1. CHS AP Psychology Unit 12: Social Pyschology Essential Task 12-2: Discuss attitude formation and how attitudes change with specific attention to schema, primacy effect, cognitive dissonance and the central and peripheral routes to persuasion.

2. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger 1957) Occurs whenever a person has two contradictory cognitions or beliefs at the same time. They are dissonant, each one implies the opposite of the other. The less coerced and more responsible we feel for an action the more dissonance. The more dissonance the more likely we are to change our attitude It creates an unpleasant cognitive tension and the person tries to resolve in the following ways:

3. Resolution of Cognitive Dissoance 1. Sometimes changing your attitude is the easiest way to solve this. –Example: I am a loyal friend, but yesterday I gossiped about my friend Chris... Well I can’t change my action... but I don’t want to change my view of myself, so my attitude about Chris must be wrong. He is more of an acquaintance than a friend. 2. Increase the number of consonant elements – the number of thoughts that back one side. –It was awesome gossip 3.Reduce the importance of one or both of the sides –The person I gossiped with won’t really tell that many people.

4. Obedience and Conformity Sometimes we experience Cognitive Dissonance when we feel we have to obey something in which we do not necessarily believe. Milgram’s Obedience Study –What would it look like if done today? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnYUl6wlBF4 –Take notes on the video in whichever format you choose

5. After the Video Clip… Respond on the back of your notes: a)What conditions influenced participants to obey? b)What elements are present in your own life that encourage obedience? c)What are the implications of Milgram’s findings? As a student? A citizen? Other roles?