CHAPTER 6: ATTITUDES AND SOCIAL COGNITION (PART 1)  They define us.

 They define us. The person who opposes gun control is telling us something important
about herself.
W HAT IS AN ATTITUDE ?
 They direct our future feelings and thoughts about the objects of those feelings and
An attitude is a state of mind, a set of views, or thoughts, regarding some topic ( called the
thoughts. In other words, a negative attitude toward gun control would lead the person
attitude object ) which have an evaluative feature ( positive, negative or neutral quality ).It is
holding it to search out and remember information that confirms the attitude.
accompanied by an emotional component, and a tendency to act in a particular way with regard
 They summarize our feelings, thoughts, intentions and behaviours. When a topic comes
to the attitude object.
up , especially one with which we have some experience and familiarity, our attitude
ATTITUDE STRUCTURE : COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE: ABC COMPONENTS
helps us respond. For example, our attitude towards foreigners may indirectly provide a
Cognitive : cognitive aspect or cognition, thoughts ,beliefs about the attitude object
mental ‘layout’ or ‘blueprint’ for the way in which we should behave whenever we meet
Behavioural: behavioral or cognitive aspect representing the tendency to act
one. Thus attitudes help us operate efficiently in our social world.
Affective : emotional aspect representing feelings and emotions attached to the attitude
Example : Attitude :“ I am opposed to laws in any way allowing the ownership of guns.” PROPERTIES OF ATTITUDES :
Cognitions:“I think unrestricted gun ownership is not a basic right guaranteed in the 1. Valence ( positive or negative):
constitution. “  The valence of an attitude tells us whether an attitude is positive or negative towards the
AffectiveI feel strongly about hurting or injuring innocents accidently. attitude object.
Behavioural:“ I called my legislator and argued against the gun ownership bill.”  Suppose an attitude (say, towards nuclear research) has to be expressed on a 5-point
DISTINGUISHING ATTITUDE FROM BELIEFS AND VALUES scale, ranging from 1 (Very bad), 2 (Bad), 3 (Neutral — neither good nor bad), and 4
(Good), to 5 (Very good). If an individual rates her/his view towards nuclear research as
Beliefs Values 4 or 5, this is clearly a positive attitude. This means that the person likes the idea of
nuclear research and thinks it is something good. On the other hand, if the rating is 1 or
 refer to the cognitive  Value are attitudes or beliefs that contain a 2, the attitude is negative. This means that the person dislikes the idea of nuclear
component of attitudes, ‘should’ or ‘ought’ aspect, such as moral or research, and thinks it is something bad. We also allow for neutral attitudes. In this
example, a neutral attitude towards nuclear research would be shown by a rating of 3 on
and ethical values.
the same scale. A neutral attitude would have neither positive nor negative valence.
 form the ground on which  Value is a conception of what is desirable
attitudes stand,  One example of a value is the idea that one 2. Extremeness :
  The extremeness of an attitude indicates how positive or negative an attitude is.
Eg. belief in God, or belief should work hard, or that one should always be
 Taking the nuclear research example, a rating of 1 is as extreme as a rating of 5 : they
in democracy as a political honest, because honesty is the best policy.
are only in the opposite directions (valence). Ratings of 2 and 4 are less extreme. A
ideology.  Values are formed when a particular belief or neutral attitude, of course, is lowest on extremeness.
attitude becomes an inseparable part of the
person’s outlook on life 3. Simplicity or Complexity (multiplexity) :
 . Consequently, values are difficult to change  This feature refers to how many attitudes there are within a broader attitude. Think of an
 While attitudes are directed at objects, values attitude as a family containing several ‘member’ attitudes.
are broad and more general. Therefore, one  In case of various topics, such as health and world peace, people hold many attitudes
value of honesty may give rise to many smaller instead of single 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.
attitudes.
 For example consider the attitude towards health and well-being. This attitude system is
likely to consist of several ‘member’ attitudes, such as one’s concept of physical and mental
health, views about happiness and well-being, and beliefs about how one should achieve
health and happiness. By contrast, the attitude towards a particular person is likely to consist
of mainly one attitude..

