Transcript Attitudes

Attitudes
What is an attitude?
 An evaluation a person makes about an object,
person, group event or issue.
 Once you form an attitude about something, that
attitude is relatively long lasting.
 Attitudes you form right now are likely to remain
into adulthood.
Strongly
Disapprove
1
Disapprove
Neutral
Approve
Strongly
Approve
2
3
4
5
Strongly
Disapprove
1
Disapprove
Neutral
Approve
Strongly
Approve
2
3
4
5
Strongly
Disapprove
1
Disapprove
Neutral
Approve
Strongly
Approve
2
3
4
5
Strongly
Disapprove
1
Disapprove
Neutral
Approve
Strongly
Approve
2
3
4
5
Strongly
Disapprove
1
Disapprove
Neutral
Approve
Strongly
Approve
2
3
4
5
Strongly
Disapprove
1
Disapprove
Neutral
Approve
Strongly
Approve
2
3
4
5
 How long did you take to make an evaluation?
 Did you have an automatic feeling of approval or
disapproval that came quickly?
 Or did you think more carefully about the object?
 Did the object arouse a number of complex and different
beliefs and images?
 Or just a few basic thoughts?
 Did you think about how you may behave towards the
object?
 Did you have conflicting feelings or thoughts about the
object?
 Did your thoughts match your feelings and behavioural
tendencies toward the object?
QUESTIONS
 Women who dress provocatively encourage rape
 People who smuggle drugs into another country
should receive the death penalty
 A man who knowingly rapes a nun, should receive
the same punishment as a man who knowingly
rapes a prostitute
QUESTIONS
 Men and women are treated equally by society
 Euthanasia should be allowed
 Women should be allowed to have an abortion
 Condom vending machines should be placed in
schools
 Heroin injecting rooms should be introduced
 People should live together before they are married
 The internet has done more damage to society than
good.
 English should be a compulsory subject at VCE
 Murderers who have been found guilty should receive the
death penalty
 Smacking children should be illegal
 Elite swimmers should be allowed to wear full body suits in
competition
 Gay marriage should be legalised.
How are attitudes formed?
 Continual process
 When knowledge and experience interact
with what we already think about
something
Influences to forming attitudes:
 Direct instruction:
 From authority figures
 More common in younger children
 Relationships with friends and peers
 Reinforced by others
 More common in adolescents
 Easier to uphold when group supports it
Influences to forming attitudes
cont...
 Upbringing:
 Parental values, beliefs, practices and
attitudes
 The media:
 Newspapers, magazines and television
 Genetics:
 Some research, but new area
 Activity 8.5
Tri-component theory
 Psychologist propose various theories to explain
and describe what attitudes are.
 The tri-component theory is the most widely
accepted.
 It proposes that any attitude has three related
components.
The ABC of attitudes
Tri-component
theory
Attitude
Affective
What you feel
Behavioural
What you do
Cognitive
What you think
Affective
 The emotional component of the attitude
 How you feel about the people, objects, places,
events or ideas
 “I feel good when I’m with my friends”
 “I feel fit when I play basketball”
Behavioural
 The action component.
 What you do (or don’t do)
 How you might behave if a certain issue occurs
 “I hang out with my friends whenever I can”
 “I play basketball every night”
Cognitive
 The mental component
 The beliefs or thoughts you have about
people, objects, places, events or ideas
 “I think my friends are nice, funny and cool”
 “I think football is the best sport to play”.7
What is your attitude to banning hot
chips from the CESC canteen?
 Is it negative or positive?
 Let’s break it down (the ABC)
 Affective
 Behavioural
 Cognitive
What is your attitude to
banning hot chips?
How does banning hot chips make you feel?
Affective
Angry
1
Upset
Not sure
2
3
Relieve
d
4
Happy
5
Would you sign a petition to save the hot
chips in the CESC canteen?
Behavioural
Never
1
Probably
not
Don’t know
2
3
Maybe
4
Definitel
y
5
Hot chips taste are amazing!
Cognitive
Strongly
disagree
1
Disagre
e
2
Neutral
3
Agree
4
Strongly
agree
5
Public transport users should not be permitted to
smoke at bus, tram and train terminals because of
the effects of passive smoking on other passengers.
Besides, I dislike smokers.
 Affective component?
 Cognitive component?
 Behavioural component?
Tri-component model of attitude
All attitudes have 3 components –
affective, behavioural and cognitive
Affective
Refers to how a person feels
emotionally about various
people, objects, institutions,
events or issues
Attitude
Behavioural
Learned ideas
about ourselves
and others, or
objects and
experiences
Refers to how a person
acts towards various
people, objects,
institutions, events or
issues
Cognitive
Refers to what a person
thinks about various
people, objects institutions,
vents or issues
I feel happy
around dogs and
frightened
around cats
When I go to
the pet shop I
will buy a dog
I think dogs are
better than cats
Which component (A,B or C) are the
following?
