ATTITUDE FORMATION

We form attitudes of various nature and valence about different entities of our social world

1) Cognitively Based Attitudes संज्ञानात्मक रूप पर आधाररत Sometimes our attitudes are
based primarily on the relevant facts तथ्य , as the objective merits,गुण featurविशेषता ,
properties प्रकृवत of an attitude object. An attitude of this kind allows us to classify the
plus and minuses of an object so that we can quickly determine whether we want to
have anything to do with it.

For example your choice for automobile or vacuum cleaner is based on feature of object.

Fill it for computer.

उपयोगी/ज्ञानिर्धक / सुरवित,/ खतरनाक- वितकारी /बेकार – बहुमूल्य / उतम – दोष / स्वसठिर्धक

a) Personal Importance व्यक्तिगत महत्व : The extent to which an individual cares about
the attitude. One key determinant of personal importance is vested interest वनवित स्वार्ध — the
extent to which the attitude is personally relevant प्रासंवगक, ,जरूरी, अियस्कता की पूवतध , लक्ष्य की
पूवतध to the individual who holds it, in।

कान्फ्लिक्ट अररसेस ड्यू तो टू सौरकेस

Moral hypocrisy नैवतकता का ढोंग --- want to be moral but not act to be so because it cost lot, we
don’t want to pay price , or sacrifice for it. Example cheating in exam, corruption in
services(civil servantore)

b) Mere Exposure

Tendency to develop more positive feeling towards attitude object that are
more exposed

Zajonc (1968) proposed that being merely exposed to an object, including foods, photographs,
words, advertising slogans(when the stimuli are initially neutral), etc., may increase positive
feelings towards that object.

In a study by Zajonc (1968), participants were repeatedly exposed to nonsense syllables and to
Chinese characters and repeated exposure led to increase in positive evaluations of both the
nonsense syllables and the Chinese characters.

Answer the following question quickly, without giving much thought: What are
your favorite letters of the alphabet?

I am sure you would have answered with the letter with which your own name begins? This is
line with the mere exposure effect

Take selfy and original photograph by student.

Generally, this means that familiarity, in fact, may not breed contempt पररवित का अिमानना निीं
करते . Familiar facesजाने पििाने िेिरे , ideas वििार and slogans उन्फ्ि, नारा (इं कलाब वजंदाबाद
)become comfortable old friends सिज वमत्र .

This mechanism is explicitly evident in the advertisement slogans. Repeated exposure to these
slogans leads us to like the advertised item. This liking is further translated into buying
behaviour.

However, studies have shown that the mere exposure effect is most powerful when it occurs
randomly over time and too many exposures actually may decrease the effect (Bornstein, 1989).

2)Affectively Based Attitudes--An attitude rooted more in emotions and values

than on an objective appraisal of pluses and minuses is called an affectively based
attitude
(Breckler & Wiggins, 1989; Bülbül & Menon, 2010; Zanna & Rempel, 1988).
People seem to vote more with their hearts than their minds, for example, caring more
about how they feel about a candidate than their beliefs about his or her specific policies
(Abelson et al., 1982; Westen, 2007). Virtually know nothing about specific politicians

एसी िजि से वकसी के बहुत खरब या बेकार िोने के बािजूद पसंद करते िै वदल का मामला, विवमनल, म
का बिो के प्रवत नजररया

Some of the attitude can stem from people’s values, such as basic religious and moral
beliefs

Other affectively based attitudes can result from a sensory reaction, such as liking the
taste of
chocolate (despite its number of calories), or an aesthetic reaction, such as admiring a
painting or the shape and color of a car.

Movie of shahrukh khan ddlg, bazigar.( dil jtne ka kam)

Attitude about snake

दू र रहना –प्यार करने ,क्तिनता –िुशी ,चिढ़ –िुशी ,तनाव – शांचत , नीरस –उत्तेचित ,
नफरत – स्वीकार , शो क संतृप्त – आनंद से भर िाना

a) Classical Conditioning(Learning attitudes by association)

Classical conditioning could play a role in establishing some of the emotional components of
attitudes

Classical conditioning can produce a positive/negative attitude towards a previously neutral

object through association (pairing) thus it is also called associative learning.
Study conducted by Ivan Pavlov where bell can evoke a physiological response of salivation
after repeated pairing with meat powder.

Learning is automatic, unconscious, involuntarily, or incidental

Watson, pioneer of behaviorism, demonstrated that how a negative emotional response (fear)
could be acquired through classical conditioning. Watson conditioned an 11month old boy,
‘Little Albert’, to develop a fear response to a white rat.

Some Liking or disliking of subject is formed due to its association with teacher.(see the
book in hindi ( )
Advertisers repeatedly present their brands associated with celebrities to increase the sale of
product.

children who hear repeated word pairings in their parents' conversations (such as Muslims'
Aggressive, Muslims-Fundamentalists) during their early years of development may develop
negative attitudes without even meeting the.

Jinnah and india, Jinnah and Pakistan. Ncert pattern change- govt agenda.

Further, through classical conditioning, people may come to have powerful attitudinal reactions
to social objects even in the absence of firsthand experience. Hence, children who hear repeated
pairings of words in their parents’ conversations (such as say, Muslims-Aggressive, Muslims-
Fundamentalists) throughout their early years of development may come to adopt such negative
attitudes themselves— without even meeting them.

b)Instrumental Conditioning Learning attitudes by being rewarded or punished

This is the process of instrumental conditioning, a basic form of learning studied by Thorndike
(1911) and Skinner (1938). According to this, behaviors that are followed by positive outcomes
पररणाम , नतीजा tend to be strengthened, while those that are followed by negative outcomes are
suppressed.

Group Affiliations- no body want to be alone, we want to beliked, cared, interact, express,with
other therefore we want to estaiblish, maintain, and restore our positive relationship(family,
frainds, society).
Want to be part of group,

An individual adopts the values, norms, beliefs and way of behaviour, in order to gain
acceptance in that group. This is rewarding
Affect is a common component in attitude change, persuasion, social influence,
and even decision making. How we feel about an outcome may override purely
cognitive rationales.

See the book in hindi ( )

3) Behaviorally Based Attitudes A behaviorally based attitude

There are Circumstances people don’t know how they feel until they see how they
behave.

For example, suppose you asked a friend how much she likes to exercise. If she replies,
“Well, I guess I like it, because I always seem to be going for a run or heading over to
the gym to work out,” we would say she has a behaviorally based attitude. Her attitude
is based more on an observation of her behavior than on her cognitions or affect.

Self perception theory (Bem, 1965)—attitude are formed from observingवनरीिण

our own behavior and attributing them as internal cause.

As noted in Chapter 5, people infer their attitudes from their behavior only under
certain condition शतों .

First, their initial attitude has to be weak कमजोर or ambiguous अस्पष्ट . If your friend
already has a strong attitude toward exercising, she does not have to observe वनरीिण her
behavior to infer how she feels about it.

Bem argued that we are more likely to make attitude inference when our behavior is
freely chosen
(advice- when you are not clear about thought, feeling, then see your behavior , this is
the best way to guide other

Second, people infer their attitudes from their own behavior only when there are no
other plausible explanations available. If your friend believes she exercises to lose
weight or because her doctor has ordered her to, she is unlikely to assume that she runs
and works
out because she enjoys it. (See Chapter 5 for a more detailed description of self-
perception

Facial feed back hypothesis( Strack ,Martin and Stepper, 1988)

postulate that facial expression provide feedback to the brain concerning the specific
emotion being expressed which not only reinforce emotion but also cause the emotion.

Laughing exercise.

Participant were told to tell how funny the presented cartoon image were, according to
them.
Half to hold pen in between lips and half in between teeth.
Pen in teeth (like smiling) – greater liking of cartoon
Pen In lips (prevent smiling ) ---less liking of cartoon

Observational Learning Learning attitudes through modeling (observing others)

The phenomenon by which a person acquires new forms of behavior or thought simply by
observing अिलोकन others is called observational learning.

