PSYC 215 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Terror Management Theory, Logical Reasoning, Fetus

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 215
• Professor: John Lydon

Document Summary

Utilitarian function: an attitudinal function that serves to alert people to rewarding objects and situations they should approach and costly or punishing objects they should avoid (ferguson & zayas) Attitudes make us evaluatively ready to achieve the goals that matter to us; when attitudes toward goal-relevant objects are positive, you are more likely to engage in goal-relevant behavior. Our food preferences are adaptive; we, especially pregnant women in their first trimester, avoid bitter tastes because in nature bitter indicates toxic and toxins can harm the vulnerable fetus. Advertisers use pleasing or arousing stimuli to provoke a positive reaction to the product in the consumer through association and sell their product. John jost has argues that political conservatism is a form of ego-defense cognition that helps people ward off certain anxieties through a resistance to change and willingness to accept inequality in an attempt to manage fear and uncertainty.