Discussion
2 years ago 10
Discussion.docx
Ch7AttitudesBeliefsandConsistencypart2.pptx
Discussion.docx
Discussion
1. Discussion Question: Create a post with a discussion question. This can be a short post, just a sentence or three, that poses an interesting question. For example, “Based on the material from this week, what additional research do psychologists need to conduct to continue to understand and reduce racial prejudice?” Or “In addition to business meetings and juries, what are some other situations where we could see group decision-making happening in the real world? And what potential problems would arise during such a meeting?”
2. Two Discussion Replies: Provide a reply to at least two different questions that someone else has posed. Your reply should be at least a paragraph long, at least 150 words long. You can also reply to other people’s replies instead of just the question. In your reply, you must reference material that we have covered that week and how it relates to the question, but you can certainly expand your reply beyond the material and discuss your own ideas as well. For example, “In keeping with what we learned about the bystander effect, because more bystanders present doesn’t necessarily increase the chances of receiving help, I recommend trying to point at one person specifically to ask for help. The idea is to make that person feel some amount of responsibility in the situation. Additionally, I would recommend…...(reply continues up to 150 words or more)” That reply references the material from the week (the bystander effect) but it also includes the student’s opinion on what to do in such a situation.
Ch7AttitudesBeliefsandConsistencypart2.pptx
Chapter 7
Attitudes, Beliefs, & Consistency
Part 2
Attitude Change
Last time we began to discuss Cognitive Dissonance, but we didn’t really get to delve into and its implications
Today we’ll go into much more depth with Dissonance, the attitude-behavior problem, beliefs, and belief perseverance
Let’s start by checking out this video
Attitude Change
The video on the next slide applies dissonance to real world situation (like smoking, veganism, and diet in general)
Note* I’m not personally vegan, though I wonder if maybe I should be, but that’s not the point
The speaker is clearly vegan and trying to promote that, however, the point here is how these situations do illustrate dissonance very well
It also summarizes dissonance and shows clips from the real original study
There may be a few questions from this on the next exam!
Attitude Change
Watch this video:
Attitude Change
I liked how he focused on the temporary situations that can promote dissonance in those moments
And he’s definitely right, I’ve watched arguments between vegans or vegetarians and meat-eaters, and the dissonance is palpable
Additionally, it expresses how it’s easier to change one’s attitudes than one’s behaviors
Especially with not eating unhealthy food
Attitude Change & Choices
Some choices can bring about attitude change
One dissonance study found that:
Participants who were told they had to write an essay about why a controversial speaker should be banned from their college did not change their initial view (which was that the speaker should be allowed)
However, participants who were simply asked politely to write such an essay, did, by the end, come to change their initial view to be that the speaker should not be allowed
Dissonance continued
Post-decision dissonance
Ever bought a piece of clothing and wondered if maybe there was one out there that was a better fit or cooler look?
Or ordered one flavor of ice cream just to be drooling over another?
That’s post-decision dissonance
To resolve this/make it go away, people usually justify their choices and make the alternative seem less appealing
Some studies by Schwartz and colleagues found that some people are maximizers, who want to always make the best possible choices, whereas others…
Dissonance continued
Others are satisficers, who just want to make a good enough choice to feel content
When there are too many options in a decision, that’s called the Tyranny of Choice
Situations with many options can be difficult for maximizers, who tend to be less optimistic and more depressed
Advances in Dissonance Research
Does the attitude shift that occurs as a result of dissonance happen if a person never feels the discomfort that dissonance causes?
In a typical dissonance study, researchers told some participants that a pill they took (placebo, sugar pill) would make them feel uneasy
Those participants did not have a shift in attitude to resolve dissonance, they blamed the pill
Participants who received no pill felt uncomfortable due to dissonance and changed their attitudes
Some cultural differences in dissonance have been observed, with North Americans experiencing more dissonance than East Asians
Attitudes & Behavior
Can attitudes really predict behavior?
Low correlation between general attitudes, “I like helping people,” and specific behaviors, “I volunteer to tutor or at a homeless shelter.”
