Attitude and Social Cognition

2.1 Core concepts

NCERT opens by defining social psychology as "that branch of psychology which investigates how the behaviour of individuals is affected by others and the social environment" (NCERT §Introduction, p. 105). All of us form attitudes — ways of thinking about specific topics and people — and even though many social behaviours appear simple, the processes behind them are complex. Social behaviour is a necessary part of human life: it goes beyond company of others and includes "all behaviour that takes place in the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others." Social psychologists go "beyond common sense and folk wisdom" to study both social-cognitive processes and social behaviour (NCERT §Explaining Social Behaviour, p. 105).

Opinions differ from attitudes. Phrases like "In my opinion…" or "Others may say so and so, but I feel…" express opinions — ways of thinking that may not matter much if others disagree. But if a topic is extremely important, opposition makes one emotional and may have already shaped behaviour — those views "are not merely thoughts, but also have emotional and action components"; they are examples of attitudes. The formal definition: "an attitude is a state of the mind, a set of views, or thoughts, regarding some topic (called the 'attitude object'), which have an evaluative feature (positive, negative or neutral quality). It is accompanied by an emotional component, and a tendency to act in a particular way with regard to the attitude object." The thought component is the cognitive aspect, the emotional component is the affective aspect, and the tendency to act is the behavioural (or conative) aspect — together called the A-B-C components (Affective-Behavioural-Cognitive) (NCERT §Nature and Components of Attitudes, p. 105). Attitudes themselves are not behaviour but a tendency to behave or act; they are part of cognition along with an emotional component and cannot be observed from outside.

Box 6.1 — A "Green Environment": The A-B-C Components of an Attitude (p. 106) illustrates how the three components may or may not be consistent. If a tree-plantation campaign begins in your neighbourhood, your view toward "green environment" being positive is the cognitive (C) component; happiness on seeing greenery and sadness/anger on seeing trees cut is the affective (A) component; actively participating in the campaign is the behavioural (B) component. In general we expect consistency, but it is "quite possible that the cognitive aspect of your 'green environment' attitude is very strong, but the affective and behavioural components may be relatively weaker." So predicting one component from the other two does not always work.

Attitudes are distinguished from two closely related concepts. Beliefs "refer to the cognitive component of attitudes, and form the ground on which attitudes stand, such as belief in God, or belief in democracy as a political ideology" (NCERT p. 106). Values "are attitudes or beliefs that contain a 'should' or 'ought' aspect, such as moral or ethical values." Examples: one should work hard, one should always be honest (because honesty is the best policy). Values become "an inseparable part of the person's outlook on life" and are consequently difficult to change. Attitudes also provide a "background that makes it easier for a person to decide how to act in new situations" — our attitude towards foreigners may indirectly provide a mental layout or blueprint for behaviour whenever we meet one.

Four significant features of attitudes (NCERT pp. 106–107). Valence (positivity or negativity) — tells whether an attitude is positive or negative towards an object. The running example is attitude toward nuclear research on a 5-point scale from 1 (Very bad), 2 (Bad), 3 (Neutral — neither good nor bad), 4 (Good), to 5 (Very good); ratings of 4 or 5 indicate a positive attitude, 1 or 2 a negative one. Extremeness indicates how positive or negative an attitude is — "a rating of 1 is as extreme as a rating of 5: they are only in the opposite directions (valence). Ratings of 2 and 4 are less extreme. A neutral attitude, of course, is lowest on extremeness." Simplicity or Complexity (multiplexity) refers to how many 'member' attitudes are contained within a broader attitude — an attitude system is 'simple' if it contains only one or a few attitudes, 'complex' if many. The attitude toward "health and well-being" is likely complex — concepts of physical health, mental health, happiness, beliefs about how to achieve them — while the attitude toward a particular person is likely simple. Each member attitude itself has A-B-C components. Centrality refers to the role of a particular attitude in the system — an attitude with greater centrality influences other attitudes much more than peripheral attitudes; e.g., in the attitude toward world peace, a negative attitude toward high military expenditure may be a core or central attitude (NCERT p. 107).

Attitude Formation (NCERT §Attitude Formation, pp. 107–108): "attitudes are learned through one's own experiences, and through interaction with others." A few studies show some inborn aspect, but genetic factors influence only indirectly along with learning. Processes of attitude formation include (i) Learning by association — students develop liking for a subject because of the teacher (positive qualities of the teacher get linked to the subject); (ii) Learning by being rewarded or punished — a teenager doing yogasanas regularly who gets the honour of being "Miss Good Health" may develop a positive attitude toward yoga; a child constantly falling ill from eating junk food may develop a negative attitude toward junk food; (iii) Learning through modelling (observing others) — children form a respectful attitude toward elders by seeing their parents being appreciated for it; (iv) Learning through group or cultural norms — norms are unwritten rules; offering money, sweets, fruit and flowers in a place of worship is normative behaviour in some religions; this is actually an example of all three forms — association, reward, and modelling; (v) Learning through exposure to information — reading biographies of self-actualised persons can build a positive attitude toward hard work.

