March 2, 2006 Thurs.
• We’ll finish discussing the social self and
then move on to discuss attitudes.
BIRGing
• Basking in reflected glory: Increasing
self-esteem by associating with others
who are successful (BIRGing)
BIRGing
• Cialdini et al. (1976)
• Monday morning after football
games, college students (from
Arizona State, Louisiana State,
Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State,
etc.) more likely to wear school
sweatshirts when team won on the
previous Sat. & larger the victory,
the more shirts worn.
BIRGing
• IV: General knowledge test. ½ success,
½ failure feedback
• DV: Describe outcome of recent
football game.
• Results: Those who failed were more likely
to share team’s victory by saying things like
“we won” and to distance themselves from
defeat by saying “they lost” than those who
had succeeded. (This is a way to restore selfesteem.)
• Berglas & Jones (1978)
• Cover: “Drugs and intellectual
performance”
• Independent variable: Solvable or
unsolvable problems
• Dependent variable: Choice of Drug
• Drug A: Helps intellectual performance
• Drug B: Inhibits intellectual
performance
•
Helps
• Unsolvable problem:
• Solvable problem:
Inhibits
Self-handicapping
• Self-handicapping: When a person
protects his/her self-image by setting
up a situation that makes it difficult to
succeed, but creates a handy excuse
for failure.
Defensive pessimism
• Defensive pessimism (Norem &
Cantor): A strategy in which a person
expects the worst, and works harder
because of this expectation.
•
Defensive pessimism
• Defensive pessimists performed better
when had negative expectations. If
blocked negative expectations (by
telling them would do well), they did
not perform as well as their
counterparts who were not given these
encouraging instructions.
• Explanations for self-serving bias:
• 1. Self-presentation--want to make a
good impression on others
• 2. Motivation--we are motivated to
protect and enhance our self-esteem.
• Discussion of Swann, Hixon, & De La
Ronde “Embracing the bitter ‘truth’:
Negative self-concepts and marital
commitment”
Attitudes
• I. What are attitudes?
• II. How do we develop attitudes?
• III. The link between attitudes and
behavior
• IV. Attitude Change
•
A. Case example
•
B. Cognitive dissonance processes
Attitudes & Persuasion
• Attitudes: A positive, negative, or
mixed evaluation of people, objects, or
ideas.
• exercise
Processes in the development of attitudes
•
•
•
•
Classical conditioning
Instrumental/operant conditioning
Modeling
Direct experience
Classical conditioning
• Association between an initially neutral
stimulus and a stimulus that naturally
produces a strong reaction.
• US (DC food)  UR (nausea)
• Pair US (DC food) with previously neutral
stimulus (Marv)
• CS (Marv)  CR (nausea)
Operant conditioning
• You have been reinforced or punished for
expressing a particular behavior.
• Asking questions in class  teacher’s
approval  more favorable attitude toward
participation
• Positive Reinforcement: Praise, approval,
money, etc.  positive feelings toward
attitude object
• Punishment: Disapproval, pain, etc. 
negative feelings toward attitude object
Modeling
• Modeling: We observe the behavior of
others and base our beliefs on such
observations.
– Ex: Observe mother volunteering at soup
kitchen. You like volunteering based on
observing her behavior.
Direct Experience
• Eat chocolate, love that taste!  positive
attitude toward chocolate
• Eat liver, hate that taste!  negative
attitude toward liver.
• Four ways of learning are not mutually
exclusive!
Link between Attitudes and
Behavior
• Big question in social psychology: Can we
predict behavior from people’s attitudes?
• Richard LaPiere (1934): Traveled
through U.S. with Chinese couple
– 183/184 restaurants served them
– Later asked if provide service to Chinese
people. 91% (of 128 who replied) said,
“No.”
When are attitudes poor predictors of
behavior?
• (1) Low correspondence between the
attitude and the behavior (Aizen &
Fishbein)
– Attitude toward birth control in general (r
=.08)
– Attitude toward using birth control pills in
next 2 yrs. (r = .57)
• (2) Strength of attitude is weak
– (strength=more knowledge; based on
direct experience; more important; more
accessible.)