Often it is not through association, or through reward and punishment, that we 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

Indian idole, sa re ga, ma pa, dance india dance.

The rationale behind commercials of say, Pizza Hut which show someone ordering and then
obviously enjoying a pizza is that the viewer will also form a positive attitude vicariously and
imitate such behaviour in the future.

Simple imitation.
Children growing often watch parents and significant others in the family and society doing
things which they follow without questioning the wisdom or logic behind these activities

Girl child, gali, descrinatory behavior.

Jaisa karoge waisa paoge (bap ko pareshan kiya hai to beta bhi pareshan karega)
See the book in hindi

2.3.2 Attitude Accessibility( upalbhdhata ), avaibility

Attitude accessibility refers to the ease with which attitudes can be retrieved from memory, in
other words how readily available is an attitude about an object, issue, or situation।।

Finally, repeated expression of an attitude tends to make that attitude more C accessible in the
future (Powell & Fazio, 1984).

Research has found highly accessible attitudes to be more predictive of a wide variety of
behaviours such as voting and selection of consumer products than are attitudes low in
accessibility

politicin campain—poster, bhasn, pamplate, gana, use of celebrity. Bhojan , paisa.

suggesting that affect-based evaluations are more accessible in memory than cognition-based
evaluations

Attitude ambivalence(चिपक्षीयता )----Attitude ambivalence refers to the fact that they

simultaneously possess both positive and negative attitudes toward the object in question. Our
evaluations are often mixed,

Attitude ambivalence occurs when there is evaluative tension associated with one’s attitude
because the summary includes both positive and negative evaluations. This is manifested in
the person feeling mixed or torn about the attitude object.

Attitude ambivalence may also be the result of conflicting values वबरोर्ी मूल्यों के कारण . For e.g.
you may have an ambivalent attitude towards arranged marriages, because on one hand you
value obedience and adherence to parents; on the other, you may value freedomस्वतंत्रता, and
personal choice व्ययन्फ्िगत पसंद

Thus attitude are acquired through learning not inhirited (by birth.)
िंशानुगत
1.4.4 Genetic Factors
Some research (Waller et al., 1990; Keller et al., 1992) indicates that our attitudes, at least a
tendency to develop certain views about various topics or issues, are inherited.

For instance, Arvey et al. (1989) studied the level of job satisfaction of 34 sets of identical twins
separated from each other at an early age, and found that approximately 30% of job satisfaction
appears to be explainable by genetic factors. Tesser (1993) has argued that hereditary variables
may affect attitudes— but believes that they may do so indirectly.

Additional research suggests that genetic factors play a stronger role in shaping some attitudes
than others. For e.g., attitudes involving gut-level preferences (say a preference for a certain kind
of food) may be more strongly influenced by genetic factors than attitudes that are more
cognitive in nature (say attitudes towards environment conservation)

Sources of attitude formation

See book
Learning through exposure to information : + Media-related Influences

See book
Learning attitude through group.---- many of the attitude of the individual have their
source and their support in the groups to which individual belong.

His attitude tend to reflect the belief , values, and norms of his group.

A belief मान्यता is an idea that we hold as being correct in the absence of fact or poof of its
existence.
Swarg- narak, atma, kayamat ki rat, karm phal sidhant, belief in god, cow,

For example, a marriage proposal between first cousins is viewed favorably in Muslim culture
while in Hindu culture it is viewed with disdain

Value (अदसध ) Values are attitudes or beliefs that contain a ‘should’ or ‘ought’ aspect, ideal mode of
behavior such as moral or ethical values. One example of a value is the idea that one should work hard,
or that one should always be honest, because honesty is the best policy. विं सा निीं करना िाविए ,अविं सा
परमों र्मध , सुड़खरी निीं करना िाविए

it is clear that some attitudes are formed through the influence of long-standing values internalized
early in life. A person having a value sets a standard for guiding her/his actions in life .

Values are relatively more stable and enduring than attitudes. Further, if we know an
individual’s values, we are better able to predict behavior if we know value of person.
Norms मानक are unwritten rules about behavior that everyone is supposed to show under specific
circumstances. Over time, these norms may become part of our social cognition, in the form of
attitudes.

बड़ों को प्रणाम , से sorry , पांत मे एकसार् खा कर उठना ,

An individual adopts the values, norms, beliefs and way of behavior accordig to the group.

But why so. What pushes this Going with group

Group conformity—(- going along with group, agreeable, ) Conformity: A type of social influence in which
individuals change their attitudes or behavior in order to adhere to existing social norms.

Need of Affiliations- (attachment, connection, or bonding) no body want to be alone, we want to

be like, cared, interact, express, with other therefore we want to establish, maintain, and restore
our positive relationship(family, friends, society).
Want to be part of group

Birth day wishes, marriage anniversary.

Second norms represent a set of unwritten and informal ‘rules’ of behavior that provide information to
members of a group about what is expected of them in specific situations. This makes the whole
situation clearer, and allows both the individual and the group to function more smoothly

Third Behaving in a way that differs from the expected form of behavior may lead to disapproval or
dislike by others, which is a form of social punishment.

Most people believe that the majority is more likely to be right rather than wrong.

Exposed to same information.

The question arises that what type of group.

See book
Family and School Environment :(primary group)

Is it required to be physically the part of group?

2. Reference Groups

Reference group –Mustafa sheriff defined reference groups as those groups to which the individual
relates or identify himself as part or to which he aspires to relate or to be part of that group
psychologically.
 There is always norms regarding acceptable behavior and ways of thinking for reference group which
form attitude for individual.

According to Hyman it denote groups that are used as standard or reference point by an individual in
order to determine own status.

Individual compare his own position with reference group and If found deprive or lagging then people
want to improve his status by imitating, perusing them, aspiration to be part of that group,

Group confirmation/ group affiliation pressure also works directly or indirectly. Teen ager member
group exert heaviness for choice of clothing

Reward and punishment also happens.

First proposed by leon festinger and suggested that people have an innate drive to evaluate
themselves , often in comparison to others

See book

3. Personal Experiences :

WHY DO WE HOLD ATTITUDES?

Attitude are formed and changed because they satisfy certain needs or fulfill functions ,

Katz (1960) proposed four attitude functions,

1 Utilitarian Function (also Called Instrumental Function), adjustment function----

Katz says we develop positive attitudes towards those objects that are associated with rewards
and develop negative attitudes toward those that are associated with punishment.(based on
operant conditioning)
Appraisal characteristics provide this knowledge what is valuable, important, satisfying need,
achieving goal

Personal Importance व्यक्तिगत महत्व : The extent to which an individual cares about the
attitude. One key determinant of personal importance is vested interest वनवित स्वार्ध — the extent
to which the attitude is personally relevant प्रासंवगक, ,जरूरी, अियस्कता की पूवतध , लक्ष्य की पूवतध to
the individual who holds it, in।

The adjustment function direct people toward pleasurable, rewarding,benificial object And away
from unpleasant ,undesirable and harmful ones ( adjustment function ). This motivates the person
to adjust with the ( environment (social approval)

This will answer your most of the attitude object you are holding.

Reservation, kisan bill,

2 Knowledge Function

We all have a need to attain some degree of meaningful, stable, clear, and organized view of the
world (just as most of us have a need to maintain an organized cupboard!)

Attitudes satisfy this knowledge function by providing a frame of reference for organizing our
world so that it makes sense. Using such a cognitive perspective, attitudes serve as schemas that
help us in organizing and interpreting social information.

Help to make world more understandable, predictable, and knowable so gives us sense of
control.

We find that attitudes provide a background that makes it easier for a person to decide how to act in
new situations. For example, our attitude towards foreigners may indirectly provide a mental ‘layout’ or
‘blueprint’ for the way in which we should behave whenever we meet one.

This allow us to predict what is likely to happen , so gives us sense of control.

