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Chapter No. 6 Attitude and Social Cognition What is Impression Formation? Making inferences about people’s personal qualities is called as impression formation. What is Attribution? Assigning causes to the behaviour shown in specific social situations. This process is called attribution. Very often, impression formation and attributions are influenced by attitudes. Social Cognition – Processes are examples of mental activities related to the gathering and interpretation of information about the social world, collectively called social cognition_._ Social influence that are in the form of observable behaviour. Social Facilitation - The improvement in performance in the presence of others. Social Inhibition – The Decline in performance in the presence of others. Pro Social Behavior – Helping, or pro-social behaviour, i.e. responding to others who are in need or distress. Definition of Attitude:
- Attitude is a state of the mind, a set of views or thoughts, regarding some topic (called the ‘attitude object’), which have an evaluative feature (positive, negative or neutral quality). COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE The thought component is referred to as the cognitive aspect. The emotional component is known as the affective aspect The tendency to act is called the behavioural (or conative) aspect. A-B-C components (Affective-Behavioural-Cognitive components) of attitude. Beliefs refer to the cognitive component of attitudes and form the ground on which attitudes stand, such as belief in God, or belief in democracy as a political ideology. Values are attitudes or beliefs that contain a ‘should’ or ‘ought’ aspect, such as moral or ethical values. One example of a value is hard work or honesty. Values are formed when a particular belief or attitude becomes an inseparable part of the person’s outlook on life. What is the purpose served by an attitude? We find that attitudes provide a background that makes it easier for a person to decide how to act in new situations. For example, our attitude towards foreigners may indirectly provide a mental ‘layout’ or ‘blueprint’ for the way in which we should behave whenever we meet one.
FEATURES OF ATTITUDE :
(i) Valence (positivity or negativity) - The valence of an attitude tells us whether an attitude is positive or negative towards the attitude object. A neutral attitude would have neither positive nor negative valence. (ii) Extremeness - The extremeness of an attitude indicates how positive or negative an a t t i t u d e i s. A neutral attitude, of course, is lowest on extremeness. (iii) Simplicity or Complexity (multiplexity) - refers to how many attitudes there are within a broader attitude. An attitude system is said to be ‘simple’ if it contains only one or a few attitudes and ‘complex’ if it is made up of many attitudes. The multiple member-attitudes within an attitude system should not be confused with the three components described earlier. Each member attitude that belongs to an attitude system also has A-B-C components. (iv) Centrality: - This refers to the role of a particular attitude in the attitude system. An attitude with greater centrality would influence the other attitudes in the system much more than non-central (or peripheral) attitudes would. ATTITUDE FORMATION S.NO PROCESS OF ATTITUDE FORMATION FACTORS OF ATTITUDE FORMATION Learning by Association Family and School Environment Learning by reward /punishment Reference Groups Learning by modelling Personal experiences Learning through cultural or group norms Media related influences Learning through exposure to information
actively as a community leader. Through a purely personal experience this individual evolved a strong positive attitude towards community upliftment. His efforts completely changed the face of his village. Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms: Very often, we learn attitudes through the norms of our group or culture. Norms are unwritten rules about behaviour that everyone is supposed to show under specific circumstances. Over time, these norms may become part of our social cognition, in the form of attitudes. Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms may actually be an example of all three forms of learning described above — learning through association, reward or punishment, and modelling. For example, offering money, sweets, fruit and flowers in a place of worship is a normative behaviour in some religions. When individuals see that such behaviour is shown by others, is expected and socially approved, they may ultimately develop a positive attitude towards such behaviour and the associated feelings of devotion. Media-related Influences: Technological advances in recent times have made audio-visual media and the Internet very powerful sources of information that lead to attitude formation and change. In addition, school level textbooks also influence attitude formation. These sources first strengthen the cognitive and affective components of attitudes, and subsequently may also affect the behavioural component. The media can exert both good and bad influences on attitudes. On one hand, the media and Internet make people better informed than other modes of communication. Learning through exposure to information : Many attitudes are learned in a social context, but not necessarily in the physical presence of others. Today, with the huge amount of information that is being provided through various media, both positive and negative attitudes are being formed. By reading the biographies of self- actualised persons, an individual may develop a positive attitude towards hard work and other aspects as the means of achieving success in life.
