**CHAPTER 6: ATTITUDE AND SOCIAL COGNITION – COMPREHENSIVE CHEAT SHEET**
**SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY FUNDAMENTALS**
• Definition: Branch of psychology investigating how individual behaviour is affected by others and the social environment
• Scope: Examines social behaviour in actual, imagined, or implied presence of others
• Purpose: Explains bases of social behaviour beyond common sense and folk wisdom
• Key Focus: Understanding social-cognitive processes AND social behaviour together
**DEFINITION OF ATTITUDE**
• State of mind consisting of views/thoughts regarding an attitude object
• Has evaluative feature: positive, negative, or neutral quality
• NOT behaviour itself but TENDENCY to behave in particular ways
• Part of cognition with emotional component; cannot be directly observed
• Distinguishable from opinions: opinions lack emotional intensity and behavioural tendency; attitudes do
• Provides mental 'blueprint' for deciding how to act in new situations
**A-B-C COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE (Three-Component Model)**
• Cognitive Component (C): Thoughts, beliefs, and evaluations about attitude object → Example: belief that green environment is good
• Affective Component (A): Emotional responses and feelings → Example: happiness seeing greenery, sadness seeing trees cut
• Behavioural Component (B): Tendency to act or actual behaviour → Example: participating in tree plantation campaign
• Consistency: Components typically aligned but NOT always → possible to have strong cognitive component but weak behavioural component
• Prediction Limitation: Cannot always predict one component from others accurately
**DISTINGUISHING ATTITUDES FROM RELATED CONCEPTS**
• Beliefs: Cognitive component only; form ground on which attitudes stand → Example: belief in God, democracy
• Values: Attitudes/beliefs containing 'should' or 'ought' aspect; ethical/moral in nature → Example: 'should work hard', 'honesty is best policy'; difficult to change as become inseparable from outlook on life
• Attitudes: Include all three components with evaluative quality; more flexible than values
**PROPERTIES/FEATURES OF ATTITUDES (Four Significant Characteristics)**
1. Valence (Positivity or Negativity)
• Indicates whether attitude is positive, negative, or neutral towards object
• Measured on scales: 1-2 = negative, 3 = neutral, 4-5 = positive
• Example: Nuclear research rated 4-5 = positive attitude (likes idea)
• Example: Nuclear research rated 1-2 = negative attitude (dislikes idea)
2. Extremeness
• Indicates HOW positive or negative an attitude is (intensity level)
• Rating 1 and 5 equally extreme but opposite directions (different valence)
• Ratings 2 and 4 less extreme
• Neutral attitude lowest on extremeness scale
3. Simplicity or Complexity (Multiplexity)
• Refers to number of attitudes within broader attitude system
• Simple attitude system: contains one or few attitudes → Example: attitude towards particular person
• Complex attitude system: contains many 'member' attitudes → Example: attitude towards health consists of views on physical health, mental health, happiness, well-being achievement methods
• 'Family' of attitudes: multiple related attitudes within umbrella attitude
4. Centrality
• [Implied in chapter]: Importance of attitude to individual's self-concept and values
• Central attitudes: more important to person; challenge causes emotional reaction
• Peripheral attitudes: moderately important; disagreement doesn't matter much
**ATTITUDE FORMATION (Origins and Development)**
• Process: How attitudes are acquired and developed
• Mechanisms: Through social influences and exposure to information
• Formation linked to beliefs acquired about attitude objects
• Attitudes develop as views become emotionally and behaviourally loaded
• Gradual process: opinions → attitudes (when emotional and behavioural components added)
**ATTITUDE CHANGE (Modification of Existing Attitudes)**
• Cognitive Dissonance Theory Application: Inconsistency between behaviour and attitude creates discomfort → motivation to change attitude
• Forced Compliance Scenario: When forced to act against attitudes without strong external justification → person changes attitude to reduce discomfort
• Example ('Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars'): If paid small amount to lie, insufficient justification → attitude shifts to match behaviour (internalization); if paid large amount, external justification sufficient → attitude unchanged
• Persuasion Methods: Information, evidence, emotional appeal can modify attitudes
• Magnitude of Change: Depends on extremeness of original attitude, centrality, and strength of conflicting information
**ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOUR RELATIONSHIP**
• Core Question: Do attitudes predict behaviour? Answer: NOT perfectly
• Inconsistency Sources: Situational factors, social pressures, contradicting attitudes, lack of opportunity