 Knitting
 Imagining
 Believing
 Hurting
 Happy
 Daydreaming
 Eating
 Tired
 5.1 Part B
 Silently making a wish
 Doubting
 Running slowly
 Angry
 Playing the trumpet
 Sleeping
 Preferring dark
chocolate to milk
chocolate
Which component (A,B or C) are the
following?
 Knitting
 Imagining
 Believing
 Hurting
 Happy
 Daydreaming
 Eating
 Tired
 Behavioural
 Cognitive
 Cognitive
 Affective
 Affective
 Cognitive
 Behavioural
 Affective
 Silently making a wish
 Doubting
 Running slowly
 Angry
 Playing the trumpet
 Sleeping
 Preferring dark
chocolate to milk
chocolate
 Cognitive
 Cognitive
 Behavioural
 Affective
 Behavioural
 Behavioural
 Affective
Cognitive Dissonance
 ‘disagreement of thoughts’
 Constantly experiencing different types of
thoughts
 ‘This chocolate tastes good’
 ‘I really like chocolate’
 These cognitions are consistent
Cognitive Dissonance cont...
 Are your cognitions always consistent?
 Are they consistent with your behaviours?
 What do you think will happen if you act
inconsistently with your attitude?
 This is cognitive dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance cont...
 You feel like eating biscuits, and so you go and eat some
biscuits, but you still believe that they are bad for you.
 In this case your affective (feelings) and behaviour are
consistent, but your beliefs are inconsistent
 Cognitive dissonance = the difference that occurs
within an attitude that leads to a state of
psychological discomfort.
Cognitive Dissonance cont...
 Some people ignore this mismatch, however, more
sustainable way is to change your attitude.
 You do this by altering the cognitive component so it fits
in with your feelings and behaviour.
 Activity 8.8
Attitude Formation
Record 5 words that come to mind, an estimate of
age and gender for each of the following:
 Lawyer
 Nurse
 Criminal
 Librarian
Stereotyping
What is it?
 When we evaluate people, we try to fit them into a category
based on our knowledge of people and the world.
 For example, a person may be judged as being a member of a
social group (such as male or female) or a member of a religious
group (eg. Muslim).
 This process of grouping or ‘fitting’ people into a category based
on what we know about them is called stereotyping.
Stereotypes
 A stereotype is a commonly held idea about a person or
group, which is based on observed behaviours, or the
person’s appearance.
 For example, a stereotype of a doctor might be: wealthy, drives
an expensive car, lives in a big house, works long hours and is
conservative.
 Stereotypes help us to make sense of our world by giving it
order.
Stereotypes cont.
 Stereotypes ignore individual characteristics, and consider
every member of that group to posses the same set of
characteristics.
 Can be both positive and negative
 Positive = Italian mothers are excellent cooks
 Negative = Women can’t drive
Stereotypes cont.
 Stereotypes are widely used in the media, because it is easy for
writers/directors to shown characters.
 Movies and TV shows often have the typical characters:
 Jock – good at sport but dumb
 Nerd – super smart but not popular
 Princess – popular girl
 Rebel – the kid who rebels against everything
 Social outcast – weirdo, not popular but intriguing
How can stereotypes be useful?
 Saves us time, stereotypes provide us with a much simpler way
to take in the world.
 Are useful because information about people helps us to
interact better with them, and to do so fairly quickly after we
meet them.
 Eg. We assume an 8yr old’s level of logic and intelligence is
going to be less than that of an adult, so this helps us interact
with them.
Learning Activity
How would you describe each of the following people? Use two or
three key words for each person.






Someone who drives a Ferrari
Someone who has had cosmetic surgery
Someone who is apart of a book club
Someone who belongs to a bikie gang
Someone who is a local parliament member
Someone who is a vegetarian
Compare your responses with those of others in the class. In what
way can stereotyped views influence how someone thinks, feels
or behaves towards people whom they consider to fit the
stereotype?
Consider this…




It’s 10pm at night
You get on a train to go home
There are 2 people on either end of the carriage
A woman in her 30’s, dressed in a business suit listening to her
ipod.
 The other end is a man in his mid 20’s, wearing dirty and ripped
clothing and he is wearing a beanie.
 Which person do you sit closer to?
Consider this…
 We automatically stereotype these people without knowing
anything about them.
 Generally people will go sit closer to the business lady because
she looks less threatening.
BUT… Stereotypes can be wrong
 What if you found out that this women was recently released
from prison for domestic violence?
 What if the man was returning home to his wife and 3 kids, after
a long week of working as a labourer?