1.5.4 Value-Expressive Function

Finally, Katz proposed that attitudes may serve a value-expressive function, such that an attitude
may express an individual’s self-concept and central values. For example, a person
Might cycle to work because she values health and wishes to preserve the environment
Value system, or vyapak attitude

It seems logical to assume that only important and strongly self-related (central) attitudes should
serve the value-expressive function

Ego Defensive Function

ego-defensive function is fulfilled by attitudes that defend the self-esteem or self images
against internal conflict which causes guilt, or anxiety or discomfort psychologically in a
person.

This involve defense mechanism (denial, repression, projection, rationalization) to protect

themselves from psychological harm.

Bad golfers might develop an intense dislike for the game because their poor performance
threatens their self-esteem.

New employment vs old employment ( immature, bachhe hai)

Change in attitude
See book first
Cognitive consistency -------- attitude change via internal discrepancy or internal cause

1) balance theory. proposed by Fritz Heider 2) Cognitive dissonance proposed by Leon Festinger.
3) The two-step concept was proposed by S.M. Mohsin
Persuation – attitude change via an external message.

Gestalt psychology—
The whole is greater than(more important than) the sum of its parts
we tend to search for order in disorder.
Cat ka figure

For social perception we also focused for harmonious and coherent whole.( meanningfull, rational,
justify)

The concept of balance, proposed by Fritz Heider is sometimes described in the form of the ‘P-O-X’
triangle, which represents the relationships between three aspects or components of the attitude. P is
the person whose attitude is being studied, O is another person, and X is the topic towards which the
attitude is being studied (attitude object). It is also possible that all three are persons
explain with example od dahez

But right side is imbalance situation , explain with example od dahez

A balance system is one in which you agree with liked

because imbalance is logically uncomfortable. Therefore, the attitude changes in the direction of
balance

Cognitive Dissonance:

The term cognitive dissonance (or dissonance for short) refers to the unpleasant feelings we experience when
we notice a gap between two attitudes we hold, or between our attitudes and our behavior
1)Force compliance behavior--There are many occasions in everyday life
when we feel compelled to say or do things inconsistent with our true
attitudes. A couple of examples: Your friend shows you her new sweater
and asks how you like it. You think that the color is horrible, but you don’t
say that. Instead you say, “Nice . . . really nice.”
2

decision we we tend to increase our liking for what we chose and decrease our liking what we don’t
choose.

This happens when there is a freedom of choice (going market and purchasing some item alone, my first
shoose). You cant justify your action and orient to liking.

3) effort---when you put lot of effort into something later on realize it’s not worth
for you.
Insufficient justification---festinger and carlsmith (1959)
Participent—do boring task( emptying and filling trays, turning 48 wooden pegs)—three group—
telling lie to next participant (confederator)—it is great and injoyable task---1$ vs $ 20$ , no $---which
– they were ask to report their true feeling—what would be result- 1$ greater inconsistency, more
dissonance- thus change in attitude.

See book
Dissonance theory also predicts that the weaker the reasons we have for engaging in
attitude-discrepant behavior, the greater the pressure to change these attitudes. Why is
this so? Because when we have strong reasons for engaging in attitude-discrepant
behavior, we realize that these are responsible for our saying or doing things
inconsistent with our true attitudes. As a result, we experience very little dissonance.
When we have only weak reasons for engaging in attitude-discrepant
behavior,however, dissonance is stronger, and so is the pressure to change our attitudes
(see Figure 16.10).

Example of jews change themind set

Finding were contrary to the operant conditioning principal.

There is indirect way of managing dissonance

1) Acquire new information.

2) Trivializing – attitude are not important
3) Self affirmation—effort to restore positive self evaluation that are threatened by dissonance
(chori nahi band kar sakte hai lekin padha to sakte hai.

Psychologists use specialized terms to describe certain classes of attitudes. For e.g., an attitude towards
the self is called self-esteem, negative attitudes towards specific groups are called prejudice, attitudes
towards individuals are called interpersonal attraction, and attitude towards own job is called job
satisfaction

Explain “Telling a lie for twenty dollar experiment “ by using self perception theory, cognitive
dissonance theory and functional theory (ego defense by justifying the act )

Persuasion अनुन न , राजी करना , मानना, अपने पि मे करना

persuasion—efforts to change our attitudes through communication सूिना, संिार, सम्प्रेषण , संदेश by
others without duress दबाि

intentional change in attitude.

Elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

A cognitive model of persuasion suggesting that persuasion can occur through distinct
routes.

Two different processes, reflecting different amounts of cognitive effort (mental

effort) on the part of message recipients( प्राप्तकताध ), can occur

The first, known as the central route to persuasion, occurs when recipients find a
message interesting, important, or personally relevant उपयोवगक (Zuwerink & Devine,
1996), and when nothing else (such as distraction विकषधण ,व्यिर्ान or prior knowledge of
the message) prevents them from devoting careful attention to it. In such cases,
individuals may examine the message in a carefulध्यानपूिधक and thoughtful वििारशील
manner, evaluating the strength of the argumentsतकध it contains.

If their reactions are favorable, their attitudes and other existing cognitive structures
may be changed, and persuasion occurs.
Under these conditions, attitude change may occur in the presence of a critical analysis
of the contents of the message.

Focused on content of message thus deep processing occur (naïve scientist)

Systematic thinking.

But sometimes the strength of the arguments doesn’t matter. Sometimes we’re not motivated enough
or able to think carefully. If we’re distracted, uninvolved,जुड़ाि निीं , अवनिा , or just plain busy, we may
not take the time to reflect on the message’s content. This doesn’t mean that it can’t affect
them, however. On the contrary, in such cases persuasion can still occur, according to
the ELM—but this time through what is known as the peripheral route.

In peripheral route-- Attitude change that occurs in response to persuasion cues—संकेत

Or perhaps the source of the message is very high in status, prestige, expertise, or
credibility or attractiveness y.

Perhaps the message contains something that induces positive feelings, such as a very
attractive model or a scene of breathtaking natural beauty (see Figure 16.9). or “long
messages are credible

Focuses on surface feature thus superficial processing occur.

Under these conditions, attitude change may occur in the absence of a critical analysis
of the contents of the message.

Heuristic processing (cognitive miser)

Computer ads typically take the central route, by assuming their audience wants to systematically
compare features and prices. Insurance,

Needless to say, advertisers, political promoters, salespersons, and others wishing to

change our attitudes are well aware of this peripheral route to persuasion, and often try
to use it when they realize that the arguments they can marshal in support of their
products or candidates are not strong or convincingपि मजबूत निीं , तथ्य न मे दम निीं ,

Soft-drink ads usually take the peripheral route, by merely associating their product with glamour,
pleasure, and good moods.
Central route processing more often produces enduring attitude change

Source characteristics, Message characteristics, Target characteristics

Source characteristics --The communicator—

One of the most straightforward and reliable findings in Persuasion research is that the more
favorable peoples evaluate the communicator the more they modified their attitude in the
direction of communication or to the position they advocate.

several aspects of communicator influence whether the communicator is evaluated

favorably.

Credibility-(साख ,विश्वसनीयता) Communication attributed to high credibility sources produced more

attitude change than those from the low credibility source.

There are two separate components of credibility namely expertise and trustworthiness भरोसेमं

expertise – expert , विशेषज्ञ , KNOWLEGIBLE , जानकार For example, adults who are planning to buy a
laptop are more convinced by a computer engineer who points out the special features of a particular
brand of laptop, than they would be by a schoolchild who might give the same information.

Regardless of expertise it is important that a communicator be perceived as unbiased वनसपि वनिःस्वार्ध

and trustworthy. People who dislike or do not trust a communicator often reject the message by
attacking the source.

Example- district judge and criminal making statement– Whether law enforcement agencies
should be given more power or not. -- If judge say no then it will be persuasive because the
person is more informed and an expert in this field than criminal.

But if the criminal takes a position against his own self interest and argues in favor of Strengthening law
and enforcement then the criminal becomes quite persuasive.

