NCERT Textbook: Attitude and Social Cognition | Psychology for UPSC Optional (Notes) PDF Download

 Page 1


Psychology
104
AT AT
AT AT ATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
After reading this chapter, you would be able to:
understand what are attitudes, how they are formed and changed.
Introduction
Explaining Social Behaviour
Nature and Components of Attitudes
A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an
Attitude (Box 6.1)
Attitude Formation and Change
Attitude Formation
Attitude Change
Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars (Box 6.2)
Attitude-Behaviour Relationship
Prejudice and Discrimination
Strategies for Handling Prejudice
Social Cognition
Schemas and Stereotypes
Impression Formation and Explaining
Behaviour of Others through Attributions
Impression Formation
Attribution of Causality
Behaviour in the Presence of Others
Pro-social Behaviour
Factors Affecting Pro-social Behaviour
CONTENTS
Key Terms
Summary
Review Questions
Project Ideas
Weblinks
Pedagogical Hints
Rationalised 2023-24
Page 2


Psychology
104
AT AT
AT AT ATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
After reading this chapter, you would be able to:
understand what are attitudes, how they are formed and changed.
Introduction
Explaining Social Behaviour
Nature and Components of Attitudes
A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an
Attitude (Box 6.1)
Attitude Formation and Change
Attitude Formation
Attitude Change
Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars (Box 6.2)
Attitude-Behaviour Relationship
Prejudice and Discrimination
Strategies for Handling Prejudice
Social Cognition
Schemas and Stereotypes
Impression Formation and Explaining
Behaviour of Others through Attributions
Impression Formation
Attribution of Causality
Behaviour in the Presence of Others
Pro-social Behaviour
Factors Affecting Pro-social Behaviour
CONTENTS
Key Terms
Summary
Review Questions
Project Ideas
Weblinks
Pedagogical Hints
Rationalised 2023-24
Chapter 6 • Attitude and Social Cognition
105
EXPLAINING SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Social behaviour is a necessary part of
human life, and being social means much
more than merely being in the company of
others. You may recall from what you
studied in Class XI that social psychology
deals with all behaviour that takes place in
the actual, imagined, or implied presence
of others. Social psychologists examine
various forms of social behaviour, and try
to explain their basis. Because of social
influences, people form views, or attitudes
about people, and about different issues in
life, that exist in the form of behavioural
tendencies. In order to understand
completely how the social context
influences the individual, it is necessary
to study both social-cognitive processes
and social behaviour.  Social psychologists
have shown that one must go beyond
common sense and folk wisdom in order
to explain how people observe and make
sense of their own and others’ diverse
behaviours.
NATURE AND COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES
For a few minutes quietly do the following
mental exercise. Today, how many times did
you tell yourself : “In my opinion…” or
“Others may say so and so, but I feel…”?
What you fill in the blanks are called
opinions.  Now continue the exercise : how
Social psychology is that branch of psychology which investigates how the
behaviour of individuals is affected by others and the social environment.
All of us form attitudes, or ways of thinking about specific topics and
people.  Many of these social behaviours seem to be simple. Yet, explaining
the processes that lie behind these behaviours is a complex matter.  This
chapter will describe the basic ideas related to attitudes, as explained by
social psychologists.
Introduction
important are these opinions to you? The
topics of some of these opinions may be only
moderately important to you; they are
simply ways of thinking, and it does not
matter much to you that others agree or
disagree with your views. On the other
hand, you may find that some other topics
are extremely important to you. If someone
opposes or challenges your views about
these topics, you get emotional. You may
have made some of these views part of your
behaviour. In other words, if your views are
not merely thoughts, but also have
emotional and action components, then
these views are more than ‘opinions’; they
are examples of attitudes.
All definitions of attitudes agree that 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
referred to as the cognitive aspect, the
emotional component is known as the
affective aspect, and the tendency to act
is called the behavioural (or conative)
aspect.  Taken together, these three
aspects have been referred to as the A-B-
C components (Affective-Behavioural-
Cognitive components) of attitude. Note
that attitudes are themselves not
Rationalised 2023-24
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Psychology
104
AT AT
AT AT ATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
After reading this chapter, you would be able to:
understand what are attitudes, how they are formed and changed.
