CHAPTER 06

Behavior & Attitudes

Maliha Khalid
Senior Lecturer, Psychology Department
Lahore Garrison University
 Chapter Outline
• ATTITUDE FORMATION
• PREJUDICE, STEREOTPES AND
DISCRIMINATION
• ATTITUDE CHANGE
• COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
• PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION
• MEASUREMENT OF ATTITUDES
 ATTITUDE
• In Social Psychology an attitude refers to a set of emotions,
beliefs, and behaviors towards a particular object, person,
thing, or event.
• Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to evaluate
things in a certain way. This can include evaluations of people,
issues, objects, or events. Such evaluations are often positive or
negative, but they can also be uncertain at times.

• Attitudes are often the result of experience or upbringing.

• They can have a powerful influence over behavior and affect
how people act in various situations. While attitudes are
enduring, they can also change.
 Overview of Attitude
• To understand the meaning of Attitudes, it can be helpful to
look at a few different examples:
• Your opinion on the death penalty.
• Your opinion about which political party does a better job of
running the country.
• Whether prayer be allowed in schools.
• Whether violence on television be regulated.
• You've developed attitudes about such issues, and these
attitudes influence your beliefs as well as your behavior.
 Components of Attitudes
• Cognitive Component: Your thoughts and beliefs about the
subject.
• Affective Component: How the object, person, issue, or
event makes you feel.
• Behavioral Component: How attitude influences your
behavior.
Types of Attitudes
• Attitudes can also be Explicit and Implicit.
Explicit Attitudes are those that we are consciously aware of
and that clearly influence our behaviors and beliefs.
Implicit Attitudes are unconscious but still have an effect on
our beliefs and behaviors.
 Explicit & Implicit Attitude (EXAMPLES)
• Imagine you're out with some friends and meet someone new. This new
acquaintance is wearing a Cowboys jersey, and they happen to be your
favorite team. You decide you already like this person and start a friendly
conversation. From an attitude perspective, you consciously noticed
the jersey and determined that this was obviously someone with which you
would get along. Your attitude is at the conscious level, was
deliberately formed and you are able to tell someone else about your
attitude.
• You are out with your friends. You vaguely notice some of the strangers
around you but don't meet anyone. You talk with your friends but feel
extremely uncomfortable. Maybe your friend even notices and asks what's
wrong, but you have no idea. In this scenario, it would be possible that
one of the strangers near you reminds you of someone from your
past that you greatly disliked. Your attitude towards this person is what
is making you feel uncomfortable. However, the attitude is at the
unconscious level, was involuntarily formed, and you have no idea it's
 Attitude Formation
• The study of attitude formation refers to the study of how people form
evaluations of persons, places or things. Theories of
classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning and social learning are
mainly responsible for formation of attitude. Unlike personality, attitudes
are expected to change as a function of experience.
Several factors can influence HOW and WHY attitudes form,
including:
Experience
• Attitudes form directly as a result of experience. They may emerge due to
direct personal experience, or they may result from observation.
Social Factors
• Social roles and social norms can have a strong influence on attitudes.
Social roles relate to how people are expected to behave in a particular
role or context. Social norms involve society's rules for what behaviors are
considered appropriate.
Attitude Formation
Learning by Classical conditioning
Attitudes can be learned in a variety of ways. Consider how advertisers
use Classical Conditioning to influence your attitude toward a particular
product. In a television commercial, you see young, people playing on a
tropical beach while enjoying a sports drink. This attractive and appealing
imagery causes you to develop a positive association with this
particular beverage.
Learning by Operant Conditioning
• Operant conditioning can also be used to influence how attitudes
develop. Imagine a young man who has just started smoking.
Whenever he lights up a cigarette, people complain, chastise
him, and ask him to leave their vicinity. This negative feedback from
those around him eventually causes him to develop an unfavorable
opinion of smoking and he decides to give up the habit.
 Attitude Formation
Observation
Finally, people also learn attitudes by observing people around
them. When someone you admire demonstrate a particular
attitude, you are more likely to develop the same beliefs
(attitude). For example, children spend a great deal of time
observing the attitudes of their parents and usually begin to
demonstrate similar outlooks.
 Why Attitudes Change
• Elaboration Likelihood Theory
• This theory of persuasion suggests that people can alter their attitudes in
two ways. First, they can be motivated to listen and think about the
message, thus leading to an attitude shift.
• Or, they might be influenced by the characteristics of the speaker,
leading to a temporary or surface shift in attitude. Messages that are
thought-provoking and that appeal to logic are more likely to lead to
permanent changes in attitudes.
• Dissonance Theory
• As mentioned earlier, people can also change their attitudes when they
have conflicting beliefs about a topic. In order to reduce the tension
created by these incompatible beliefs, people often shift their attitudes.
Why Attitudes Change
• Learning Theory
• Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and
observational learning can be used to bring about attitude
change.
• Classical conditioning can be used to create positive emotional
reactions to an object, person, or event by associating positive
feelings with the target object.

