4.2 Attitude Formation and Change
generalized concepts about groups
What is a stereotype?
a cultural orientation prioritizing personal independence, autonomy, and individual goals over group harmony or collective needs
What is individualism?
this theory focuses on the pursuit of self-actualization
What is humanistic?
a low tolerance for, and high frustration with, repetitive, monotonous, or routine situations
What is boredom susceptibility?
the factor manipulated, changed, or selected by the researcher
What is the independent variable?
the cognitive tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that supports one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses while ignoring or discounting contradictory evidence
What is confirmation bias?
a cultural value or orientation that prioritizes group goals, harmony, and interdependence over personal desires, autonomy, and individual achievement
What is collectivism?
a defense mechanism where an individual unconsciously distorts reality by creating logical, plausible, or socially acceptable excuses to justify unacceptable behaviors, thoughts, or feelings
What is rationalization?
this concept was researched using an uncontacted tribe in New Guinea
What is universal emotions?
an observational research method that analyzes data from a population, or a representative subset, at one specific point in time
What is a cross-sectional study?
a phenomenon where an initial, often false, expectation about a person or situation leads to behaviors that cause that expectation to come true
What is self-fulfilling prophecy?
An ad that uses celebrities and upbeat music to promote their product uses this type of persuasion
What is peripheral route persuasion?
The Big Five
Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
a social group or culture’s informal norms about when, where, and how one should appropriately express emotions
What are display rules?
a descriptive statistic measuring the average distance or dispersion of scores from the mean in a data set
What is standard deviation?
the tendency for people to overemphasize internal, dispositional factors (personality traits) and underemphasize external, situational factors when analyzing others' behavior
What is the fundamental attribution error?
a type of conformity where individuals change their behavior or beliefs to align with a group to gain approval, avoid rejection, or fit in
What is normative social influence?
this view of personality focuses primarily on how people's beliefs about the world shape their personality
What is the social-cognitive view?
this theory from positive psychology emphasizes the importance of experiencing positive emotions
What is the broaden-and-build theory?
a precise, concrete description of the specific procedures used to measure or manipulate research variables
What is an operational definition?
the tendency for people to believe the world is fundamentally fair, meaning individuals get what they deserve—good actions are rewarded, and bad actions are punished
What is the just-world phenomenon?
the tendency of survey respondents or research participants to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others, often over-reporting good behavior and under-reporting bad behavior
What is the social-desirability bias?
focuses on how unresolved unconscious conflicts influence personality development
What is the psychodynamic perspective?
A choice of taking a high-paying job in a city you hate is an example of this kind of conflict
What is approach-avoidance?
the crucial, post-experimental process of informing participants about the true purpose of a study, disclosing any deception used, and mitigating potential harm
What is debriefing?