4. Centrality :
 This refers to the role of a particular attitude in the attitude system.
FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDE:  An attitude with greater centrality would influence the other attitudes in the system much
more than non-central (or peripheral) attitudes would.
 For example, in the attitude towards world peace, a negative attitude towards high military  For example, offering money, sweets, fruit and flowers in a place of worship is a
expenditure may be present as a core or central attitude that influences all other attitudes in normative behaviour in some religions. When individuals see that such behaviour
the multiple attitude system is shown by others, is expected and socially approved, they may ultimately
develop a positive attitude towards such behaviour and the associated feelings of
ATTITUDE FORMATION devotion.

Attitudes are learned through one’s own experiences and through interaction with others. • Learning through exposure to information :
 Many attitudes are learned in a social context, but not necessarily in the physical
PROCESS OF ATTITUDE FORMATION presence of others.
The processes and conditions of learning may be different, resulting in varying attitudes among  Today, with the huge amount of information that is being provided through various
people. media, both positive and negative attitudes are being formed. By reading the
• Learning attitudes by association (classical conditioning ): biographies of self-actualised persons, an individual may develop a positive attitude
 A stimulus comes to evoke a response it previously did not call up. Classical towards hard work and other aspects as the means of achieving success in life.
conditioning occurs by repeatedly pairing this stimulus ( the conditioned stimulus)
with a stimulus that does not have the power to evoke the response ( the Factors that Influence Attitude Formation
unconditioned stimulus )
 Students often develop a liking for a particular subject because of the teacher. This The following factors provide the context for the learning of attitudes through the processes
is because they see many positive qualities in that teacher (unconditioned stimulus described above.
); these positive qualities get linked to the subject that s/he teaches(conditioned 1. Family and School Environment :
stimulus ), and ultimately get expressed in the form of liking for the Particularly in the early years of life, parents and other family members play a significant role
subject(conditioned response ). In other words, a positive attitude towards the in shaping attitude formation. Later, the school environment becomes an important
subject is learned through the positive association between a teacher and a student. background for attitude formation. Learning of attitudes within the family and school usually
• Learning attitudes by being rewarded or punished (instrumental conditioning ) : takes place by association, through rewards and punishments, and through modelling.
 If an individual is praised for showing a particular attitude, chances are high that s/he
will develop that attitude further. 2. Reference Groups :
 For example, if a teenager does yogasanas regularly, and gets the honour of being  Reference groups indicate to an individual the norms regarding acceptable
‘Miss Good Health’ in her school (positive reinforcement ), she may develop a behaviour and ways of thinking. Thus, they reflect learning of attitudes through group
positive attitude towards yoga and health in general. Similarly, if a child constantly or cultural norms.
falls ilL( punishment )lbecause s/he eats junk food instead of proper meals, then the  Attitudes towards various topics, such as political, religious and social groups,
child is likely to develop a negative attitude towards junk food, and also a positive occupations, national and other issues are often developed through reference
attitude towards eating healthy food. groups. Their influence is noticeable especially during the beginning of adolescence,
at which time it is important for the individual to feel that s/he belongs to a group.
• Learning attitudes through modelling (observing others) :
 Therefore, the role of reference groups in attitude formation may also be a case of
 Often it is not through association, or through reward and punishment, that we
learning through reward and punishment.
learn attitudes. Instead, we learn them by observing others being rewarded or
punished for expressing thoughts, or showing behaviour of a particular kind
towards the attitude object.
3. Personal Experiences :
 For example, children may form a respectful attitude towards elders, by
observing that their parents show respect for elders, and are appreciated for it.  Many attitudes are formed through direct personal experiences which bring about a
 drastic change in our attitude towards people and our own life.
 Here is a real-life example. A driver in the army went through a personal experience
• Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms : that transformed his life. On one mission, he narrowly escaped death although all his
 Very often, we learn attitudes through the norms of our group or culture. Norms companions got killed. Wondering about the purpose of his own life, he gave up his
are unwritten rules about behaviour that everyone is supposed to show under job in the army, returned to his native village in Maharashtra, and worked actively as
specific circumstances. Over time, these norms may become part of our social a community leader.
cognition, in the form of attitudes.  Through a purely personal experience this individual evolved a strong positive
 Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms may actually be an example attitude towards community upliftment. His efforts completely changed the face of his
of all three forms of learning described above — learning through association, village.
reward or punishment, and modelling.
4. Media-related Influences :  Consider the example of dowry as an attitude topic (X). Suppose a person (P) has a
 Technological advances in recent times have made audio-visual media and the positive attitude towards dowry (P-X positive). P is planning to get his son married to the