• Operant conditioning can be used to strengthen desirable

attitudes and weaken undesirable ones.

• Observational Learning People can also change their attitudes

PREJUDICE
 PREJUDICE
• Prejudice is an assumption or an opinion about someone
simply based on that person's membership to a particular
group. For example, people can be prejudiced against
someone else of a different ethnicity, gender, or religion.
• If someone is acting on their prejudices, they are pre-
judging (hence the term "prejudice") someone before even
getting to know them on a deeper level. This is an irrational
attitude and mindset which does no good for anyone involved.
• For Example, a person might have a lot of preconceived ideas
about someone who is Christian, Muslim, or Jewish and will
allow those judgments to affect the way they view and treat
those people. The same can be true for people who are Black,
White, or Asian.
 Types of Prejudice
• A prejudiced attitude can be based on a number of factors,
including sex, race, age, sexual orientation, nationality,
socioeconomic status, and religion. Some of the most well-
known types of prejudice include the following:
• Racism
• Sexism
• Ageism
• Classism
• Nationalism
• Religious prejudice
Class Task

• Write Down examples of each type

of Prejudice.
 Stereotypes
• The positive or negative beliefs that we hold about the characteristics of social
group

• A stereotype is a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class

of people.

• Stereotypes lead to social categorization, which is one of the reasons for

prejudiced attitudes (i.e. “them” and “us” mentality) which leads to in-groups
and out-groups.
 Stereotypes
• Example- we may believe that all lawyers are smart, a positive
stereotype; or we may believe that all lawyers are devious, a negative
stereotype.
• Many years ago, the political journalist Walter Lippmann aptly called
stereotypes “pictures in our heads.” When we encounter someone new
who has a clear membership in one or another group, we reach back into
our memory banks of stereotypes, find the appropriate picture, and fit the
person to it.
 Types of Stereotypes
• 1. Gender Stereotypes
• This involves making assumptions about what a man or woman
can and can’t (or should and shouldn’t) do.
• 2. Race And Ethnicity Stereotypes
• An ethnic or racial stereotype is a prejudgment about people based
on their race (black, white, Asian, etc) or ethnicity (Hispanic,
Native American, Pashtun, etc.)
• 3. Social-Class Stereotypes
• Stereotypes about working-class people have followed them
through the centuries, which can prevent them from getting good
jobs or access to welfare.
• A person with a working-class accent may therefore be marked down
in job interviews (not for their aptitude, but simply for their accent) .
 Types of Stereotypes
• 4 (Dis)Ability Stereotypes
• People with disabilities were long excluded from social
participation. For example, someone with speaking difficulties
or who is missing hands might be considered unable to do a job
that, in reality, they’re perfectly capable of executing.
• 5. Nationality Stereotypes
• When you make a statement like “People from England are…”,
you’re probably perpetuating a stereotype.
• 6. Religious Stereotypes
• A religious stereotype can create fear of religious groups that
you don’t belong to.
 Types of Stereotypes
• 7 Political Stereotypes
• A political stereotype is created when we retreat into our
political tribes and paint people with different political views in
the worst possible light.
 Discrimination
• Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions
between people based on the groups, classes, or other
categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong.

• People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age

, religion, disability, or sexual orientation, as well as other
categories.

