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Psychology 106 AT AT AT AT ATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION Introduction Explaining Social Behaviour Nature and Components of Attitudes A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an Attitude (Box 6.1) Attitude Formation and Change Attitude Formation Attitude Change Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars (Box 6.2) Attitude-Behaviour Relationship Prejudice and Discrimination Strategies for Handling Prejudice Social Cognition Schemas and Stereotypes Impression Formation and Explaining Behaviour of Others through Attributions Impression Formation Attribution of Causality Behaviour in the Presence of Others Pro-social Behaviour Factors Affecting Pro-social Behaviour CONTENTS Key Terms Summary Review Questions Project Ideas Weblinks Pedagogical Hints After reading this chapter, you would be able to: understand what are attitudes, how they are formed and changed, analyse how people interpret and explain the behaviour of others, comprehend how the presence of others influences our behaviour, explain why people help or do not help others in distress, and understand the concept of pro-social behaviour and factors affecting it. 2019-20

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Page 1: ATATATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION - NCERT Books, NCERT

Psychology106

ATATATATATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITIONTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITIONTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITIONTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITIONTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION

IntroductionExplaining Social BehaviourNature and Components of Attitudes

A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of anAttitude (Box 6.1)

Attitude Formation and ChangeAttitude FormationAttitude ChangeTelling a Lie for Twenty Dollars (Box 6.2)Attitude-Behaviour Relationship

Prejudice and DiscriminationStrategies for Handling PrejudiceSocial CognitionSchemas and StereotypesImpression Formation and ExplainingBehaviour of Others through Attributions

Impression FormationAttribution of Causality

Behaviour in the Presence of OthersPro-social Behaviour

Factors Affecting Pro-social Behaviour

CONTENTS

Key Terms

Summary

Review Questions

Project Ideas

Weblinks

Pedagogical Hints

After reading this chapter, you would be able to:understand what are attitudes, how they are formed and changed,

analyse how people interpret and explain the behaviour of others,

comprehend how the presence of others influences our behaviour,

explain why people help or do not help others in distress, and

understand the concept of pro-social behaviour and factors affecting it.

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EXPLAINING SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

Social behaviour is a necessary part ofhuman life, and being social means muchmore than merely being in the company ofothers. You may recall from what youstudied in Class XI that social psychologydeals with all behaviour that takes place inthe actual, imagined, or implied presenceof others. Take this simple example: if youhave to memorise a poem and recite it, youmay have no problem in doing this whenyou are by yourself. But if you have to recitethis poem to an audience, your performancemight get influenced, because you are nowin a social situation. Even imagining thatpeople are listening to your recitation(although they may not be physicallypresent) may change your performance.This is just one example that demonstrateshow our social environment influences ourthoughts, emotions and behaviour incomplex ways. Social psychologists examinevarious forms of social behaviour, and tryto explain their basis. Because of socialinfluences, people form views, or attitudesabout people, and about different issues inlife, that exist in the form of behaviouraltendencies. When we meet people, we makeinferences about their personal qualities.This is called impression formation. Weare also interested in why people behave in

Social psychology is that branch of psychology which investigates how the

behaviour of individuals is affected by others and the social environment.

All of us form attitudes, or ways of thinking about specific topics and people.

We also form impressions about persons we meet, and assign causes to

their behaviour. Besides, our own behaviour gets influenced by other

individuals and groups. In some situations, people show pro-social

behaviour, that is, helping the needy and the distressed, without expecting

anything in return. Many of these social behaviours seem to be simple. Yet,

explaining the processes that lie behind these behaviours is a complex matter.

This chapter will describe the basic ideas related to attitudes, social cognition

and pro-social behaviour as explained by social psychologists.

Introduction

the ways they do — that is, we assign causesto the behaviour shown in specific socialsituations. This process is calledattribution. Very often, impressionformation and attributions are influencedby attitudes. These three processes areexamples of mental activities related to thegathering and interpretation of informationabout the social world, collectively calledsocial cognition. Moreover, social cognitionis activated by cognitive units calledschemas. Cognitive processes cannot bedirectly seen; they have to be inferred onthe basis of externally shown behaviour.There are other examples of social influencethat are in the form of observable behaviour.Two such examples are social facilitation/inhibition, i.e. the improvement/decline inperformance in the presence of others, andhelping, or pro-social behaviour, i.e.responding to others who are in need ordistress. In order to understand completelyhow the social context influences theindividual, it is necessary to study bothsocial-cognitive processes and socialbehaviour. Social psychologists have shownthat one must go beyond common senseand folk wisdom in order to explain howpeople observe and make sense of their ownand others’ diverse behaviours. Throughsystematic and objective observations, andby adopting scientific methods, it is possible

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to establish logical cause-and-effectrelationships that explain social behaviour.

This chapter will give an account of thefundamental aspects of the topicsmentioned above. We will begin with adescription of attitudes.

NATURE AND COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES

For a few minutes quietly do the followingmental exercise. Today, how many times didyou tell yourself : “In my opinion…” or“Others may say so and so, but I feel…”?

What you fill in the blanks are calledopinions. Now continue the exercise : howimportant are these opinions to you? Thetopics of some of these opinions may be onlymoderately important to you; they aresimply ways of thinking, and it does notmatter much to you that others agree ordisagree with your views. On the otherhand, you may find that some other topicsare extremely important to you. If someoneopposes or challenges your views aboutthese topics, you get emotional. You mayhave made some of these views part of yourbehaviour. In other words, if your views arenot merely thoughts, but also haveemotional and action components, then

these views are more than ‘opinions’; theyare examples of attitudes.

All definitions of attitudes agree that anattitude is a state of the mind, a set of views,or thoughts, regarding some topic (calledthe ‘attitude object’), which have anevaluative feature (positive, negative orneutral quality). It is accompanied by anemotional component, and a tendency toact in a particular way with regard to theattitude object. The thought component isreferred to as the cognitive aspect, theemotional component is known as theaffective aspect, and the tendency to actis called the behavioural (or conative)aspect. Taken together, these three aspectshave been referred to as the A-B-Ccomponents (Affective-Behavioural-Cognitive components) of attitude. Note thatattitudes are themselves not behaviour, butthey represent a tendency to behave or actin certain ways. They are part of cognition,along with an emotional component, andcannot be observed from outside. Box 6.1presents an example of an attitude towardsthe environment, showing the relationshipbetween the three components.

Attitudes have to be distinguished fromtwo other closely related concepts, namely,

Box6.1 A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an Attitude

Suppose a group of people in your neighbourhood start a tree plantation campaign as partof a ‘green environment’ movement. Based on sufficient information about the environment,your view towards a ‘green environment’ is positive (cognitive or ‘C’ component, along withthe evaluative aspect). You feel very happy when you see greenery. You feel sad and angrywhen you see trees being cut down. These aspects reflect the affective (emotional), or ‘A’component of the same attitude. Now suppose you also actively participate in the treeplantation campaign. This shows the behavioural or ‘B’ component of your attitudes towardsa ‘green environment’. In general, we expect all three components to be consistent witheach other, that is, in the same direction. However, such consistency may not necessarilybe found in all situations. For example, it is quite possible that the cognitive aspect of your‘green environment’ attitude is very strong, but the affective and behavioural componentsmay be relatively weaker. Or, the cognitive and affective components may be strong andpositive, but the behavioural component may be neutral. Therefore, predicting onecomponent on the basis of the other two may not always give us the correct picture aboutan attitude.