Strong correlation between specific attitudes, like toward giving blood, and specific behaviors, giving blood
General attitudes can predict behavior better if those attitudes are made salient before a chance to act on the behavior occurs
Attitudes & Behavior
When attitudes and behavior don’t line up, that’s called the A-B problem.
There are interesting gender differences between men and women in terms of how attitudes predict behavior in terms of sex
Sexual Attitudes vs Behaviors
Battle of the sexes! Who was more consistent?
Fidelity: men’s attitude toward fidelity explained 33% of their behavior, whereas women’s attitude toward fidelity only explained 11%
Homosexual behavior: among men who said they were interested in gay sex, 85% had engaged in it that year, among women, <50% who were interested engaged in it.
Condom use: there was higher pro-condom use attitude-behavior consistency among men than women (surprising)
Sexual Attitudes vs Behaviors
Of course there could be alternate explanations to those data
For example women’s attitude-behavior ratio for condom use could be lower because a guy pressures them into not using a condom
What about other famous examples of misalignments between sexual attitudes and behaviors?
Sexual Attitudes vs Behaviors
Married Republican Oklahoma state senator Ralph Shortey had a political platform that was anti-marijuana and anti-LBGTQ
He was caught by the police on body-cam in a hotel room with a 17 year old male prostitute, he had also been smoking pot
He later resigned, was arrested, and plead guilty to child sex trafficking
Beliefs
When we’re told something, pigs can fly, we automatically believe it for a moment before we question it (Gilbert, 1991)
The non-conscious mind receives information without questioning it, as a first step
Only afterwards, does the conscious mind step in and override erroneous beliefs
Religious cults sometime abuse this
They will present information when their potential members are in a tired/distracted state, so as to
make it more believable
Belief Perseverance
Important Study Alert!!
Belief Perseverance (Ross, Lepper, & Hubbard, 1975)
Participants read through 25 fictitious suicide notes and told to identify the real ones
The researchers told participants they either got 24/25 right or 10/25 right (determined by a coin flip)
When participants were debriefed at the end of the study, they were told their score was made-up/bogus
Then participants were asked to estimate how well they would really do if determining if suicide notes were real/fake
Participants given the positive bogus feedback believed they’d do much better than those who received negative feedback
Belief Perseverance
Another famous belief perseverance study:
Anderson, Lepper, & Ross (1980)
Half of the participants read cases that conveyed that cautious people make better firefights
The other half read cases that said risk-takers make better firefighters
Told to come up with theories explaining the cases they had read
Then told the cases were all bogus
Finally, they were asked to rate which type of firefighters would be best and they maintained the original, false, belief
Belief Perseverance
One way to reduce or remove belief perseverance is to ask people to consider the opposite of the initial belief that was provided
E.g. if participants were told cautious fighters were best initially, asking them to explain why risk-taking firefights could be best will reduce the initial bias
Beliefs about the world
So far we’ve covered research on specific beliefs about various topics, but what about general world outlooks?
This line of work arose from early therapists who were surprised at the level of trauma that occurred from crimes in which no long term physical or financial damage occurred
E.g. a purse was snatched, or a relatively minor sexual assault occurred years in the past
Beliefs about the world
What was discovered is that many people have assumptions about the world, Assumptive Worlds:
1. The world is benevolent: people are nice and it’s safe
2. The world is fair and just: people get what they deserve, if you’re good, good things happen to you
3. I’m a good person, so good things should happen
But when even a minor crime occurs, a person’s view of the world can be fundamentally shifted, and the trauma from that can be worse than the crime itself
Beliefs about the world
Belief in a just world can also be a huge problem
Legal Psychologists have found that when someone believes the world is just, they are more likely to blame victims
E.g. “She got raped because she was asking for it.”
Otherwise, how else can someone who believes in a just world explain something bad happening to someone good?
As a side note, sometimes self-blame can be an important coping mechanism to heal
E.g. “I got mugged because I wasn’t careful, was out too late.”