Factors that Influence Attitude Formation (NCERT pp. 108–109): (1) Family and School Environment — particularly in early years, parents and family play a significant role; later school becomes the important background; learning takes place by association, reward/punishment and modelling. (2) Reference Groups — indicate norms regarding acceptable behaviour and thinking; their influence is noticeable especially during the beginning of adolescence, when belonging to a group becomes important. (3) Personal Experiences — many attitudes form not through family or reference groups but through direct personal experience. NCERT gives the example of an army driver who narrowly escaped death while all his companions were killed; wondering about the purpose of his life, he gave up his job, returned to his native village in Maharashtra, and worked actively as a community leader — completely changing the face of his village. (4) Media-related Influences — audio-visual media, Internet and school-level textbooks are powerful sources; they first strengthen cognitive and affective components and subsequently may affect the behavioural component. The media can exert both good and bad influences — better informed than other modes of communication, but with no check on the nature of information. Media can be used to create consumerist attitudes where none existed and can also be harnessed to create positive attitudes for social harmony.

Attitude Change (NCERT §Attitude Change, p. 109): "Attitudes that are still in the formative stage, and are more like opinions, are much more likely to change compared to attitudes that have become firmly established, and have become a part of the individual's values." Bringing about attitude change is of interest to community leaders, politicians, producers of consumer goods and advertisers.

Process of Attitude Change — three major concepts (NCERT pp. 109–111). (a) The concept of balance (Fritz Heider) — sometimes described as the 'P-O-X' triangle, representing relationships between three aspects: P is the person whose attitude is being studied, O is another person, and X is the topic (attitude object). The basic idea is that "an attitude changes if there is a state of imbalance between the P-O attitude, O-X attitude, and P-X attitude" because imbalance is logically uncomfortable. Imbalance is found when (i) all three sides of the P-O-X triangle are negative, or (ii) two sides are positive and one is negative. Balance is found when (i) all three sides are positive, or (ii) two sides are negative and one is positive. NCERT works the dowry example: P has a positive attitude toward dowry (P-X positive), and plans to marry his son to O's daughter — O dislikes dowry (O-X negative); if O initially has a positive attitude toward P (O-P positive), the situation is unbalanced (two positives and one negative). One of the three attitudes must change: P may stop liking dowry (P-X), or O may start liking dowry (O-X), or O may start disliking P (O-P).

(b) The concept of cognitive dissonance (Leon Festinger) emphasises the cognitive component. The basic idea: "the cognitive components of an attitude must be 'consonant' (opposite of 'dissonant'), i.e., they should be logically in line with each other." If two cognitions in an attitude are dissonant, one will change in the direction of consonance. Example — Cognition I: Pan masala causes mouth cancer which is fatal; Cognition II: I eat pan masala. Holding both makes one feel "out of tune" in the attitude toward pan masala; the healthy, logical way is to stop eating pan masala (change Cognition II). Festinger and Carlsmith (Box 6.2, p. 111) experimentally demonstrated this with their "Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars" study: after a very boring experiment, students were asked to tell another group of students that the experiment was very interesting. Half were paid $1, half were paid $20. Some weeks later, participants were asked how interesting they had found the experiment. The $1 group described the experiment as more interesting than the $20 group. In the $1 group the dissonant cognitions ("the experiment was very boring"; "I told the waiting students it was interesting"; "I would not have told a lie for only $1") were resolved by changing the first cognition to "The experiment was actually interesting." The $20 group had sufficient external justification — "I told a lie because I was paid $20" — so they experienced no dissonance and rated it boring. Both balance and cognitive dissonance are forms of cognitive consistency — "two components, aspects or elements of the attitude, or attitude system, must be in the same direction" (NCERT p. 110).

(c) The two-step concept (S. M. Mohsin, an Indian psychologist) — attitude change takes place in two steps. In the first step, the target of change (the person whose attitude is to be changed) identifies with the source (the person through whose influence the change is to take place). Identification means the target has liking and regard for the source and puts herself in the place of the source. The source must also have a positive attitude toward the target — regard and attraction become mutual. In the second step, the source shows an attitude change by actually changing her behaviour, and observing this, the target also shows attitude change through behaviour — a kind of imitation or observational learning. NCERT gives the Preeti example: Preeti reads in the newspapers that a particular soft drink she enjoys is extremely harmful, but sees her favourite sportsperson advertising it. She has identified with the sportsperson. If the sportsperson wishes to change people's attitudes toward this soft drink from positive to negative, she must first show positive feelings for her fans (Step I), then actually change her own consumption (perhaps substituting it with a health drink); Preeti is then likely to change her own attitude and behaviour and stop consuming the harmful drink (Step II).