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beliefs and values. Beliefs refer to thecognitive component of attitudes, and formthe ground on which attitudes stand, suchas belief in God, or belief in democracy as apolitical ideology. Values are attitudes orbeliefs that contain a ‘should’ or ‘ought’aspect, such as moral or ethical values. Oneexample of a value is the idea that oneshould work hard, or that one shouldalways be honest, because honesty is thebest policy. Values are formed when aparticular belief or attitude becomes aninseparable part of the person’s outlook onlife. Consequently, values are difficult tochange.

What is the purpose served by anattitude? We find that attitudes provide abackground that makes it easier for aperson to decide how to act in newsituations. For example, our attitudetowards foreigners may indirectly providea mental ‘layout’ or ‘blueprint’ for the wayin which we should behave whenever wemeet one.

In addition to the affective, cognitive andbehavioural components, attitudes alsohave other properties. Four significantfeatures of attitudes are : Valence (positivityor negativity), Extremeness, Simplicity orComplexity (multiplexity), and Centrality.

Valence (positivity or negativity) : Thevalence of an attitude tells us whether anattitude is positive or negative towards theattitude object. Suppose an attitude (say,towards nuclear research) has to beexpressed on a 5-point scale, ranging from1 (Very bad), 2 (Bad), 3 (Neutral — neithergood nor bad), and 4 (Good), to 5 (Verygood). If an individual rates her/his viewtowards nuclear research as 4 or 5, this isclearly a positive attitude. This means thatthe person likes the idea of nuclear researchand thinks it is something good. On theother hand, if the rating is 1 or 2, theattitude is negative. This means that theperson dislikes the idea of nuclear research,and thinks it is something bad. We also

allow for neutral attitudes. In this example,a neutral attitude towards nuclear researchwould be shown by a rating of 3 on the samescale. A neutral attitude would have neitherpositive nor negative valence.

Extremeness : The extremeness of anattitude indicates how positive or negativean attitude is. Taking the nuclearresearch example given above, a rating of1 is as extreme as a rating of 5 : they areonly in the opposite directions (valence).Ratings of 2 and 4 are less extreme. Aneutral attitude, of course, is lowest onextremeness.

Simplicity or Complexity (multiplexity) :This feature refers to how many attitudesthere are within a broader attitude. Thinkof an attitude as a family containing several‘member’ attitudes. In case of various topics,such as health and world peace, people holdmany attitudes instead of single attitude.An attitude system is said to be ‘simple’ if itcontains only one or a few attitudes, and‘complex’ if it is made up of many attitudes.Consider the example of attitude towardshealth and well-being. This attitude systemis likely to consist of several ‘member’attitudes, such as one’s concept of physicaland mental health, views about happinessand well-being, and beliefs about how oneshould achieve health and happiness. Bycontrast, the attitude towards a particularperson is likely to consist of mainly oneattitude. The multiple member-attitudeswithin an attitude system should not beconfused with the three componentsdescribed earlier. Each member attitudethat belongs to an attitude system also hasA-B-C components.

Centrality : This refers to the role of aparticular attitude in the attitude system.An attitude with greater centrality wouldinfluence the other attitudes in the systemmuch more than non-central (or peripheral)attitudes would. For example, in theattitude towards world peace, a negative

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attitude towards high military expendituremay be present as a core or central attitudethat influences all other attitudes in themultiple attitude system.

ATTITUDE FORMATION AND CHANGE

Attitude Formation

One important question that psychologistsare interested in answering is : how areattitudes formed? Like many other thoughtsand concepts that develop and become partof our cognitive system, attitudes towardsdifferent topics, things and people also areformed as we interact with others. However,there are specific conditions that lead to theformation of specific attitudes.

In general, attitudes are learnedthrough one’s own experiences, andthrough interaction with others. There area few research studies that show some sortof inborn aspect of attitudes, but suchgenetic factors influence attitudes onlyindirectly, along with learning. Therefore,most social psychologists have focused onthe conditions which lead to the learningof attitudes.

Process of Attitude Formation

The processes and conditions of learningmay be different, resulting in varyingattitudes among people.• Learning attitudes by association : You

might have seen that students oftendevelop a liking for a particular subjectbecause of the teacher. This is becausethey see many positive qualities in thatteacher; these positive qualities getlinked to the subject that s/he teaches,and ultimately get expressed in the formof liking for the subject. In other words,a positive attitude towards the subjectis learned through the positiveassociation between a teacher and astudent.

• Learning attitudes by being rewarded orpunished : If an individual is praised forshowing a particular attitude, chancesare high that s/he will develop thatattitude further. For example, if ateenager does yogasanas regularly, andgets the honour of being ‘Miss GoodHealth’ in her school, she may developa positive attitude towards yoga andhealth in general. Similarly, if a childconstantly falls ill because s/he eatsjunk food instead of proper meals, thenthe child is likely to develop a negativeattitude towards junk food, and also apositive attitude towards eating healthyfood.

• Learning attitudes through modelling(observing others) : Often it is notthrough association, or through rewardand punishment, that we learnattitudes. Instead, we learn them byobserving others being rewarded orpunished for expressing thoughts, orshowing behaviour of a particular kindtowards the attitude object. Forexample, children may form a respectfulattitude towards elders, by observingthat their parents show respect forelders, and are appreciated for it.

• Learning attitudes through group orcultural norms : Very often, we learnattitudes through the norms of ourgroup or culture. Norms are unwrittenrules about behaviour that everyone issupposed to show under specificcircumstances. Over time, these normsmay become part of our social cognition,in the form of attitudes. Learningattitudes through group or culturalnorms may actually be an example ofall three forms of learning describedabove — learning through association,reward or punishment, and modelling.For example, offering money, sweets,fruit and flowers in a place of worship isa normative behaviour in some religions.

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When individuals see that suchbehaviour is shown by others, isexpected and socially approved, theymay ultimately develop a positiveattitude towards such behaviour and theassociated feelings of devotion.

• Learning through exposure toinformation : Many attitudes are learnedin a social context, but not necessarilyin the physical presence of others.Today, with the huge amount ofinformation that is being providedthrough various media, both positiveand negative attitudes are being formed.By reading the biographies of self-actualised persons, an individual maydevelop a positive attitude towards hardwork and other aspects as the means ofachieving success in life.

Factors that Influence Attitude Formation

The following factors provide the context forthe learning of attitudes through theprocesses described above.

1. Family and School Environment :Particularly in the early years of life,parents and other family members playa significant role in shaping attitudeformation. Later, the schoolenvironment becomes an importantbackground for attitude formation.Learning of attitudes within the familyand school usually takes place byassociation, through rewards andpunishments, and through modelling.

