PSYCH 3CB3 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Persuasion, Percussion Cap, Memory
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYCH 3CB3
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Attitudes and Persuasion
September 4, 2018
Lecture 1 – Introduction
What will we talk about?
• The definition of attitude
• The purpose or function of attitudes
• How attitudes are formed
• How attitudes are represented cognitively
• Characteristics of attitudes: strength, consistency, accessibility
• Relation of attitudes, beliefs, behaviours, emotions
• How attitudes are changed
• Mechanisms of persuasion
Concepts Related to Attitude
• Convictions
• Desires
• Hopes
• Judgments
• Opinions
• Sentiments
• Inferences
• Perceptions
Definition of Attitude
• Different then in everyday speak
• Allport (1935): “A mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience,
exerting a directive … influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and
situations with which it is related”
• Zanna & Rempel (1988): “the categorization of a stimulus object along an evaluative
dimension”
• Eagly & Chaiken (1993): “a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a
particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor”
Functions of Attitudes
• Utilitarian Function:
o Evaluating ability of object to provide reward, minimize punishment, meet goals
or needs
• Social adaptation function:
o Adopting views of group helps us maintain good relations with others
• Economy Function:
o Makes decisions about what to do easier
o Gives us a sense of control over environment
• Expressive Function:
find more resources at oneclass.com
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o Articulating one’s internal values; Expressing one’s internal sense of self
• Ego-defensive function
o Like Freudian defense mechanisms: Attitudes help us deal with intra-psychic
conflict
o We hold attitudes that makes us feel better
Function Matching
• Attitude formation or change occurs to meet a need, or serve a function
• Persuasion methods should match the need or function that the attitude serves
• Important in advertising, law, politics
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Concepts related to attitude: convictions, desires, hopes, judgments, opinions, sentiments. Function matching: attitude formation or change occurs to meet a need, or serve a function, persuasion methods should match the need or function that the attitude serves. Semantic differential technique: rate along a series of evaluative or non-evaluative, evaluate attitude object on series of bipolar scales (ex. good or bad) Empirically determined scales: questionnaires set up that require some research, thurstone"s equal-appearing interval scale (1928, likert"s summated rating scale (1932) Likert scale: collect statements reflecting different opinions or evaluations of attitude object. Individual indicates strength of agreement with each of a number of different attitude statements: high number = positive attitudes, low number = negative attitudes. Immediately prior experience (thoughts, behaviours, priming, etc. : structure and wording of questionnaire, order of questions matters (cognitions triggered by prior questions become part of data set for later questions, response order effects (when comparing ex.
