PSY320H1 Study Guide - Cognitive Dissonance, Inoculation Theory, Observational Learning
Document Summary
Attitudes play a significant role in our lives, and they"re a fundamental part of what makes us human. They help us organize information about the complex world we live in (knowledge function), help us make decisions about what to approach and what to avoid (utilitarian function), and help us express who we are (value-expressive function). Thurstone have argued that attitudes are preconditions to behavior in that they do no really predict behavior but predict the intention to predict in a certain way. Others like wicker have argued that attitudes do not predict behavior at all. Below i will discuss what attitudes are in terms of their components, structure, strength, stability and the extent to which they are conscious or unconscious: abcs of attitudes. The idea that there are 3 components to attitudes: affective, behavioral, cognitive. Affective: positive or negative evaluation of an attitude object. Behavioral: how you behave towards an attitude object. Cognitive: what you think/believe about an attitude object.