2. Reference Groups : Reference groupsindicate to an individual the normsregarding acceptable behaviour andways of thinking. Thus, they reflectlearning of attitudes through group orcultural norms. Attitudes towardsvarious topics, such as political,religious and social groups,occupations, national and other issuesare often developed through reference

groups. Their influence is noticeableespecially during the beginning ofadolescence, at which time it isimportant for the individual to feel thats/he belongs to a group. Therefore, therole of reference groups in attitudeformation may also be a case of learningthrough reward and punishment.

3. Personal Experiences : Many attitudesare formed, not in the familyenvironment or through referencegroups, but through direct personalexperiences which bring about a drasticchange in our attitude towards peopleand our own life. Here is a real-lifeexample. A driver in the army wentthrough a personal experience thattransformed his life. On one mission, henarrowly escaped death although all hiscompanions got killed. Wondering aboutthe purpose of his own life, he gave uphis job in the army, returned to hisnative village in Maharashtra, andworked actively as a community leader.Through a purely personal experiencethis individual evolved a strong positiveattitude towards community upliftment.His efforts completely changed the faceof his village.

4. Media-related Influences : Technologicaladvances in recent times have madeaudio-visual media and the Internet verypowerful sources of information thatlead to attitude formation and change.In addition, school level textbooks alsoinfluence attitude formation. Thesesources first strengthen the cognitiveand affective components of attitudes,and subsequently may also affect thebehavioural component. The media canexert both good and bad influences onattitudes. On one hand, the media andInternet make people better informedthan other modes of communication. Onthe other hand, there may be no checkon the nature of information being

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gathered, and therefore no control overthe attitudes that are being formed, orthe direction of change in the existingattitudes. The media can be used tocreate consumerist attitudes wherenone existed, and can also be harnessedto create positive attitudes to facilitatesocial harmony.

Attitude Change

During the process of attitude formation,and also after this process, attitudes maybe changed and modified through variousinfluences. Some attitudes change morethan others do. Attitudes that are still inthe formative stage, and are more likeopinions, are much more likely to changecompared to attitudes that have becomefirmly established, and have become a partof the individual’s values. From a practicalpoint of view, bringing about a change inpeople’s attitudes is of interest tocommunity leaders, politicians, producersof consumer goods, advertisers, and others.Unless we find out how attitudes change,and what conditions account for suchchange, it would not be possible to takesteps to bring about attitude change.

Process of Attitude Change

Three major concepts that draw attentionto some important processes in attitudechange are described below :

(a) The concept of balance, proposed byFritz Heider is sometimes described in theform of the ‘P-O-X ’ triangle, whichrepresents the relationships between threeaspects or components of the attitude. P isthe person whose attitude is being studied,O is another person, and X is the topictowards which the attitude is being studied(attitude object). It is also possible that allthree are persons.

The basic idea is that an attitudechanges if there is a state of imbalance

between the P-O attitude, O-X attitude, andP-X attitude. This is because imbalance islogically uncomfortable. Therefore, theattitude changes in the direction of balance.

Imbalance is found when (i) all threesides of the P-O-X triangle are negative, or(ii) two sides are positive, and one side isnegative. Balance is found when (i) all threesides are positive, or (ii) two sides arenegative, and one side is positive.

Consider the example of dowry as anattitude topic (X). Suppose a person (P) hasa positive attitude towards dowry (P-Xpositive). P is planning to get his sonmarried to the daughter of some person (O)who has a negative attitude towards dowry(O-X negative). What would be the natureof the P-O attitude, and how would itdetermine balance or imbalance in thesituation? If O initially has a positiveattitude towards P, the situation would beunbalanced. P-X is positive, O-P is positive,but O-X is negative. That is, there are twopositives and one negative in the triangle.This is a situation of imbalance. One of thethree attitudes will therefore have tochange. This change could take place in theP-X relationship (P starts disliking dowryas a custom), or in the O-X relationship (Ostarts liking dowry as a custom), or in theO-P relationship (O starts disliking P). Inshort, an attitude change will have to takeplace so that there will be three positiverelationships, or two negative and onepositive relationship, in the triangle.

(b) The concept of cognitive dissonancewas proposed by Leon Festinger. Itemphasises the cognitive component. Herethe basic idea is that the cognitivecomponents of an attitude must be‘consonant’ (opposite of ‘dissonant’), i.e.,they should be logically in line with eachother. If an individual finds that twocognitions in an attitude are dissonant,then one of them will be changed inthe direction of consonance. For example,

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think about the following ideas(‘cognitions’) :

Cognition I : Pan masala causesmouth cancer which is fatal.Cognition II : I eat pan masala.Holding these two ideas or cognitions

will make any individual feel that somethingis ‘out of tune’, or dissonant, in the attitudetowards pan masala. Therefore, one of theseideas will have to be changed, so thatconsonance can be attained. In the examplegiven above, in order to remove or reducethe dissonance, I will stop eating panmasala (change Cognition II). This wouldbe the healthy, logical and sensible way ofreducing dissonance.

Festinger and Carlsmith, two socialpsychologists, conducted an experimentthat showed how cognitive dissonanceworks (see Box 6.2).

Both balance and cognitive dissonanceare examples of cognitive consistency.

Cognitive consistency means that twocomponents, aspects or elements of the

attitude, or attitude system, must be in thesame direction. Each element shouldlogically fall in line with other elements. Ifthis does not happen, then the personexperiences a kind of mental discomfort, i.e.the sense that ‘something is not quite right’in the attitude system. In such a state, someaspect in the attitude system changes inthe direction of consistency, because ourcognitive system requires logicalconsistency.

(c) The two-step concept was proposed byS.M. Mohsin, an Indian psychologist.According to him, attitude change takesplace in the form of two steps. In the firststep, the target of change identifies with thesource. The ‘target’ is the person whoseattitude is to be changed. The ‘source’ isthe person through whose influence thechange is to take place. Identificationmeans that the target has liking and regardfor the source. S/he puts herself/himselfin the place of the target, and tries to feellike her/him. The source must also have a

Box6.2

Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars

After participating in a very boring experiment, a group of students were asked to tellanother group of students waiting outside that the experiment was very interesting. Fortelling this lie to the waiting students, half of the first group of students was paid $ 1, andthe other half were paid $ 20. After some weeks, the participants of the boring experimentwere asked to recall the experiment, and to say how interesting they had found thatexperiment to be. The responses showed that the $ 1 group described the experiment asmore interesting than the $ 20 group. The explanation was : the $ 1 students changedtheir attitude towards the experiment because they experienced cognitive dissonance.

In the $ 1 group,The initial cognitions would be : The changed cognitions would be:

(Dissonant cognitions) (Dissonance reduced)“The experiment was very boring” ; “The experiment was actually interesting” ;“I told the waiting students that it “I told the waiting students that it waswas interesting”; interesting” ;“I told a lie for only $ 1.” “I would not have told a lie for only $ 1.”

