Class 12 Psychology - Chapter 6
ATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION (Detailed Notes)
Introduction
. Social psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with all behaviour influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Social psychologists aim to explain how people form attitudes about different issues and individuals, and how social contexts affect behaviour.
Explaining Social Behaviour
Social behaviour is all behaviour influenced by the presence of others. It includes the formation of attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and behavioural tendencies.
Nature and Components of Attitudes
An attitude is a state of mind, a set of views or thoughts regarding a topic (called the "attitude object") with an evaluative feature (positive, negative, or neutral). Attitudes involve three components:
- Cognitive Component (C): Thoughts, beliefs, or opinions about the attitude object.
- Affective Component (A): Emotional feelings toward the attitude object.
- Behavioural Component (B): A tendency to act in a particular way toward the attitude object.
This is known as the A-B-C model of attitudes.
Attitudes are not behaviours themselves but tendencies to behave in particular ways.
Example: Green Environment (A-B-C Components)
Cognitive (C): Knowledge that greenery is good for the environment.
Affective (A): Feeling happy seeing trees, sad seeing them cut.
Behavioural (B): Participating actively in tree-plantation drives.
(👉 Note: In reality, the consistency among A, B, C components may not always be perfect.)
Difference between Attitudes, Beliefs, and Values:
- Beliefs: Only cognitive — based on thoughts, e.g., belief in democracy.
- Values: Deeply held attitudes or beliefs containing a "should" or "ought" element, e.g., one should be honest.
Functions of Attitudes:
Attitudes provide a background for deciding how to act in new situations. Example: Attitude towards foreigners affects how we behave when meeting them.
Properties of Attitudes
- Valence (Positivity or Negativity): Whether the attitude is positive, negative, or neutral towards the object.
- Extremeness: The strength of the positive or negative attitude.
- Simplicity or Complexity (Multiplexity): Whether the attitude is simple (focused) or complex (involves multiple smaller attitudes).
- Centrality: The importance of the attitude within a system of attitudes. Central attitudes influence other related attitudes.
Example: Green Environment (A-B-C Components)
Cognitive (C): Knowledge that greenery is good for the environment.
Affective (A): Feeling happy seeing trees, sad seeing them cut.
Behavioural (B): Participating actively in tree-plantation drives.
(👉 Note: In reality, the consistency among A, B, C components may not always be perfect.)
Attitude Formation and Change
Attitude Formation
Attitudes are primarily learned through experiences and interactions. Some factors include:
- Learning through Association: Positive qualities associated with a teacher lead to liking the subject taught by them.
- Learning through Reward and Punishment: Being praised for healthy habits can reinforce a positive attitude towards health.
- Learning through Modeling (Observing Others): Children learn to respect elders by observing parents showing respect.
- Learning through Group or Cultural Norms: Cultural practices, like offerings at places of worship, are internalized as attitudes.
- Learning through Exposure to Information: Media, books, and communication expose individuals to information that shapes attitudes.
Factors Affecting Attitude Formation
- Family and School Environment Parents and schools are early sources of attitudes.
- Reference Groups Groups that individuals look up to (e.g., peers) influence attitudes.
- Personal Experiences Dramatic life events can change attitudes drastically.
- Media-related Influences TV, newspapers, Internet can shape both positive and negative attitudes.
Attitude Change
Attitudes can change due to several psychological mechanisms:
Major Theories of Attitude Change
1. Balance Theory (Fritz Heider - P-O-X Model)
Involves three entities: Person (P), Other (O), and Object (X).
Balance: Exists when all three relationships are positive, or two are negative and one positive.
Imbalance: Exists when two relations are positive and one is negative or all three are negative.
Example:
P (You) likes O (Friend), P likes X (Idea), but O dislikes X.
Imbalance leads to pressure to change one of the relationships to restore balance.
Thus, attitude change happens to maintain psychological balance.
2. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger)
When two cognitive elements (thoughts) are inconsistent, it causes discomfort called dissonance.
Example:
Cognition 1: "Pan masala causes cancer."
Cognition 2: "I eat pan masala."
The dissonance motivates individuals to change one cognition — for example, quitting pan masala to reduce discomfort.
Festinger’s Experiment (with Carlsmith):
Students were paid $1 or $20 to lie that a boring task was interesting.
- Those paid $1 changed their attitude to think the task was interesting (to reduce dissonance).
- Those paid $20 did not change attitude — they justified lying for a large reward.
3. Two-Step Concept (S.M. Mohsin)
Step 1: Target identifies with source (e.g., celebrity).
Step 2: Source changes attitude/behaviour, and the target imitates.
Example:
A sportsperson stops endorsing a harmful soft drink → Fans also stop consuming it.
Factors Affecting Attitude Change
- Characteristics of Attitude Simpler and peripheral attitudes change more easily than central or extreme ones.
- Source Characteristics High credibility and attractiveness of the source make change more likely.
- Message Characteristics Rational or emotional appeal, amount of information, and the manner of presentation matter.
- Target Characteristics Personality traits, self-esteem, and intelligence affect persuadability.
Attitude-Behaviour Relationship
Although we expect behaviour to follow attitudes, it doesn't always happen. Factors that increase attitude-behaviour consistency:
- Strong attitudes
- Awareness of attitude
- No external pressure
- Belief that behaviour will have positive outcomes
Example:
LaPiere’s study — Chinese couple faced little discrimination in hotels despite negative attitudes shown later in questionnaires.
✅ Sometimes behaviour can also lead to attitude change (as seen in cognitive dissonance experiment).
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice: Negative attitude towards a group, often based on stereotypes.
Discrimination: Negative behaviour towards a group based on prejudice.
Sources of Prejudice:
- Learning (from family, media, culture)
- Strong ingroup identification
- Scapegoating (blaming outgroups)
- Kernel of Truth idea
- Self-fulfilling prophecy
Strategies for Handling Prejudice
- Education and Information Correct stereotypes by spreading correct knowledge.
- Increasing Intergroup Contact Positive interaction under cooperative and equal status conditions reduces prejudice.
- Highlighting Individual Identity Focus on personal traits rather than group identity.
Key Terms
Attitudes, Balance, Beliefs, Centrality of Attitude, Cognitive Consistency, Cognitive Dissonance, Congruent Attitude Change, Discrimination, Extremeness of Attitude, Identification, Incongruent Attitude Change, Kernel of Truth, Persuasibility, Prejudice, Scapegoating, Self-fulfilling Prophecy, Simplicity or Complexity, Valence of Attitude, Values.