Communicator are seen as specially trustworthy when they have little to gain from the particular stands
they adopt, but as somewhat less trustworthy when they have incentive for making statements or when
they stand to gain personally from persuading other of their position

One way that communicators can encourage this perception is to argue for a position that seems to be
contrary to their self interest

Yet multiple sources have this advantage only when their judgments are regarded as truly independent
of each other (Ziegler, Diehl, & Ruther, 2002).
Liking — Because we try to make our cognitions consistent with our affect, it follows that we
are likely to change our attitudes to agree with those of the people we like.
Attractive people may influence our attitude. ( model for product, celebrity in campaign) peripheral
route
.
Reference Groups. We are also persuaded when a position is adopted by a group of people
We like or identify with. Such groups are called reference group. In the case of laptop purchase if the
buyers are themselves schoolchildren, they may be convinced more by another schoolchild advertising a
laptop than they would be by a professional giving the same information (see Figure 6.1 in ncert)

Two reasons that reference groups are so effective in producing attitude change are liking
and similarity (Holz & Miller, 1985).

Derogating the score— Attacking the source of communication Has benefit that all future
argument made by him Will be less powerful. Will a opponent has been discredited Anything
he or she Says carries less weight for example this technique is used in Politics, informal
debate ,court room trial.

People who speak rapidly are often more persuasive than persons who speak more
slowly (Miller et al., 1976). So, contrary to popular belief, we do not always distrust fast-
talking politicians and salespersons

The Communicator as a Peripheral Cue --The prediction from the elaboration-likelihood model is that
communicator characteristics are often used as simple peripheral cues to persuasion when we cannot or
are not motivated to process arguments carefully. When we engage in little cognitive effort, we know
we can rely on a trusted communicator's view- point, so we can avoid thinking the argument through
ourselves.

multiple sources. --Another factor that enhances perceptions of trustworthiness is multiple sources.
When several people say the same thing, they are more persuasive than when a single person makes
the same argument, presumably because several individuals are perceived to be less subject to a
personal, idiosyncratic bias (Harkins & Petty, 1981).

Message characteristic
The message is the information that is presented in order to bring about an attitude change.

strong arguments have a decided advantage. above all.

In the absence of strong argu- ments, peripheral cues, such as source characteristics or the sheer
number of arguments, have more impact.
Attitudes will change when the amount of information that is given about the topic is just enough,
neither too much nor too little.

Messages that do not appear to be designed to change our attitudes are often more
successful than ones that seem intended to reach this goal (Walster & Festinger, 1962).
In other words, we generally don’t trust—and generally refuse to be influenced by—
persons who overtly set out to persuade us. This is one reason why the soft sell is so
popular in advertising—and in politics.

rational or an emotional appeal,--

The answer: It depends on the audience. Well-educated or analytical people are
responsive to rational appeals (Cacioppo & others, 1983, 1996; Hovland & others, 1949).
Thoughtful, involved audiences often travel the central route; they are more responsive
to reasoned arguments.

See the column of book

Uninterested audiences more often travel the peripheral route; they are more affected
by their liking of the communicator
(Chaiken, 1980; Petty & others, 1981).

Of course, an argument can be both reasonable and emotional. You can marry passion
and logic. Still,

The effect of arousing fear

Fear-arousing messages can also be effective, especially if the recipients feel vulnerable
but can take protective action. When persuading people to cut down on smoking, get a
tetanus shot, or drive carefully, bp and sugar check, aids, a fear-arousing message can
be potent (

The effect of good feelings

Messages also become more persuasive through association with good feelings.

Good feelings often enhance persuasion, partly by enhancing positive thinking and
partly by linking good feelings with the message

Thus, if you can’t make a strong case, you might want to put your audience in a good
mood and hope they’ll feel good about your message without thinking too much about
it.

Designed not to influence

People are more persuaded by messages that do not seem to be designed to influence them (Petty &
Cacioppo, 1986; Walster & Festinger, 1962).

two-sided communication
It is generally better to present a two-sided communication (one that presents arguments for and
against your position) than aone-sided communication (one that presents only arguments
favoring your position), especially when you are sure to refute the arguments on the other side of the
issue (Cornelis, Cauberghe, & De Pelesmacker, 2014; Igou & Bless, 2003;
Who: The Source of the Communication Lumsdaine & Janis, 1953).

primacy effect and recency effect

In terms of speech order, if speeches are to be given back to back and there will be a delay before
people have to make up their minds, it is better to go .rst before the person arguing for the other side.
Under these conditions, there is likely to be a primacy effect wherein people are more influenced by
what they hear .first. If there is a delay between the speeches and people will make up their minds right
after hearing the second one, it is better to go last. Under these conditions, there is likely to be a
recency effect, wherein people remember the second speech better than the first one (Haugtvedt &
Wegener, 1994; Miller & Campbell, 1959

Target characteristics

persuability,----People, who have a more open and flexible personality, change more easily. Advertisers
benefit most from such people.

Strong prejudices,--- People with strong prejudices are less prone to any attitude change than those who
do not hold strong prejudices.

self-esteem,--- 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.

Intelligence--- More intelligent people may change their attitudes less easily than those with lower
intelligence. However, sometimes more intelligent persons change their attitudes more willingly than
less intelligent ones, because they base their attitude on more information and thinking.
Analytical people—those with a high need for cognition —enjoy thinking carefully and
prefer central routes (Cacioppo & others, 1996). People who like to conserve their
mental resources—those with a low need for cognition—are quicker to respond to such
peripheral cues as the communicator’s attractiveness and the pleasantness of the
surroundings

Mood--- in general happy peole tend to take peripheral route. But unhappy take central route
Discrepancy and attitude change--The interaction between source and discrepancy can be
explained by dissonance theory, which holds that increasing discrepancy between a
subject's own attitude position and that of a source of influence increases dissonance.
Change of attitude in the advocated direction or disparagement of the source seems to be
the major alternative mode of reducing dissonance in this situation

a credible source —one hard to discount—would elicit the most opinion change when advocating a
position greatly discrepant from the recipient’s.

When an audience holds attitudes contrary to those of a would-be persuader, it is often more effective
for the communicator to adopt a two Sided approach—to present both sides of the argument—than to
take a -sided approach. Apparently, strongly supporting one side of an issue
while acknowledging that the other side has a few good points in its favor serves to disarm the audience
and makes it harder for them to resist the source’s major conclusions.

old or young Finally, it matters who receives the message. The age of the audience
makes a difference; young people’s attitudes(18 to 25) are more subject to change.

Stereotypes about groups are the beliefs and expectations that we have concerning what members of
those groups are like. Stereotypes can include more than just traits; physical appearance, abilities, and
behaviors are all common components of stereotypic expectancies.

The traits thought to distinguish between one group and another can be either positive or negative,
they can be accurate or inaccurate, and may be either agreed with or rejected by members of the
stereotyped group.

Prejudice

In this context, a prejudice is a hostile or negative attitude toward people in a

distinguishable group, based solely on their membership in that group

Prejudice is an attitude—an emotionally powerful one.

Attitudes are made up of three components: a cognitive component, involving the
beliefs or thoughts (cognitions) that make up the attitude; an affective or emotional
component, representing both the type of emotion linked with the attitude (e.g., anger,
hatred, warmth) and the intensity of the emotion (e.g., mild uneasiness, outright
hostility); and a behavioral component, relating to one’s actions. (vandalism, bigoted
jokes, or the thoughtless remarks brutality, murder, war, and even genocide.)

Prejudices have a cognitive element called a stereotype and its behavior component is
Discrimination

We are all victims or perpetrator of prejudice for no other reason than our membership
in an identifiable group, whether on the basis of ethnicity, skin color, religion, cast,
gender, age, language spoken, sexual orientation, occupation, or national origin, sexual
orientation, body size, or disability, to name just a few

And it is not only minority groups that are the targets of prejudice at the hands of the
dominant majority. Prejudice is a two-way street; it often flows from the minority group
to the majority group as well as in the other direction.

The Cognitive Component: Stereotypes

A generalization of certain beliefs or expectation about a group of people based on certain

traits, physical appearance, abilities, and behaviors regardless of actual variation among the
members are called stereotype.

