AHLCON INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

PSYCHOLOGY NOTES
CLASS XII
CHAPTER- 6 ATTITUDES AND SOCIAL COGNITION

Definition
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).

The A-B-C Components of an Attitude

 Affective – Emotional Component
 Behavioural- Tendency to Act
 Cognitive – Thought component

Beliefs
Beliefs refer to the cognitive component of attitudes, and form the ground
on which attitudes stand, such as belief in God.

Values
 Values are attitudes or beliefs that contain a ‘should’ or ‘ought’ aspect,
such as moral or ethical values. For eg. one should always be honest,
because honesty is the best policy.
 Values are formed when a particular belief or attitude becomes an
inseparable part of the person’s outlook on life. Consequently, values are
difficult to change.

Features of Attitude
Four significant features of attitudes are as follows :
1. Valence (positivity or negativity) :
 The valence of an attitude tells us whether an attitude is positive
or negative towards the attitude object.
2. Extremeness : The extremeness of an attitude indicates how positive
or negative an attitude is. On a scale of 5, rating of 1 and 5 are
extreme, ratings of 2 and 4 are less extreme, and 3 is neutral.
3. Simplicity or Complexity (multiplexity) : This feature refers to how
many attitudes there are within a broader attitude. Think of an attitude
as a family containing several ‘member’ attitudes.
 Simple Attitude - contains only one or a few attitudes.
 Complex Attitude - Is made up of many attitudes.
4. 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

 Process of Attitude Formation – There are various processes which

lead to attitude formation, some of them are as follows :-
a. Learning attitudes by association : You might have seen that
students often develop a liking for a particular subject because of
the teacher. This is because they see many positive qualities in
that teacher; these positive qualities get linked to the subject that
s/he teaches, and ultimately get expressed in the form of liking for
the subject. In other words, a positive attitude towards the subject
is learned through the positive association between a teacher and
a student.
b. Learning attitudes by being rewarded or punished: If an
individual is praised for showing a particular attitude, chances are
high that s/he will develop that attitude further. And he/she is
punished then he will develop a negative attitude towards that
thing.
c. Learning attitudes through modelling (observing others) : We
learn attitudes by observing others being rewarded or
punished for showing behaviour of a particular kind towards
the attitude object. For example, children may form a respectful
attitude towards elders, by observing that their parents show
respect for elders, and are appreciated for it.
d. Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms: Norms are
unwritten rules about behaviour that everyone is supposed to
show. When individuals see that a particular behaviour is
shown by others in society , which is socially approved, they
may ultimately develop a positive attitude towards such
behaviour.
e. Learning through exposure to information : Today, with the
huge amount of information that is being provided through various
media, both positive and negative attitudes are being formed.
 Factors that Influence Attitude Formation
a. Family and School Environment : Particularly in the early years
of life, parents and other family members play a significant role in
shaping attitude formation. Later, the school environment becomes
an important background for attitude formation.
b. Reference Groups- are groups that individual joins voluntarily for
eg. A political party, a dance group in school etc. These groups
have certain norms which facilitate the process of attitude
formation towards a topic.
c. Personal Experiences : Many attitudes are formed through direct
personal experiences which bring about a drastic change in our
life. For e.g a Man who was the only survivor in an accident,
developed a positive attitude towards helping other’s and worked
for the betterment of the society after his accident.
d. Media-related Influences: 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.

ATTITUDE CHANGE
During the process of attitude formation, and also after this process,
attitudes may be changed and modified through various influences.

 Process of Attitude Change

a. Concept of balance ( By Fritz Heider)- Is sometimes described
in the form of the ‘P-O-X’ triangle in which :-
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, this is because imbalance is logically
uncomfortable. Therefore, the attitude changes in the direction
of balance.

Conditions of Imbalance
(i) All three sides of the P-O-X triangle are negative, or
(ii) Two sides are positive, and one side is negative.

Conditions of Balance
(i) All three sides are positive, or
(ii) Two sides are negative, and one side is positive.

For example of dowry as an attitude topic (X). Suppose a person

(P) has a positive attitude towards dowry (P-X positive). P is
planning to get his son married to the daughter of some person (O)
who has a negative attitude towards dowry (O-X negative). What
would be the nature of the P-O attitude, and how would it determine
balance or imbalance in the situation? If O initially has a positive
attitude towards P, the situation would be unbalanced. P-X is
positive, O-P is positive, but O-X is negative. That is, there are two
positives and one negative in the triangle. This is a situation of
imbalance. One of the three attitudes will therefore have to change.
This change could take place in the P-X relationship (P starts
disliking dowry as a custom), or in the O-X relationship (O starts
liking dowry as a custom), or in the O-P relationship (O starts
disliking P). In short, an attitude change will have to take place so
that there will be three positive relationships, or two negative and
one positive relationship, in the triangle.

b. Concept of Cognitive Dissonance By ( Leon Festinger)

The basic idea is that the cognitive components of an attitude
must be ‘consonant’ i.e., they should be logically in line with
each other. If an individual finds that two cognitions in an attitude
are dissonant, then one of them will be changed in the direction of
consonance. For example
Cognition I : Pan masala causes mouth cancer which is fatal.
Cognition II : I eat pan masala.
Holding these two ideas or cognitions will make any individual
feel that something is ‘out of tune’, or dissonant, in the attitude
towards pan masala. Therefore, one of these ideas will have to
be changed, so that consonance can be attained.