• Strong Predictor When: Attitude is central, extreme, and formed through direct experience
• Weak Predictor When: Attitude is peripheral, moderate, or formed indirectly
• Context Matters: Same attitude may lead to different behaviours in different situations
• Reciprocal Relationship: Behaviour can also change attitudes (cognitive dissonance pathway)
**PREJUDICE (Definition and Nature)**
• Negative attitude towards group or individual based on group membership
• Characteristics: Preconceived, usually negative, generalized to all group members
• Components: Cognitive (stereotypes), Affective (prejudicial feelings), Behavioural (discriminatory acts)
• Irrational Basis: Often not based on direct experience or valid evidence
• Distinction: Prejudice = attitude (internal); Discrimination = behaviour (external action)
**DISCRIMINATION (Behavioural Manifestation)**
• Negative or unfair treatment of individual/group based on group membership
• Overt Discrimination: Obvious, intentional unfair treatment
• Covert Discrimination: Hidden, subtle unfair treatment
• Legal/Social Consequences: Subject to laws against discriminatory practices
• Based on: Race, caste, religion, gender, age, disability status
**SOURCES OF PREJUDICE (Origins and Development)**
• Social Learning: Acquiring prejudiced attitudes from family, peers, media
• Group Conflict: Competition for resources; intergroup hostility
• Stereotypes: Simplified, generalized beliefs about groups → lead to prejudicial attitudes
• Personal Frustration: Displaced aggression towards visible groups (scapegoating)
• Conformity: Adopting prejudices to fit in with social group
• Historical Factors: Past injustices, segregation policies perpetuated
• Cognitive Categorization: Natural tendency to categorize people → intergroup bias
**STRATEGIES FOR HANDLING PREJUDICE**
1. Education and Awareness
• Providing accurate information about stereotyped groups
• Exposure to facts contradicting stereotypes
• School curricula addressing prejudice and diversity
2. Intergroup Contact
• Bringing prejudiced and target group members together
• Under appropriate conditions: reduces prejudice → familiarity reduces fear
• Conditions required: Equal status, cooperative goals, institutional support
• Example: School desegregation programs reducing racial prejudice
3. Changing Social Norms
• Establishing norms against prejudice and discrimination
• Social pressure to conform to non-prejudicial attitudes
• Leadership and institutional policies promoting equality
4. Perspective-Taking
• Encouraging understanding of target group's viewpoint
• Empathy development towards stereotyped groups
• Reduces dehumanization and increases compassion
5. Cooperative Learning
• Structured group activities requiring cooperation
• Jigsaw technique: interdependence for success
• Reduces intergroup tension through positive interdependence
6. Media Influence
• Positive representation of minority groups in media
• Countering stereotypical portrayals
• Public campaigns against discrimination
7. Legislation and Legal Measures
• Laws against discriminatory practices
• Affirmative action policies
• Enforcement mechanisms and penalties
**CBSE EXAM APPLICATION TIPS**
• Case-Based Questions: Apply A-B-C components to real scenarios; identify which component is strongest
• Attitude-Behaviour Gap: Explain why attitude doesn't always predict behaviour; cite situational factors
• Prejudice Analysis: Distinguish prejudice (attitude) from discrimination (behaviour); explain sources in given context
• Valence vs Extremeness: Often confused—remember valence = direction (positive/negative), extremeness = intensity
• Properties Question: Explain all four properties separately; multiplexity requires identifying multiple 'member' attitudes
• Change Mechanism: Use cognitive dissonance to explain forced compliance scenarios
• Exam Strategy: Define clearly, use examples, distinguish similar concepts, apply theory to situations
**KEY DISTINCTIONS FOR BOARD EXAMS**
• Attitude vs Behaviour: Attitude = tendency; Behaviour = actual action
• Prejudice vs Discrimination: Prejudice = internal attitude; Discrimination = external behaviour
• Belief vs Value: Belief = cognitive only; Value = belief with moral/ethical 'should' component
• Simple vs Complex Attitudes: Simple = few member-attitudes; Complex = many related attitudes
• Positive vs Extreme: Positive = valence direction; Extreme = intensity magnitude
Q1. According to the A-B-C model of attitudes, which component represents the emotional response to an attitude object?
Answer: A — The affective (A) component represents the emotional feelings towards an attitude object, such as happiness or sadness.
Q2. Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance explains that when two cognitions are inconsistent, a person experiences discomfort and will resolve it by:
Answer: B — Cognitive dissonance can be resolved through any of the three methods: changing the attitude itself, changing the behaviour, or adding a new cognition.