The British are reserved. Americans are outgoing. The Germans are relatively hardworking,
The French as pleasure-loving, Professors are absentminded. Muslim are terrorist, chimes
can eat anything,

white man burden.

“Stereotypes,” “may be positive or negative, accurate or inaccurate.” An accurate

stereotype may even be desirable. We call it “sensitivity to diversity” or “cultural
awareness in a multicultural world.”
The problem with stereotypes arises when they are over generalized ,exaggerate or just
plain wrong.

People don’t notice or simply dismiss the variation of trait or behavior of individual
within group and consider every member as same or alike

Stereotypes of Gender

FEMALE TRAITS MALE TRAITS

Warm Competent
Emotional, moody Stable
Kind/polite Tough/coarse
Sensitive Self-confident
Follower Leader
Weak Strong
Friendly Accomplished
Fashionable l Nonconformist
Gentle Aggressive
Like pink color
Like make up
Don’t drive well,
Talkative

Some supposed differences disappear on closer inspection. Consider the pop-psych

stereotype that women are “more talkative” than men. To test this assumption,
psychologists wired up a sample of men and women with voice recorders that tracked
their conversations while they went about their daily lives. There was no significant
difference in the number of words spoken: Both sexes used about 16,000 words per day
on average, with large individual differences among the participants (Mehl, Vazire,
Ramírez-Esparza, & Pennebacker, 2007).

In early time Most of the hurricane named after girl, later on it was named after male
also .
More dissasterous or nuksan in female name than male.

Peter Glick and Susan Fiske (2001) have found that around the world sexism takes two
basic forms, which they call hostile sexism and benevolent sexism. Hostile sexists hold
negative stereotypes of women: Women are inferior to men because they are inherently
less intelligent, less competent, less brave, less capable of math and science, and so on.
Benevolent sexists hold positive stereotypes of women: Women are kinder than men,
more empathic, more nurturing, and so on.

According to Glick and Fiske, both sets of stereotypes are demeaning to women because
benevolent sexists assume that women are the weaker sex.
Benevolent sexists tend to idealize women romantically, may admire them as
wonderful cooks and mothers, good for nursing and want to protect them when they
do not need protection.

This type of sexism is affectionate but patronizing, conveying the attitude that women
are so wonderful, good, kind, and moral that they should stay at home, away from the
aggressiveness
and corruption (and power and income) of public life (Glick, 2006).

Because benevolent sexism lacks a tone of hostility to women, it doesn’t seem like a
prejudice to many people. Many women find it alluring to think that they are better
than men, and those who endorse benevolent sexism are less motivated to support
action for women’s equal rights (Becker & Wright, 2011).

But both forms of sexism—whether someone thinks women are too good for equality or
not good enough—legitimize discrimination against women and can be used to justify
relegating them to traditional stereotyped roles (Christopher & Wojda, 2008).

The behavioral Component: discrimination

Unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group solely because of his or
her
membership in that group is called discrimination

Women face a key problem: the traits they supposedly possess tend to be viewed as less appropriate
for high-status positions than the traits presumed to be possessed by men. Women’s traits make
them seem appropriate for “support roles” rather than “leadership roles

Despite this greater perceived likeability, Underrepresented in the corporate world, political power
structure remains heavily male dominated, higher rank in defense services,
This situation, where women find it difficult to advance, may be indicative of a glass ceiling—a final
barrier that prevents women, as a group, from reaching top positions in the workplace.

Vaise society tarraki kiya hai girl ke liye

One such bias can be seen in analysis of birth announcements (Gonzalez & Koestner,
2005). Parents announce the birth of their baby boys with more pride than the birth of
their baby girls. In contrast, they announce the birth of their baby girls with more
happiness than the birth of their baby boys. It seems that even at birth, parents are
already describing their boys in terms of status and their girls in terms of relationships

Two-thirds of the world’s un - schooled children are girls (United Nations, 1991). In
some countries, discrimination extends to violence, even to being prosecuted for
adultery after being raped or to being doused with kerosene and set ablaze by
dissatisfied husbands (UN, 2006).

of expectant parents said they preferred a boy if they could have only one child;

Being male isn’t all roses. Compared to women, men are three times more likely to
commit suicide and be murdered. They are nearly all the battlefield and death row
casualties. They die five years sooner. And males represent the majority with mental
retardation or autism, as well as students in special education programs (Baumeister,
2007; S. Pinker, 2008).

Second, one heavily publicized finding of discrimination against women came from a
1968 study in which Philip Goldberg gave women students at Connecticut College
several short articles and asked them to judge the value of each. Sometimes a given
article was attributed to a male author (for example, John T. McKay) and sometimes to a
female author (for example, Joan T. McKay). In general, the articles received lower
ratings when attributed to a female. That’s right: Women discriminated against women.

Race based— To test for possible labor market discrimination, M.I.T. researchers sent
5,000 résumés out in response to 1,300 varied employment ads (Bertrand &
Mullainathan, 2003). Applicants randomly assigned White names (Emily, Greg)
received one callback for every 10 résumés sent. Those given Black names (Lakisha,
Jamal) received one callback for every 15 résumés sent.

• In one analysis of traffic stops, African Americans and Latinos were four times more
likely than Whites to be searched, twice as likely to be arrested, and three times more
likely to be handcuffed and to have excessive force used against them (Lichtblau, 2005

White man burden, apartheid. Indian and dogs are not allowed.

Cast based—untouchability.
The Affective Component: Emotions

If you’ve ever argued with people who hold deep-seated prejudices, you know how
hard it is to get them to change their minds. Even people who are usually reasonable
about most topics become immune to rational, logical arguments when it comes to the
topic of their prejudice.

He meant that the emotional component of prejudice, its deep-seated negative feelings,
may persist even when a person knows consciously that the prejudice is wrong.

Throughout this book, we have seen that none of us is 100% reliable when it comes to
processing social information that is important to us. The human mind does not tally
events objectively; our emotions, needs, and self-concepts get in the way (Fine, 2008;
Gilovich, 1991;

In contrast, the difficulty of using reason to change a prejudice was beautifully

illustrated by Gordon Allport (1954) in his landmark book The Nature of Prejudice.

He reports a dialogue between Mr. X and Mr. Y:

Mr. X: The trouble with the Jews is that they only take care of their own group.

Mr. Y: But the record of the Community Chest campaign shows that they gave more
generously, in proportion to their numbers, to the general charities of the community
than did non-Jews.

Mr. X: That shows they are always trying to buy favor and intrude into Christian
affairs. They think of nothing but money; that is why there are so many Jewish bankers.

Mr. Y: But a recent study shows that the percentage of Jews in the banking business is
negligible, far smaller than the percentage of non-Jews.

Mr. X: That’s just it; they don’t go in for respectable business; they are only in the movie
business or run nightclubs.
Because Mr. X is emotionally caught up in his beliefs about Jews, his responses are not
logical.

In effect, the prejudiced Mr. X is saying, “Don’t trouble me with facts; my mind is made
up.” Rather than challenging the data presented by Mr. Y, he distorts the facts so that
they support his hatred of Jews, or he simply ignores them and initiates a new line of
attack.

The prejudiced attitude remains intact, despite the fact that the specific arguments Mr.
X began with are now lying in tatters at his feet.

That is the signal that emotional reasoning is at work: It is impervious to logic or

evidence.

Indeed, many of the stereotypes underlying anti-Semitism are mutually contradictory

and constantly shift across generations and nations. Jews were attacked for being
communists in Nazi Germany and Argentina, and for being greedy capitalists in the
communist Soviet Union. They have been criticized for being too secular and for being
too mystical, for being weak and ineffectual and for being powerful enough to
dominate the world (Cohen, Jussim, Harber, & Bhasin, 2009).

Prejudice may be perceived by its perpetrators or its victims as legitimate and justified (Crandall,
Eshleman, & O’Brien, 2002; Jetten, Schmitt, Branscombe, Garza, & Mewse, 2010)

Prejudice: Subtle and Overt

Furthermore, prejudice and discriminatory treatment can be blatant or it can be relatively subtle.