The $ 20 group did not experience cognitive dissonance. So, they did not change theirattitude towards the experiment, and rated it as very boring.The cognitions in the $ 20 (No dissonance) group would be :

“The experiment was very boring”;“I told the waiting students that it was interesting”;“I told a lie because I was paid $ 20.”

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positive attitude towards the target, and theregard and attraction becomes mutual. Inthe second step, the source herself/himselfshows an attitude change, by actuallychanging her/him behaviour towards theattitude object. Observing the source’schanged attitude and behaviour, the targetalso shows an attitude change throughbehaviour. This is a kind of imitation orobservational learning.

Consider the following example of two-step attitude change. Preeti reads in thenewspapers that a particular soft drink thatshe enjoys is extremely harmful. But Preetisees that her favourite sportsperson hasbeen advertising the same soft drink. Shehas identified herself with the sportsperson,and would like to imitate her/him. Now,suppose the sportsperson wishes to changepeople’s attitude towards this soft drinkfrom positive to negative. The sportspersonmust first show positive feelings for her/his fans, and then actually change her/hisown habit of consuming that soft drink(Step I) — perhaps by substituting it with ahealth drink. If the sportsperson actuallychanges her/his behaviour, it is very likelythat now Preeti will also change her attitudeand behaviour, and stop consuming theharmful soft drink (Step II).

Factors that Influence Attitude Change

Whether attitudes will change, and if so, towhat extent, is a question that puzzles manypsychologists. However, most of them agreeupon the following major factors thatinfluence attitude change :

• Characteristics of the existing attitude :All four properties of attitudes mentionedearlier, namely, valence (positivity ornegativity), extremeness, simplicity orcomplexity (multiplexity), and centralityor significance of the attitude, determineattitude change. In general, positiveattitudes are easier to change than negativeattitudes are. Extreme attitudes, and

central attitudes are more difficult to changethan the less extreme, and peripheral (lesssignificant) attitudes are. Simple attitudesare easier to change than multipleattitudes are.

In addition, one must also consider thedirection and extent of attitude change. Anattitude change may be congruent — it maychange in the same direction as the existingattitude (for example, a positive attitudemay become more positive, or a negativeattitude may become more negative). Forinstance, suppose a person has a somewhatpositive attitude towards empowerment ofwomen. Reading about a successful womanmay make this attitude more positive. Thiswould be a congruent change. On the otherhand, an attitude change may beincongruent — it may change in a directionopposite to the existing attitude (for example,a positive attitude becomes less positive, ornegative, or a negative attitude becomes lessnegative, or positive). In the example justgiven, after reading about successful women,a person may think that women might soonbecome too powerful, and neglect theirfamily responsibilities. This may make theperson’s existing positive attitude towardsempowerment of women, less positive, oreven negative. If this happens, then it wouldbe a case of incongruent change. It has beenfound that, in general, congruent changesare easier to bring about than are theincongruent changes in attitudes.

Moreover, an attitude may change in thedirection of the information that ispresented, or in a direction opposite to thatof the information presented. Postersdescribing the importance of brushing one’steeth would strengthen a positive attitudetowards dental care. But if people are shownfrightening pictures of dental cavities, theymay not believe the pictures, and maybecome less positive about dental care.Research has found that fear sometimesworks well in convincing people but if amessage generates too much fear, it turns

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off the receiver and has little persuasiveeffect.• Source characteristics : Sourcecredibility and attractiveness are twofeatures that affect attitude change.Attitudes are more likely to change whenthe message comes from a highly crediblesource rather than from a low-crediblesource. For example, adults who areplanning to buy a laptop are more convincedby a computer engineer who points out thespecial features of a particular brand oflaptop, than they would be by a schoolchildwho might give the same information. But,if the buyers are themselves schoolchildren,they may be convinced more by anotherschoolchild advertising a laptop than theywould be by a professional giving the sameinformation (see Figure 6.1). In the case ofsome products such as cars, sales mayincrease if they are publicised, notnecessarily by experts, but by popularpublic figures.

• Message characteristics : The messageis the information that is presented in orderto bring about an attitude change. Attitudeswill change when the amount of informationthat is given about the topic is just enough,neither too much nor too little. Whether themessage contains a rational or anemotional appeal, also makes a difference.For example, an advertisement for cookingfood in a pressure cooker may point outthat this saves fuel such as cooking gas(LPG) and is economical (rational appeal).Alternatively, the advertisement may saythat pressure-cooking preserves nutrition,and that if one cares for the family, nutritionwould be a major concern (emotionalappeal) (see Figure 6.2).

The motives activated by the messagealso determine attitude change. Forexample, drinking milk may be said tomake a person healthy and good-looking,or more energetic and more successful atone’s job.

Fig.6.1 : Which Picture will Make You More Eager to Buy a Laptop – Picture A, or Picture B ? Why?

My laptop is my keyto success — 100 GBstorage capacity,light in weight, cando wonders for me !!Buy one now, andsee how you grow !!

My laptop is my keyto success — 100 GBstorage capacity,light in weight, cando wonders for me !!Buy one now, andsee how you grow !!

Picture A Picture B

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Finally, the mode of spreadingthe message plays a significant role.Face-to-face transmission of the messageis usually more effective than indirecttransmission, as for instance, through

letters and pamphlets, or even throughmass media. For example, a positiveattitude towards Oral Rehydration Salts(ORS) for young children is more effectivelycreated if community social workers and

Fig.6.3 : Face-to-face Interaction versus Media Transmission. Which one works better? Why?

“ORS willprotectyour childfrom heatin thesummer”

“ORS willprotect yourchild fromheat in thesummer”

Fig.6.2 : Rational and Emotional Appeals

Emotional appeal(caring for your family)

Are you spending too

much on cooking gas?Switch to the pressurecooker, and saygoodbye to yourbudget problems!

Rational appeal(saving money)

If you care for yourfamily, nothing ismore important thannutrition. Switch tothe pressure cooker,and ensure healthyeating!

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doctors spread the message by talking topeople directly, than by only describing thebenefits of ORS on the radio (see Figure 6.3).These days transmission through visualmedia such as television and the Internetare similar to face-to-face interaction, butnot a substitute for the latter.

• Target characteristics : Qualities of thetarget, such as persuasibility, strongprejudices, self-esteem, and intelligenceinfluence the likelihood and extent ofattitude change. People, who have a moreopen and flexible personality, change moreeasily. Advertisers benefit most from suchpeople. People with strong prejudices areless prone to any attitude change than thosewho do not hold strong prejudices. Personswho have a low self-esteem, and do not havesufficient confidence in themselves, changetheir attitudes more easily than those whoare high on self-esteem. More intelligentpeople may change their attitudes less easilythan those with lower intelligence. However,sometimes more intelligent persons changetheir attitudes more willingly than lessintelligent ones, because they base theirattitude on more information and thinking.