Factors that Influence Attitude Change (NCERT pp. 111–114) fall under four heads. Characteristics of the existing attitude — all four properties (valence, extremeness, simplicity/complexity, centrality) determine change. In general, positive attitudes are easier to change than negative; extreme and central attitudes are more difficult to change than less extreme and peripheral attitudes; simple attitudes are easier to change than multiple (complex) attitudes. Additionally, congruent change (same direction as the existing attitude — positive becoming more positive, or negative more negative) is easier than incongruent change (opposite direction — positive becoming negative). NCERT's example: reading about a successful woman may make a "somewhat positive attitude towards empowerment of women" more positive (congruent); but the same person may then think women might neglect family responsibilities and become less positive or even negative (incongruent).

Source characteristics — credibility and attractiveness. Adults planning to buy a laptop are more convinced by a computer engineer than a schoolchild (Fig. 6.1, p. 113); but if the buyers are themselves schoolchildren, they may be more convinced by another schoolchild. Sales of some products (e.g., cars) may increase if publicised by popular public figures rather than experts. Message characteristics — the amount of information should be neither too much nor too little; messages may use rational appeal (saving money — switch to a pressure cooker, save fuel/LPG) or emotional appeal (caring for your family — pressure-cooking preserves nutrition) (Fig. 6.2, p. 113). The motives activated by the message matter (drinking milk makes one healthy and good-looking, or energetic and successful at work). NCERT also discusses fear in messages: a poster on dental hygiene may strengthen positive attitudes, but frightening pictures of dental cavities may turn receivers off — "fear sometimes works well in convincing people but if a message generates too much fear, it turns off the receiver and has little persuasive effect." Mode of spreading the message (Fig. 6.3, p. 114) — face-to-face transmission is usually more effective than indirect transmission through letters, pamphlets or mass media. A positive attitude toward Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) for young children is more effectively created if community social workers and doctors spread the message by talking to people directly than by only describing benefits on radio. TV and the Internet are similar to face-to-face interaction but not a substitute for it.

Target characteristics — persuasibility, strong prejudices, self-esteem, and intelligence all matter. People with open and flexible personalities change more easily — advertisers benefit most from them. People with strong prejudices change less. Persons with low self-esteem change attitudes more easily than those with high self-esteem. More intelligent people may change their attitudes less easily; however, sometimes more intelligent persons change more willingly because they base attitudes on more information and thinking.

Attitude-Behaviour Relationship (NCERT pp. 114–115). "We usually expect behaviour to follow logically from attitudes. However, an individual's attitudes may not always be exhibited through behaviour." Consistency exists when: the attitude is strong and central; the person is aware of it; there is little or no external pressure; behaviour is not being watched/evaluated; and the person thinks the behaviour will have positive consequences. Richard LaPiere demonstrated the gap in a now-classic study: he asked a Chinese couple to travel across the United States and stay in different hotels — only once during these occasions were they refused service. Some time later, LaPiere sent questionnaires to managers of hotels and tourist homes in the same areas asking if they would give accommodation to Chinese guests; "a very large percentage said that they would not do so." Their stated negative attitude was inconsistent with the positive behaviour actually shown — attitudes do not always predict behaviour. NCERT also notes the reverse: sometimes behaviour decides attitude, as in Festinger and Carlsmith's experiment where students who got only $1 for lying concluded "I would not have told a lie for this small amount of money, which means that the experiment was actually interesting" (NCERT p. 115).

Prejudice and Discrimination (NCERT pp. 115–116). "Prejudices are examples of attitudes towards a particular group. They are usually negative, and in many cases, may be based on stereotypes (the cognitive component) about the specific group." A stereotype is "a cluster of ideas regarding the characteristics of a specific group" — all members are assumed to possess these characteristics. The cognitive component of prejudice is frequently accompanied by dislike or hatred (the affective component). Prejudice may be translated into discrimination — the behavioural component — whereby people behave in a less positive way toward a target group compared with the favoured group. The genocide committed by the Nazis in Germany against Jewish people is an extreme example. Prejudice can exist without discrimination, and discrimination can exist without prejudice; "wherever prejudice and discrimination exist, conflicts are very likely to arise between groups within the same society." Indian society has witnessed discrimination — with and without prejudice — based on gender, religion, community, caste, physical handicap, and illnesses such as AIDS. Discriminatory behaviour can often be curbed by law, but the cognitive and emotional components of prejudice are more difficult to change.

