Chapter Notes

ATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION

Explaining Social Behaviour

Social psychology is the branch of psychology that explores how our behaviour is influenced by other people and our social surroundings. A key part of living in a society is forming attitudes, which are our ways of thinking about specific topics and people.

Social behaviour is a fundamental part of human life. It's not just about being around others; it's about how the real, imagined, or even implied presence of others affects us. Social psychologists study these behaviours to understand why people form certain views or attitudes. These attitudes often guide how we tend to behave. To fully grasp how our social world shapes us, we need to look at both our thought processes (social cognition) and our actions (social behaviour).

Nature and Components of Attitudes

Think about all the times you've said, "In my opinion..." or "I feel...". These are your opinions. Some opinions are not very important to you, but others might be central to who you are. When an opinion is not just a thought but also involves your emotions and a tendency to act, it becomes an attitude.

An attitude is a state of mind or a set of views about a specific topic, person, or idea (called the 'attitude object'). Every attitude has an evaluative quality—it can be positive, negative, or neutral.

Attitudes are made up of three core parts, often called the A-B-C components:

• Affective Component (A): This is the emotional part of an attitude. It relates to your feelings towards the attitude object.
• Behavioural Component (B): This is the tendency to act in a certain way towards the attitude object. It is also known as the conative aspect.
• Cognitive Component (C): This is the thought-based part of an attitude, including your beliefs and ideas about the attitude object.

• Cognitive (C): You believe that a green environment is good for the planet and for human health based on information you have.
• Affective (A): You feel happy when you see parks and greenery but feel angry or sad when you see trees being cut down.
• Behavioural (B): You actively participate in tree-planting campaigns in your neighbourhood. While we expect these three components to be consistent, they sometimes are not. A person might have strong positive thoughts and feelings about a green environment but not participate in any related activities.

Attitudes, Beliefs, and Values

It's important to distinguish attitudes from two related concepts:

• Beliefs: These are the cognitive part of attitudes. They are the ideas that form the foundation for our attitudes, such as a belief in God or democracy.
• Values: These are attitudes or beliefs that include a "should" or "ought" aspect, often related to morality or ethics. For example, the idea that one should always be honest is a value. Values are deeply integrated into a person's outlook on life and are very difficult to change.

Features of Attitudes

Beyond the A-B-C components, attitudes have four other significant features:

• Valence (Positivity or Negativity): This tells us whether an attitude is positive, negative, or neutral. On a 5-point scale from "Very bad" to "Very good," a rating of 4 or 5 shows a positive valence, while a 1 or 2 shows a negative valence. A rating of 3 would be neutral.
• Extremeness: This indicates how positive or negative an attitude is. A rating of 1 ("Very bad") is just as extreme as a 5 ("Very good"), just in the opposite direction. A neutral attitude has the lowest extremeness.
• Simplicity or Complexity (Multiplexity): This refers to how many "member" attitudes are contained within a broader attitude system. An attitude towards a person might be simple, consisting of just one main attitude. In contrast, an attitude towards "world peace" is complex, made up of many member attitudes about things like military spending, international relations, and human rights.
• Centrality: This refers to an attitude's role within the larger attitude system. A central attitude has a strong influence on other related attitudes in the system. For example, a negative attitude towards high military spending might be a central attitude in a person's overall view on world peace.

Attitude Formation and Change

Attitude Formation

Attitudes are generally learned through our own experiences and our interactions with others. While some research suggests a minor genetic influence, most social psychologists focus on how we learn our attitudes.

Process of Attitude Formation

We learn attitudes through several key processes:

• Learning by Association: We can develop an attitude towards something because it is associated with something else we already feel positively or negatively about. [!example] A student might develop a positive attitude towards a subject simply because they like and admire the teacher who teaches it. The positive feelings for the teacher become associated with the subject.

• Learning by being Rewarded or Punished: When we are praised or rewarded for expressing a particular attitude, we are more likely to strengthen it. Conversely, if we are punished or have negative experiences, we may develop a negative attitude. [!example] A teenager who regularly practices yoga and is praised for her healthy lifestyle might develop a strong positive attitude towards health and wellness.

• Learning through Modelling (Observing Others): We often learn attitudes by watching others. When we see someone else being rewarded for a certain attitude or behaviour, we may adopt it ourselves. [!example]

  Children often form a respectful attitude towards elders by observing their parents showing respect and being appreciated for it.

• Learning through Group or Cultural Norms: We learn many attitudes by internalizing the norms—the unwritten rules of behaviour—of our culture or the groups we belong to. This process often combines association, reward, and modelling.

• Learning through Exposure to Information: We form attitudes by consuming information from various media, such as books, newspapers, and the internet. This information can shape our thoughts and feelings on a topic, even without direct social interaction.

Factors that Influence Attitude Formation

The learning processes above happen within a broader context. Four key factors provide this context:

1. Family and School Environment: In early life, parents and family members are the most significant influence on attitude formation. Later, the school environment also plays a crucial role.
2. Reference Groups: These are groups we look to for guidance on how to think and behave. Friends, clubs, or cultural groups can serve as reference groups, and their influence is especially strong during adolescence when belonging is very important.
3. Personal Experiences: Direct, personal experiences can lead to the formation of strong attitudes, sometimes causing a dramatic change in a person's life.
4. Media-related Influences: The internet, television, and other media are powerful sources of information that shape our attitudes. They can have both positive and negative effects, creating consumerist desires or promoting social harmony.