Attitude-Behaviour Relationship

We usually expect behaviour to followlogically from attitudes. However, anindividual’s attitudes may not always beexhibited through behaviour. Likewise,one’s actual behaviour may be contrary toone’s attitude towards a particular topic. Psychologists have found that therewould be consistency between attitudes andbehaviour when :

• the attitude is strong, and occupies acentral place in the attitude system,

• the person is aware of her/his attitude,

• there is very little or no external pressurefor the person to behave in a particularway. For example, when there is nogroup pressure to follow a particularnorm,

• the person’s behaviour is not beingwatched or evaluated by others, and

• the person thinks that the behaviourwould have a positive consequence, andtherefore, intends to engage in thatbehaviour.

In the days when Americans were saidto be prejudiced against the Chinese,Richard LaPiere, an American socialpsychologist, conducted the followingstudy. He asked a Chinese couple to travelacross the United States, and stay indifferent hotels. Only once during theseoccasions they were refused service by oneof the hotels. Sometime later, LaPiere sentout questionnaires to managers of hotelsand tourist homes in the same areas wherethe Chinese couple had travelled, askingthem if they would give accommodation toChinese guests. A very large percentage saidthat they would not do so. This responseshowed a negative attitude towards theChinese, which was inconsistent with thepositive behaviour that was actually showntowards the travelling Chinese couple.Thus, attitudes may not always predictactual pattern of one’s behaviour.

Activity6.1

Cut out an advertisement from anewspaper or magazine, thatcontains something special andcatches your attention. Write downthe following details about thatadvertisement, and present it to yourclass.• The topic of the advertisement

(for example, whether theadvertisement is about aconsumer product, some food, acompany, a health matter, anational theme, etc.).

• Good and bad consequences ofthe advertisement.

• Whether it contains an emotionalappeal or a rational appeal.

• Whether it contains a popularfigure : an expert source, or awell-liked person.

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Sometimes it is behaviour that decidesthe attitude. In the experiment by Festingerand Carlsmith (see Box 6.2), students whogot only one dollar for telling others thatthe experiment was interesting, discoveredthat they liked the experiment. That is, onthe basis of their behaviour (telling othersthat the experiment was interesting, for onlya small amount of money), they concludedthat their attitude towards the experimentwas positive (“I would not have told a lie forthis small amount of money, which meansthat the experiment was actuallyinteresting”).

PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION

Prejudices are examples of attitudestowards a particular group. They areusually negative, and in many cases, maybe based on stereotypes (the cognitivecomponent) about the specific group. As willbe discussed below in the section on socialcognition, a stereotype is a cluster of ideasregarding the characteristics of a specificgroup. All members belonging to thisgroup are assumed to possess thesecharacteristics. Often, stereotypes consistof undesirable characteristics about thetarget group, and they lead to negativeattitudes or prejudices towards membersof specific groups. The cognitive componentof prejudice is frequently accompanied bydislike or hatred, the affective component.Prejudice may also get translated intodiscrimination, the behavioural component,whereby people behave in a less positiveway towards a particular target groupcompared to another group which theyfavour. History contains numerousexamples of discrimination based on raceand social class or caste. The genocidecommitted by the Nazis in Germany againstJewish people is an extreme example of howprejudice can lead to hatred, discriminationand mass killing of innocent people.

Prejudices can exist without beingshown in the form of discrimination.Similarly, discrimination can be shownwithout prejudice. Yet, the two go togethervery often. Wherever prejudice anddiscrimination exist, conflicts are verylikely to arise between groups within thesame society. Our own society haswitnessed many deplorable instances ofdiscrimination, with and without prejudice,based on gender, religion, community,caste, physical handicap, and illnesses suchas AIDS. Moreover, in many casesdiscriminatory behaviour can be curbed bylaw. But, the cognitive and emotionalcomponents of prejudice are more difficultto change.

Social psychologists have shown thatprejudice has one or more of the followingsources :• Learning : Like other attitudes,

prejudices can also be learned throughassociation, reward and punishment,observing others, group or culturalnorms and exposure to information thatencourages prejudice. The family,reference groups, personal experiencesand the media may play a role in thelearning of prejudices (see section on‘Attitude Formation and Change’).People who learn prejudiced attitudesmay develop a ‘prejudiced personality’,and show low adjusting capacity,anxiety, and feelings of hostility againstthe outgroup.

• A strong social identity and ingroup bias :Individuals who have a strong sense ofsocial identity and have a very positiveattitude towards their own group boostthis attitude by holding negativeattitudes towards other groups. Theseare shown as prejudices.

• Scapegoating : This is a phenomenon bywhich the majority group places theblame on a minority outgroup for its ownsocial, economic or political problems.The minority is too weak or too small in

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number to defend itself against suchaccusations. Scapegoating is a group-based way of expressing frustration, andit often results in negative attitudes orprejudice against the weaker group.

• Kernel of truth concept : Sometimespeople may continue to hold stereotypesbecause they think that, after all, theremust be some truth, or ‘kernel of truth’in what everyone says about the othergroup. Even a few examples aresufficient to support the ‘kernel of truth’idea.

• Self-fulfilling prophecy : In some cases,the group that is the target of prejudiceis itself responsible for continuing theprejudice. The target group may behavein ways that justify the prejudice, thatis, confirm the negative expectations.For example, if the target group isdescribed as ‘dependent’ and thereforeunable to make progress, the membersof this target group may actually behavein a way that proves this description tobe true. In this way, they strengthenthe existing prejudice.

STRATEGIES FOR HANDLING PREJUDICE

Knowing about the causes or sources wouldbe the first step in handling prejudice. Thus,the strategies for handling prejudice wouldbe 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 accomplishedthrough :• Education and information

dissemination, for correcting stereotypesrelated to specific target groups, and

tackling the problem of a strong ingroupbias.

• Increasing intergroup contact allows fordirect communication, removal ofmistrust between the groups, and evendiscovery of positive qualities in theoutgroup. However, these strategies aresuccessful only if :- the two groups meet in a cooperative

rather than competitive context,- close interactions between the

groups helps them to know eachother better, and

- the two groups are not different inpower or status.

• Highlighting individual identity ratherthan group identity, thus weakening theimportance of group (both ingroup andoutgroup) as a basis of evaluating theother person. More details about socialidentity and intergroup conflict havebeen presented in the next chapter onSocial Influence and Group Processes.

SOCIAL COGNITION

‘Cognition’ refers to all those mentalprocesses that deal with obtaining andprocessing of information. Extending thisidea to the social world, the term ‘socialcognition’ refers to all those psychologicalprocesses that deal with the gathering andprocessing of information related to socialobjects. These include all the processes thathelp in understanding, explaining andinterpreting social behaviour.

The processing of information related tosocial objects (particularly individuals,groups, people, relationships, social issues,and the like) differs from the processing ofinformation related to physical objects.People as social objects may themselveschange as the cognitive process takes place.For instance, a teacher who observes astudent in school may draw conclusionsabout her/him that are quite different fromthe conclusions drawn by the student’s

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mother, who observes her/him at home. Thestudent may show a difference in her/hisbehaviour, depending on who is watchingher/him — the teacher or the mother.Social cognition is guided by mental unitscalled schemas.