Introduction
Explaining Social Behaviour
Nature and Components of Attitudes
A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an
Attitude (Box 6.1)
Attitude Formation and Change
Attitude Formation
Attitude Change
Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars (Box 6.2)
Attitude-Behaviour Relationship
Prejudice and Discrimination
Strategies for Handling Prejudice
Social Cognition
Schemas and Stereotypes
Impression Formation and Explaining
Behaviour of Others through Attributions
Impression Formation
Attribution of Causality
Behaviour in the Presence of Others
Pro-social Behaviour
Factors Affecting Pro-social Behaviour
CONTENTS
Key Terms
Summary
Review Questions
Project Ideas
Weblinks
Pedagogical Hints
Rationalised 2023-24
Chapter 6 • Attitude and Social Cognition
105
EXPLAINING SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Social behaviour is a necessary part of
human life, and being social means much
more than merely being in the company of
others. You may recall from what you
studied in Class XI that social psychology
deals with all behaviour that takes place in
the actual, imagined, or implied presence
of others. Social psychologists examine
various forms of social behaviour, and try
to explain their basis. Because of social
influences, people form views, or attitudes
about people, and about different issues in
life, that exist in the form of behavioural
tendencies. In order to understand
completely how the social context
influences the individual, it is necessary
to study both social-cognitive processes
and social behaviour.  Social psychologists
have shown that one must go beyond
common sense and folk wisdom in order
to explain how people observe and make
sense of their own and others’ diverse
behaviours.
NATURE AND COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES
For a few minutes quietly do the following
mental exercise. Today, how many times did
you tell yourself : “In my opinion…” or
“Others may say so and so, but I feel…”?
What you fill in the blanks are called
opinions.  Now continue the exercise : how
Social psychology is that branch of psychology which investigates how the
behaviour of individuals is affected by others and the social environment.
All of us form attitudes, or ways of thinking about specific topics and
people.  Many of these social behaviours seem to be simple. Yet, explaining
the processes that lie behind these behaviours is a complex matter.  This
chapter will describe the basic ideas related to attitudes, as explained by
social psychologists.
Introduction
important are these opinions to you? The
topics of some of these opinions may be only
moderately important to you; they are
simply ways of thinking, and it does not
matter much to you that others agree or
disagree with your views. On the other
hand, you may find that some other topics
are extremely important to you. If someone
opposes or challenges your views about
these topics, you get emotional. You may
have made some of these views part of your
behaviour. In other words, if your views are
not merely thoughts, but also have
emotional and action components, then
these views are more than ‘opinions’; they
are examples of attitudes.
All definitions of attitudes agree that 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
referred to as the cognitive aspect, the
emotional component is known as the
affective aspect, and the tendency to act
is called the behavioural (or conative)
aspect.  Taken together, these three
aspects have been referred to as the A-B-
C components (Affective-Behavioural-
Cognitive components) of attitude. Note
that attitudes are themselves not
Rationalised 2023-24
Psychology
106
behaviour, but they represent a tendency
to behave or act in certain ways.  They
are part of cognition, along with an
emotional component, and cannot be
observed from outside. Box 6.1 presents
an example of an attitude towards the
environment, showing the relationship
between the three components.
Attitudes have to be distinguished from
two other closely related concepts,
namely, beliefs and values. 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. Values
are attitudes or beliefs that contain a
‘should’ or ‘ought’ aspect, 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. Values
are formed when a particular belief or
attitude becomes an inseparable part of
the person’s outlook on life. Consequently,
values are difficult to change.
What is the purpose served by an
attitude? 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.
In addition to the affective, cognitive and
behavioural components, attitudes also
have other properties. Four significant
features of attitudes are : Valence (positivity
or negativity), Extremeness, Simplicity or
Complexity (multiplexity), and Centrality.
