PSY1002 – Lecture 8 notes

Impression formation, Stereotypes and Attitudes

We form impressions of people through their tone of voice, look/style and gender as a quick way of
categorising people. We infer staple characteristics from one behaviour. One negative trait can
override others – we value certain traits more than others when making judgements.

Asch’s Paradigm – Asch’s (1946) explanation (Configural model) was that we form impressions using
some kind of gestalt or ‘whole picture’, with each piece of information influencing the others. He
presented them with 2 lists of traits which included either the word warm or cold (universal
characteristics). Those who saw the ‘warm’ list first usually formed a more positive impression. Lots
of evidence suggests that these first impressions are hard to change.
This approach is known as the configural model. The cold and warm traits have a strong effect on
the interpretation of the surrounding traits. These are termed CENTRAL traits because of their
influence. Other traits do not have the same power: polite/blunt. Traits which appear first have
more impact in final impression (primacy effect).

Anderson’s Alternative – Asch’s results could be explained differently. Judgements could be simply
combined in value (Anderson, 1974, 1981) in the algebraic model.

Values are ascribed to traits (from pilot work). Traits are

either simply added or averaged to form overall score
Implication for number of traits known.

Problems with Asch & Anderson - Data supporting one theory can be used to support the other, so
they’re not considered to be contrasting. Neither theories take into account the motives, goals and
needs of the perceiver. Social cognition as EITHER theory driven (Asch) or data driven (Anderson) is
limiting. Studies tend to be artificial – lacking ecological validity. Likelihood that both influences
occur (Augoustinos & Walker, 1995).

Continuum Model of Impression Formation: Fiske & Neuberg (1990).

Easily categorizable data. Assign a label from our schema.

If the label is followed up with consistent or mixed data, it will
very rarely change.
The only time it will change is if it’s a weak label which is then
followed by irrelevant/inconsistent data.
Piecemeal integration only occurs with un-categorisable data.
Unless, we make an invested effort to find out more info (e.g. a
relationship or friendship).

One issue with this model is that it makes a lot of assumptions. These include - Perceivers prioritise
category-based processes. Perceivers are active (only seek specific info). Piecemeal-based
impressions take much longer. Category-based impressions are more cognitively efficient. Once a
perceiver has begun to categorize, piecemeal impressions become less likely.
Memory and Impression Formation –

Social cognition approaches maintain that existing categories direct: the attention to new data, the
way the data is interpreted and the way the data is remembered. Is information better remembered
under impression formation instructions or memorise instructions? Was tested by Hamilton et al
(1980). Subjects were asked to either memorise a list of traits or form an impression of an individual
based on the same traits. They were later given a surprise recall test. Impression formation subjects
remembered significantly more items than memory task subjects. This may be because giving a
semantic meaning/purpose to information often helps us remember it better.

Impression Formation and Self-Fulfilling prophecy –

Darley & Gross (1983). There are two stages in expectancy-confirmation process. If unsure of valid
judgement based on category – we proceed with caution. When behaviour is observed - adapt (or
even generate) the evidence to fit their initial category-based judgement. It’s very unlikely we will
alter our initial opinion of someone. Subjects given info about Hannah manipulated Socio-economic
status (SES) some then shown a video.

Impression Formation Conclusions: Impression

formation is neither simply top-down or bottom
up. Contemporary work shows individuals are
more dynamic in their use of data. Impression
formation has influence on memory. Impression
formation has implications for the self-fulfilling
prophesy.

Stereotypes

A stereotype is descriptive by nature, however can also be used to evaluate someone. Allport (1954)
suggested that stereotypes are simplistic, rigid and prejudice. They’re automatic as people can’t
control their schema, but they’re learned NOT innate. May be inherently evaluative because they’re
used to attribute values to people, but can be positive (especially if link to ourselves). Devine(1989)
makes distinction between prejudice (under personal control) and stereotyping (spontaneous).
Categories are a group of 2 or more objects or entities which are classed together in some way.
Stereotypes are (semi) shared beliefs about the personality traits and behaviours of a specific group.

Functions of stereotypes:

They’re associative networks of stored social knowledge. Attributes and information are connected
according to the Associative Network Model (Srull & Wyer, 1989). When we encounter new
information, we need to encode it - the new information is related to existing knowledge. When this
occurs, the new stimulus is given additional meaning. The meaning depends upon the category
chosen – frequency (ability/easy to access category) and recency (priming – more recent stereotypes
are harder to budge). Stereotypes can save cognitive energy (Macrae et al 1994) - We cannot
process everything we encounter and so we do not always get the full picture. Stereotypes used
particularly when there is a depletion in: Processing motivation, and processing capacity (Fiske &
Neuberg 1990).

• Study into function of stereotypes – do we use them more when our cognitive store is
depleted? Bodenhausen (1990) Reduced cognitive capacity. He made an assumption linked
to our different circadian rhythms - am & pm. Participants were divided into ‘morning’ or
 ‘evening’ people and asked to evaluate the aggressiveness of target in story (target either US
or Hispanic name). Results: morning people stereotyped more in evening and evening
people stereotypes more in morning. This shows that reduced cognitive capacity led to
stereotyping.