SCHEMAS AND STEREOTYPES

A schema is defined as a mental structurethat provides a framework, set of rules orguidelines for processing information aboutany object. Schemas (or ‘schemata’) are thebasic units stored in our memory, andfunction as shorthand ways of processinginformation, thus reducing the time andmental effort required in cognition. In thecase of social cognition, the basic units aresocial schemas. Some attitudes may alsofunction like social schemas. We use manydifferent schemas, and come to know aboutthem through analysis and examples.

Most of the schemas are in the form ofcategories or classes. Schemas thatfunction in the form of categories are calledprototypes, which are the entire set offeatures or qualities that help us to definean object completely. In social cognition,category-based schemas that are related togroups of people are called stereotypes.These are category-based schemas that areovergeneralised, are not directly verified,and do not allow for exceptions. Forexample, suppose you have to define agroup G. If you have never directly knownor interacted with a member of this group,you will most likely use your ‘generalknowledge’ about the typical member ofgroup G. To that information you will addyour likes and dislikes. If you have heardmore positive things about group G, thenyour social schema about the whole groupwill be more positive than negative. On theother hand, if you have heard more negativethings about group G, your social schemawill be in the form of a negative stereotype.

The inferences you have drawn are not theresult of your logical thinking or directexperience, but are based on pre-conceivedideas about a particular group. The nexttime you actually meet a member ofgroup G, your impression of this person,and your behaviour towards her/him willbe influenced by your stereotype. It wasmentioned earlier that stereotypes providefertile ground for the growth of prejudicesand biases against specific groups. Butprejudices can also develop withoutstereotypes.

IMPRESSION FORMATION AND EXPLAINING

BEHAVIOUR OF OTHERS THROUGH

ATTRIBUTIONS

Every social interaction begins with theformation of an impression about theperson(s) we meet. Public figures andapplicants appearing for job interviews aregood examples that show it is veryimportant to ‘make a good impression’ onothers. The process of coming to know aperson can be broadly divided intotwo parts : (a) Impression formation, and(b) Attribution.

The person who forms the impressionis called the perceiver. The individualabout whom the impression is formed iscalled the target. The perceiver gathersinformation, or responds to a giveninformation, about the qualities of thetarget, organises this information, anddraws inferences about the target.

In attribution, the perceiver goes further,and explains why the target behaved in aparticular way. Attaching or assigning acause for the target’s behaviour is the mainidea in attribution. Often perceivers mayform only an impression about the target,but if the situation requires it, they mayalso make attributions to the target. Impression formation and attribution areinfluenced by :

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• the nature of information available tothe perceiver,

• social schemas in the perceiver(including stereotypes),

• personality characteristics of theperceiver, and

• situational factors.

Impression Formation

The following aspects have been found inimpression formation :• The process of impression formation

consists of the following three sub-processes :(a) Selection : we take into account only

some bits of information about thetarget person,

(b) Organisation : the selectedinformation is combined in asystematic way, and

(c) Inference : we draw a conclusionabout what kind of person thetarget is.

• Some specific qualities influenceimpression formation more than othertraits do.

• The order or sequence in whichinformation is presented affects the kindof impression formed. Mostly, theinformation presented first has astronger effect than the informationpresented at the end. This is called theprimacy effect (first impressions are thelasting impressions). However, if theperceiver may be asked to pay attentionto all the information, and not merelyto the first information, whateverinformation comes at the end may havea stronger influence. This is known asthe recency effect.

• We have a tendency to think that a targetperson who has one set of positivequalities must also be having otherspecific positive qualities that areassociated with the first set. This isknown as the halo effect. For example,

if we are told that a person is ‘tidy’ and‘punctual’, we are likely to think thatthis person must also be ‘hard-working’.

Activity6.2

This exercise will help you to see thefactors in impression formation. Youwill need two participants, a girl anda boy (who are not students in yourclass, and who have not read aboutthis topic).

Give the following instruction tothe participants. For the femaleparticipant, please write a male namein the blank. For the male participant,please write a female name.

“_________ is a hard-workingstudent. In your opinion, which of thefollowing qualities would also befound in this student? Pleaseunderline all those qualities.”

Intelligent Helpful SelfishFriendly Punctual DishonestNervous Hot-tempered

See (a) what qualities have beenchosen?, and (b) whether there is adifference between the female andthe male participants?

Attribution of Causality

After forming an impression, we often gothrough the process of assigning causes toa person’s behaviour. This is also asystematic process, as indicated by theresearches done on attribution. Thefollowing aspects of attribution have beenfound.• When we assign a cause to a person’s

behaviour, we can broadly classify thecause as being internal — somethingwithin the person, or external —something outside the person. Forexample, if we see a person A hittinganother person B, as observers we mayexplain the hitting behaviour by sayingthat (i) A hit B because A is a hot-tempered person, which is an internal(personality-related) cause, or that (ii) Ahit B because B behaved in a nasty way,

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which is an external, situationalcause.

• When people make attributions forsuccess and failure, the causes they givecan be classified into internal or externalfactors, and also into stable or unstablefactors. Bernard Wiener suggesteda classification which is shown inFigure 6.4. Stable factors refer to thosecauses that do not change with time,while unstable factors are those that dochange.

• In making attributions, there is anoverall tendency for people to givegreater weightage to internal ordispositional factors, than to external orsituational factors. This is called thefundamental attribution error. Thistendency is stronger in some culturesthan it is in others. For instance,research shows that Indians tend tomake more external (situational)attributions than Americans do.

• There is a dif ference between theattribution made for success, and theattribution made for failure. In general,people attribute success to internalfactors, such as their ability or hardwork. They attribute failure to externalfactors, such as bad luck, the difficultyof the task, and so on.

• A distinction is also found between theattribution that a person makes for her/

his own positive and negative experiences(actor-role), and the attribution made foranother person’s positive and negativeexperiences (observer-role). This is calledthe actor-observer effect. For example,if you yourself get good marks in a test,you will attribute it to your own abilityor hard work (actor -role, internalattribution for a positive experience). Ifyou get bad marks, you will say that thiswas because you were unlucky, or thatthe test was too difficult (actor-role,external attribution for a negativeexperience). On the other hand, if oneof your classmates gets good marks inthe test, you will attribute her/hissuccess to good luck or an easy test(observer-role, external attribution fora positive experience). If the sameclassmate gets bad marks, you are likelyto say that her/his failure was becauseof low ability or lack of effort (observer-role, internal attribution for a negativeexperience). The basic reason for thedifference between the actor andobserver roles is that people want tohave a nice image of themselves, ascompared to others.So far in this chapter, we have

highlighted the cognitive, or thought-relatedaspects of social behaviour. Let us nowexamine some aspects of actual behaviourthat can be observed from outside.

Fig.6.4 : Wiener’s Classification of Causal Factors

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BEHAVIOUR IN THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS

One of the first observations made aboutsocial behaviour was that performance onspecific tasks is influenced by the merepresence of others. This is called socialfacilitation. For example, Reena is aboutto participate in a music contest. She is verytalented, yet she is feeling very nervousabout the event. If you were in Reena’splace, would you perform better in front ofan audience, or when you are alone? Asearly as 1897, Norman Triplett observedthat individuals show better performancein the presence of others, than when theyare performing the same task alone. Forinstance, cyclists racing with each otherperform better than when they cycle alone.With time more details came to be knownabout this phenomenon.• Better performance in the presence of

others is because the person experiencesarousal, which makes the person reactin a more intense manner. Thisexplanation was given by Zajonc (thisname is pronounced to rhyme with‘science’).