Internet very powerful sources of information that lead to attitude formation and daughter of some person (O) who has a negative attitude towards dowry (O-X negative).
change. What would be the nature of the P-O attitude, and how would it determine balance or
 In addition, school level textbooks also influence attitude formation. imbalance in the situation? If O initially has a positive attitude towards P, the situation
 These sources first strengthen the cognitive and affective components of attitudes, would be unbalanced. P-X is positive, O-P is positive, but O-X is negative. That is, there
and subsequently may also affect the behavioural component. The media can exert are two positives and one negative in the triangle. This is a situation of imbalance. One
both good and bad influences on attitudes. of the three attitudes will therefore have to change. This change could take place in the
 On one hand, the media and Internet make people better informed than other P-X relationship (P starts disliking dowry as a custom), or in the O-X relationship (O
modes of communication. On the other hand, there may be no check on the nature starts liking dowry as a custom), or in the O-P relationship (O starts disliking P) One of
of information being gathered, and therefore no control over the attitudes that are the three attitudes will therefore have to change. This change could take place in the P-X
being formed, or the direction of change in the existing attitudes. relationship (P starts disliking dowry as a custom), or in the O-X relationship (O starts
 The media can be used to create consumerist attitudes where none existed, and can liking dowry as a custom), or in the O-P relationship (O starts disliking P). In short, an
also be harnessed to create positive attitudes to facilitate social harmony. 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.
PROCESS OF ATTITUDE CHANGE
 During the process of attitude formation, and also after this process, attitudes may be P(PERSON)
changed and modified through various influences.
 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 X X O(ATTITUDE OBJECT)
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 attitudes is of interest 2. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY ( LEON FESTINGER )
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,  The concept of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger. It emphasises
it would not be possible to take steps to bring about attitude change. the cognitive component. Here the basic idea is that the cognitive components of an
attitude must be ‘consonant’ (opposite of ‘dissonant’), 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, think about the following ideas (‘cognitions’) :
Cognition I : Pan masala causes mouth cancer which is fatal.
Cognition II : I eat panmasala.
Holding these two ideas or cognitions will make any individual feel that something is
THEORIES OF ATTITUDE CHANGE ‘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. In the example
1. BALANCE THEORY (FRITZ HEIDER)
given above, in order to remove or reduce the dissonance, I will stop eating pan
masala(change Cognition II). This would be the healthy, logical and sensible way of reducing
 The concept of balance, proposed by Fritz Heider is sometimes described in the form of dissonance.
the ‘P-O-X’ triangle, which represents the relationships between three aspects or  Festinger and Carlsmith, two social psychologists, conducted an experiment that
components of the attitude. P is the person whose attitude is being studied, O is another showed how cognitive dissonance works (see Box 6.2 in the text book )).
person, and X is the topic towards which the attitude is being studied (attitude object). It  Both balance and cognitive dissonance are examples of cognitive consistency.
is also possible that all three are persons.
Cognitive consistency means that two components, aspects or elements of the attitude, or
 The basic idea is that an attitude changes if there is a state of imbalance between the P- attitude system, must be in the same direction. Each element should logically fall in line with
O attitude, O-X attitude, and P-X attitude. This is because imbalance is logically other elements. If this does not happen, then the person experiences a kind of mental
uncomfortable. Therefore, the attitude changes in the direction of balance. discomfort, i.e. the sense that ‘something is not quite right’ in the attitude system. In such a
 Imbalance is found when (i) all three sides of the P-O-X triangle are negative, or (ii) two state, some aspect in the attitude system changes in the direction of consistency, because our
sides are positive, and one side is negative. Balance is found when (i) all three sides are cognitive system requires logical consistency.
positive, or (ii) two sides are negative, and one side is positive.
 3. TWO-STEP CONCEPT ( S.M. MOHSIN ) It has been found that, in general, congruent changes are easier to bring about than
 The two-step concept was proposed by S.M. Mohsin, an Indian psychologist. are the incongruent changes in attitudes.
According to him, attitude change takes place in the form of two steps. DIRECTION OF THE INFORMATION GIVEN: Moreover, an attitude may change in the
1. In the first step, the target of change identifies with the source. The ‘target’ is the direction of the information that is presented, or in a direction opposite to that of the
person whose attitude is to be changed. The ‘source’ is the person through whose information presented. Posters describing the importance of brushing one’s teeth would
influence the change is to take place. Identification means that the target has strengthen a positive attitude towards dental care. But if people are shown frightening
liking and regard for the source. S/he puts herself/himself in the place of the target,
pictures of dental cavities, they may not believe the pictures, and may become less
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. positive about dental care. Research has found that fear sometimes works well in
2. In the second step, the source herself/himself shows an attitude change, by convincing people but if a message generates too much fear, it turns