Now that expressing prejudice is socially unacceptable in most places, people have
become more careful about revealing them. Some suppress their true feelings out of a
sincere motivation to become less prejudiced; others suppress their beliefs to avoid
being labeled as racist, sexist, or homophobic (Devine, Plant, Amodio, Harmon-Jones, &
Vance, 2002; Plant & Devine, 2009).

Prejudice provides one of the best examples of our dual attitude system (Chapter2). We
can have different explicit (conscious) and implicit (automatic) attitudes toward the
same target,
 as shown by 500 studies using the “Implicit Association Test” (Carpenter, 2008). The
test, which Chapter 2 introduced and which has been taken online by some 6 million
people, assesses “implicit cognition”—what you know without knowing that you know
(Greenwald & others, 2008). It does so by measuring people’s speed of associations.
Much as we more quickly associate a hammer with a nail than with a pail, so the test
can measure how speedily we associate “White” with “good” versus “Black” with
“good.”

Thus, we may retain from childhood a habitual, automatic fear or dislike of people for
whom we now express respect and admiration. Although explicit attitudes may change
dramatically with education, implicit attitudes may linger, changing only as we form
new habits through practice (Kawakami & others, 2000).

Social psychologists
have developed a variety of measures to try to identify the prejudices that people
don’t want to admit—to others or to themselves (De Houwer, Teige-Mocigemba,
Spruyt, & Moors, 2009; Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995; Olson, 2009).

Sources of prejudice.

Categorization Classifying People into Groups

The human mind cannot avoid creating categories

One way we simplify our environment is to categorize —to organize the world by
clustering objects into groups

Just as we make sense out of the physical world by grouping animals and plants into
taxonomies, we make sense out of our social world by grouping people according to
characteristics that are important, most notably gender, age, and race.

We immediately notice whether a stranger is a man or woman, black or white, child or

adult, young or old and so immediately categorize the person into the appropriate
group. When find similarity we attached with it .
.
This is a largely automatic, unconscious, and involuntary process.
Even wanting to be fair and rational about treating someone as an individual may not
be enough, because our perception is structured in group terms before we are even
aware of it. Thus by nature we are biased

Having done so, we think about them more easily. Knowing their group memberships
can provide useful information with minimal effort. . Stereotypes represent cognitive
efficiency.
They are energy-saving schemes for making speedy judgments and predicting how
others will think and act.

It allows human beings to behave like “cognitive misers”—to take shortcuts and adopt
certain rules of thumb in our attempt to understand other people

Gordon Allport (1954) described stereotyping as “the law of least effort”: Because the
world is too complicated for us to have a highly differentiated attitude about
everything, we maximize our cognitive time and energy by developing elegant,
accurate attitudes about some topics while relying on simple, sketchy beliefs for others.

They do not inevitably generate prejudices, but they can be the first step.

Learning and socialization

The experiences children have during these e arly years are crucial because prejudices toward highly
salient groups do not change much later in an individual's life (Sears & Levy, 20

Social identity theory

our sense of self is in part linked to our identification with social groups. When asked to
answer the question "Who am I?" people typically refer to social groups. One person
might explain that she is a woman, a Catholic, a Canadian, and a physician. Another
person might say that he is a born-again Christian, a Texan, and a member of the
Republican party.

Michael Hogg (1992, 2006, 2008), and their colleagues. Self-concept—our sense of who
we are—contains not just a personal identity (our sense of our personal attributes and
attitudes) but also a social identity (Chen & others, 2006).
Groups provide individuals with a sense of meaning and identity.

We evaluate ourselves partly by our group memberships. Having a sense of “we-ness”

strengthens our self-concepts. It feels good. We seek not only respect for ourselves but
also pride in our groups (Smith & Tyler, 1997).

Moreover, seeing our groups as superior helps us feel even better. It’s as if we all think,
“I am an X [name your group]. X is good. Therefore, I am good.”

Lacking a positive personal identity, people often seek self-esteem by identifying with a
group. Thus, many disadvantaged youths find pride, power, security, and identity in
gang affiliations.

CONFORMITY

Humans are a group-bound species. Our ancestral history prepares us to feed and
protect ourselves—to live—in groups. Humans cheer for their groups, kill for their
groups, die for their groups. Not surprisingly, we also define ourselves by our groups,
note Australian social psychologists John Turner (1981, 2001, 2004),

Because of our social identifications, we conform to our group norms. We sacrifice

ourselves for team, family, nation. And the more important our social identity
and the more strongly attached we feel to a group, the more we react prejudicially
to threats from another group (Crocker & Luhtanen, 1990; Hinkle & others, 1992).

The tendency to go along with the group to fulfill the group’s expectations and gain
acceptance is known as normative conformity.

A vivid example of the influence of social norms occurred in a small

mining town in West Virginia many decades ago, when racial segregation was rigidly
enforced: African American miners and White miners worked together with total
integration
while they were underground but observed the norms of total segregation while they
were above ground (Minard, 1952).
 In-groups versus Out-groups

People prefer being with others who are familiar, who are similar to them in norms and
customs, and whom they perceive as being “like them” in other important ways.

Numerous studies show that the act of categorization can also quickly group peo- ple
into "us" (an in-group) and "them" (an out-group).

This we can find in animal also.

Perceiving people as members of in-groups and out-groups has three important

consequences.

One is the in-group favoritism effect (Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, & Flament, 1971). People
generally evaluate in-group members more positively, make more favorable
attributions for their behavior, reward them more, expect more favorable treatment
from them, and find them more persuasive than out-group members (Brewer & Brown,
1998). In other words, once people feel they belong to a group, they tend to favor fellow
group members at the expense of members of other groups
, 2000).

Second, in-group members tend to perceive other in-group members as more similar to
themselves than to out-group members. This is the assumed similarity effect. Even
when group members have been arbitrarily or randomly that ot assigned to a group,
they perceive members of their own groups as more similar share t to themselves than
are members of other groups. Allen and Wilder (1979) ran- domly assigned students to
groups (though ostensibly on the basis of artistic pref- erence) and found that they
assumed other in-group members were more similar to them than were out-group
members, even on matters wholly unrelated to art.

Third, although we tend to see out-group members as alien and different from us, we
also tend to see them as quite homogeneous in terms of traits, personality, and even
number of subtypes: "They are all alike, whereas we are all diverse individuals!" This is
called the out-group homogeneity effect

Part of the reason is that we are more likely to sec refining subtypes in the in-group
than in other groups. In one case, business and engineer- ing students were able to list
more subtypes within their own group (such as "engi- neering students who seem to
live in the computer center" or "business students who just want to make money") than
in the other group (Park, Ryan, & Judd, 1992).

This in-group bias refers to the positive feelings and special treatment we give to
people we have defined as being part of our in-group; unfortunately, it often leads to
unfair treatment
of others merely because we have defined them as being in the out-group. Indeed,

Social Inequalities: Unequal Status and Prejudice

A principle to remember: Unequal status breeds prejudice.

Historians debate the forces that create unequal status. But once those inequalities exist,
prejudice helps justify the economic and social superiority of those who have wealth
and power.

A second mechanism is ideology. Dominant groups create legitimizing न्यायोवित, िैर् myths to
justify maintaining the existing hierarchy.

For example, stereotypes that women are nurturing and not capable of competing at the
highest levels of business, politics, or war help to justify keeping women in the economically
disadvantaged role of primary caregivers.

Masters view slaves as lazy, irresponsible, lacking ambition—as having just those traits
that justify the slavery.

Nineteenth-century politicians justified imperial expansion by describing exploited

colonized people as “inferior,” “requiring protection,” and a “burden” to be borne
(G. W. Allport, 1958, pp. 204–205

Many whites attribute minorities' lesser education and income to a poor work ethic, loose
morals, or inherent racial inferiority.
 Such attributions to internal, controllable traits are associated with greater racial prejudice
(Kluegel, 1990). group hierarchy theories interpret these associations as reflecting the
dominant group's use of stereotypes as a way to justify their superior position, though they
may arise for other reasons as well.

