Attitude Change Social Psychology

Attitude Change
By- jeevisha
What do you mean by
attitude?
Attitudes are involved in practically every other area of the discipline,
including social perception, interpersonal attraction, prejudice and
discrimination, conformity, compliance, and so on. The chief reason why the
concept of attitude is so central to psychology is because the aim of psychology
is to study behaviour, and attitudes are supposed to influence behaviour.
Some psychologist, use the term 'attitude' to refer to people's evaluation of
almost any aspect of the world. People can have favourable and unfavourable
reactions to issues such as climate change, objects, a specific person, or entire
social group.
Allport (1935) defined attitude as “a mental and neural state of readiness,
organised through experience, and exerting a directive or dynamic influence
upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is
related” (p. 784).
The study of attitudes is central to the field of social psychology
because attitudes are capable of colouring virtually every aspect of
our experience.
Research findings indicate that attitude towards novel issues like
public's attitude towards scientific issues specifically the use of
human embryonic stem cells are shaped by long-term values-
religious belief, for example, predict the formation of these new
attitudes-rather them the extent to which the public
possessesscientific knowledge on the topic.
Types of attitude-
There are three types of attitude:
1. Positive Attitude: Confidence, Optimism, Sincerity, and Reliability are traits that represent positive
attitude. Individuals who have a positive attitude will pay attention to the good, rather than bad in people,
situations, events, etc. They will not consider a mistake or failure as a hurdle, but as an opportunity. They learn
from mistakes, and move forward in life.
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2. Negative Attitude: Hatred, Pessimism, Resentment, and Doubt are traits that represent negative
attitude. People with a negative attitude ignore the good, and pay attention to the bad in people, situations,
events, etc. Also, they are likely to complain about changes, rather than adapting to the changing environment.
Also, they might blame their failure on others.
3. Neutral Attitude: Indifference and Detachment are traits that represent neutral attitude. People with a
neutral attitude don’t give enough importance to situations or events. They ignore the problem, leaving it for
someone else to solve. Also, they don’t feel the need to change. Their traits
include: Complacence, Indifference, Detachment, Feeling of being disconnected, Unemotional.
Attitude formation
How attitudes develop:
Our attitudes are formed is through the
process of social learning. In others words,
many of our views are acquired by
interacting with others, or simply
observing their behaviour. Such learning
occurs through social processes that are
outlined in the following subsections:
Classical
conditioni
ng
Instrum
Geneti ental
c Formation conditio
factors of attitude ning
Observation
al learning
Attitude Self presentation
change Cogntive
dissonance.
Self- • Self presentation is also known as
presentation impression management.

• It may be defined
as the organisation of
the presentating person's cues so
as to elicit desired responses in
others ( goffman, 1959).
These cues may be verbal, non-
verbal ( posture, gesture, eye gaze,
etc), stylistic ( use
of clothing, arrangement of hair,
household or even decorative items
with which one surrounds oneself).
• Goffman uses the metaphor of the actor in a
theater to explain this. An actor performs on a
stage with a back drop; the props direct his
actions; he is being watched by an audience
for; but at the same time he is an audience for
his viewers' play. Any individual, as a social
actor, has the ability to choose his stage, props,
and coustume he would put on in front of a
specific audience. The actor's main goal is to
adjust to the different settings offered to him
and to create impression that reflect will upon
him.
• These are two main motives of
self- presentation (schlenker, 1980) :
o Instrumental
o Expressive
• The explanation of self-
presentation does not explain all
instances where attitudes follow
behaviour. This is particularly true
for those who express their changed
attitudes even without knowing
how they have behaved; and those
who internalize their self-
presentations as geniue attitude
change.
Cognitive dissonance:-
• According to Festinger, we feel tension ( 'dissonance' ) when we become aware of two
simultaneous inconsistent cognitions. In order to breduce this unpleasant arousal, we
ofteh adjust our thinking.
• The classical example of cognitive dissonance can be found in the Aesop fable The Fox
and the Grapes, in which a fox sees some high-hanging grapes and wishes to eat them.
After several failed attempts at reaching the grapes, he decides that the grapes are
probably not worth eating anyway (that they are not yet ripe or that they are too sour)
• Cognitive dissonance, is considered to be one of the most influential theories in
psychology.
• According to Festinger’s theory, there are basically two factors that
affect the strength of the dissonance, viz., (i) the number of dissonant
beliefs, and (ii) the importance attached to each belief. Hence one can
eliminate dissonance by the following methods:
1) reduce the importance of the dissonant beliefs.
2) add more consonant beliefs that outweigh the dissonant
beliefs.
3) change the dissonant beliefs so that they are no longer
inconsistent.
Thus the two most important principles of cognitive
dissonance can be stated as that
(i) dissonance occurs when a person has to choose between
contradictory attitudes and behaviour.
(ii) Another principle is that the dissonance can be removed
by changing the importance of conflicting beliefs and
acquiring new beliefs that change the balance or remove
the conflicting attitude or remove the conflicting behaviour
THANK
YOU!

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Attitude Change

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presentation impression management.

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