• The arousal is because the person feelsshe or he is being evaluated. Cottrellcalled this idea evaluationapprehension. The person will bepraised if the performance is good(reward), or criticised if it is bad(punishment). We wish to get praise andavoid criticism, therefore we try toperform well and avoid mistakes.

• The nature of the task to be performedalso affects the performance in thepresence of others. For example, in thecase of a simple or familiar task, theperson is more sure of performing well,and the eagerness to get praise or rewardis stronger. So the individual performsbetter in the presence of others thans/he does when alone. But in the caseof a complex or new task, the personmay be afraid of making mistakes. The

fear of criticism or punishment isstronger. So the individual performsworse in the presence of others thans/he does when alone.

• If the others present are also performingthe same task, this is called a situationof co-action. In this situation, there issocial comparison and competition.Once again, when the task is simple ora familiar one, performance is betterunder co-action than when the personis alone.In short, task performance can be

facilitated and improved, or inhibited andworsened by the presence of others. Manyother kinds of social influence have beennoticed. For example, if we are workingtogether in a group, the larger the group,the less effort each member puts in. This

Activity6.3

Consider these two situations :Situation X. A person is performing asolo dance in front of an audience.Situation Y. A person is running in arace with five other athletes.

Which of the following factors ispresent in Situation Y, but not inSituation X?

(a) Arousal(b) Evaluation apprehension(c) Competition(d) Difficult taskBased on the given situations,

choose the correct alternative.In the presence of an audience,

evaluation apprehension leads to :A. Improvement in

performance of bothfamiliar and new tasks. Yes No

B. Decline inperformance of bothfamiliar and new tasks. Yes No

C. Improvement inperformance offamiliar tasks, anddecline in performanceof new tasks. Yes No

D. Arousal, which leadsto C. Yes No

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phenomenon is called social loafing, basedon diffusion of responsibility. You will readabout social loafing in the next chapter.

Diffusion of responsibility, which is oftenthe basis of social loafing, can also befrequently seen in situations where peopleare expected to help. We will look into thisaspect and other factors in helpingbehaviour in the section that follows.

PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

Throughout the world, doing good to othersand being helpful is described as a virtue.All religions teach us that we should helpthose who are in need. This behaviour iscalled helping or pro-social behaviour. Pro-social behaviour is very similar to ‘altruism’,which means doing something for orthinking about the welfare of others withoutany self-interest (in Latin ‘alter’ means‘other’, the opposite of ‘ego’ which means‘self’). Some common examples of pro-socialbehaviour are sharing things, cooperatingwith others, helping during naturalcalamities, showing sympathy, doingfavours to others, and making charitabledonations.

Pro-social behaviour has the followingcharacteristics. 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.

For instance, if a rich person donates alot of money that is obtained illegally, withthe idea that her/his photograph and namewill appear in the newspapers, this cannotbe called ‘pro-social behaviour’ although thedonation may do good to many people.

In spite of the great value andimportance attached to pro-social

behaviour, people do not show suchbehaviour very often. Immediately after theMumbai blasts on 11 July, 2006, thecommunity stepped forward to help theblast victims in any way they could. Bycontrast, on an earlier occasion, nobodycame forward to help a girl on a movingsuburban train in Mumbai, when her pursewas being snatched. The other passengersdid nothing to help, and the girl was thrownout of the train. Even as the girl was lyinginjured on the railway tracks, people livingin the buildings around the area did notcome to help her.

The question then is : under whatconditions, and with what motives do peoplehelp others? Research on pro-socialbehaviour has brought out several factorsthat affect pro-social behaviour.

Factors Influencing Pro-social Behaviour

• Pro-social behaviour is based on aninborn, natural tendency in humanbeings to help other members of theirown species. This inborn tendencyfacilitates survival of the species.

• Pro-social behaviour is influenced bylearning. Individuals who are broughtup in a family environment that setsexamples of helping others, emphasiseshelping as a value, and praiseshelpfulness, and showing more pro-social behaviour than individuals whoare brought up in a family environmentdevoid of these features.

• Cultural factors influence pro-socialbehaviour. Some cultures activelyencourage people to help the needy anddistressed. In cultures that encourageindependence, individuals will show lesspro-social behaviour, because people areexpected to take care of themselves, andnot to depend on help from others.Individuals in cultures suffering from ashortage of resources may not show ahigh level of pro-social behaviour.

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• Pro-social behaviour is expressed whenthe situation activates certain socialnorms that require helping others.Three norms have been mentioned inthe context of pro-social behaviour :(a) The norm of social responsibility :

We should help anyone who needshelp, without considering any otherfactor.

(b) The norm of reciprocity : We shouldhelp those persons who have helpedus in the past.

(c) The norm of equity : We should helpothers whenever we find that it is fairto do so. For example, many of usmay feel that it is more fair to help aperson who has lost all belongingsin a flood, than to help a person whohas lost everything throughgambling.

• Pro-social behaviour is affected by theexpected reactions of the person who isbeing helped. For example, people mightbe unwilling to give money to a needyperson because they feel that the personmight feel insulted, or may becomedependent.

• Pro-social behaviour is more likely to beshown by individuals who have a highlevel of empathy, that is, the capacityto feel the distress of the person who isto be helped, such as Baba Saheb Amteand Mother Teresa. Pro-social behaviouris also more likely in situations thatarouse empathy, such as the picture ofstarving children in a famine.

• Pro-social behaviour may be reduced byfactors such as a bad mood, being busywith one’s own problems, or feeling thatthe person to be helped is responsiblefor her/his own situation (that is, whenan internal attribution is made for theneed state of the other person).

• Pro-social behaviour may also bereduced when the number of bystandersis more than one. For example, thevictim of a road accident sometimes does

not get help because there are manypeople standing around the scene of theaccident. Each person thinks that it isnot her/his responsibility alone to givehelp, and that someone else may takethe responsibility. This phenomenon iscalled diffusion of responsibility. Onthe other hand, if there is only onebystander, this person is more likely totake the responsibility and actually helpthe victim.In this chapter, you have learnt about

the basic concepts of attitudes and socialcognition, and got a glimpse of some formsof social behaviour. In the next chapter, youwill read about the influence of groups onthe individual.

Activity6.4

A. Go to the school library with a pileof heavy books and other articles.Outside the library, at a convenientpoint, when you find that (a) onlyone person (bystander) is present,(b) more than one person(bystanders) is present, drop thebooks and articles as though thathappened accidentally. Observethe following :(a) when there was only one

bystander, did that personcome forward to help you topick up the fallen articles ?

(b) when there was more than onebystander, how many of themcame forward to help you topick up the fallen articles?