Sources of prejudice include: (a) Learning — like other attitudes, prejudices can be learned through association, reward and punishment, observing others, group or cultural norms, and exposure to information that encourages prejudice; people who learn prejudiced attitudes may develop a "prejudiced personality" with low adjusting capacity, anxiety and hostility against the outgroup. (b) A strong social identity and ingroup bias — individuals with strong sense of social identity and very positive attitude toward their own group boost this by holding negative attitudes toward other groups. (c) Scapegoating — a phenomenon where the majority group "places the blame on a minority outgroup for its own social, economic or political problems"; the minority is too weak or small to defend itself; scapegoating expresses group frustration. (d) Kernel of truth concept — people may continue to hold stereotypes because they think there must be some truth in what everyone says about the other group; even a few examples are sufficient to support the 'kernel of truth' idea. (e) Self-fulfilling prophecy — sometimes the group that is the target of prejudice is itself responsible for continuing it by behaving in ways that confirm the negative expectations; e.g., a target group described as 'dependent' may actually behave dependently, strengthening the existing prejudice.

Strategies for Handling Prejudice (NCERT pp. 116–117) would be effective if they aim at: (a) minimising opportunities for learning prejudices; (b) changing such attitudes; (c) de-emphasising a narrow social identity based on the ingroup; (d) discouraging the tendency toward self-fulfilling prophecy among the victims. These goals can be accomplished through: Education and information dissemination — for correcting stereotypes related to specific target groups and tackling strong ingroup bias; Increasing intergroup contact — allows direct communication, removal of mistrust, and even discovery of positive qualities in the outgroup; however, these strategies are successful only if the two groups meet in a cooperative rather than competitive context, close interactions help them know each other better, and the two groups are not different in power or status; and Highlighting individual identity rather than group identity — weakening the importance of the group (both ingroup and outgroup) as a basis of evaluating the other person.

2.2 Definitions to memorise

2.3 Diagrams / processes to remember

• Box 6.1 — A "Green Environment": The A-B-C Components of an Attitude (p. 106): illustrates how cognitive, affective and behavioural components may co-exist or diverge — strong cognitive (positive view) but weaker affective and behavioural in real-life cases.
• Box 6.2 — Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars (p. 111): Festinger & Carlsmith's experiment — boring task, then asked to lie to next group that it was interesting, for $1 or $20. $1 group described it as more interesting because they experienced cognitive dissonance; $20 group did not change attitude (sufficient external justification). The three cognitions before and after are spelled out in the box.
• P-O-X triangle — Heider's balance model with Person, Other, attitude-object X. Balance = all-positive or two-negative-one-positive. Imbalance = all-negative or two-positive-one-negative (pp. 109–110).
• Fig. 6.1 — Picture A vs Picture B (laptop ad) (p. 113): adult expert (credible) vs schoolchild source. Audience determines which source is more persuasive.
• Fig. 6.2 — Rational vs Emotional Appeals (p. 113): "Are you spending too much on cooking gas?" (rational) vs "If you care for your family, nothing is more important than nutrition" (emotional).
• Fig. 6.3 — Face-to-Face vs Media Transmission (p. 114): ORS message delivered by community social workers face-to-face vs broadcast on radio. Face-to-face usually works better.
• Dowry P-O-X worked example (pp. 109–110) — three possible resolutions: P stops liking dowry, O starts liking dowry, or O starts disliking P.

2.4 Common confusions / NTA trap points

• Beliefs vs Values vs Attitudes: beliefs are purely cognitive ground; values are beliefs with a moral "should/ought" quality; attitudes have A-B-C components together.
• Balance (Heider) vs Cognitive dissonance (Festinger) vs Two-step (Mohsin): students mix proponents. Heider = P-O-X triangle, Festinger = dissonance, Mohsin = identification + imitation.
• Prejudice vs Discrimination vs Stereotype: stereotype = cognitive cluster; prejudice = attitude (often negative); discrimination = behaviour. They can exist independently.
• Congruent vs Incongruent change: congruent = same direction (easier); incongruent = opposite direction (harder).
• $1 vs $20 group in Festinger–Carlsmith: the $1 group (small reward, no external justification) experienced dissonance and changed its attitude; the $20 group did not. NTA may swap these.
• Simple/complex attitude system should NOT be confused with the three A-B-C components — each member-attitude in a complex system itself has A-B-C components.
• Extremeness — rating 1 and rating 5 are equally extreme but opposite in valence; rating 3 is lowest on extremeness.
• Fear in messaging — works only in moderation; too much fear turns receivers off.
• Conditions for successful intergroup contact — cooperative (not competitive), close interactions, equal power and status. NTA often distorts one of these.
• LaPiere study — showed attitudes (negative on questionnaire) did not match behaviour (positive in person); not the other way around.

2.5 Thinkers / Theories cited in this chapter

Note: NCERT names only the thinkers listed; many constructs (the A-B-C model, self-fulfilling prophecy, scapegoating, kernel of truth) are presented without individual attribution.