Social Norms

Why we think what we think.

The Nature of Attitudes

• Attitude– A relatively stable organization of beliefs, feelings and

behavior tendencies toward something (attitude object)

• Attitudes and Behaviors– We don’t always behave the way we feel

• The correlation between attitudes and behavior is not always high

– Self-monitoring• Tendency of the individual to observe the situation for cues

about appropriate reaction

Social Learning Theory.

• Definition – A THEORY that focuses on the extent to which we learn vicariously from others in our environment.

• Kohler’s chimpanzee experiment – Kohler hung a banana out of reach of chimps– He then placed three boxes in the cage– Chimp couldn’t solve how to get the banana until

they see it modeled by Kohler.

Schemata Revisited

• Schemata as defined before, are collections of ideas, thoughts, etc.. about a specific environmental phenomena.

• Just as the chimps learned to manipulate the boxes via vicarious learning, we assemble our schemata from observing our environment, and those in our environment.

The Nature of Attitudes

• Attitude Development– Much of our attitude is the result of experience– Oskamp, 1991• Early experiences (smiles and encouragement for

pleasing behaviors, punishment and disapproval for displeasing behaviors) create enduring positive and negative attitudes

– Parents, teachers, friends, celebrities shape our attitudes

The Nature of Attitudes

• Attitude Development – What kind of music does your parents listen to?

– And You?

– What kind of cloths do your friends wear?– And You?

– What hair style does your favorite celebrity?– And You?

– What perfume/cologne does your boyfriend/girlfriend like?

– And You?

Media’s affect on Attitude

–Bandura: Bobo the Clown– Children are shown a scenario of a person

committing acts of violence on Bobo dollThree Groups are presented1. Children see violence rewarded2. Children see violence punished 3. Children see violence with no reward or

punishment

Bandura’s Results

• Group 1 – majority of students showed aggression

• Group 2 – majority of students did not show aggression (but a few still did!)

• Group 3 – mixed results not exactly 50 % but we still saw violence– WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MEDIA

DEVELOPMENT?

Attitudes and Behavior

• Heavily researched because of belief that attitudes can predict behavior– NOT supported by evidence– LaPiere (1930): attitudes & behaviors toward

Orientals in 1930s California• Reported attitudes didn’t correlate with discriminatory

behavior

Measuring Attitudes

• Direct questions (Survey says…)– Difficult to assess intensity– No way to standardize answer

• Projective test– Ambiguous stimuli, allows participant to project

attitudes & emotions– Rorschach Ink-blot Test– Enigmatic Pictures

Measuring Attitudes

• Attitude scales (most common)– Thurstone scale• Evaluative statements about attitude object

– Wide range of positivity & negativity

– Osgood’s Semantic Difference• Rate attitude object on bipolar adjective word pairs

– Limitations• Social-desirability bias

Measuring Attitudes

• Physiological changes– Arousal states associated with positive & negative

attitudes– GSR• Measures perspiration

– Limitation: doesn’t indicate type of emotion

– Pupilary response• Hess (1959): subject wants to see what it like more

than what it dislikes– Problems: fear dilates pupils, to, limited to visual

Measuring Attitudes

• Physiological changes– Facial electromyogram (EMG)• Assumptions: facial expressions are innate, people

learn only to control gross facial movements, unable to control slight enervation• Measures muscle enervation (tension)• Limitations:

– Expensive, invasive, experiment may alter attitudes

Attitude Change

• How and why do attitudes change?• How do we resist attitude changes we don’t

want?– Conformity – Compliance– Group change– Individual change

Social Conformity theories

• Informational Social influence theory – conformity is based on the need that people have for certainty. Uncertain conditions will usually force individuals to act like others. Voter conformity.

• Normative Social Influence theory – conformity is based on need for social acceptance and approval. Teen drug/alcohol use

• Referent Social Influence – conformity is based on the need for people to categorize themselves as members of a specific group – Nazi’s

Persuasion

• Pay attention to message, fully comprehend, and accept message as convincing

• Resistance– Identify underlying message, recognize attention-

getting techniques– Awareness of techniques & tactics

PersuasionAdvertising Techniques

• Bandwagon: Popularity = desirability– “Everyone’s doing it!”

• Celebrity Testimonial: Fame = taste– “I’m Michael Jordan & I drink Gatorade!”

• Association Principle: product assoc. with qualities– “Cool, sexy people smoke Kool cigarettes!”

• Emotional Appeal: Creates emotional response (fear)– “If you don’t want YOUR family threatened, get an ADT security

system!”• Repetition: Repeated exposure of logo & name

– Political ads immediately before election• Use of Humor: Funny is noticeable

– GoDaddy commercial with Joan Rivers

Persuasion

• Compliance tactics– Ingratiation

• Harder to resist requests from people we like

– Foot in the door• Giving in to an initial, small request makes it harder to resist

a later, larger request

– Door in the face• Refusing an initial, large request makes it harder to resist

later, smaller requests

– Hard to get• Appearance of demand for goods/ services decreases

resistance to request

Milgram’s Obedience Compliance

• Obedience – the compliance with a demand.• Milgram’s study showed the willingness to comply with

the demand of an authoritative figure.• Milgram’s study.

– Subjects were set in a one way mirrored room, with a series of buttons that would shock an actor in the other room.

– Actor was told he would be shocked for incorrect responses.

– Testor would instruct Subject to shock regardless of desire to do so, sometimes prompting them with “please continue” or “ you have no choice”.

Factors Affecting Conformity

• Culture – all cultures have different pressures to conform to the cultural norm.

• Group factors– Risky Shift – the tendency of a group to be more willing to

make a risky decision than an individual– Group think – a cohesive groups tendency to choose group

morals over judgment.• Minority Influence – the tendency for the viewpoint of

a small group to affect change over the majority, commonly called a paradigm shift. Ex. Religious, women’s rights, black rights, and scientific groups

Asch conformity study

• Group pressure on a subject will cause them to conform to false “group” answer.

• Are all three lines the same length?

Attitude Change Communication Model

• Each of the following manipulated in order to change your attitudes– Source

• Credibility is key

– Message • When interested in, more important than source

– Medium of communication• Face-to-face, personal stories, writing (complex ideas)

– Characteristics of the audience• Difficult to alter• Resistance because: commitment to current attitudes, shared

attitudes, early childhood formation by family of attitudes

Attitude Change At the Group Level

• Paradigm shift – new ideas or view points are introduced, usually by a minority group, that cause the majority group to change.

• Cultures – absorb new widely accepted ideas as truth applying them to all those included in that culture – induces conformity.

Attitude Change At the Individual

Cognitive Dissonance Theory • Occurs when a person holds two contradictory

beliefs at the same time.– “I am a good friend.”– “My boyfriend was my friend Jenny’s before I took him”

• Attempt to resolve the dissonance• More power to change attitude than past behavior,

so:– “Jenny wasn’t really a friend; she was more like an

acquaintance.”

Attitude ChangeCognitive Dissonance Theory

• Why act contrary to belief?– Every time we make a decision– Enticement• The greater the reward, the less cognitive dissonance• Think about:

– Childbirth “It’s not that bad”– High school “High school was awesome!”– Marriage “You two should get married!”