मुशिर का dance , भीम राि अंबेडकर

Girls are breaking the myth. Blacks are president , music, sports,

Those who benefit from social inequalities while avowing that “all are created equal”
need to justify keeping things the way they are. What could be a more powerful
justification than to believe that God has ordained the existing social order? For all sorts
of cruel deeds, noted

People high in social dominance orientation also prefer professions, such as politics and
business, that increase their status and maintain hierarchies. They avoid jobs, such as
social work, that undermine hierarchies. Status may breed prejudice, but some

Authoritarian personality
Adorno and his colleagues (1950) theorized an authoritarian personality that is particularly
prone to engage in prejudice and stereotyping

Such people therefore tended to be submissive to those with power over them and aggressive
or punitive toward those whom they considered beneath them

Particularly striking are people high in social dominance orientation and authoritarian
personality. Some people notice and justify status differences. Those high in social
dominance orientation tend to view people in terms of hierarchies. They like their own
social groups to be high-status—they prefer being on the top.

Kernel of truth concept

Kernel of truth concept : Sometimes people may continue to hold stereotypes because they think that,
after all, there must be some truth, or ‘kernel of truth’ in what everyone says about the other group.
Even a few examples are sufficient to support the ‘kernel of truth’ idea.

Displaced aggression or Scapegoating :

Another psychodynamic theory treats prejudice as displaced aggression (see Chapter 13).
People who are angry or frustrated normally try to express their aggression toward the source
of their unhappiness. However, if the source of annoyance cannot be attacked because of fear
of retaliation or simple unavailability, aggression may be displaced toward another target.

For example, people who lose their jobs during an economic depression may feel angry and
aggressive, but no obvious person is at fault. In these circumstances, people look for a
scapegoat someone whom they can blame for their difficulties and whom they can attack.

One study showed that lynchings of African Americans in the Old South increased in bad
economic times (Hovland & Scars, 1940). Poor whites could not aggress against the large
economic forces that were the real source of their frustration, so they aggressed against a more
convenient and safer target-local

As we will see in Chapter 10, pain and frustration (the blocking of a goal) often evoke hostility.
When the cause of our frustration is intimidating or unknown, we often redirect our hostility.
This phenomenon of “displaced aggression” may have contributed to the lynching’s of African
Americans in

We can observe agitated mob burn , building, car, innocent people

In earlier centuries people vented their fear and hostility on witches, whommthey sometimes
burned or drowned in public

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

All other things being equal, if you believe that Amy is not very bright and treat her
accordingly, chances are that she will not say a lot of clever things in your presence.
This is the well-known self-fulfilling prophecy. (See Chapter 3.) How does it work

In The Nature of Prejudice, Allport catalogued 15 possible effects of victimization.

Allport believed these reactions were reducible to two basic types—those
that involve blaming oneself (withdrawal, self-hate, aggression against one’s own
group) and those that involve blaming external causes (fighting back, suspiciousness,
increased group pride). If victimization takes a toll—say, higher rates of
crime—people can use the result to justify the discrimination: “If we let those people
in our nice neighborhood, property values will plummet.”

Your behavior, in turn, is bound to influence Amy’s behavior, for if the people she is
talking to aren’t paying much attention, she will feel uneasy. She will probably clam up
and not come out with all the poetry and wisdom within her. Her silence then serves to
confirm the belief you had about her in the first place. The circle is closed; the self-
fulfilling
prophecy is complete. And it is complete for Amy as well: As people continue to
ignore her observations, she develops a self-concept that she is stupid and boring.
Researchers demonstrated the relevance of this phenomenon

• We categorize: We find it useful to put people, ourselves included, into categories.

To label someone as a Hindu, a Scot, or a bus driver is a shorthand way
of saying some other things about the person.
• We identify: We associate ourselves with certain groups (our ingroups ), and
gain self-esteem by doing so.
• We compare: We contrast our groups with other groups ( outgroups ), with a
favorable bias toward our own group.

Once established, prejudice is maintained largely by inertia. If prejudice is socially

accepted, many people will follow the path of least resistance and conform to the
fashion. They will act not so much out of a need to hate as out of a need to be liked
and accepted. Thus, people become more likely to favor (or oppose) discrimination
after hearing someone else do so, and they are less supportive of women after hearing
sexist humor (Ford & others,

Prejudice: Subtle and Overt

Prejudice provides one of the best examples of our dual attitude system

“implicit cognition”—what you know without knowing that you know (Greenwald & others,
2008).

Thus, we may retain from childhood a habitual, automatic fear or dislike of people for
whom we now express respect and admiration. Although explicit attitudes may change
dramatically with education, implicit attitudes may linger, changing only as we form
new habits through practice Kawakami & others, 2000).
1999)—have confirmed that prejudiced and stereotypic evaluations can occur outside people’s
awareness

Attitude measurement ---- measuring the "state of mind" of the respondent (s). There is no way to
determine whether the answer given by a respondent represents the "truth" or not. Such things can
only be inferred
Attitude origin: Attitudes formed through direct experience are generally strong than those formed
without such experience. Vedika may have been bitten by a dog herself, while Tanya may have just
heard about her story

These are called symbolic attitudes, because the attitude object is a symbol of something else

Piaget called each mental representation a schema (all of them together—the

plural—was called schemata). A schema was not merely a concept, but an
elaborated mixture of vocabulary, actions, and experience related to the concept. A
child’s schema for bird, for example, includes not only the relevant verbal knowledge
(like knowing how to define the word “bird”), but also the child’s experiences with
birds, pictures of birds, and conversations about birds

Constructivism: changes in how students think

Behaviorist models of learning may be helpful in understanding and

influencing what students do, but teachers usually also want to know
what students are thinking, and how to enrich what students are
thinking. For this goal of teaching, some of the best help comes
from constructivism, which is a perspective on learning focused on
how students actively create (or “construct”) knowledge out of
experiences. Constructivist models of learning differ about how much a
learner constructs knowledge independently, compared to how much he
or she takes cues from people who may be more of an expert and who
help the learner’s efforts (Fosnot, 2005; Rockmore, 2005). For
convenience these are called psychological
constructivism and social constructivism, even though both versions
are in a sense explanations about thinking within individuals.

A more recent example of psychological constructivism is the

cognitive theory of Jean Piaget (Piaget, 2001; Gruber & Voneche,
1995). Piaget described learning as interplay between two mental
activities that he
called assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the
interpretation of new information in terms of pre-existing concepts,
information or ideas. A preschool child who already understands the
concept of bird, for example, might initially label any flying object with
this term—even butterflies or mosquitoes. Assimilation is therefore a bit
like the idea of generalization in operant conditioning, or the idea
of transfer described at the beginning of this chapter. In Piaget’s
viewpoint, though, what is being transferred to a new setting is not
simply a behavior (Skinner’s “operant” in operant conditioning), but a
mental representation for an object or experience.

Assimilation operates jointly with accommodation, which is the

revision or modification of pre-existing concepts in terms of new
information or experience. The preschooler who initially generalizes the
concept of bird to include any flying object, for example, eventually
revises the concept to include only particular kinds of flying objects,
such as robins and sparrows, and not others, like mosquitoes or
airplanes. For Piaget, assimilation and accommodation work together to
enrich a child’s thinking and to create what Piaget called cognitive
equilibrium, which is a balance between reliance on prior information
and openness to new information. At any given time, cognitive
equilibrium consists of an ever-growing repertoire of mental
representations for objects and experiences. Piaget called each mental
representation a schema (all of them together—the plural—was
called schemata). A schema was not merely a concept, but an
elaborated mixture of vocabulary, actions, and experience related to the
concept. A child’s schema for bird, for example, includes not only the
relevant verbal knowledge (like knowing how to define the word “bird”),
but also the child’s experiences with birds, pictures of birds, and
conversations about birds. As assimilation and accommodation about
birds and other flying objects operate together over time, the child does
not just revise and add to his vocabulary (such as acquiring a new word,
“butterfly”), but also adds and remembers relevant new experiences and
actions. From these collective revisions and additions the child gradually
constructs whole new schemata about birds, butterflies, and other flying
objects. In more everyday (but also less precise) terms, Piaget might
then say that “the child has learned more about birds”.

