- Social psychology studies how an individual’s behaviour is influenced by other people and the social environment.
- Social behaviour occurs in the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.
- People form attitudes (ways of thinking) about others and social issues due to social influences.
- Understanding social behaviour requires studying both social-cognitive processes and observable behaviour.
- Social psychologists go beyond common sense to scientifically explain how people understand their own and others’ behaviour.
Definitions [1]
Define attitude.
Kretch and Crutchfield and Ballachey (1962) hold that attitudes have an adoptive significance in that they represent a fundamental psychological link between a person’s ability to perceive, feel and learn while giving order and meaning to his continuing experience in a complex social environment.
Key Points
Key Points: Concept of Social Behaviour
Key Points: Nature and Components of Attitudes
- Subject-Object Relationship: Attitudes are linked to specific objects, people, or situations, and are shaped through social interaction and personal experiences.
- Components of Attitude (ABC Model): Attitudes consist of three components: cognitive (beliefs), affective (emotions), and behavioural (actions), which together guide a person’s behaviour.
- Development Through Experience: Attitudes develop through both direct (personal experiences) and indirect (social influences, such as family and peers) experiences.
- Valence and Emotional Tone: Attitudes are never neutral; they are positive, negative, or neutral, shaped by emotions like love, hate, or fear, and influence how we react to objects or situations.
- Guidance of Behaviour: Attitudes direct behaviour by creating a tendency to approach (positive) or avoid (negative) certain things, guiding responses to the environment.
- Enduring Nature: Attitudes are generally stable and consistent over time, though they can change through new experiences, learning, or social interactions.
- Attitude Change and Complexity: Attitudes can be changed by new information or experiences. They can be simple or complex, with central attitudes having a more significant impact on other attitudes and behaviour.
Key Points: Formation of Attitude
- Attitudes Are Learned: Attitudes develop through personal experiences, interactions, and indirect genetic influences.
- Socialisation: Attitudes form through interactions with family, peers, and media, which teach values and behaviours.
- Learning by Rewards & Punishments: Positive behaviours lead to favourable attitudes, while negative behaviours result in unfavourable ones.
- Personal & Vicarious Experience: Attitudes can form from direct personal experiences or by observing others' behaviours and their outcomes.
- Cognitive Development: As children grow, they differentiate and develop more complex attitudes based on their experiences.
- Reference Groups: Family, peers, and social groups influence attitude formation and guide behaviour through group norms.
- Media & Classical Conditioning: Media shapes attitudes by providing indirect information, while attitudes also form by associating experiences with positive or negative stimuli.
Key Points: Attitude Change
- Importance of Attitude Change: Attitudes influence behaviour and social life; changing negative attitudes is necessary to reduce conflict and tension.
- Balance Theory (Heider): Attitude changes when there is imbalance in relationships (P–O–X triangle). People change their attitudes to restore psychological balance.
- Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger): When beliefs and behaviour conflict, people feel discomfort and change attitudes to restore consistency.
- Two-Step Model (Mohsin): Attitude change occurs through identification with a source, followed by imitation of the source’s changed behaviour.
- Nature of Existing Attitude: Strong, extreme, central, and highly accessible attitudes are harder to change than weak or less important ones.
- Source and Message Factors: Credibility, attractiveness of the source, emotional or rational appeal, and face-to-face communication influence attitude change.
- Target Characteristics: Personality traits such as openness, self-esteem, intelligence, and prejudice levels affect how easily a person’s attitude changes.
Key Points: Attitude-Behaviour Relationship
- Attitudes do not always lead to matching behaviour; sometimes behaviour may be different from one’s attitude.
- Attitude and behaviour are consistent when the attitude is strong, important, and the person is aware of it.
- Consistency is higher when there is no external pressure and when behaviour is not being judged by others.
- LaPiere’s study showed that people’s stated attitudes (negative towards Chinese) did not match their actual behaviour (providing service).
- Sometimes behaviour shapes attitude, as shown in Festinger and Carlsmith’s study, where actions led individuals to change their attitudes.
Key Points: Prejudice and Discrimination
- Prejudice is a negative attitude toward a group; discrimination is its behavioural expression.
- Prejudice has cognitive (stereotype), emotional (hatred), and behavioural (discrimination) components.
- It creates social distance, conflict, and tension in society.
- Prejudices are learned through family, media, culture, and experience.
- Ingroup bias leads to favouring one’s own group and disliking others.
- Scapegoating blames minority groups for problems.
- Self-fulfilling prophecy and belief in a “kernel of truth” help prejudice continue
Key Points: Strategies for Handling Prejudice
- Prejudice can be reduced by minimising opportunities to learn stereotypes and by changing negative attitudes.
- Education and spreading correct information help in correcting stereotypes and reducing ingroup bias.
- Increasing positive intergroup contact reduces mistrust and improves understanding.
- Intergroup contact is effective when groups interact cooperatively, have equal status, and engage in close interaction.
- Emphasising individual identity over group identity helps weaken prejudice based on ingroup–outgroup differences.
Important Questions [5]
- Explain any two components of attitudes.
- Explain the characteristics of an attitude in terms of complexity and centrality.
- Values and beliefs are not the same as attitudes. Explain this statement with the help of examples.
- How does self-fulfilling prophecy help in strengthening prejudices? Give an example to support your answer.
- Ashwin’s roommate at college, who belonged to a particular State, was always rude and selfish towards him.
