Draw these people & give them a name

• Kindergarten teacher

• Gymnast

• Truck driver

• Receptionist

• President (of a country)

• Emo

What is attitude?

•An attitude is an idea about ourselves or others, or objects and experiences.

•Attitudes cause a person to respond in a positive or negative way.

•The three components of an attitude are:

- Feelings (affective)

- Actions (behavioural)

- Thoughts (cognitive)

Affective component

• feelings towards the object or person – how you feel

Behavioural component

• a person’s actions towards various people, objects or institutions – what you do/how you act

Cognitive component

• what a person thinks about the object or person – why you believe this

The ABC of attitudes

Direct contact

• or personal experience with the object of the attitude

Eg: disliking someone who smokes because cigarette smoke give you asthma

Interaction

• with others – through discussion with people who hold a particular attitude

Eg: if your friends strongly oppose smoking in public places and you discuss their beliefs, you will most likely favour their ‘anti-smoking’ attitude

How do we acquire attitudes?

Child rearing

• The effects of parental values, beliefs, and practices also affect attitudes

for example: if both parents of a child are vegetarians, there is a 2/3 chance that their child will also be a vegetarian

Group membership

• Our attitudes are influenced by our group membership – this means the people with whom you share common characteristics

For example, being a member of a certain footy club will most likely cause you to believe that your club is superior to all others

Your attitudes towards a current issue – AFL drug scandal

On Friday night, channel 7 reported some AFL players from a Melbourne-based club had twice been detected using illegal substances during drug testing.

The medical records were allegedly found outside an Ivanhoe rehab centre.

The report was stopped mid-broadcast before the players names were disclosed.

A court injunction was taken out by a doctor named in the report preventing the publishing of names or clubs.

What is your opinion?

The media

Mean worldview

• Attitudes are influenced and cleverly manipulated by the media (radio, TV, magazines, newspapers)

• The media can target a large audience at any time

• having a media source (such as the TV) channelled constantly into your home can have a powerful impact. Frequent TV viewers tend to mistrust others and overestimate their chances of being harmed. This can lead to a mean worldview.

• considering the world to be a threatening and dangerous place – vending machines

Chance conditioning

• Some attitudes are formed through chance conditioning

• Chance conditioning is learning that takes place through chance or coincidence

• Eg: developing an attitude towards something based on one or two experiences (deciding you dislike Thai food after eating at a bad restaurant)

• 3 bad teachers = dislike for teachers

Reference groups

Persuasion

• Attitudes are quite stable, but they can change

• A reference group is a group a person identifies with and uses as a standard for social comparison

• Can attitudes be changed by deliberate attempts to persuade?

• Persuasion is a deliberate attempt to change attitudes or beliefs through information and argument - advertising

Cognitive dissonance theory• What is the cognitive dissonance theory?

• Cognitive dissonance is when you have contradicting or clashing thoughts that cause discomfort.

• If you act in a way that does not align with your attitudes or self-image, this contradiction will cause you to feel uncomfortable

• Eg: if you get in a car with someone who you know has taken drugs and your belief is that driving under the influence is careless, you will feel upset and uneasy.

Check your understanding on P301

Prejudice

• Humans are drawn together by factors such as love and friendship. Prejudice occurs when opposite feelings come into play eg: hatred, suspicion.

• Prejudice is a negative emotional attitude held towards members of a specific social group. Eg: a culturally biased exam entrance exam at a school.

• Prejudice can be referred to as- Sexism- Racism - give examples of

these

- Ageism

Sexism

• Sexism is a mixture of negative stereotypes and thoughts, and feelings of envy fear or hostility that results in discrimination based on gender.

• Eg: a woman may get a job as a nurse over a more highly qualified male nurse, because females are generally better nurses

Racism

• Racism is a mixture of negative stereotypes and thoughts, and feelings of envy fear or hostility that results in discrimination based on race.

• Eg: employing a Mexican office cleaner over a Caucasian office cleaner, because the Mexican man will be more likely to work for the minimum wage.