Q3. Which of the following best describes the fundamental attribution error?
Answer: C — The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overestimate internal (dispositional) causes and underestimate external (situational) causes when explaining others' behaviour.
Q4. According to Hovland's communication model, attitude change is most likely to occur when:
Answer: B — Hovland's model identifies source credibility, message quality, communication channel, and receiver characteristics as key factors in successful attitude change.
Q5. Which statement is NOT correct regarding attitudes and values?
Answer: D — Beliefs are the cognitive basis of attitudes; values are attitudes with moral/ethical 'should' components that become central to life outlook and are harder to change.
Q6. The contact hypothesis suggests that prejudice can be reduced when members of different groups interact under conditions of:
Answer: C — The contact hypothesis is most effective when groups have equal status, cooperative goals, and voluntary interaction, which breaks down stereotypes.
Q7. A student fails an exam and blames the 'difficult questions' but believes a friend failed because 'they did not study.' This is an example of:
Answer: C — The actor-observer effect describes the tendency to attribute one's own failure to external (situational) causes while attributing others' failure to internal (dispositional) causes.
Q8. The process by which a person's attitude is formed through pairing of the attitude object with an emotional stimulus (like fear or joy) is called:
Answer: B — In classical conditioning, an attitude object is repeatedly paired with an emotional stimulus, creating an association that shapes attitude formation.
Q9. Which of the following sequences correctly represents the progression from stereotype to discrimination?
Answer: B — The correct progression is: stereotype (cognitive belief about group) → prejudice (affective bias/dislike) → discrimination (actual unfair behavioural action).
Q10. In impression formation, the primacy effect and recency effect differ because:
Answer: B — The primacy effect shows that early information shapes the initial impression more strongly, while the recency effect shows that recent information can modify or update that impression.
What are the three components of an attitude?
Cognitive (C) = thoughts and beliefs, Affective (A) = emotions and feelings, Behavioural (B) = tendency to act in a certain way.
Define cognitive dissonance and name its discoverer.
Cognitive dissonance, discovered by Leon Festinger, is the discomfort felt when holding two inconsistent cognitions or attitudes simultaneously.
How can cognitive dissonance be reduced? Name all three ways.
By changing the attitude itself, changing the behaviour to match the attitude, or adding a new cognition that justifies the inconsistency.
What is the fundamental attribution error?
The tendency to overestimate dispositional (internal) causes and underestimate situational (external) causes when explaining others' behaviour.
What is the difference between a stereotype and discrimination?
Stereotype is a cognitive belief about a group, while discrimination is the actual behavioural act of treating someone unfairly based on group membership.
How does Hovland's communication model explain attitude change?
Attitude change depends on source credibility, message quality, communication channel, and receiver characteristics all working together.
What is the contact hypothesis for reducing prejudice?
Increased contact between groups under equal status conditions reduces prejudice by breaking down stereotypes through direct experience.
Define the actor-observer effect.
The tendency to attribute one's own behaviour to external (situational) causes while attributing others' behaviour to internal (dispositional) causes.
Distinguish between beliefs and values.
Beliefs are cognitive; values are beliefs with 'should' or 'ought' components that become central to one's life outlook and are difficult to change.
What is the primacy effect in impression formation?
The tendency for initial information (first impression) to have a stronger influence on impression formation than later information.
Define attitude and state the three components of the A-B-C model with one example for each. [2 marks]
Define attitude as evaluative state with cognitive, affective, behavioural components. Example: green environment attitude = thinking trees good (C), feeling happy seeing greenery (A), actively planting trees (B).
Explain Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory and describe three ways a person can reduce the discomfort caused by inconsistent cognitions. Provide an example for at least one method. [5 marks]
Define cognitive dissonance as discomfort from inconsistent cognitions. Three reduction methods: (1) change attitude, (2) change behaviour, (3) add new cognition. Example: smoker who knows smoking is harmful can quit (change behaviour), deny health risk (add cognition), or reduce belief in harm (change attitude).
Analyse the difference between stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Explain how the contact hypothesis can reduce prejudice, and discuss why education and superordinate goals are important strategies. Support your answer with a real-life Indian example. [6 marks]
Stereotype = cognitive belief; prejudice = affective dislike; discrimination = behavioural unfair treatment. Contact hypothesis: equal-status interaction breaks stereotypes. Education and superordinate goals unite groups. Example: communal violence reduction through inter-community sports tournaments or joint development projects showing shared goals and equal participation.
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