What is an attitude?

/in /by

Application: The Psychology of Attitudes

 

Most attempts to influence or persuade you focus on changing your attitudes toward an object, issue, or group of people. Why is this the case, and how do you know when an attempt to change your attitudes has succeeded or failed? The Learning Resources provide information from leading researchers in the study of attitudes. The material will help to define what an attitude is, why you develop and hold attitudes in the first place, the degree to which your attitudes are conscious or unconscious, and how researchers can measure attitudes in order to determine when an influence strategy changes the way you think and feel about something.

 

To prepare for this assignment:

 

Review Chapter 2 in the course text, Persuasion: Psychological Insights and Perspectives, the article titled “Sources of Implicit Attitudes,” and the course document, “Brief Historical Development of Influence and Persuasion,” focusing on the information on attitudes. Think about the following questions as you conduct your review.

 

What is an attitude? What is an attitude object? What is a strong attitude and what determines its strength? What types of information underlie most attitudes? What three functions are served by the attitudes you hold?

 

According to the article “Sources of Implicit Attitudes,” what are implicit attitudes, and how do they differ from explicit attitudes? How are implicit and explicit attitudes formed?

 

Why measure attitudes? How do we measure attitudes? Carefully consider the pros and cons to using the following methods of attitude measurement:

 

Single-item direct measures

 

Multiple-item direct measures

 

Indirect measures based on behavior

 

Indirect measures based on judgmental biases

 

Physiological measures of attitudes

 

The assignment (1–3 pages):

 

Answer the question: What is an attitude? After you define the concept, provide an example of an attitude toward a health topic, and describe the affective and cognitive components of that attitude.

 

Describe a single-item direct measure of the attitude toward the health topic in the example above.

 

Describe two limitations or potential problems with single-item direct measures of attitudes, and describe how each can be solved. Be sure you define the problem clearly before describing your solution

 

Describe a multiple item direct measure of the same health topic described above. Provide sufficient detail so the instructor can determine if the measure avoids the problems you described.

APA cited with references

How can Clinton be leading this country?

/in /by

Final Exam: Fallacies, Assumptions, and Arguments

Part I: Fallacies

The following arguments contain various kinds of fallacies. Evaluate each and identify the fallacy using the matching list on page 2.

1. We can recognize that athletes who participate in sports must be given special consideration in our grading system, or we can let the university sink into athletic oblivion.

2. I don’t know what colleges are teaching these days! I just received a letter of application from a young man who graduated from the state university last June. It was a wretched letter—badly written, with elementary errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. The state university does not deserve the tax support it is getting.

3. All right-thinking people will support the Board of Education’s decision to destroy novels in the school libraries that are offensive to the community’s moral standards. If there were an epidemic of typhoid, the health authorities would do everything in their power to wipe it out. Pornography is worse than typhoid, because it corrupts the minds and morals of the young, not just their bodies. The school board is to be applauded for their prompt action in wiping out this moral disease.

4. Despite endless efforts, no one has been able to prove that Santa Clause exists; we may as well stop trying and accept the truth: there is no Santa Clause.

5. Alicia started gaining more weight than ever when she started taking Slimdown; the stuff must be fattening!

6. No sensible person would support the Equal Rights Amendment. If it were to pass, we would have women in combat and unisex bathrooms. Eventually, we would not be able to tell women from men!

7. How can Clinton be leading this country? He’s a draft-dodging, pot-smoking womanizer!

8. Michael Jordan wore that brand, so those must be the best basketball shoes.

9. The difference in the outcome was Jefferson’s missed field goal. If he put it through, we’d be going to the Super Bowl.

10. Don’t ignore the woman who gave you birth, raised you, loved you then, and loves you still. Remember your mom on Mother’s Day.

11. So what if I didn’t claim all of the money I earned on my taxes? Lots of people underreport their income.

12. That’s got to be a great line of clothes. Have you seen the prices and the people endorsing it?

Matching List

Each argument commits only one fallacy, and each fallacy is only used once.

a. False Analogy
b. Appeal to Authority
c. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
d. Attacking the Person
e. Two Wrongs
f. Non Sequitur
g. Equivocation
h. False Dilemma
i. Black and White (Slippery Slope)
j. Hasty Generalization
k. Contrary-to-Fact Hypothesis
l. Ad Ignorantium
m. Appeal to Emotion

Part II: Assumptions and Arguments
1. How do assumptions relate to the critical thinking process?

2. What are the essential components of a logical argument?

3. What is the meaning of validity, truth, and soundness as they relate to logical syllogisms?

4. What are the two formal fallacies?

Describe four abuses of power, and for each abuse, describe a solution to the problem created by that abuse.

/in /by

1. This question has multiple parts. Our text provides five techniques that help reduce the tendency towards groupthink in the decision-making processes. (I) Describe each technique, and (II) explain which forces of groupthink each technique is used to control or reduce, and why it works that way.

 

2. (I) Describe the following leadership qualities: ability, enthusiasm, stability, and concern for others. (II) Use examples from our book to provide the details of how each quality enhances leadership effectiveness. (III) Explain what results from lack of this quality in a leader.

 

3. Describe four abuses of power, and for each abuse, describe a solution to the problem created by that abuse.

 

4.  (I). Describe four factors that can sidetrack women in the workplace. (II) Explain three ways that women can overcome gender stereotypes. Provide one example from your experience that demonstrates one of those three ways.

Impression Management

/in /by

Assignment 2: Impression Management

Impression management is something that we all employ from time to time to achieve certain goals in our life. Sometimes we want to appear likable, other times we want to appear competent, and yet other times we desire to gain control or power over a situation, all of which can yield positive outcomes. Yet at other times we self-handicap in order to appear like we have not been incompetent or failed, which we often perceive as a positive outcome because we have protected the way others see us (or at least we feel we have).

    • In what situation are you most likely to use impression management? What situation are you most likely not going to work to use impression management? What is the typical difference between these two situations?

 

    • Provide an example of when you used impression management successfully. What was the outcome and why?

 

    • Now provide an example in which you attempted to use impression management and it failed. Why did it fail, and what was that outcome?

 

  • In this last situation would the outcome have felt better if you had used a self-handicapping strategy? What type of self-handicapping strategy could you have used? Finally, what are the dangers of turning to this kind of strategy on a regular basis?

Submit your response to the M2: Assignment 2 Dropbox by Wednesday, April 30, 2014. Your combined response should be at least two pages (500 words) long.