Have a detailed class discussion.Go through some recent

newspapers and magazines. Collect atleast one report of bystanders givinghelp. Make sure you attachnewspaper/ magazine clippings alongwith the report. Discuss why thebystanders gave help in the situationthat is described. You can also presentdescriptions about people you knowpersonally, who have helped others inemergencies. Write a brief descriptionof those reports and present them inyour class.

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Review Questions

1. Define attitude. Discuss the components of an attitude.2. Are attitudes learnt? Explain how?3. What are the factors that influence the formation of an attitude?4. Is behaviour always a reflection of one’s attitude? Explain with a relevant example.5. Highlight the importance of schemas in social cognition.6. Differentiate between prejudice and stereotype.7. Prejudice can exist without discrimination and vice versa. Comment.8. Describe the important factors that influence impression formation.9. Explain how the attribution made by an ‘actor’ would be different from that of an

‘observer’.10. How does social facilitation take place?11. Explain the concept of pro-social behaviour.12. Your friend eats too much junk food, how would you be able to bring about a change

in her/his attitude towards food?

Key Terms

Actor-observer effect, Arousal, Attitudes, Attribution, Balance, Beliefs, Centrality of attitude, Co-action,Cognitive consistency, Cognitive dissonance, Congruent attitude change, Diffusion of responsibility,Discrimination, Empathy, Evaluation apprehension, Extremeness of attitude, Fundamental attributionerror, Halo effect, Identification, Incongruent attitude change, Kernel of truth, Persuasibility, Prejudice,Primacy effect, Pro-social behaviour, Prototype, Recency effect, Scapegoating, Schema, Self-fulfillingprophecy, Simplicity or complexity (multiplexity) of attitude, Social facilitation, Social loafing, Stereotype,Valence of attitude, Values.

• Human beings have a need to interact with and relate to others, and to explain theirown as well as others’ behaviour.

• People develop attitudes, or thoughts and behavioural tendencies, through learningprocesses, family and school influences, reference groups and the media. Attitudeshave an affective, cognitive and behavioural component, and can be understood interms of valence, extremeness, simplicity or complexity (multiplexity) and centrality.

• Attitude change takes according to the balance concept, cognitive consonance andthe two-step concept. Attitude change is affected by characteristics of the source, thetarget, and the message. Negative attitudes (prejudices) towards a group often createconflicts within a society, and are expressed through discrimination, but there arepractical strategies for handling prejudice.

• The entire set of processes involved in understanding the social world around us iscalled social cognition, which is guided by mental structures known as social schemas.One kind of social schema, a stereotype, contains overgeneralised beliefs about aparticular group, often leads to and strengthens prejudices.

• Impression formation takes place in a systematic way, and exhibits effects such asprimacy and recency, and the halo effect.

• People also assign causes to their own and others’ behaviour, and to experiencessuch as success and failure, by attributing internal or external causes. Attributionshows effects such as the fundamental attribution error and actor-observer effect.

• Because of arousal and evaluation apprehension in the presence of others,performance of familiar tasks may improve (social facilitation) and performance ofunfamiliar or new tasks may decline (social inhibition).

• People respond to others who are in need by helping them (pro-social behaviour),but this is determined by several factors.

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ProjectIdeas

1. Attitudes Towards and Awareness of Waste Management : A SurveyThe problem of household garbage (domestic waste) is common in most Indian cities.The concern for a clean environment is increasing, but we do not know to what extentcitizens know how to dispose of the garbage that collects in their household. Alongwith some of your classmates, conduct a survey in your own colony to find out whatpeople do about household garbage. Each student may visit two houses in their colony,and ask the heads of the household the following questions. Their answers must bewritten down.1. What do you do with old newspapers, magazines, tins, and bottles ?2. What do you do with plastic packets, and other plastic objects (for example, toys,

containers etc.)?3. How do you dispose of kitchen waste (e.g., vegetable and fruit peels, used tea leaves

or tea-bags, left-over food that cannot be eaten etc.)?4. How do you dispose of other used objects that contain chemical substances (e.g.

torch cells, used or damaged CDs, cassettes, insecticide and pesticide containersetc.)?

5. Do you put all the garbage collected in your house everyday in the same place, or doyou put different kinds of garbage in separate dustbins/waste-baskets?

6. What happens to the garbage that is collected from your house and neighbourhoodand where is it taken?

7. What is the meaning of ‘recycling’?8. What can you do (personally) to make your colony/neighbourhood more clean?

Compare the responses collected by all the students, and see what kind of attitudesand awareness people show about waste management at the household level.

2. Interpersonal Judgment ExerciseThe following exercise will help you to see how well you and your best friend know eachother.

For each quality listed below, give ratings for yourself (Column 1) and for your bestfriend in your class (Column 2). Also ask your friend to do the same kind of rating, forhimself/herself (Column 1) and for you (Column 2). Use the following rating scale :

1 2 3 4 5

Very low Low Neither low High Very highon the quality nor high on the quality

After you and your friend have completed the ratings, copy Column 2 ratings fromyour friend’s sheet on your sheet, under Column 3. Compare Column 3 ratings withColumn 1 ratings in the case of each quality. Ask your friend to do the same task – thatis, copy Column 2 ratings from your sheet on her/his sheet, under Column 3, andcompare these ratings with her/his Column 1 ratings. Enter Column 3 minusColumn 1 under Column 4.

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4

You rate You rate Rating of you Column 3yourself your friend by your friend minus Column 1

FriendlyTenseSincerePleasantOpen to new ideas

Examine the following. Are there any zeros in Column 4? On which quality is thedifference greatest? On which quality is the difference smallest (other than zero)?

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Weblinks

http://tip.psychology.org/attitude.htmlhttp://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/schema.htmhttp://www.12manage.com/methods_heider_attribution_theory.htmlhttp://www.answers.com/topic/social-facilitation

In general, have you given yourself a higher or lower rating than what your friend has givenyou? Has your friend given herself/himself a higher or lower rating than what you have givenyour friend? The sign of the difference (plus or minus) should be noted only to see the directionof the difference.

The closer the ratings between Column 1 and Column 3 for both of you, the better youknow each other. You can also compare your Column 1 with your friend’s Column 1. The moresimilar these two ratings are, the greater the similarity between you and your friend.

Pedagogical Hints

1. In the topic of attitudes, studentsshould be made to understand thedistinction between attitudes assuch (with the A-B-C components)on one hand, and behaviour relatedto the attitude, on the other.

2. To explain attitude change, studentsmay be encouraged to think of real-life examples of attitude change, forinstance, attempts made byadvertisers to promote theirproducts through media. Thendiscuss whether these attempts tochange attitude are actuallysuccessful or not.

3. To enable students to understandthe relationships among schemas,prototypes and prejudice, giveexamples of how stereotypes, asforms of prototypes, may lead toprejudice.

4. In the topic of social cognition,students should be able tounderstand that impressionformation and attribution are basiccognitive processes that help inprocessing information about otherpersons. The role of schemas has tobe emphasised in this context.

5. Social facilitation and pro-socialbehaviour must be discussed asaspects that highlight thebehavioural rather than cognitiveaspects of social life.

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