PSY220H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Cognitive Dissonance, Condom, Attitude Change
28 Mar 2014
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Describe how attitudes are formed and changed and whether it predicts behavior. Attitudes: positive and negative evaluations of people, objects, events, ideas: attitudes include three distinct components: affect, cognition and behavior tendency, not the behavior itself but the tendency toward it that is part of attitude. Gordon allport offered one of earliest definitions of attitude: mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive and dynamic influence upon the individual"s response to all objects and situations with which it is related (1954) Today, researches think of attitude as abstract construct that cannot be viewed but can be inferred from ppl"s behavior and their self-report. Negativity bias: both positive and negative information influences ppl"s evaluations of object, situation or person but negative information seems to have stronger influence. ; control words were constraint, obligation, etc: note: subliminal processing should not be viewed as reliable tool in influencing behavior though.