 Cognitive Consistency
Cognitive consistency means that two components, aspects or
elements of the attitude, or attitude system, must be in the same
direction. Each element should logically fall in line with other elements.

c. Two Step Concept ( By S.M Mohsin)

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.
 In the second step, the source herself/himself shows an
attitude change. 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

a. Characteristics of the existing attitude: All four properties of attitudes
mentioned earlier, namely:-
 Valence (positivity or negativity)- positive attitudes are easier to
change than negative attitudes are.
 Extremeness- Extreme attitude difficult to change
 Simplicity or Complexity (Multiplexity)-Complex attitude are difficult to
change tha a simple one.
 Centrality- its difficult to change a central attitude.
An attitude change may be congruent — it may change in the same direction
as the existing attitude. An attitude change may be incongruent — it may
change in a direction opposite to the existing attitude.
It has been found that, in general, congruent changes are easier to bring
about than are the incongruent changes in attitudes.

b. Source 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. For example, adults who are planning to buy a laptop are more
convinced by a computer engineer than they would be by a schoolchild. In the
case of some products such as cars, sales may increase if they are publicised,
not necessarily by experts, but by popular public figures.

c. Message characteristics:
 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.
 The motives activated by the message also determine attitude
change. For example, drinking milk may be said to make a person
healthy and good-looking, or more energetic and more successful at
one’s job.
 The mode of spreading the message- Face-to-face transmission of the
message is usually more effective than indirect transmission.

d. Target characteristics : Following Qualities of the target influence the

likelihood and extent of attitude change:-
 Personality- People, who have a more open and flexible personality,
change more easily.
 Prejudice- People with strong prejudices are less prone to any
attitude change.
 Self- Esteem- People who have a low self-esteem, and do not have
sufficient confidence in themselves, change their attitudes more easily.
 Intelligence- More intelligent people may change their attitudes less
easily than those with lower intelligence.
Attitude-Behaviour Relationship
There would be consistency between attitudes and behaviour when :
 the attitude is strong, and occupies a central place in the attitude system,
 the person is aware of her/his attitude,
 there is very little or no external pressure for the person to behave in a
particular way.
 the person’s behaviour is not being watched or evaluated by others, and
 the person thinks that the behaviour would have a positive consequence

PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION

• Stereotypes (the cognitive component)- is a cluster of ideas regarding
the characteristics of a specific group. All members belonging to this
group are assumed to possess these characteristics.
• Prejudices (Affective Component)- Often, stereotypes consist of
undesirable characteristics about the target group, and they lead to
negative attitudes or prejudices towards members of specific groups.
• Discrimination (Behavioural Component)- people behave in a less
positive way towards a particular target group compared to another
group which they favour. For e.g. The genocide committed by the Nazis in
Germany against Jewish people.

Prejudices can exist without being shown in the form of discrimination.

Similarly, discrimination can be shown without prejudice. Yet, the two go
together very often.
Wherever prejudice and discrimination exist, conflicts are very likely to arise
between groups within the same society. Our own society has witnessed many
deplorable instances of discrimination, with and without prejudice, based on
gender, religion, community, caste, physical handicap, and illnesses such as
AIDS.
Sources of Prejudice-
• Learning: Prejudices can 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.
• A strong social identity and ingroup 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.
• 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. And minority is too weak to defend itself.
• Kernel of truth concept: Sometimes people may continue to hold
stereotypes because they think that, after all, there must be some truth, in
what everyone says.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy: In some cases the target group may behave in
ways that justify the prejudice, that is, confirm the negative
expectations.

STRATEGIES FOR HANDLING PREJUDICE

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 selffulfilling prophecy among the victims
of prejudice.

These goals can be accomplished through :

• Education and information dissemination, for correcting stereotypes
related to specific target groups, and tackling 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 as a basis of evaluating the other person.
SOCIAL COGNITION
‘Social cognition’ refers to all those psychological processes that deal with
the gathering and processing of information related to social objects.

SCHEMAS AND STEREOTYPES

Schemas are the basic units stored in our memory, and function as shorthand
ways of processing information, thus reducing the time and mental effort
required in cognition. In the case of social cognition, the basic units are social
schemas.
Schemas that function in the form of categories are called prototypes, which
are the entire set of features or qualities that help us to define an object
completely.
In social cognition, category-based schemas that are related to groups of
people are called stereotypes. These are category-based schemas that are
overgeneralised, are not directly verified, and do not allow for exceptions.