 Complete Activity 8.11 pg. 277
Prejudice
 Stereotyping can lead to prejudice, which can result in
discrimination.
 The term prejudice literally means ‘prejudgement’.
 Prejudice is an attitude towards an object, person or place.
 Because prejudice involves a judgement, it is usually considered to
be an attitude, but specifically one for which the focus is people.
 It involves negative feelings (affective component), negative
beliefs (cognitive) which are often used to justify negative
behaviour (behavioural component).
Prejudice cont…
Any group can be the focus of
prejudice:
 Women
 Men
 Members of ethnic groups:
Chinese, Italians, Greeks
 Indigenous groups
(aboriginals)
 People with specific illnesses
eg. AIDS or mental illness
 People with disabilities
 Sexual preference
 Certain occupations (truck
drivers)
 People who behave in similar
ways eg. Bullies or shy people
Prejudice cont…
 Prejudice often involves members of a majority group holding
negative attitudes towards the members of a minority group.
 Members of a majority group are greater in number and are
sometimes described as the ‘ingroup’.
 And members of a minority group are fewer in number and are
sometimes described as the ‘outgroup’.
Have a think…
Can you think of some situations where there is a
majority and a minority group?
If you are stuck think: the girls in this Psych class make
up the majority group and the boys are the minority
group.
Prejudice over time
 Prejudice has evolved and changed over time.
 Psychologists believe that the theories of prejudice
now fit into two categories:
 ‘Old fashioned’ prejudice
 Modern prejudice
‘Old fashioned’ Prejudice
 Is defined as a blatant and deliberate form of open rejection
towards an individual or group, based purely upon a person’s
membership of that group.
 Example: back in the day black people versus white people.
Modern Prejudice
 Is defined as more subtle and insinuates rejection whilst
displaying acceptance.
 Example: seen more today, when people almost “fake” their
acceptance of particular groups however still not treating
them with respect.
Different types of Prejudice
 Sexism – when directed at women or men because of their
sex.
 Ageism – directed at people because of their age.
 Racism – directed at people who are members of a particular
racial or ethnic group. Eg. Aborigines, Somalians, Muslims.
Discrimination
 Prejudice is the pre-judgment about a person, object or
place.
 Discrimination is when action is taken on that judgment.
 It’s behaviour that is directed towards a particular group, or
individual belonging to a specific group.
Reducing prejudice
 Anti-discrimination laws have led to a significant reduction in the
number of observable expressions of prejudice in Australia.
 BUT… it has not entirely eradicated prejudice and discrimination!
 Findings from research conducted by Psychologists indicate there
are other methods that can also help to reduce prejudice &
discrimination.
*Inter-group contact *Sustained contact *Equality
*Mutual independence
*Cognitive interventions
*Super-ordinate goals
Inter-group contact
 Prejudice can be reduced by increasing inter-group contact.
 By increasing direct contact between two groups who are
prejudice against one another.
 The contact must be meaningful to all people involved.
 It is more likely to reduce prejudice if the two people or groups
have to rely on each other for some reason.
Sustained contact
 Very simple term!
 The more time you spend with someone the less likely you are to
hold a prejudice view of them.
 Psychologists then developed the contact hypothesis…
Contact Hypothesis
 Psychologist Gordon Allport in the 1950’s developed the contact
hypothesis.
 Proposes that certain types of direct contact between members of
different groups can reduce prejudice.
 Just contact over time is not sufficient, there needs to be specific
conditions present for the sustained contact to be effective in
reducing prejudice.
Mutual interpedence
 Simply means when two groups both depend on each other for
something.
 There is a greater chance that prejudice can be broken down when
two groups mutually depend or need something from each other.
 This could include a skill or knowledge.
 The two groups must work together co-operatively in a
meaningful way, this helps to reduce prejudice.
Equality
 The groups must have equal status in the contact situation.
 Equality is being treated equally (the same) and fairly.
 Groups who are seen to be of high status would be perceived as
more important.
 Conversely, groups who are seen to be of low status are perceived
as less significant.
 Both groups must be equal before prejudice can be reduced.
 VERY HARD to reduce prejudice when one group believes they
are superior then the other.
Super-ordinate goals
 A super-ordinate goal is one that cannot be achieved by any one
group alone.
 Super-ordinate goals overrides other existing goals which each
group might have.
 Super-ordinate goals require close teamwork, where people
work as team and not as individuals.
 Psychologists believe it is not the goal itself that is important but
how the groups work towards that goal.
Cognitive interventions
 Involves changing the way in which someone thinks about
prejudice.
 Some Psychologists believe if people are aware of the harmful
effects of prejudice they then are in a position to do something
about it.
 That is what cognitive interventions aim to achieve.
 It employs people to think about other people’s perspective or to
have their negative stereotypes challenged or broken down.