Valence (positivity or negativity) : The
valence of an attitude tells us whether an
attitude is positive or negative towards the
attitude object. Suppose an attitude (say,
towards nuclear research) has to be
expressed on a 5-point scale, ranging from
1 (Very bad), 2 (Bad), 3 (Neutral — neither
good nor bad), and 4 (Good), to 5 (Very
good). If an individual rates her/his view
towards nuclear research as 4 or 5, this is
clearly a positive attitude. This means that
the person likes the idea of nuclear research
and thinks it is something good. On the
other hand, if the rating is 1 or 2, the
attitude is negative. This means that the
person dislikes the idea of nuclear research,
and thinks it is something bad. We also
allow for neutral attitudes. In this
Box
6.1
A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an Attitude
Suppose a group of people in your neighbourhood start a tree plantation campaign as part
of a ‘green environment’ movement. Based on sufficient information about the environment,
your view towards a ‘green environment’ is positive (cognitive or ‘C’ component, along with
the evaluative aspect). You feel very happy when you see greenery. You feel sad and angry
when you see trees being cut down. These aspects reflect the affective (emotional), or ‘A’
component of the same attitude. Now suppose you also actively participate in the tree
plantation campaign. This shows the behavioural or ‘B’ component of your attitudes towards
a ‘green environment’. In general, we expect all three components to be consistent with
each other, that is, in the same direction. However, such consistency may not necessarily
be found in all situations. For example, 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. Or, the cognitive and affective components may be strong and
positive, but the behavioural component may be neutral. Therefore, predicting one
component on the basis of the other two may not always give us the correct picture about
an attitude.
Rationalised 2023-24
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Psychology
104
AT AT
AT AT ATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
After reading this chapter, you would be able to:
understand what are attitudes, how they are formed and changed.
Introduction
Explaining Social Behaviour
Nature and Components of Attitudes
A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an
Attitude (Box 6.1)
Attitude Formation and Change
Attitude Formation
Attitude Change
Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars (Box 6.2)
Attitude-Behaviour Relationship
Prejudice and Discrimination
Strategies for Handling Prejudice
Social Cognition
Schemas and Stereotypes
Impression Formation and Explaining
Behaviour of Others through Attributions
Impression Formation
Attribution of Causality
Behaviour in the Presence of Others
Pro-social Behaviour
Factors Affecting Pro-social Behaviour
CONTENTS
Key Terms
Summary
Review Questions
Project Ideas
Weblinks
Pedagogical Hints
Rationalised 2023-24
Chapter 6 • Attitude and Social Cognition
105
EXPLAINING SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Social behaviour is a necessary part of
human life, and being social means much
more than merely being in the company of
others. You may recall from what you
studied in Class XI that social psychology
deals with all behaviour that takes place in
the actual, imagined, or implied presence
of others. Social psychologists examine
various forms of social behaviour, and try
to explain their basis. Because of social
influences, people form views, or attitudes
about people, and about different issues in
life, that exist in the form of behavioural
tendencies. In order to understand
completely how the social context
influences the individual, it is necessary
to study both social-cognitive processes
and social behaviour.  Social psychologists
have shown that one must go beyond
common sense and folk wisdom in order
to explain how people observe and make
sense of their own and others’ diverse
behaviours.
NATURE AND COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES
For a few minutes quietly do the following
mental exercise. Today, how many times did
you tell yourself : “In my opinion…” or
“Others may say so and so, but I feel…”?
What you fill in the blanks are called
opinions.  Now continue the exercise : how
Social psychology is that branch of psychology which investigates how the
behaviour of individuals is affected by others and the social environment.
All of us form attitudes, or ways of thinking about specific topics and
people.  Many of these social behaviours seem to be simple. Yet, explaining
the processes that lie behind these behaviours is a complex matter.  This
chapter will describe the basic ideas related to attitudes, as explained by
social psychologists.
