Attitudes and Cognitive Dissonance
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the psychology of attitudes, exploring their impact on behavior. It explains both explicit and implicit attitudes and how they can sometimes conflict with actions, leading to cognitive dissonance. The concept is illustrated through examples, including a cult's reaction to a failed prophecy, showing how deeply invested individuals justify their beliefs rather than change them. The script challenges viewers to consider when to stand by their attitudes and when to reassess them for personal growth.
Takeaways
- 🚬 Smoking serves as an example of a complex issue where attitudes may not align with behavior.
- 🧠 An attitude in psychology is a learned, stable, and lasting evaluation that can influence behavior.
- 🤔 Both explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) attitudes affect our behavior.
- 🤷♂️ Attitudes aren't inherently bad; they help us make decisions and process information more efficiently.
- 🏋️♀️ Positive attitudes like valuing exercise can guide behavior towards healthier living.
- 🤝 Attitude specificity refers to how easily an attitude can be expressed in a supportive environment.
- 🍩 Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort felt when attitudes and behavior are inconsistent.
- 🤖 Humans uniquely experience cognitive dissonance, unlike robots that follow programming.
- 📚 Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance was observed in a cult expecting a flood that never came.
- 🔄 People may change their attitudes or justify their behavior to resolve cognitive dissonance.
- 💡 The level of investment in a belief can determine whether someone changes their attitude or justifies their actions.
Q & A
What is an attitude in psychological terms?
-An attitude in psychology is a learned, stable, and lasting evaluation of a person, object, event, or idea that can affect someone's behavior.
What are the two types of attitudes mentioned in the script?
-The two types of attitudes mentioned are explicit attitudes, which we are aware of, and implicit attitudes, which we may not be aware of.
How do attitudes affect our behavior?
-Attitudes can affect our behavior by influencing the decisions we make, the way we process information, and how we stand up for our values and beliefs.
Why are attitudes not inherently bad according to the script?
-Attitudes are not inherently bad because they help us make decisions, process information, and stand up for our values and beliefs more efficiently.
What is attitude specificity and how does it relate to behavior?
-Attitude specificity refers to the likelihood of an attitude being expressed in behavior when the facts and situation align with that attitude.
Can you provide an example of attitude specificity from the script?
-An example of attitude specificity is supporting a certain team and expressing that attitude easily among friends who also support the team.
What is cognitive dissonance and how does it relate to attitudes and behavior?
-Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort felt when there's a discrepancy between a person's attitude and their behavior. It's the psychological tension that arises from holding conflicting attitudes or beliefs.
How does cognitive dissonance manifest when a person's attitude and behavior contradict each other?
-Cognitive dissonance can lead to people either changing their attitudes to align with their behavior or justifying their behavior to maintain their existing attitudes.
What did Festinger's study on a cult reveal about cognitive dissonance?
-Festinger's study revealed that the more invested someone is in a belief, the less likely they are to change their attitude due to cognitive dissonance. Instead, they may justify their behavior or reinterpret evidence.
How does the script suggest dealing with cognitive dissonance?
-The script suggests that dealing with cognitive dissonance requires勇气 to hold to your beliefs when appropriate and to change them for the better when they are wrong.
What is the significance of cognitive dissonance in understanding human behavior according to the script?
-Cognitive dissonance is significant in understanding human behavior because it highlights the complexity and contradictions in how attitudes and actions can diverge, and how people cope with this divergence.
Outlines
🚬 Attitudes and Behavior: The Complex Relationship
This paragraph discusses the complexity of attitudes towards smoking and how they do not always align with behavior. It introduces the psychological concept of attitudes as learned, stable evaluations that influence behavior. Explicit and implicit attitudes are mentioned, with the former being consciously recognized and the latter operating outside of awareness. The paragraph highlights that attitudes are not inherently negative and serve practical functions such as decision-making and value assertion. It also touches on the idea that attitudes do not always translate into actions, especially when the situation does not support the expression of the attitude, leading to a concept known as attitude specificity. The narrative uses the example of supporting a sports team versus the challenge of maintaining a healthy diet to illustrate this point.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Attitude
💡Explicit Attitudes
💡Implicit Attitudes
💡Cognitive Dissonance
💡Attitude Specificity
💡Behavior
💡Justification
💡Investment
💡Festinger
💡Honesty
💡Cult
Highlights
Smoking attitudes can be complex, with some smokers having negative views towards smoking.
An attitude in psychology is defined as a learned, stable, and lasting evaluation that can influence behavior.
There are explicit attitudes we are aware of and implicit attitudes we may not be aware of.
Attitudes help us make decisions, process information, and stand up for our values and beliefs.
The attitude that exercise is important can influence behavior towards healthier living.