That can empower the victim to feel safer if he/she avoids making the same mistake in the future
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Discussion.docx
Discussion
1. Discussion Question: Create a post with a discussion question. This can be a short post, just a sentence or three, that poses an interesting question. For example, “Based on the material from this week, what additional research do psychologists need to conduct to continue to understand and reduce racial prejudice?” Or “In addition to business meetings and juries, what are some other situations where we could see group decision-making happening in the real world? And what potential problems would arise during such a meeting?”
2. Two Discussion Replies: Provide a reply to at least two different questions that someone else has posed. Your reply should be at least a paragraph long, at least 150 words long. You can also reply to other people’s replies instead of just the question. In your reply, you must reference material that we have covered that week and how it relates to the question, but you can certainly expand your reply beyond the material and discuss your own ideas as well. For example, “In keeping with what we learned about the bystander effect, because more bystanders present doesn’t necessarily increase the chances of receiving help, I recommend trying to point at one person specifically to ask for help. The idea is to make that person feel some amount of responsibility in the situation. Additionally, I would recommend…...(reply continues up to 150 words or more)” That reply references the material from the week (the bystander effect) but it also includes the student’s opinion on what to do in such a situation.
Ch7AttitudesBeliefsandConsistencypart2.pptx
Chapter 7
Attitudes, Beliefs, & Consistency
Part 2
Attitude Change
Last time we began to discuss Cognitive Dissonance, but we didn’t really get to delve into and its implications
Today we’ll go into much more depth with Dissonance, the attitude-behavior problem, beliefs, and belief perseverance
Let’s start by checking out this video
Attitude Change
The video on the next slide applies dissonance to real world situation (like smoking, veganism, and diet in general)
Note* I’m not personally vegan, though I wonder if maybe I should be, but that’s not the point
The speaker is clearly vegan and trying to promote that, however, the point here is how these situations do illustrate dissonance very well
It also summarizes dissonance and shows clips from the real original study
There may be a few questions from this on the next exam!
Attitude Change
Watch this video:
Attitude Change
I liked how he focused on the temporary situations that can promote dissonance in those moments
And he’s definitely right, I’ve watched arguments between vegans or vegetarians and meat-eaters, and the dissonance is palpable
Additionally, it expresses how it’s easier to change one’s attitudes than one’s behaviors
Especially with not eating unhealthy food
Attitude Change & Choices
Some choices can bring about attitude change
One dissonance study found that:
Participants who were told they had to write an essay about why a controversial speaker should be banned from their college did not change their initial view (which was that the speaker should be allowed)
However, participants who were simply asked politely to write such an essay, did, by the end, come to change their initial view to be that the speaker should not be allowed
Dissonance continued
Post-decision dissonance
Ever bought a piece of clothing and wondered if maybe there was one out there that was a better fit or cooler look?
Or ordered one flavor of ice cream just to be drooling over another?
That’s post-decision dissonance
To resolve this/make it go away, people usually justify their choices and make the alternative seem less appealing
Some studies by Schwartz and colleagues found that some people are maximizers, who want to always make the best possible choices, whereas others…
Dissonance continued
Others are satisficers, who just want to make a good enough choice to feel content
When there are too many options in a decision, that’s called the Tyranny of Choice
Situations with many options can be difficult for maximizers, who tend to be less optimistic and more depressed
Advances in Dissonance Research
Does the attitude shift that occurs as a result of dissonance happen if a person never feels the discomfort that dissonance causes?
In a typical dissonance study, researchers told some participants that a pill they took (placebo, sugar pill) would make them feel uneasy
Those participants did not have a shift in attitude to resolve dissonance, they blamed the pill
Participants who received no pill felt uncomfortable due to dissonance and changed their attitudes
Some cultural differences in dissonance have been observed, with North Americans experiencing more dissonance than East Asians
Attitudes & Behavior
Can attitudes really predict behavior?
Low correlation between general attitudes, “I like helping people,” and specific behaviors, “I volunteer to tutor or at a homeless shelter.”