Introduction
important are these opinions to you? The
topics of some of these opinions may be only
moderately important to you; they are
simply ways of thinking, and it does not
matter much to you that others agree or
disagree with your views. On the other
hand, you may find that some other topics
are extremely important to you. If someone
opposes or challenges your views about
these topics, you get emotional. You may
have made some of these views part of your
behaviour. In other words, if your views are
not merely thoughts, but also have
emotional and action components, then
these views are more than ‘opinions’; they
are examples of attitudes.
All definitions of attitudes agree that 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
referred to as the cognitive aspect, the
emotional component is known as the
affective aspect, and the tendency to act
is called the behavioural (or conative)
aspect.  Taken together, these three
aspects have been referred to as the A-B-
C components (Affective-Behavioural-
Cognitive components) of attitude. Note
that attitudes are themselves not
Rationalised 2023-24
Psychology
106
behaviour, but they represent a tendency
to behave or act in certain ways.  They
are part of cognition, along with an
emotional component, and cannot be
observed from outside. Box 6.1 presents
an example of an attitude towards the
environment, showing the relationship
between the three components.
Attitudes have to be distinguished from
two other closely related concepts,
namely, beliefs and values. 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. Values
are attitudes or beliefs that contain a
‘should’ or ‘ought’ aspect, 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. Values
are formed when a particular belief or
attitude becomes an inseparable part of
the person’s outlook on life. Consequently,
values are difficult to change.
What is the purpose served by an
attitude? 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.
In addition to the affective, cognitive and
behavioural components, attitudes also
have other properties. Four significant
features of attitudes are : Valence (positivity
or negativity), Extremeness, Simplicity or
Complexity (multiplexity), and Centrality.
Valence (positivity or negativity) : The
valence of an attitude tells us whether an
attitude is positive or negative towards the
attitude object. Suppose an attitude (say,
towards nuclear research) has to be
expressed on a 5-point scale, ranging from
1 (Very bad), 2 (Bad), 3 (Neutral — neither
good nor bad), and 4 (Good), to 5 (Very
good). If an individual rates her/his view
towards nuclear research as 4 or 5, this is
clearly a positive attitude. This means that
the person likes the idea of nuclear research
and thinks it is something good. On the
other hand, if the rating is 1 or 2, the
attitude is negative. This means that the
person dislikes the idea of nuclear research,
and thinks it is something bad. We also
allow for neutral attitudes. In this
Box
6.1
A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an Attitude
Suppose a group of people in your neighbourhood start a tree plantation campaign as part
of a ‘green environment’ movement. Based on sufficient information about the environment,
your view towards a ‘green environment’ is positive (cognitive or ‘C’ component, along with
the evaluative aspect). You feel very happy when you see greenery. You feel sad and angry
when you see trees being cut down. These aspects reflect the affective (emotional), or ‘A’
component of the same attitude. Now suppose you also actively participate in the tree
plantation campaign. This shows the behavioural or ‘B’ component of your attitudes towards
a ‘green environment’. In general, we expect all three components to be consistent with
each other, that is, in the same direction. However, such consistency may not necessarily
be found in all situations. For example, 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. Or, the cognitive and affective components may be strong and
positive, but the behavioural component may be neutral. Therefore, predicting one
component on the basis of the other two may not always give us the correct picture about
an attitude.
Rationalised 2023-24
Chapter 6 • Attitude and Social Cognition
107
example, a neutral attitude towards
nuclear research would be shown by a
rating of 3 on the same scale. A neutral
attitude would have neither positive nor
negative valence.
Extremeness : The extremeness of an
attitude indicates how positive or negative
an attitude is. Taking the nuclear
research example given above, 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) :
This feature refers to how many attitudes
there are within a broader attitude. Think
of an attitude as a family containing several
‘member’ attitudes. In case of various topics,
such as health and world peace, people hold
many attitudes instead of single attitude.
An attitude system is said to be ‘simple’ if it
contains only one or a few attitudes, and
‘complex’ if it is made up of many attitudes.
Consider the example of attitude towards
health and well-being. This attitude system
is likely to consist of several ‘member’
attitudes, such as one’s concept of physical
and mental health, views about happiness
and well-being, and beliefs about how one
should achieve health and happiness. By
contrast, the attitude towards a particular
person is likely to consist of mainly one
attitude. The multiple member-attitudes
within an attitude system should not be
confused with the three components
described earlier. Each member attitude
that belongs to an attitude system also has
A-B-C components.
