes something you hate), we seek to make some change in the system. To remove tension, we will have to change something in the system. Change attitudes to match those with people we like. Change attitudes to disagree with people we dislike.