Attitudes do not always convert into behavior, especially if the situation does not align with the attitude.
Attitude specificity refers to how easily an attitude can be expressed in behavior.
Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort felt when there's a discrepancy between a person's attitude and their behavior.
Cognitive dissonance can lead people to justify their behavior to align with their attitudes.
Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance was observed in a cult that believed in an impending flood.
Cult members who were more committed were less likely to change their attitudes after the flood did not occur.
Investment in an attitude can lead to justification of behavior rather than a change in attitude.
Cognitive dissonance can cause people to change their attitude, behavior, or justify the contradiction.
Cognitive dissonance occurs because no one is totally consistent with their attitudes and behavior.
The decision to hold to beliefs or change attitudes for the better requires courage.
Transcripts
smoking is an issue that most people
have strong beliefs towards either for
or against it may be logical to assume
that most people who smoke must have a
more positive attitude towards smoking
but if you think about it it's more
complex than that isn't it i mean it's
possible for someone to have a negative
attitude towards smoking
but still be a smoker themselves in this
lesson we're going to explore what
attitudes are in psychology
and why they sometimes totally don't
match a person's behavior
first some definitions an attitude in
psychology is a learned
stable and lasting evaluation of a
person object
event or idea that can affect someone's
behavior of course there are attitudes
that we are aware of which we call
explicit attitudes but also attitudes
that we may not be aware of called
implicit attitudes either way both have
an effect on our behavior
now it's worth saying that attitudes
aren't inherently bad i mean without
them
it would take much more time and effort
to make decisions
process information or stand up for our
values and beliefs
for example the attitude that exercise
is important
is more likely to influence your
behavior towards healthier living
but does an attitude always convert into
a behavior
well if the facts and the situation
aligned with your attitude then
yes it'll be far more likely to be
expressed in your behavior but does an
attitude always convert into a behavior
well if the facts and the situation
align with your attitude
then yes it'll be far more likely to be
expressed in your behavior
we call this attitude specificity for
example if you support a certain team
and you're amongst friends who do as
well it's easy to express that attitude
in your behavior i mean no one's gonna
make fun of you for that
on the flip side though your attitude
about exercise being good
may be harder to express if you've tried
healthy eating for three days
and it didn't seem to pay off not
speaking from experience at all of
course
but yeah you know all of a sudden those
donuts are looking real good
and before you know it they're in my
belly i mean you know the hypothetical
person's billy
psychologists are really interested in
moments like these because
acting in a way that contradicts your
beliefs is something that's quite
uniquely human to do
a robot would not be able to go against
its programming
unless i guess it was programmed to do
so but you get what i mean
we humans are complicated this
contradiction is known in psychology as
cognitive dissonance that discomfort
felt
when there's a discrepancy between a
person's attitude and their behavior
it's that feeling when you're telling a
lie and you know that you should be
honest
the dissonance is uncomfortable and
people go to considerable efforts to try
and justify what they did
you might say that well you know it's
it's better that you lied
instead of hurting your friend and so
you know you're still being a good
honest person and
not really going against your beliefs in
his 1964 book
when prophecy fails festinger the guy
who came up with the theory of cognitive
dissonance
observed members of a cult who amongst
other things believed that the world was
soon gonna be destroyed by a flood
of course the biblical account said that
noah's flood will never happen again
but that clearly wasn't relevant here
when the flood well didn't
occur the researchers observed how the
members responded
they noticed that members who weren't as
committed were more likely to recognize
that they had been foolish
and tricked by the cult but some who had
fully committed to it like
leaving their jobs and selling the
houses were far more likely to
reinterpret the evidence
and say that it was because of their
faithfulness that the flood was
prevented
in the first case cognitive dissonance
caused people to change their attitudes
in the second case cognitive dissonance
caused people to
justify their behavior their attitude
didn't change
one bit while there are criticisms of
this study including neglecting many
other possible contributing factors
festenge and the researchers concluded
that the more invested someone is
the less likely cognitive dissonance
will cause them to rethink their
underlying attitude
they'll simply come up with ways to
justify or perhaps change their behavior
this flowchart summarizes the process if
a person acts in a way that's consistent
with their beliefs
there's no internal tension and
therefore no discomfort
but if there's cognitive dissonance a
person might ease the tension
by changing their attitude changing
their behavior
or finding a way to justify the
contradiction between the attitude and
behavior
especially if they're really invested in
it cognitive dissonance happens to all
of us
because no one is totally consistent
with attitudes and behavior
the question is when is it the time to
hold to your beliefs and not be swayed
by the results
and when is the time to realize that
maybe it's your attitudes that were
wrong in the first place
and change them for the better doing so
will require courage but
you're the only one who can do it
you
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