Learning According to Piaget:Assimilation + Accommodation →

Equilibrium → Schemata
The upper part of Exhibit 5 diagrams the relationships among the
Piagetian version of psychological constructivist learning

2.5.3 Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Approach to Learning In recent times, the

work of Piaget has received a lot of attention. Piaget’s work has influenced a
lot of thinking. Piaget studied the growth and development of the child. The
main objective of Piaget has been to describe the process of human thinking
from infancy to adulthood. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
redefines intelligence, knowledge and the relationship of the learner to the
environment. Intelligence, like a biological system is a continuing process that
creates structures. In continuing interactions with the environment, s/he needs
intelligence. Similarly, knowledge is an interactive process between the learner
and the environment. Knowledge is highly subjective in infancy and early
childhood and becomes more objective in early adulthood. He believes that
learning is a function of certain processes. They are: assimilation,
accommodation, adaptation and equilibration. Let us discuss each process in
detail so that Piaget’s cognitive approach to learning is understood properly.
Assimilation: It is a process of incorporating new objects and experiences into
the existing schema (here, schema refers to well-defined sequences of actions).
As soon as the schema of action is developed, it is applied to every new object
and in every new situation. Assimilation of experiences into a succession of
cognitive scheme takes place. Later, representation of words and actions using
symbols takes place resulting in representational schema. The observation of
surroundings and process leads to assimilation in the early stages of learning.
This assimilation accounts for the children’s ability to act on and understand
something new in terms of what is already familiar. Assimilation is followed
by accommodation. 36 Learning: Perspectives and Approaches
Accommodation: In the individual’s encounters with the environment,
accommodation accompanies assimilation. Accommodation is the adjustment
of internal structures to the particular characteristics of specific situations. For
example, biological structures accommodate the type and quantity of food at
the same time so that the food is being assimilated. Similarly, in cognitive
functioning, internal structures adjust to the particular characteristics of new
objects and evens. Accommodation also refers to the modification of the
individual’s internal cognitive structures. When the learner realizes that his or
her ways of thinking are contradicted by events in the environment, the
previous ways of thinking are reorganized. This reorganization, which results
in a higher level of thinking, is accommodation. As the child continues to
confront experiences in the environment, the schema is so formed so as to not
remain permanent. S/he has either to combine her/his previous schemata or to
modify them as per new experiences. The process of combining/modifying
existing schemata and the arrival at new schemata is known as accommodation.
Here, the child remains active and explores questions, experiments, etc.
Equilibration: In cognitive development, equilibration is the continuing
selfregulation that permits the individual to grow, develop and change while
maintaining stability. Equilibration, however, is not a balance of forces but it is
a dynamic process that continuously regulates behaviour. It indicates the
balance between assimilation and accommodation. Equilibration is the factor
that maintains stability during the process of continuous interaction and
continuous change. Without equilibration, cognitive development would lack
continuity and cohesiveness but instead would become fragmented and
disorganized. Equilibrium is the balancing act between the old and the new,
between perceptions and experiences. It is a dynamic process that attempts to
reduce dissonance
 Schema: Colour, size, use, shape, place in garden are certain schemas, which
different children have in their mind based on their observation, perception and
experience. They tried to organize their knowledge and used their existing
schema to fit in the situation given to them; this is called assimilation, i.e. the
process of explaining and understanding new information with the help of
already existing schemas. When few of them found the leaves they were not
aware of and they used their knowledge to understand and fit in new leaves in
an articulate group i.e. they adopted, modified or adjust their already existing
schema to understand new things/information/situation, this is called
accommodation. When Ms. Neha gave them some cards and they chose one,
which was most appropriate to their way of classifying the leaves, they were
satisfied. Getting satisfactory understanding of information by using process of
assimilation and/or accommodation is equilibrium. Piaget also proposed that if
satisfaction does not occur by applying schema through process of assimilation
or accommodation, it results in disequilibrium, which motivates the learner to
search and find the solution which can give satisfaction

2.5.3 Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Approach to Learning In recent times, the work of Piaget has received a lot
of attention. Piaget’s work has influenced a lot of thinking. Piaget studied the growth and development
of the child. The main objective of Piaget has been to describe the process of human thinking from
infancy to adulthood. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development redefines intelligence, knowledge
and the relationship of the learner to the environment. Intelligence, like a biological system is a
continuing process that creates structures. In continuing interactions with the environment, s/he needs
intelligence. Similarly, knowledge is an interactive process between the learner and the environment.
Knowledge is highly subjective in infancy and early childhood and becomes more objective in early
adulthood. He believes that learning is a function of certain processes. They are: assimilation,
accommodation, adaptation and equilibration. Let us discuss each process in detail so that Piaget’s
cognitive approach to learning is understood properly. Assimilation: It is a process of incorporating new
objects and experiences into the existing schema (here, schema refers to well-defined sequences of
actions). As soon as the schema of action is developed, it is applied to every new object and in every
new situation. Assimilation of experiences into a succession of cognitive scheme takes place. Later,
representation of words and actions using symbols takes place resulting in representational schema. The
observation of surroundings and process leads to assimilation in the early stages of learning. This
assimilation accounts for the children’s ability to act on and understand something new in terms of what
is already familiar. Assimilation is followed by accommodation. 36 Learning: Perspectives and
Approaches Accommodation: In the individual’s encounters with the environment, accommodation
accompanies assimilation. Accommodation is the adjustment of internal structures to the particular
characteristics of specific situations. For example, biological structures accommodate the type and
quantity of food at the same time so that the food is being assimilated. Similarly, in cognitive
functioning, internal structures adjust to the particular characteristics of new objects and evens.
Accommodation also refers to the modification of the individual’s internal cognitive structures. When
the learner realizes that his or her ways of thinking are contradicted by events in the environment, the
previous ways of thinking are reorganized. This reorganization, which results in a higher level of thinking,
is accommodation. As the child continues to confront experiences in the environment, the schema is so
formed so as to not remain permanent. S/he has either to combine her/his previous schemata or to
modify them as per new experiences. The process of combining/modifying existing schemata and the
arrival at new schemata is known as accommodation. Here, the child remains active and explores
questions, experiments, etc. Equilibration: In cognitive development, equilibration is the continuing
selfregulation that permits the individual to grow, develop and change while maintaining stability.
Equilibration, however, is not a balance of forces but it is a dynamic process that continuously regulates
behaviour. It indicates the balance between assimilation and accommodation. Equilibration is the factor
that maintains stability during the process of continuous interaction and continuous change. Without
equilibration, cognitive development would lack continuity and cohesiveness but instead would become
fragmented and disorganized. Equilibrium is the balancing act between the old and the new, between
perceptions and experiences. It is a dynamic process that attempts to reduce dissonance.

Bruner defines constructivism as a learning theory in which learning is seen as an

active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their
current and past knowledge (Kearsley, 1999).

Knowledge is not passively received or absorbed by the learner but actively built by himlher
What is of significance Is that the learner constructs a Constructivism
viable explanation of hislher experiences. It is not important whether these
explanations are factually correct or mirror the reality, but rather that they are
self-constructed by the individuals

1. Which of the following conclusions is the most consistent with research on the
heritability of attitudes?

a. Our attitudes are shaped by our surroundings and do not seem to have any genetic
component to them.
b. Our attitudes are inherited and dictated by our genetic makeup, with little influence
from environmental factors.
c. We often inherit a temperament or personality that renders us likely to develop similar
attitudes to those held by our genetic relatives.
d. Fraternal twins are just as likely to share attitudes as are identical twins.

2. Attitude accessibility is a particularly good predictor of behavior when

a. the behavior in question is spontaneous.

b. the behavior in question is deliberative.
c. the attitude in question is general.
d. the attitude in question is an unpopular one.