Centrality : This refers to the role of a
particular attitude in the attitude system.
An attitude with greater centrality would
influence the other attitudes in the system
much more than non-central (or peripheral)
attitudes would. For example, in the
attitude towards world peace, a negative
attitude towards high military expenditure
may be present as a core or central
attitude that influences all other attitudes
in the multiple attitude system.
ATTITUDE FORMATION AND CHANGE
Attitude Formation
One important question that psychologists
are interested in answering is : how are
attitudes formed? Like many other thoughts
and concepts that develop and become part
of our cognitive system, attitudes towards
different topics, things and people also are
formed as we interact with others. However,
there are specific conditions that lead to the
formation of specific attitudes.
In general, attitudes are learned
through one’s own experiences, and
through interaction with others. There are
a few research studies that show some sort
of inborn aspect of attitudes, but such
genetic factors influence attitudes only
indirectly, along with learning. Therefore,
most social psychologists have focused on
the conditions which lead to the learning
of attitudes.
Process of Attitude Formation
The processes and conditions of learning
may be different, resulting in varying
attitudes among people.
• Learning attitudes by association : You
might have seen that students often
develop a liking for a particular subject
because of the teacher. This is because
they see many positive qualities in that
teacher; these positive qualities get
linked to the subject that s/he
teaches, and ultimately get expressed
in the form of liking for the subject.
In other words, a positive attitude
towards the subject is learned through
the positive association between a
teacher and a student.
Rationalised 2023-24
Page 5


Psychology
104
AT AT
AT AT ATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION TITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION
After reading this chapter, you would be able to:
understand what are attitudes, how they are formed and changed.
Introduction
Explaining Social Behaviour
Nature and Components of Attitudes
A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an
Attitude (Box 6.1)
Attitude Formation and Change
Attitude Formation
Attitude Change
Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars (Box 6.2)
Attitude-Behaviour Relationship
Prejudice and Discrimination
Strategies for Handling Prejudice
Social Cognition
Schemas and Stereotypes
Impression Formation and Explaining
Behaviour of Others through Attributions
Impression Formation
Attribution of Causality
Behaviour in the Presence of Others
Pro-social Behaviour
Factors Affecting Pro-social Behaviour
CONTENTS
Key Terms
Summary
Review Questions
Project Ideas
Weblinks
Pedagogical Hints
Rationalised 2023-24
Chapter 6 • Attitude and Social Cognition
105
EXPLAINING SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Social behaviour is a necessary part of
human life, and being social means much
more than merely being in the company of
others. You may recall from what you
studied in Class XI that social psychology
deals with all behaviour that takes place in
the actual, imagined, or implied presence
of others. Social psychologists examine
various forms of social behaviour, and try
to explain their basis. Because of social
influences, people form views, or attitudes
about people, and about different issues in
life, that exist in the form of behavioural
tendencies. In order to understand
completely how the social context
influences the individual, it is necessary
to study both social-cognitive processes
and social behaviour.  Social psychologists
have shown that one must go beyond
common sense and folk wisdom in order
to explain how people observe and make
sense of their own and others’ diverse
behaviours.
NATURE AND COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES
For a few minutes quietly do the following
mental exercise. Today, how many times did
you tell yourself : “In my opinion…” or
“Others may say so and so, but I feel…”?
What you fill in the blanks are called
opinions.  Now continue the exercise : how
Social psychology is that branch of psychology which investigates how the
behaviour of individuals is affected by others and the social environment.
All of us form attitudes, or ways of thinking about specific topics and
people.  Many of these social behaviours seem to be simple. Yet, explaining
the processes that lie behind these behaviours is a complex matter.  This
chapter will describe the basic ideas related to attitudes, as explained by
social psychologists.