Attitude Change Some attitudes change more than others do. Attitudes that are still in the formative stage, and are more like opinions, are much more likely to change compared to attitudes that have become firmly established, and have become a part of the individual’s values. From a practical point of view, bringing about a change in people’s a t t i t u d e s i s o f interest to community leaders, politicians, producers of consumer goods, advertisers, and others. Unless we find out how attitudes change, and what conditions account for such change, it would not be possible to take steps to bring about attitude change. PROCESS OF ATTITUDE CHANGE Three major concepts that draw attention to some important processes in attitude change are described below: THE CONCEPT OF BALANCE, proposed by Fritz Heider is sometimes described in the form of the ‘P-O-X’ t r i a n g l e , which represents the relationships between three aspects or components of the attitude. P is the person whose attitude is being studied, O is another person X is the topic towards which the attitude is being studied (attitude object). It is also possible that all three are persons. The basic idea is that an attitude changes if there is a state of imbalance between the P-O attitude, O-X attitude, and P-X attitude. This is because imbalance is logically uncomfortable. Therefore, the attitude changes in the direction of balance.
S.NO PROCESS OF ATTITUDE CHANGE FACTORS OF ATTITUDE CHANGE
- Concept of Balance Characteristics of existing attitude
- Concept of Cognitive Dissonance Direction and extent of attitude change
- Two Step Concept Source characteristics
- Message characteristics
- Target Characteristics IMBALANCE STATE BALANCE STATE (i) all three sides of the P-O-X triangle are negative. (ii) two sides are positive, and one side is negative. (i) all three sides are positive. (ii) two sides are negative, and one side is positive.
If this does not happen, then the person experiences a kind of mental discomfort, i.e. the sense that ‘something is not quite right’ in the attitude system. In such a state, some aspect in the attitude system changes in the direction of consistency, because our cognitive system requires logical consistency. 2.TWO-STEP CONCEPT was proposed by S.M. Mohsin, an Indian psychologist. According to him, attitude change takes place in the form of two steps. In the first step, the target of change identifies with the source. The ‘target’ is the person whose attitude is to be changed. The ‘source’ is the person through whose influence the change is to take place. Identification means that the target has liking and regard for the source. S/he puts herself/himself in the place of the target, and tries to feel like her/him. The source must also have a positive attitude towards the target, and the regard and attraction becomes mutual. In the second step, the source herself/himself shows an attitude change, by actually changing her/him behaviour towards the attitude object. Observing the source’s changed attitude and behaviour, the target also shows an attitude change through behaviour. This is a kind of imitation or observational learning. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ATTITUDE CHANGE Whether attitudes will change, and if so, to what extent, is a question that puzzles many psychologists. However, most of them agree upon the following major factors that influence attitude change: I. Characteristics of the existing attitude: All four properties of attitudes mentioned earlier, namely, valence (positivity or negativity), extremeness, simplicity or complexity (multiplexity), and centrality or significance of the attitude, determine attitude change. In general, positive attitudes are easier to change than negative attitudes are. Extreme attitudes central attitudes are more difficult to change than the less extreme, and peripheral (less significant) attitudes are. Simple attitudes are easier to ch an ge t h an mu lt ip le attitudes are. ii. Direction and extent of attitude change. An attitude change may be congruent — it may change in the same direction as the existing attitude (for example, a positive attitude may become more positive, or a negative attitude may become more negative). On the other hand, a n a t t i t u d e c h a n g e m a y b e incongruent — it may change in a direction opposite to the existing attitude (for example, a positive attitude becomes less positive, or negative, or a negative attitude becomes less negative, or positive).
iii. So urce characteristics: Source credibility and attractiveness are two features that affect attitude change. Attitudes are more likely to change when the message comes from a highly credible source rather than from a low-credible source. iv. Message characteristics: ( A m o u n t , A p p e a l , M o t i v e s , M o d e ) The message is the information that is presented in order to bring about an attitude change. Attitudes will change when the amount of information that is given about the topic is just enough, neither too much nor too little. Whether the message contains a rational or an emotional appeal , also makes a difference. An advertisement for cooking food in a pressure cooker may point out that this saves fuel such as cooking gas (LPG) and is economical (rational appeal). Alternatively, the advertisement may say that pressure-cooking preserves nutrition, and that if one cares for the family, nutrition would be a major concern (emotional appeal) The motives activated by the message also deter mine attitude change. Mode of s p r e a d i n g the message plays a significant role. Face-to-face transmission of the message is usually more effective than indirect transmission. V. Target Characteristics: Qualities of the target, such as persuasibility, strong prejudices, self-esteem, and intelligence influence the likelihood and extent of attitude change. People, who have a more open and flexible personality, change more easily. Advertisers benefit most from such people. People with strong prejudices are less prone to any attitude change than those who do not hold strong prejudices. Persons who have a low self-esteem, and do not have sufficient confidence in themselves, change their attitudes more easily than those who are high on self-esteem. More intelligent people may change their attitudes less easily than those with lower intelligence. However, sometimes more intelligent persons change their attitudes more willingly than less intelligent ones, because they base their attitude on more information and thinking.
