SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY - I

UNIT - IV
The Self And Attitude
  Self - Presentation
Self- other accuracy in predicting our behaviour
Do we really know ourselves better than even our close
others do?

Even though we have access to information (intentions,

goals) that others do not, that information itself may bias
our own behavioural self reports.

Research that independently recorded people’s actual

behaviour has revealed that sometimes we can predict our
own behaviour than others can, but sometimes the reverse
is true.
Self- presentation tactics
Self- promotion
Attempting to present ourselves to others as
having positive attribution.

Self- verification perspective

Theory that addresses the processes by which
we lead others to agree with our views of
ourselves; wanting others to agree with how we
see ourselves
Ingratiation
when we try to make others like us by conveying
that we like them; praising others to flatter them.

Self- depreciating
Putting ourselves down or implying that we are
not as good as someone else.
  Self- Knowledge
Introspection – looking inward to discover the causes
of our own behaviour
To privately contemplate “who we are.” it is a
method for attempting to gain self knowledge.

Researches reveals that neither of predictions

turned out to be true, what this means is that we often
don’t know how events will affect us and simply
introspecting about it will not help us learn how events
actually do affect our emotions and behaviour.
The Self from the other’s standpoint

One way self- reflection can be helpful is to take

an observer’s standpoint on our behaviour.

Doing so leads us to see ourselves in more trait-

like consistent terms.
  Personal Vs Social Identity
Social identity theory
Addresses how we respond when our group
identity is salient. Suggests that we will move
closer to positive others with whom we share an
identity but distance from other in group
members who perform poorly or otherwise make
our social identity negative.
Personal- versus- social identity continuum
At the personal level, the self is thought of as a
unique individual, whereas at the social identity
level, the self is seen as a member of a group.

Salience
When someone or some object stands out from its
background or is the focus of attention.
Intragroup comparisons
Judgments that result from comparisons between
individuals who are members of the same group.

Intergroup comparisons
Judgments that results from comparisons between
our group and another group.
Who I think I am depends on the social context
1.Social-construal
How we characterize ourselves, which can vary
depending on what identity is salient at any given
moment.
Who I am depends on other’s treatment
The Self Across Time: Past and Future Selves
1.Autobiographical memory- concerned with
memory of the ourselves in the past, sometimes
over the life course as a whole.
 2. Possible selves- image of how we might
be in the future – either a “dreaded” potential to be
avoided or “desired” potential that can be strived
for.

Self- control: why it can be difficult to do

1. Self control – achieved by refraining from
actions we like and instead performing actions we
prefers not to do as a means of achieving a long-
term goal.
 2.Ego- depletion – the lowered capacity to
exert subsequent self- control following earlier
efforts to exert self- control.
Performance decrements are typically observed
when people’s ego strength has been depleted by
prior efforts at self- control.
  Self- Esteem – Attitude toward
ourselves
Self- esteem – the degree to which we perceive
ourselves positively or negatively, our overall
attitude toward ourselves. It can be measured
explicitly or implicitly.

The measurement of self- esteem

Implicit self- esteem – feelings about the self of
which we are not consciously aware.
Self- esteem is responsive to life experiences, and
more specific forms of self- esteem depend on
how we perform in those domains. Even implicit
self- esteem can change with circumstances.

Is high self- esteem always beneficial?

Do women and men differ in their levels of

Self- esteem?
  Social Comparison – How we
evaluate ourselves
Downward social comparison
A comparison of the self to another who does less
well than or is inferior to us.

Upward social comparison

A comparison of the self to another who does
better than or is superior to us.
Social comparison theory – Festinger(1954)
suggested that people compare themselves to
others because for many domains and attributes
there is no objective yardstick to evaluate
ourselves against, and other people are therefore
highly informative.
Self- evaluation maintenance model
This perspective suggests that to maintain a
positive view of ourselves, we distance
ourselves from others who perform better than
we do on valued dimensions and move closer to
others who perform worse than us. This view
suggest that doing so will protect our self-
esteem.
Self- serving biases and unrealistic optimism
Above average effect
The tendency for people to rate themselves as
above the average on most positive social
attributes.
Most people show unrealistic optimism when it
comes to their outcomes relative to others. Such
positive illusion have been linked with various
adaptive outcomes.
  Attitude Formation – How
attitudes develop
Social learning – the process through which we
acquire new information, forms of behaviour, or
attitudes from other people.

Classical conditioning: learning based on association

A basic form of learning in which one stimulus,
initially neutral, acquires the capacity to evoke
reactions through repeated pairing with one another
stimulus.
 In a sense, one stimulus becomes a signal
for the presentation or occurrence of the other.

Unconditioned stimulus
A stimulus that evokes a positive or negative
response without substantial learning.

Conditioned stimulus
The stimulus that comes to stand for or signal a
prior unconditioned stimulus.
Subliminal conditioning
Classical conditioning of attitudes by exposure
to stimuli that are below individuals’ threshold
of conscious awareness.
Mere exposure
By having seen before, but not necessarily
remembering having done so, attitudes toward
an object can be formed.
Illusion of truth effect
The mere repetition of information creates a
sense of familiarity and more positive attitudes.
Instrumental conditioning – rewards for the
“right” views
A basic form of learning in which responses
that lead to positive outcomes or which permit
avoidance of negative outcomes are strengthened.

Social networks
Composed of individuals with whom we have
interpersonal relationships and interact with on a
regular basis.
Observational learning – learning by exposure
to others
A basic form of learning in which individuals
acquire new forms of behaviour as a result of
observing others.

Social comparison
The process through which we compare ourselves
to others to determine whether our view of social
reality is, or is not, correct.

Reference groups – groups of people with

whom we identify and whose opinions we value.
  When and why do attitudes
influence behaviour?
Role of social context in the link between
attitudes and behaviour
Strength of attitudes
Attitude extremity: role of vested interests
Attitude certainty: importance of clarity and
correctness
Role of personal experience
 How do attitudes guide behaviour ?
Attitudes arrived at through reasoned thought
Theory of reasoned action
A theory suggesting that the decision to engage
in a particular behaviour is the result of a
rational process in which behavioural options
are considered, consequences or outcomes of
each are evaluated, and a decision is reached to
act or not to act. That decision is then reflected
in behavioural intentions, which strongly
influence overt behaviour.
Theory of planned behaviour
An extension of the theory of reasoned action,
suggesting that in addition to attitudes towards a
given behaviour and subjective norms about it,
individuals also consider their ability to perform
the behaviour.

Implementation plan
A plan for how to implement our intentions to
carry out some action.
Attitudes and spontaneous behavioural reactions
Attitude-to- behaviour process model
A model of how attitudes guide behaviour that
emphasizes the influence of attitudes and stored
knowledge of what is appropriate in a given
situation on an individual’s definition of the
present situation. This definition, in turn,
influences overt behaviour.
Habit
Repeatedly performing a specific behaviour so
responses become relatively automatic whenever
that situation is encountered.
  The fine art of persuasions – how
attitudes are changed
Persuasion – efforts to change other’s attitudes
through the use of various kinds of messages.

Persuasion: communicators, messages, and

audiences
The cognitive process underlying persuasion
  Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance
An internal state that results when individuals
notice inconsistently between two or more
attitudes or between their attitudes and their
behaviour.
Dissonance and attitude change: the effects of
induced compliance
Alternative strategies for resolving dissonance
When dissonance is a tool for beneficial
changes in behaviour
Reference
Baron, R.A. Bharadwaj. G., Branscombe, N.R.,
& Byrne, D. Social Psychology. (8th edition).
New Delhi; pearson education. (2009).