Attitude Change

Attitudes are not permanent; they can be changed and modified. Attitudes that are still forming are easier to change than those that are deeply established and part of our values.

Process of Attitude Change

Three major concepts help explain how attitudes change:

(a) The Concept of Balance (Fritz Heider)

This concept is often visualized as the ‘P-O-X’ triangle, representing the relationships between three elements:

• P: The person whose attitude is being studied.
• O: Another person.
• X: The attitude object (a topic or another person).

The main idea is that we are uncomfortable with a state of imbalance and will change an attitude to achieve balance.

• Balance exists when:
  • All three relationships in the triangle are positive.
  • Two relationships are negative, and one is positive.
• Imbalance exists when:
  • Two relationships are positive, and one is negative.
  • All three relationships are negative.

(b) The Concept of Cognitive Dissonance (Leon Festinger)

This concept focuses on the idea that our cognitions (thoughts, beliefs) about an attitude object should be logically consistent, or consonant. When we hold two conflicting cognitions, we experience cognitive dissonance, a state of mental discomfort. To reduce this discomfort, we change one of the cognitions.

1. "Pan masala causes fatal mouth cancer."
2. "I eat pan masala." Holding both thoughts creates dissonance. To resolve it, the person might change Cognition II and stop eating pan masala.

(c) The Two-Step Concept (S.M. Mohsin)

This concept, proposed by an Indian psychologist, suggests that attitude change happens in two steps:

1. Identification: The target (the person whose attitude needs to change) develops a liking and regard for the source (the person influencing the change).
2. Imitation: The source demonstrates the new attitude and behaviour. The target, having identified with the source, then imitates this change.

Factors that Influence Attitude Change

Several factors determine whether an attitude will change:

• Characteristics of the Existing Attitude:
  • Positive attitudes are generally easier to change than negative ones.
  • Extreme and central attitudes are harder to change than moderate and peripheral ones.
  • Simple attitudes are easier to change than complex ones.
  • Congruent change (moving in the same direction, e.g., a positive attitude becoming more positive) is easier than incongruent change (moving in the opposite direction, e.g., a positive attitude becoming negative).
• Source Characteristics: The person delivering the message matters.
  • Credibility: Messages from a highly credible source (like an expert) are more persuasive.
  • Attractiveness: Popular or well-liked figures can also be very effective at changing attitudes.
• Message Characteristics: The content of the message is crucial.
  • Amount of Information: The message should have just enough information—not too much or too little.
  • Appeal: Messages can use a rational appeal (focusing on logic and facts, like saving money) or an emotional appeal (focusing on feelings, like caring for your family's health).
  • Mode of Transmission: Face-to-face communication is often more effective than indirect methods like pamphlets.
• Target Characteristics: The qualities of the person receiving the message are also important.
  • People with more open and flexible personalities change more easily.
  • People with strong prejudices are less likely to change their attitudes.
  • Individuals with low self-esteem are often more easily persuaded.

Attitude-Behaviour Relationship

We often assume that a person's behaviour will reflect their attitudes, but this is not always true. A person's actions can sometimes be contrary to their stated attitudes.

Psychologists have found that attitudes and behaviour are more likely to be consistent when:

• The attitude is strong and central to the person's belief system.
• The person is aware of their attitude.
• There is little or no external pressure (like group pressure) to behave in a certain way.
• The person's behaviour is not being watched or evaluated by others.
• The person believes their behaviour will lead to a positive outcome.

Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudices are specific types of attitudes, usually negative, directed towards a particular group. They are often based on stereotypes, which are the cognitive component—a set of beliefs and ideas about the characteristics of a group. These stereotypes are often negative and are applied to all members of the group.

Prejudice also involves:

• An affective component (dislike or hatred).
• A potential behavioural component, which is discrimination. Discrimination is behaving in a less positive way towards members of a specific group.

Sources of Prejudice

Prejudice can develop from several sources:

• Learning: Like other attitudes, prejudice can be learned through association, reward and punishment, observing others, and cultural norms.
• A Strong Social Identity and Ingroup Bias: People with a strong identification with their own group (the ingroup) may boost their self-esteem by holding negative attitudes towards other groups (outgroups).
• Scapegoating: This occurs when a majority group blames a minority outgroup for its own social, economic, or political problems. The minority group is often too weak to defend itself.
• Kernel of Truth Concept: People may hold on to a stereotype because they believe there must be some "kernel of truth" to it, even if it's based on very limited evidence.
• Self-fulfilling Prophecy: The target of the prejudice may start to behave in ways that confirm the negative expectations of the prejudiced group, thereby strengthening the prejudice.

Strategies for Handling Prejudice

To combat prejudice, strategies should aim to: (a) Minimize opportunities for learning prejudice. (b) Change prejudiced attitudes. (c) De-emphasize a narrow, ingroup-based social identity. (d) Discourage self-fulfilling prophecies among victims.

This can be achieved through:

• Education and Information Dissemination: Correcting stereotypes and teaching about the dangers of ingroup bias.
• Increasing Intergroup Contact: Bringing different groups together can reduce mistrust, but it is most successful when:
  • The groups work together in a cooperative, not competitive, setting.
  • The interaction is close and allows them to get to know each other.
  • The groups have equal power and status.
• Highlighting Individual Identity: Focusing on people as individuals rather than as members of a group can weaken the power of group-based prejudice.