Introduction
important are these opinions to you? The
topics of some of these opinions may be only
moderately important to you; they are
simply ways of thinking, and it does not
matter much to you that others agree or
disagree with your views. On the other
hand, you may find that some other topics
are extremely important to you. If someone
opposes or challenges your views about
these topics, you get emotional. You may
have made some of these views part of your
behaviour. In other words, if your views are
not merely thoughts, but also have
emotional and action components, then
these views are more than ‘opinions’; they
are examples of attitudes.
All definitions of attitudes agree that 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
referred to as the cognitive aspect, the
emotional component is known as the
affective aspect, and the tendency to act
is called the behavioural (or conative)
aspect.  Taken together, these three
aspects have been referred to as the A-B-
C components (Affective-Behavioural-
Cognitive components) of attitude. Note
that attitudes are themselves not
Rationalised 2023-24
Psychology
106
behaviour, but they represent a tendency
to behave or act in certain ways.  They
are part of cognition, along with an
emotional component, and cannot be
observed from outside. Box 6.1 presents
an example of an attitude towards the
environment, showing the relationship
between the three components.
Attitudes have to be distinguished from
two other closely related concepts,
namely, beliefs and values. 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. Values
are attitudes or beliefs that contain a
‘should’ or ‘ought’ aspect, 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. Values
are formed when a particular belief or
attitude becomes an inseparable part of
the person’s outlook on life. Consequently,
values are difficult to change.
What is the purpose served by an
attitude? 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.
In addition to the affective, cognitive and
behavioural components, attitudes also
have other properties. Four significant
features of attitudes are : Valence (positivity
or negativity), Extremeness, Simplicity or
Complexity (multiplexity), and Centrality.
Valence (positivity or negativity) : The
valence of an attitude tells us whether an
attitude is positive or negative towards the
attitude object. Suppose an attitude (say,
towards nuclear research) has to be
expressed on a 5-point scale, ranging from
1 (Very bad), 2 (Bad), 3 (Neutral — neither
good nor bad), and 4 (Good), to 5 (Very
good). If an individual rates her/his view
towards nuclear research as 4 or 5, this is
clearly a positive attitude. This means that
the person likes the idea of nuclear research
and thinks it is something good. On the
other hand, if the rating is 1 or 2, the
attitude is negative. This means that the
person dislikes the idea of nuclear research,
and thinks it is something bad. We also
allow for neutral attitudes. In this
Box
6.1
A ‘Green Environment’ : The A-B-C Components of an Attitude
Suppose a group of people in your neighbourhood start a tree plantation campaign as part
of a ‘green environment’ movement. Based on sufficient information about the environment,
your view towards a ‘green environment’ is positive (cognitive or ‘C’ component, along with
the evaluative aspect). You feel very happy when you see greenery. You feel sad and angry
when you see trees being cut down. These aspects reflect the affective (emotional), or ‘A’
component of the same attitude. Now suppose you also actively participate in the tree
plantation campaign. This shows the behavioural or ‘B’ component of your attitudes towards
a ‘green environment’. In general, we expect all three components to be consistent with
each other, that is, in the same direction. However, such consistency may not necessarily
be found in all situations. For example, 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. Or, the cognitive and affective components may be strong and
positive, but the behavioural component may be neutral. Therefore, predicting one
component on the basis of the other two may not always give us the correct picture about
an attitude.
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Chapter 6 • Attitude and Social Cognition
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example, a neutral attitude towards
nuclear research would be shown by a
rating of 3 on the same scale. A neutral
attitude would have neither positive nor
negative valence.
Extremeness : The extremeness of an
attitude indicates how positive or negative
an attitude is. Taking the nuclear
research example given above, 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) :
This feature refers to how many attitudes
there are within a broader attitude. Think
of an attitude as a family containing several
‘member’ attitudes. In case of various topics,
such as health and world peace, people hold
many attitudes instead of single attitude.
An attitude system is said to be ‘simple’ if it
contains only one or a few attitudes, and
‘complex’ if it is made up of many attitudes.
