Monday, September 11 Today’s topic: Attitude and Attitude Development Give a recent example of how you’ve fallen victim to the fundamental attribution error. Have you ever attributed someone’s behavior incorrectly when you were in a bad mood? Define attitude: What is your attitude towards ______? Give an example of how our behaviors are consistent with our attitudes. Can you name a situation when attitudes follow behavior? Today’s topic: Attitude and Attitude Development Upcoming Dates: Homework: Read pages 654-661 Terms Study Assessments: Test: Tuesday, September 19

Attitudes Feelings based on our beliefs that influence our reactions and responses to people, objects, and events. Ex: If we believe someone is mean, we may feel dislike for the person, and act unfriendly. Behaviors Attitudes

Attitudes Affecting Behaviors We typically think in terms of attitudes affecting actions (common sense view). Positive or negative attitudes affect our behaviors in positive or negative ways… Sports teams - bonding and teamwork Cooperative actions Mutual liking and positive attitudes

Attitudes Affecting Behaviors Central Route Persuasion What is it? Give an example. Think of a commercial that uses it (find it on youtube if you can think of one). Peripheral Route Persuasion What is it? Give an example. Think of a commercial that uses it (find it on youtube if you can think of one).

Attitudes Affecting Behaviors Central route persuasion The central route to persuasion involves being persuaded by the arguments or the content of the message.  For example, after hearing a political debate you may decide to vote for a candidate because you found the candidates views and arguments very convincing.  Peripheral route persuasion The peripheral route to persuasion involves being persuaded in a manner that is not based on the arguments or the message content.  For example, after hearing a political debate you may decide to vote for a candidate because you like the sound of the person's voice, or the person went to the same university as you did.

Jessica is looking for car insurance Jessica is looking for car insurance. While watching her favorite show, she sees a commercial for Geico. The commercial involves former NFL football player Tiki Barber working in a barber shop. After seeing the commercial and laughing, she calls Geico to check if she can save money on her car insurance. Central route or peripheral route? Jessica is on her school's volleyball and basketball teams. While watching one of her favorite shows, she sees a commercial for a pair of shoes that claim to provide extra heel support and increase the height of her jump. The commercial also provides laboratory findings from three independent studies that support the commercial's claims about the shoes. Jessica decides that having the shoes will improve her performance, so she goes to the mall to purchase her very own pair. Ford commercial

Behaviors Affecting Attitudes Foot in the Door Door in the Face Define and explain it. Give an example. Give an example of how you could use it with your parents, teachers, friends, boss, etc.

Behaviors Affecting Attitudes – Compliance Foot-in-door phenomenon Tendency to agree to a small request at first, then to a larger request later Start small and build Doing becomes believing Examples: Communist brainwashing during Korean War Consent to “safe driver” small sign then to large, ugly sign later Signing a petition and later agreeing Desegregation and diminished racial prejudice Jump-rope for heart duck

Behaviors Affecting Attitudes - Compliance Door-in-the-face phenomenon Technique in which a large request is made knowing it will probably be refused so that the person will agree to a much smaller request The real objective is to get the person to agree to the small request, which is made to seem very reasonable because it is compared to such a large, seemingly unreasonable request.  Examples: Will you donate $100 to our cause? [response is no].  Oh. Well could you donate $10? Someone might ask you to give to give 5 hours of your time a week to volunteer to a charity. But iinstead of committing to all this volunteering time, to just donate a small amount of money. 

Foot-in-the-Door vs. Door-in-the-Face Give an example on how you could you the foot-in-the-door phenomenon with your parents, teachers, friends, boss, etc. Look up the door-in-the-face phenomenon on your phones. What is it and give an example.

Foot-in-the-Door and Door-in-the-Face Give an example of how you could use these compliance techniques with your parents, teachers, friends, boss, etc. Foot-in-the-Door Door-in-the-Face

Tuesday, September 12 Give an example of how you could use compliance techniques with your parents, teachers, friends, boss, etc. What does it mean to be obedient? Give an example of a time that you’ve been obedient. Why do you conform? Today’s topic: Obedience and Conformity Upcoming Dates: Homework: Read pages 661-670 Terms Vocabulary Poster Assessments: Test: 9/19

Behaviors Affecting Attitudes Cognitive dissonance When behaviors and attitudes do not match, we change our attitudes to reflect our behaviors The more dissonance (tension/conflict) we feel, the more motivated we are to change attitudes to justify the behavior. Change in reason behind Iraq War (WMD  liberation) A smoker who believes that smoking is unhealthy  rationalize their behavior by saying, “Well I exercise so much so the effects are counteracted.”

Behaviors Affecting Attitudes Role-playing Tendency to strive to be the role that is assumed Make a list of some roles that you have in your daily life. Behaviors can feel phony at first, but then real. Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (6 days!), 1971 Movie: Stanford Prison Experiment Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, 2004

Research Methods Review: The Stanford Prison Experiment What do you think was the hypothesis for the experiment? What was the independent variable? What was the dependent variable? What was a potential confounding variable? Ethical? Why or why not??

Social Influence Conformity Obedience

Conformity Adjusting behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard Behavior is contagious. Chameleon effect – mimicking others’ behaviors Mood linkage – mimicking others’ emotions Copycat school violence, suicide clusters, etc

Why do you conform?

Conformity Solomon Asch (1955) asked participants to judge line lengths, when most would answer wrong, the participant would go along with it more than 1/3 of the time

Why Conform? Normative social influence – influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval Sensitive to social norms because the price for being different can be severe

Why Conform? Informational social influence – influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality. Especially strong when the person is unsure about the correct behavior, they will look to others on how to behave Ex: fake audience members to influence real audience members

When to Conform Feelings of incompetent or insecure 3+ people Unanimous Group’s status or attractiveness is admirable No prior commitment to any response Others in the group observe one’s behavior One’s culture strongly encourages respect for social standards WYFFT?

HOMEWORK You will each pick a different term and create a vocabulary poster for the term assigned. Need the following in your poster: One the Front of your sheet: Large font word/term Picture representing the term Definition of the term On the back of the sheet: Explanation of how the picture relates to the term (on the back). Individuals in groups: social facilitation 6. social loafing 7. Deindividuation 8. Groups as a whole 4. group polarization 9. 5. Groupthink 10.

Sample of a vocabulary poster:

Obedience Complying to social pressures and authority Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, 2004 Milgram’s Obedience Experiments (1963,1974) Paired teachers and learners and when the learner got it wrong, they got a “shock.” Shocks were stronger as the questions continued - 63% (of 40) completed it.

Obedience Why continue to shock? Authority figures Prestigious institutions Depersonalization and distance of victims No role models for defiance Milgram’s original Experiment ABC News remake of the Milgram Experiment

Obedience “The most fundamental lesson of our study is that ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process…” Milgram Foot-in-door-phenomenon “I was only following orders.” Adolf Eichmann, Director of Nazi deportation of Jews to concentration camps People also have free will. When considering to conform/not conform or to obey/disobey, consider the context and the consequences.

Heroic Imagination Project Most people want to do the right thing, but often don’t know how, what or when to act in a situation. Phillip Zimbardo, along with other researchers, has recently tried to teach “hero work shops” to children and students to do the right things. What are some ways to teach children how to be “everyday heroes?”