SOURCES OF PREJUDICE
- Learning
- A strong social identity and in-group bias
- Scapegoating
- Kernel of truth concept
- Self-fulfilling prophecy 1. LEARNING : Like other attitudes, prejudices can also be learned through association, reward and punishment, observing others, group or cultural norms and exposure to information that encourages prejudice. The family, reference groups, personal experiences and the media may play a role in the learning of prejudices. People who learn prejudiced attitudes may develop a ‘prejudiced personality’, and show low adjusting capacity, anxiety, and feelings of hostility against the outgroup. 2. A STRONG SOCIAL IDENTITY AND IN-GROUP BIAS: Individuals who have a strong sense of social identity and have a very positive attitude towards their own group boost this attitude by holding negative attitudes towards other groups. These are shown as prejudices. 3. SCAPEGOATING: This is a phenomenon by which the majority group places the blame on a minority outgroup for its own social, economic or political problems. The minority is too weak or too small in number to defend itself against such accusations. Scapegoating is a group- based way of expressing frustration, and it often results in negative attitudes or prejudice against the weaker group. 4. KERNEL OF TRUTH CONCEPT: Sometimes people may continue to hold stereotypes because they think that, after all, there must be some truth, or ‘kernel of truth’ in what everyone says about the other group. Even a few examples ar e sufficient to support the ‘kernel of truth’ idea.
- SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY: In some cases, the group that is the target of prejudice is itself responsible for continuing the prejudice. The target group may behave in ways that justify the prejudice, that is, confirm the negative expectations. For example, if the target group is described as ‘dependent’ and therefore unable to make progress, the members of this target group may actually behave in a way that proves this description to be true. In this way, they strengthen the existing prejudice.
STARTEGIES FOR HANDLING PREJUDICE
Knowing about the causes or sources would be the first step in handling prejudice. Thus, the strategies for handling prejudice would be effective if they aim at: (a) minimising opportunities for learning prejudices, (b) changing such attitudes, (c) de-emphasising a narrow social identity based on the ingroup, and (d) discouraging the tendency towards self- fulfilling prophecy among the victims of prejudice. These goals can be accomplished through: • Education and information dissemination , for correcting stereotypes related to specific target groups, tac kling the problem of a strong ingroup bias.
- Increasing intergroup contact allows for direct communication, removal of mistrust between the groups, and even discovery of positive qualities in the outgroup. However, these strategies are successful only if:
- the two groups meet in a cooperative rather than competitive context,
- close interactions between the groups helps them to know each other better, and
- the two groups are not different in power or status.
- Highlighting individual identity rather than group identity , thus weakening the importance of group (both in-group and outgroup) as a basis of evaluating the other person_._
extreme regard for the other person.
- Intergroup conflict: A process in which either an individual or a group perceives that others have opposing interest and both try to contradict each other.
- Kernel of Truth: The small element of truth that may be perceived in over-generalised clusters of beliefs about groups (stereotypes).
- Negotiation: Reciprocal communications so as to reach an agreement in situation in which there is a conflict.
- Norms: Standards of test performance that permit the comparison of one person’s score on the test to the scores of others who have taken the same test.
- Persuasibility: The degree to which people can be made to change their attitudes.
- Prejudice: A prejudgment, usually a negative attitude that is unverified, and is often towards a group.
- Primary Effect: The stronger role of information that comes first.
- Pro-social Behaviour: Behaviour that does good to another person, is done without any pressure from outside, and without any exception of a reward or return.
- Prototype: A schema in the form of a category representing all the possible qualities of an object or a person.
- Recency Effect: The stronger role of information that comes last.
- Scapegoating: Placing the blame on a group for something that has gone wrong, because the blamed group cannot defend itself.
- Schema: A mental structure that guides social (and other) cognition.
- Self-fulfilling Prophecy: Behaving in a way that confirms the prediction others make.
- Simplicity or Complexity (Multiplexity) of Attitude: Whether the whole attitude consists of a single or very few sub-attitudes (simple), or contains many sub-attitudes (multiplex).
- Social Loafing: In a group, each additional individual puts in less effort, thinking that others will be putting in their effort.
- Social Cognition: The process through which we notice, interpret, remember, and later use social information. It helps in making sense of other people and ourselves.
- Social Facilitation: The tendency for people’s performance to improve in the presence of others, or an audience.
- Social facilitations: The tendency for people’s performance to improve in the presence of others, or an audience.
- Superordinate goals: A mutually beneficial to both parties, hence both groups work cooperatively.
- Stereotype: An over-generalised and unverified prototype about a particular group.
- Valence of Attitude: Whether an attitude is positive or negative.
- Values: Enduring beliefs about ideal modes of behaviour or end-state of existence. Attitudes that have a strong evaluative and ought aspect.