Strong correlation between specific attitudes, like toward giving blood, and specific behaviors, giving blood
General attitudes can predict behavior better if those attitudes are made salient before a chance to act on the behavior occurs
Attitudes & Behavior
When attitudes and behavior don’t line up, that’s called the A-B problem.
There are interesting gender differences between men and women in terms of how attitudes predict behavior in terms of sex
Sexual Attitudes vs Behaviors
Battle of the sexes! Who was more consistent?
Fidelity: men’s attitude toward fidelity explained 33% of their behavior, whereas women’s attitude toward fidelity only explained 11%
Homosexual behavior: among men who said they were interested in gay sex, 85% had engaged in it that year, among women, <50% who were interested engaged in it.
Condom use: there was higher pro-condom use attitude-behavior consistency among men than women (surprising)
Sexual Attitudes vs Behaviors
Of course there could be alternate explanations to those data
For example women’s attitude-behavior ratio for condom use could be lower because a guy pressures them into not using a condom
What about other famous examples of misalignments between sexual attitudes and behaviors?
Sexual Attitudes vs Behaviors
Married Republican Oklahoma state senator Ralph Shortey had a political platform that was anti-marijuana and anti-LBGTQ
He was caught by the police on body-cam in a hotel room with a 17 year old male prostitute, he had also been smoking pot
He later resigned, was arrested, and plead guilty to child sex trafficking
Beliefs
When we’re told something, pigs can fly, we automatically believe it for a moment before we question it (Gilbert, 1991)
The non-conscious mind receives information without questioning it, as a first step
Only afterwards, does the conscious mind step in and override erroneous beliefs
Religious cults sometime abuse this
They will present information when their potential members are in a tired/distracted state, so as to
make it more believable
Belief Perseverance
Important Study Alert!!
Belief Perseverance (Ross, Lepper, & Hubbard, 1975)
Participants read through 25 fictitious suicide notes and told to identify the real ones
The researchers told participants they either got 24/25 right or 10/25 right (determined by a coin flip)
When participants were debriefed at the end of the study, they were told their score was made-up/bogus
Then participants were asked to estimate how well they would really do if determining if suicide notes were real/fake
Participants given the positive bogus feedback believed they’d do much better than those who received negative feedback
Belief Perseverance
Another famous belief perseverance study:
Anderson, Lepper, & Ross (1980)
Half of the participants read cases that conveyed that cautious people make better firefights
The other half read cases that said risk-takers make better firefighters
Told to come up with theories explaining the cases they had read
Then told the cases were all bogus
Finally, they were asked to rate which type of firefighters would be best and they maintained the original, false, belief
Belief Perseverance
One way to reduce or remove belief perseverance is to ask people to consider the opposite of the initial belief that was provided
E.g. if participants were told cautious fighters were best initially, asking them to explain why risk-taking firefights could be best will reduce the initial bias
Beliefs about the world
So far we’ve covered research on specific beliefs about various topics, but what about general world outlooks?
This line of work arose from early therapists who were surprised at the level of trauma that occurred from crimes in which no long term physical or financial damage occurred
E.g. a purse was snatched, or a relatively minor sexual assault occurred years in the past
Beliefs about the world
What was discovered is that many people have assumptions about the world, Assumptive Worlds:
1. The world is benevolent: people are nice and it’s safe
2. The world is fair and just: people get what they deserve, if you’re good, good things happen to you
3. I’m a good person, so good things should happen
But when even a minor crime occurs, a person’s view of the world can be fundamentally shifted, and the trauma from that can be worse than the crime itself
Beliefs about the world
Belief in a just world can also be a huge problem
Legal Psychologists have found that when someone believes the world is just, they are more likely to blame victims
E.g. “She got raped because she was asking for it.”
Otherwise, how else can someone who believes in a just world explain something bad happening to someone good?
As a side note, sometimes self-blame can be an important coping mechanism to heal
E.g. “I got mugged because I wasn’t careful, was out too late.”
That can empower the victim to feel safer if he/she avoids making the same mistake in the future