Consider the example of attitude towards
health and well-being. This attitude system
is likely to consist of several ‘member’
attitudes, such as one’s concept of physical
and mental health, views about happiness
and well-being, and beliefs about how one
should achieve health and happiness. By
contrast, the attitude towards a particular
person is likely to consist of mainly one
attitude. The multiple member-attitudes
within an attitude system should not be
confused with the three components
described earlier. Each member attitude
that belongs to an attitude system also has
A-B-C components.
Centrality : This refers to the role of a
particular attitude in the attitude system.
An attitude with greater centrality would
influence the other attitudes in the system
much more than non-central (or peripheral)
attitudes would. For example, in the
attitude towards world peace, a negative
attitude towards high military expenditure
may be present as a core or central
attitude that influences all other attitudes
in the multiple attitude system.
ATTITUDE FORMATION AND CHANGE
Attitude Formation
One important question that psychologists
are interested in answering is : how are
attitudes formed? Like many other thoughts
and concepts that develop and become part
of our cognitive system, attitudes towards
different topics, things and people also are
formed as we interact with others. However,
there are specific conditions that lead to the
formation of specific attitudes.
In general, attitudes are learned
through one’s own experiences, and
through interaction with others. There are
a few research studies that show some sort
of inborn aspect of attitudes, but such
genetic factors influence attitudes only
indirectly, along with learning. Therefore,
most social psychologists have focused on
the conditions which lead to the learning
of attitudes.
Process of Attitude Formation
The processes and conditions of learning
may be different, resulting in varying
attitudes among people.
• Learning attitudes by association : You
might have seen that students often
develop a liking for a particular subject
because of the teacher. This is because
they see many positive qualities in that
teacher; these positive qualities get
linked to the subject that s/he
teaches, and ultimately get expressed
in the form of liking for the subject.
In other words, a positive attitude
towards the subject is learned through
the positive association between a
teacher and a student.
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• Learning attitudes by being rewarded
or punished : If an individual is praised
for showing a particular attitude,
chances are high that s/he will develop
that attitude further. For example, if
a teenager does yogasanas regularly,
and gets the honour of being ‘Miss Good
Health’ in her school, she may develop
a positive attitude towards yoga and
health in general. Similarly, if a child
constantly falls ill because s/he eats
junk food instead of proper meals, then
the child is likely to develop a negative
attitude towards junk food, and also a
positive attitude towards eating healthy
food.
• Learning attitudes through modelling
(observing others) : 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. For
example, children may form a respectful
attitude towards elders, by observing
that their parents show respect for
elders, and are appreciated for it.
• Learning attitudes through group or
cultural norms : Very often, we learn
attitudes through the norms of our
group or culture. Norms are unwritten
rules about behaviour 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. Learning
attitudes through group or cultural
norms may actually be an example of
all three forms of learning described
above — learning through association,
reward or punishment, and modelling.
For example, offering money, sweets,
fruit and flowers in a place of worship is
a normative behaviour in some religions.
When individuals see that such
behaviour is shown by others, is
expected and socially approved, they
may ultimately develop a positive
attitude towards such behaviour and the
associated feelings of devotion.
• Learning through exposure to
information: Many attitudes are learned
in a social context, but not necessarily
in the physical presence of others.
Today, with the huge amount of
information that is being provided
through various media, both positive
and negative attitudes are being formed.
By reading the biographies of self-
actualised persons, an individual may
develop a positive attitude towards hard
work and other aspects as the means of
achieving success in life.
Factors that Influence Attitude Formation
The following factors provide the context for
the learning of attitudes through the
processes described above.
1. Family and School Environment :
Particularly in the early years of life,
parents and other family members play
a significant role in shaping attitude
formation. Later, the school
environment becomes an important
background for attitude formation.
Learning of attitudes within the family
and school usually takes place by
association, through rewards and
punishments, and through modelling.
2. Reference Groups : Reference groups
indicate to an individual the norms
regarding acceptable behaviour and
ways of thinking. Thus, they reflect
learning of attitudes through group or
cultural norms. Attitudes towards
various topics, such as political,
religious and social groups,
occupations, national and other issues
are often developed through reference
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