attitude
an evaluation of an object in a positive or negative fashion that includes the three elements of affect, cognition, and behavior
Likert skale
a numerical scale used to assess people's attitudes; it includes a set of possible answers with labeled anchors on each extreme (1=never, 7=always)
response latency
the time it takes an individual to respond to a stimulus, such as an attitude question
implicit attitude measures
indirect measures of attitudes that do not involve self-report
balance theory
a theory holding that people try to maintain balance among their beliefs, cognitions, and sentiments
cognitive dissonance theory
a theory that maintains that inconsistencies among a person's thoughts, sentiments, and actions create an aversive emotional state (dissonance) that leads to efforts to restore consistency
effort justification
people's tendency to reduce dissonance by justifying the time, effort, or money they have devoted to something that has turned out to be unpleasant or disappointing
induced (forced) compliance
subtly compelling individuals to behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their beliefs, attitudes, or values, in order to elicit dissonance-and therefore a change in their original attitudes or values
self-affirmation
bolstering our identity and self-esteem by taking note of important elements of our identity, such as our important values
self-perception theory
a theory that people come to know their own attitudes by looking at their behavior and the context in which it occurred and inferring what their attitudes must be
system justification theory
the theory that people are motivated to see the existing political and social status quo as desirable, fair, and legitimate
terror management theory (TMT)
the theory that people deal with the potentially paralyzing anxiety that comes with the knowledge of the inevitability of death by striving for symbolic immortality through the preservation of a valued worldview and the conviction that they have lived up to its value and prescriptions