SOCPSY 1Z03 Chapter Notes -Doomsday Cult, Participant Observation, When Prophecy Fails
13 May 2013
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Attitudes: a predisposition to respond to a particular object in a generally favorable or unfavorable way. Attitudes influence attention (ex, if you like green day, more likely to respond to news stories about the band). A particular attitude does not exist in isolation. An attitude exists in a person"s mind; it is a mental state, embedded in a cognitive structure. Attitude has 3 components: 1) cognitive (beliefs or cognitions) 2) Evaluative (an evaluation) 3) behavioral (a behavioral disposition) = ceb. Cognition (beliefs): an attitude includes an object label, rules for applying the label, and a set of cognitions or knowledge structures associated with that label. We cannot prove whether particular beliefs are true or false. For ex: economists and gvnt officials disagree on whether gvnt spending causes inflation, with both sides equally convinced they are right. Evaluation (feelings): evaluative component has both a direction (positive or negative) and an intensity (ranging from very weak or very strong).