actually changing her/him behaviour towards the attitude object. Observing the SOURCE CHARACTERISTICS :
source’s changed attitude and behaviour, the target also shows an attitude change  credibility
through behaviour. This is a kind of imitation or observational learning.  attractiveness
 Preeti reads in the newspapers that a particular soft drink that she enjoys is Source credibility and attractiveness are two features that affect attitude change. Attitudes are
extremely harmful. But Preeti sees that her favourite sportsperson has been more likely to change when the message comes from a highly credible source rather than from
advertising the same soft drink. She has identified herself with the sportsperson, a low-credible source. For example, adults who are planning to buy a laptop are more
and would like to imitate her/him. Now, suppose the sportsperson wishes to change convinced by a computer engineer who points out the special features of a particular brand of
people’s attitude towards this soft drink from positive to negative. The sportsperson laptop, than they would be by a schoolchild who might give the same information. But, if the
must first show positive feelings for her/ his fans, and then actually change her/his buyers are themselves schoolchildren, they may be convinced more by another schoolchild
own habit of consuming that soft drink (Step I) — perhaps by substituting it with a advertising a laptop than they would be by a professional giving the same information .
health drink. If the sportsperson actually changes her/his behaviour, it is very likely
that now Preeti will also change her attitude and behaviour, and stop consuming the MESSAGE CHARACTERISTICS :
harmful soft drink (Step II).  rational appeal or emotional appeal
 motives
 mode – face to face or indirect, audio- visual
FACTORS INFLUENCING ATTITUDE CHANGE
The message is the information that is pesented in order to bring about an attitude change.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EXISTING ATTITUD: All four properties of attitudes mentioned Attitudes will change when the amount of information that is given about the topic is just
earlier, namely, valence (positivity or negativity), extremeness, simplicity or complexity enough, neither too much nor too little. Whether the message contains a rational or an
(multiplexity), and centrality or significance of the attitude, determine attitude change. In emotional appeal, also makes a difference. For example, an advertisement for cooking food in
general, positive attitudes are easier to change than negative attitudes are. Extreme attitudes, a pressure cooker may point out that this saves fuel such as cooking gas (LPG) and is
and central attitudes are more difficult to change than the less extreme, and peripheral (less economical (rational appeal). Alternatively, the advertisement may say that pressure-cooking
significant) attitudes are. Simple attitudes are easier to change than multiple attitudes are. preserves nutrition, and that if one cares for the family, nutrition would be a major concern
(emotional appeal). In the case of products such as cars, sales may increase if they are
DIRECTION OF ATTITUDE : In addition, one must also consider the direction and extent
publicised, not necessarily by experts, but by popular public figures ,
of attitude change. An attitude change may be congruent — it may change in the same
The motives activated by the message also determine attitude change. For example, drinking
direction as the existing attitude (for example, a positive attitude may become more milk may be said to make a person healthy and good-looking, or more energetic and more
positive, or a negative attitude may become more negative). For instance, suppose a successful at one’s job.
person has a somewhat positive attitude towards empowerment of women. Reading about The mode of spreading the message plays a significant role. Face-to-face transmission of the
a successful woman may make this attitude more positive. This would be a congruent message is usually more effective than indirect transmission, as for instance, through letters
change. On the other hand, an attitude change may be incongruent — it may change in a and pamphlets, or even through mass media. For example, a positive attitude towards Oral
direction opposite to the existing attitude (for example, a positive attitude becomes less Rehydration Salts (ORS) for young children is more effectively created if community social
workers and doctors spread the message by talking to people directly, than by only describing
positive, or negative, or a negative attitude becomes less negative, or positive). In the
the benefits of ORS on the radio (see Figure 6.3). These days transmission through visual
example just given, after reading about successful women, a person may think that
media such as television and the Internet are similar to face-to-face interaction, but not a
women might soon become too powerful, and neglect their family responsibilities. This substitute for the latter.
may make the person’s existing positive attitude towards empowerment of women, less TARGET CHARACTERISTICS :
positive, or even negative. If this happens, then it would be a case of incongruent change.  persuasibility
  strong prejudices PREJUDICE
 self-esteem  ATTITUDE TOWARDS A PARTICULAR GROUP
 intelligence  USUALLY NEGATIVE
Qualities of the target, such as persuasibility, strong prejudices, self-esteem, and  BASED ON STEREOTYPES
intelligence influence the likelihood and extent of attitude change. People, who have a more  HAS THREE COMPONENTS : COGNITIVE ( STEREOTYPES)
open and flexible personality, change more easily. Advertisers benefit most from such people. AFFECTIVE
People with strong prejudices are less prone to any attitude change than those who do not hold
BEHAVIOURAL ( DISCRIMINATION)
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. DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN STEREOTYPES AND DISCRIMINATION
However, sometimes more intelligent persons change their attitudes more willingly than less
intelligent ones, because they base their attitude on more information and thinking.