How do attitudes change?
• The case of Patricia Hearst
Art student, Berkeley, living
w/fiance
Kidnapped Feb. 4, 1974
by SLA
"While I may have looked upon their beliefs
with disdain, they, in turn, held my life style
and my beliefs in utter contempt. Just about
everything I thought was white, they said was
black and they were determined to re-educate me,"
she wrote.
Attitude change: Patricia Hearst
2 mos later, renounced former life
& joined SLA
Changed name to Tania
Shortly after, took part in bank
robbery, then 1 mo later, she helped
2 of her captors (William & Emily
Harris) rob a sporting goods store
& used an automatic weapon to
assist w/their escape
Next day, all SLA members except
Harrises and Hearst were killed in a
shootout.
Underground; when captured, held
up fist in revolutionary salute.
What led to Hearst’s extreme
change in atitude?
• Isolation: Separated from usual social group. Only
human contact was with members of the SLA.
• Guilt: Made to feel guilty about her wealth and lack of
involvement with the poor.
• Total environmental control: SLA completely
controlled her environment (food, water, when she
could use the bathroom)
• Trauma: Raped by one of kidnappers
Over time, developed a relationship with her captors. She
later said, “the trick was to agree with everything they
said, to feign an interest in ever one of their concerns —
to be a model prisoner: subservient, obedient, grateful
and eager to learn...In trying to convince them I
convinced myself.”
What happens when we voice
particular views?
• Voicing particular views, even if we don’t
believe them, might lead to attitude
change.
(In Hearst’s case, multiple factors were
involved.)
Cognitive dissonance theory
(Festinger, 1957)
• Assumed we feel tension (dissonance)
when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are
psychologically inconsistent. We change
our thinking to reduce this tension.
• Video clip of Festinger & Carlsmith (1959)
study
Festinger and Carlsmith
• IV: $1 or $20 to lie by saying a boring task
was very interesting
• DV: How much the participant reported
enjoying the dull task
• Results: Ps in the $1 condition said the
dull task was more enjoyable than did
those in the $20 condition. $1=insufficient
justification for lie
Importance of Festinger &
Carlsmith study
• Demonstrates self persuasion
• Contradicted long-held belief that big
rewards produced attitude change
“less [money] leads to more [attitude
change]” effect
Ways to Reduce Dissonance
•
TECHNIQUES
EXAMPLES
•
Change your attitude
“I don’t really need to be on a
diet.”
•
•
Change your perception
of the behavior
•
Add consonant cognitions
“Chocolate mousse is very
nutritious.”
•
•
Minimize the importance
of the conflict.
“I don’t care if I’m
overweight— life is short;
mousse is great.
•
Reduce perceived choice.
“I had no other choice; it was
prepared for the occasion.
“I hardly ate any mousse.”
Insufficient justification
• Aronson & Carlsmith (1963)
• Forbidden toy study
• IV: Mild threat (I won’t like it) or severe threat
(will be punished)
• DV: later liking for the toy
• Results: Those faced with a mild threat liked the
toy LESS than those faced with a more severe
threat. Those in the mild threat group had
“insufficient justification” for their behavior and
therefore internalized the attitude. (severe threat
group could justify)
Insufficient justification principle works for
punishment as well as rewards
• Aronson & Mills (1959)
• Female students; group discussions about
sex
• IV: Mild initiation or severe initiation or
control (no initiation)
• Heard boring tape about “secondary sex
behavior in lower animals.”
• Participants in severe initiation group rated
the discussion more favorably than those in
the mild initiation or control group.
•
Four steps to dissonance arousal
(Cooper & Fazio)
• The attitude discrepant behavior must
produce unwanted negative
consequences.
• Must feel personally responsible for
unpleasant consequences.
• Must experience physiological arousal
• Must attribute the arousal to your own
inconsistent behavior
Cognitive dissonance theory
• Generated a lot of research
• Explanations for effects are still being
debated, but inconsistency appears to be
important.
• If time: Video clip on effects of dissenting
in a group (Johnny Rocco case)