• Discrimination especially occurs when individuals or groups

are unfairly treated in a way which is worse than other
people are treated, on the basis of their actual or perceived
membership in certain groups or social categories.
 Types of Discrimination

• Age
• Caste
• Disability
• Language
• Name
• Nationality
• Race or Ethnicity
• Religious Beliefs
 Cognitive Dissonance
• Cognitive Dissonance is the discomfort a person feels when the
behavior does not align with their values or beliefs.
• Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two related but
contradictory cognitions, or thoughts.

• For example, a person who wishes to protect other people and who
believes that the COVID-19 pandemic is real might wear a mask in
public. This is consonance.
• If that same person believed the COVID-19 pandemic was real but
refused to wear a mask, their values and behaviors would contradict
each other. This is dissonance.
Examples of Cognitive Dissonance
• Some examples of cognitive dissonance include:
• Smoking: Many people smoke even though they know it is harmful to
their health. The magnitude of the dissonance will be higher in people
who highly value their health.
• Eating meat: Some people who view themselves as animal lovers eat
meat and may feel discomfort when they think about where their meat
comes from. Some researchers refer to this as the “meat paradox.”
• Doing household tasks: A male might believe in equality of the
sexes but then consciously or unconsciously expect their female
partner to do most of the household labor or childrearing.
• Supporting fast fashion: A person might be aware of the effects of
fast fashion on the environment and workers but still purchase cheap
clothes from companies that engage in harmful practices.
Defense Mechanisms against Cognitive
Dissonance
• Festinger believed that all people are motivated to avoid or
resolve cognitive dissonance due to the discomfort it causes.
This can prompt people to adopt certain defense mechanisms
when they have to confront it.

These defense mechanisms fall into Three Categories:

• Avoiding: This involves avoiding or ignoring the dissonance. A
person may avoid people or situations that remind them
of it, discourage people from talking about it, or distract
themselves from it with consuming tasks.
 Defense Mechanisms against
Cognitive Dissonance
• Delegitimizing: This involves undermining evidence of the
dissonance. A person may do this by discrediting the person,
group, or situation that highlighted the dissonance. For
example, they might say it is untrustworthy or biased.

• Limiting impact: This involves limiting the discomfort of

cognitive dissonance by belittling its importance. A person may
do this by claiming the behavior is rare or a one-off event, or
by providing rational arguments to convince themselves
or others that the behavior is OK.
 Causes of Cognitive Dissonance
• Some factors that can cause cognitive dissonance include:
• Forced compliance: A person may have to do things they
disagree with as part of a job, to avoid bullying or abuse, or to
follow the law.
• Decision-making: Everyone has limited choices. When a
person must make a decision among several options they do
not like or agree with, or they only have one option, they
may experience cognitive dissonance.
• Effort: People tend to value things they work hard for highly,
even if those things contradict a person’s values. This may be
because viewing something negatively after putting in a
lot of hard work would cause more dissonance. So people
are more likely to view difficult tasks positively, even if they do
not morally agree with them.
 Persuasive Communication
• Persuasion is a process in which one person or entity tries
to influence another person or group of people to change
their beliefs or behaviors.

• It is distinct from coercion, in that the people receiving the

message have a choice about whether to act on it.

• On the other hand Coercion is the process of attempting to

influence another person through the use of threats,
punishment, force, direct pressure, and other negative forms of
power.
 Principles of Persuasion
• Reciprocity
• As humans, we tend to want to repay others when they have
done something for us. You might easily persuade a friend
to do a favor for you if you have already done one for
them.
• Scarcity
• You might be persuaded to change your behavior if you are
convinced that you will lose access to something, or that
there isn't enough of it to go around.
• Authority
• If you believe that a person or other entity has expert
knowledge, you may be more likely to be persuaded by their
message.
 Principles of Persuasion
• Social Proof
• This is the "safety in numbers" principle. If we see that our
close friends or peers have made a purchase, supported a
political candidate, or otherwise agreed with a persuasive
message, we may be more likely to agree with it too.
• Liking
• If you know and like the person (or even business, political
party, or government agency) trying to persuade you of
something, you will be more inclined to agree with their
argument.
• This is similar to the "social proof" principle, but is more about
the quality of the relationship, where social proof is about
quantity.
 Assignment

Q. Make an Assignment on Measurement of

ATTITUDES.