Psychology / Unit 10: Social Psychology
10.1 Attitudes and Persuasion
Notes
Social psychology studies how people think about, influence and relate to one another.
- An attitude is a learned evaluation of a person, idea or thing, with feelings, beliefs and behavior components.
- Cognitive dissonance (Leon Festinger): the discomfort when beliefs and actions conflict, which people reduce by changing the attitude or behavior. Example: a student who thinks cheating is wrong but copies homework may decide "everyone does it."
- Foot-in-the-door: agreeing to a small request makes people more likely to agree to a larger one. Door-in-the-face: after refusing a large request, people are more likely to accept a smaller one.
- Central route persuasion uses logic and evidence; peripheral route uses cues like attractiveness or celebrity.
- Attribution: explaining behavior as due to the person (dispositional) or the situation (situational). The fundamental attribution error is overemphasizing personality and ignoring the situation when explaining others' behavior.
Practice
A person who believes smoking is harmful but smokes says, "It's not that bad for me." This shows:
He is changing his belief to match his behavior.
A friend first asks you to sign a short petition, then later asks you to volunteer for a full day. This technique is:
A small request is followed by a larger one.
A driver cuts you off and you decide, "He's a rude person," ignoring that he may be rushing to an emergency. This is:
Blaming personality and ignoring the situation is the fundamental attribution error.
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