Prejudice

A positive or negative feeling about a social group and thus towards its members. Prejudice doesn’t
necessarily need to be expressed as a behaviour, but when it is, it is called discrimination - unfair
treatment of a person or group in comparison to others who are not members of the same social
group. Prejudice often develops as follows:

It also develops as we’re exposed to socialization through

parents, peers, media. Relative status and competition –
competing for resources results in prejudice. Social
identity theory – (in group vs out group). Cognitive
processes such as decision making. Negative behaviour
(more memorable, influential); minority status
(distinctive).

Prejudice may be linked to social desirability. Sometimes

we engage in behaviour to hide our prejudice – tokenism
refers to the practice of giving a few members of a
disenfranchised group special treatment/benefits in order
to appear to be free of prejudice.

Attitudes

A learned predisposition to respond to an object or a class of objects in a consistently favourable or

unfavourable way. Attitudes are relatively enduring and are situation-related. Attitudes are
important because they strongly influence our social thought – help to organise and evaluate stimuli.
Also, they presumably have a strong effect on behaviour – help to predict peoples behaviour in a
wide range of contexts (e.g. voting).

There are 3 parts to the structure of attitude – Cognition (our belief), affective (our feeling/emotion)
and behaviour (conative – the way in which we act).
Attitude formation: One influence is social comparison - we compare ourselves to others to
determine if our view of reality is correct (attitudes are shaped by social information from others we
like or respect). Another is genetic factors - inherited general dispositions (e.g., see world in a
positive or negative light) - highly heritable
attitudes and gut-level preferences (music)
are especially influenced.

The Attitude – Behaviour link:

Attitudes do not always predict behavior.

LaPiere (1934) found that virtually all
businesses served Chinese couple
courteously, yet most owners held negative
attitudes.
Moderators of the attitude-behaviour link are aspects of the situation – situational constraints (e.g.
sparing one’s feelings may prevent us from expressing our true attitudes). Often we choose
situations where we can engage in behavours consistent with our attitudes. Another modertor is
aspects of attitudes – this includes the origins (how attitudes were formed), strength/intensity of an
attitude and specificty (general vs specific).

More on attitude formation & factors affecting –

 Social learning – acquire attitudes from others.

 Classical conditioning – learning based on association.
 Subliminal conditioning – without awareness.
 Instrumental conditioning – learning to hold the “right” views.
 Observational learning – learning by observing actions of others and exposure to
mass media.
How do attitudes influence behaviour?

• Theory of planned behavior Ajzen, (1991) (considered). Intentions are a function of attitudes
toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.

• Attitude-to behavior process model Fazio, (1983) (impulsive). Attitudes spontaneously shape
our behavior of situation.

• Prototype/willingness model Gibbons (2005) (risky). Behavior is a function of attitudes

toward behavior, subjective norms, behavior intentions, willingness to engage in specific
form of behavior, and
prototypes.
Attitude Functions: First is a knowledge function, suggesting that attitudes help to organise ad
evaluate information. Next is a self-expression function, attitudes help people to express central
values or beliefs. Finally, is a self-esteem function – attitudes help people build and maintain slef-
esteem.

Cognitive approach to attitude change:

The main aspect is persuasion - efforts to change attitudes through various kinds of messages. Early
persuasion research focused on: the communicator (source), what they said (message) and who was
listening (audience). Research suggests there are two routes through which information is processed
(The Elaboration-Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986)).

Important Nonverbal Cues – Credibility,

expertise, trustworthiness, attractiveness and
speaking style.
Important message characteristics – soft sell is
often better than over persuasion. If the
audience is sceptical, use a two-sided message.

Factors influencing information processing –

We tend to use systematic processing when: we are strongly motivated (accuracy, impression and
defensive motivation). Or, when we have a high ability to do so. We tend to use heuristic processing
when: we are unmotivated or we lack the ability to systematically process info.

Behavioural approach to attitude change –

Cognitive dissonance: unpleasant state resulting from inconsistency between attitudes and
behaviour. The need to reduce this unpleasant state may result in attitude or behaviour change.
Balance Theory (Heider, 1958). People like to maintain a balance between the cognitive and affective
components of their attitude and the conative component, their behaviour. When there is a balance,
we experience cognitive consistency. When there is an imbalance, we experience cognitive
inconsistency or cognitive dissonance. So, we change either our beliefs, feelings or our behaviour.

Ways to reduce cognitive dissonance - Direct methods include a change in attitude to be consistent
with behavior, acquiring supporting information, or to trivialize the behaviors in question. Indirect
methods include to restore positive self-evaluations or distractions.

Affective approach to attitude change –

Inducing fear - works best when you also offer advice or coping strategy (how to avoid danger). For
example, smoking, using condoms and drink driving. Inducing good feelings such as to enhance
positive thinking - unhappy people think more before making decisions. Associate message with
good feelings. Mukherjee & Dubé (2012): humour can reduce defensive responses and increase the
persuasiveness of fear inducing messages. No humour + increasing fear = lower persuasion. Humour
+ increasing fear = higher persuasion.