ATTITUDE – BEHAVIOUR RELATIONSHIP

An attitude may not always always be exhibited in behaiour. There is consistency between the
two when

 Attitude is strong and central

 The person is aware of his/her attitude
 There is very little or no pressure
 The behaviour is not being watched or evaluated
 Esexpectancy that behaviou would have a positive consequence
Experiment PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION
In the days when Americans were said to be prejudiced against the Chinese, Richard LaPiere, an American
social psychologist, conducted the following study. He asked a Chinese couple to travel across the United PREJUDICE CAN EXIST WITHOUT BEING SHOWN IN THE FORM OF DISCRIMINATION .
States, and stay in different hotels. Only once during these occasions they were refused service by one of the
hotels. Sometime later, LaPiere sent out questionnaires to managers of hotels and tourist homes in the same
DISCRIMINATION CAN BE SHOWN WITHOUT PREJUDICE.
areas where the Chinese couple had travelled, asking them if they would give accommodation to Chinese
guests. A very large percentage said that they would not do so. This response showed a negative attitude SOURCES OF PREJUDICE
towards the Chinese, which was inconsistent with the positive behaviour that was actually shown towards the
travelling Chinese couple. Thus, attitudes may not always predict actual pattern of one’s behaviour.

Sometimes it’s the behaviour that decides the attitude: In the experiment by Festinger and Carlsmith
(see Box 6.2 of the textbook )), students who got only one dollar for telling others that the experiment was
interesting, discovered that they liked the experiment. That is, on the basis of their behaviour (telling others that
the experiment was interesting, for only a small amount of money), they concluded that their attitude towards
the experiment was positive (“I would not have told a lie for this small amount of money, which means that the
experiment was actually interesting”).

FOLLOWING TOPICS TO BE DONE FROM THE TEXTBOOK STRATEGIES FOR HANDLING PREJUDICE
PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION
  Factors affecting social facilitation – nature of the task
Co-action
Social loafing – diffusion of responsibility

PRO SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR – ALTRUISIM

 Characteristics of pro-social behaviour
 Factors influencing pro social behaiour

HOW TO MAKE STRATEGIES MORE EFFECTIVE

 Minimising opportunities for learning prejudices

 Changing attitudes
 De-emphasising a narrow social identity based on the ingroup
 Discouraging the tendency towards self-fulfilling prophecy among the victims of
prejudice

SOCIAL COGNITION 9 (To be done in detail from the textbook)

 SCHEMAS AND STEREOTYPES
PROCESS OF KNOWING OTHERS
 IMPRESSION FORMATION
 ATTRIBUTION
1. IMPRESSION FORMATION
 Perceiver and target
 Processes in impression information - selection, organization and inference
 Factors affecting impression formation
Primacy effect
Recency effeect
Halo effect
2. ATTRIBUTION
 Internal and external
 Attribution for success & failure - Stable and unstable factors, internal and external
factors,- Bernard Weiner’s classification of causal factors
 Fundamental attribution error
 Different attributions made for success and failure
 Actor-observer effect
BEHAVIOUR IN THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS
 Social facilitation and social inhibition - due to arousal and evaluation
apprehension