Ageism

• Ageism is a mixture of negative stereotypes and thoughts, and feelings of envy fear or hostility that results in discrimination based on age.

• Eg: not considering the viewpoint of a young child because you feel they lack the life experience to have a valid opinion.

What is a stereotype?

• Most people publicly support equality and fairness, yet many people have negative images of certain groups, most likely minorities. Deciding to become unprejudiced does not necessarily negate prejudiced thoughts and feelings. This usually reflects stereotypes learned from a young age.

• A stereotype is an oversimplified image of people who belong to a particular social group, causing them to appear more similar than they really are.

5 ways of reducing prejudice

• Inter-group contact – interactions that occur between the holder of the stereotype and the target of the stereotype. Eg: mixed classrooms

• Sustained contact – prolonged and involved cooperative activity or interaction. Eg: working together

• Superordinate goals – shared goals that groups or individuals cannot achieve alone or without the other person or group. Eg: ANZACS

• Mutual interdependence – depending on one another to meet each person’s goals. Eg: footy team

• Equality – social interactions that occur at the same level, without obvious differences in power or status.

Eg: pay rates

Cognitive interventions

• Learned skills and behaviours that can be used to combat prejudice

• Cognitive interventions can help us to be less easily manipulated by others, understand our own attitudes and promote pleasant interactions.

The 7 cognitive interventions

• Beware of stereotypes• Seek individuating information • Don’t fall into just-world beliefs • Be aware of self-fulfilling prophecies• Different does not mean inferior• Look for commonalities• Develop cultural awareness

What is discrimination?

Check your understanding p 306

The 4 bases of prejudice

• Scapegoating – blaming a person or a group for the actions of others or for circumstances out of their control

• Direct experience – repeated interactions with members of the rejected group

• Personal and group prejudice – personal: when members of another racial or ethnic group are perceived as a threat to one’s own interests. Group: prejudice due to group views or conformity

• Prejudiced personality – certain personality types are more likely to be prejudiced. Eg: an authoritarian personality is someone who is rigid, inhibited and prejudiced

Sexism

• Women have historically suffered because of low positions of power

• Although things have changed a lot, women still suffer certain prejudices.

• Social hierarchy P 310 – do you agree? Will this ever change?

• Sexism against men – paternal roles

Racism

• Racism is not a new concept

• Racism is largely caused by ignorance towards cultural practices

• Subtle racism is prevalent

Multiculturalism

• Giving equal status to different ethnic, racial and cultural groups

• Race is socially constructed, biologically and genetically we are equal

Ageism

• Elderly people are not respected and treated as a burden

• Businesses perpetuate ageism by not hiring older workers

What are some common misconceptions about older people?

Measuring attitudes

• Psychologists try to measure people’s attitudes through observation and the use of surveys.

• Involves people being observed without them knowing. This is conducted to determine their attitude towards issues such as racism and sexism.

Self-report method• Sometimes data on attitudes is impossible to observe. Eg. Attitudes towards sexual activity. Self reports are written or spoken answers to questions, asked by the researcher. They can be in the form of Questionnaires or interviews. Questionnaires can be used to determine how strongly a person’s attitude is. This can be seen in the form of a LIKERT scale.

Observation

Likert Scales

A Likert Scale is a measurement of attitude that consists of statements expressing various possible views on an issue.

Eg: people who eat fast food are not as healthy as those who don’t.

- People rank their responses on a 5-point scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

How to create a Likert Scale

• Include an equal number of positive and negative attitudes.

Eating too much fast food is bad for your health

Negative – eating fast food does not have a great effect on how healthy you are

Positive – Limiting the consumption of fast food will improve your health

Scoring your Scale

• Each response (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree) is allocated a numerical value of 1-5.

• The order of the numbers is dependent on the positivity or negativity of the statement.

Eating too much fast food is bad for your health

Negative – eating fast food does not have a great effect on how healthy you are 1= strongly agree 5= strongly disagree

Positive – Limiting the consumption of fast food will improve your health

5= strongly agree 1= strongly disagree

Quantitative Data

• Information that is collected in numerical form and can therefore be used statistically.