PSYC 2310 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Wear Sunscreen, Negativity Bias, Classical Conditioning
Document Summary
How do we form attitudes? researchers today regard attitude as an abstract construct that cannot be viewed but can be inferred from people"s behaviour and their self-report. One of the most common ways in which people form attitudes is through the information they received from their social environment. Attitudes that can be formed based on a simple association between an object or person and a pleasant or unpleasant even. This is called classical conditioning: a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus is repeated paired with a stimulus that elicits a specific response, and eventually the neutral stimulus elicits that response on its own. Most of us have experience with conforming to the attitudes of our peers this type of conditioning is called operant conditioning: a type of learning in which behaviour that is rewarded increases whereas behaviour punished decreases.