IMPRESSION FORMATION AND EXPLAINING BEHAVIOUR OF OTHERS

THROUGH ATTRIBUTIONS
The process of coming to know a person can be broadly divided into two parts
: (a) Impression formation, and (b) Attribution.
The person who forms the impression is called the perceiver.
The individual about whom the impression is formed is called the target.
Impression formation and attribution are influenced by :
• the nature of information available to the perceiver,
• social schemas in the perceiver (including stereotypes),
• personality characteristics of the perceiver, and
• situational factors.

Impression Formation
The following aspects have been found in impression formation :
 The process of impression formation
o Selection : we take into account only some bits of information
about the target person,
o Organisation : the selected information is combined in a
systematic way, and
o Inference: we draw a conclusion about what kind of person the
target is.

 Some specific qualities influence impression formation more than other

traits do.
 The order or sequence in which information is presented affects the
kind of impression formed.
o Primacy effect (first impressions are the lasting impressions)-
the information presented first has a stronger effect than the
information presented at the end.
o Recency Effect- whatever information comes at the end may
have a stronger influence.
o Halo effect- We have a tendency to think that a target person who
has one set of positive qualities must also be having other specific
positive qualities that are associated with the first set.

Attribution of Causality
Attaching or assigning a cause for the target’s behaviour. The following
aspects of attribution have been found.
 We can broadly classify the cause as being internal — something
within the person, or external — something outside the person.
 When people make attributions for success and failure, the causes they
give can be classified into stable or unstable factors. Stable factors
refer to those causes that do not change with time, while unstable
factors are those that do change.
 In making attributions, there is an overall tendency for people to give
greater weightage to internal or dispositional factors, than to external
or situational factors. This is called the fundamental attribution error.
This tendency is stronger in some cultures than it is in others. For
instance, research shows that Indians tend to make more external
(situational) attributions than Americans do.
 There is a difference between the attribution made for success, and the
attribution made for failure. In general, people attribute success to
internal factors, such as their ability or hard work. They attribute failure
to external factors, such as bad luck.
 Actor Observer Effect- We attribute other people’s success to
external factors and their failure to internal factors.
BEHAVIOUR IN THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS
Performance on specific tasks is influenced by the mere presence of
others. This is called social facilitation. In 1897, Norman Triplett observed
that individuals show better performance in the presence of others,
than when they are performing the same task alone.
 Better performance in the presence of others is because the person
experiences arousal, which makes the person react in a more
intense manner.
 The arousal is because the person feels she or he is being evaluated.
Cottrell called this idea evaluation apprehension. The person will be
praised if the performance is good (reward), or criticised if it is bad
(punishment). We wish to get praise and avoid criticism, therefore we
try to perform well and avoid mistakes.
 The nature of the task to be performed also affects the performance
in the presence of others:-
o Simple or familiar task- Better performance in the presence
of others.
o Complex or new task- performs worse in the presence of
others.
 If the others present are also performing the same task, this is called a
situation of co-action. In this situation, there is social comparison
and competition. Once again, when the task is simple or a familiar
one, performance is better under co-action than when the person is
alone.

If we are working together in a group, the larger the group, the less effort
each member puts in. This phenomenon is called social loafing, based on
diffusion of responsibility.

PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Prosocial behaviour is very similar to ‘altruism’, which means doing something
for or thinking about the welfare of others without any self-interest. Pro-
social behaviour has the following characteristics. It must :
• aim to benefit or do good to another person or other persons,
• be done without expecting anything in return,
• be done willingly by the person, and not because of any kind of pressure,
and
• involve some difficulty or ‘cost’ to the person giving help.

Factors Influencing Pro-social Behaviour-

 Based on an inborn, natural tendency in human beings to help other
members of their own species.
 Learning- Individuals who are brought up in a family environment that
sets examples of helping others show more prosocial behaviour than
individuals who are brought up in a family environment devoid of these
features.
 Cultural factors- In cultures that encourage independence,
individuals will show less pro-social behaviour, because people are
expected to take care of themselves, and not to depend on help from
others. Individuals in cultures suffering from a shortage of
resources may not show a high level of pro-social behaviour.
 Pro-social behaviour is expressed when the situation activates certain
social norms that require helping others which are as follows:-
(a) Social responsibility: We should help anyone who needs help,
without considering any other factor.
(b) Reciprocity: We should help those persons who have helped us in
the past.
(c) The norm of Equity: We should help others whenever we find that
it is fair to do so. For example, many of us may feel that it is more fair
to help a person who has lost all belongings in a flood, than to help a
person who has lost everything through gambling.
 Pro-social behaviour is affected by the expected reactions of the
person who is being helped. For example, people might be unwilling
to give money to a needy person because they feel that the person
might feel insulted.
 Pro-social behaviour is more likely to be shown by individuals who
have a high level of empathy.
 Pro-social behaviour may be reduced by factors such as a bad
mood, being busy with one’s own problems, or feeling that the
person to be helped is responsible for her/his own situation.
 Pro-social behaviour may also be reduced when the number of
bystanders is more than one. Each person thinks that it is not
her/his responsibility alone to give help, and that someone else may
take the responsibility. This phenomenon is called diffusion of
responsibility.