MEANING AND NATURE OF ATTITUDES

What influences led to the final act of the assassin of the late Sen. Benigno Aquino on
August 21, 1983? What are your reactions to panic-buying of prime commodities observed
among residents especially in Metro Manila? Are you in favor of the use of Filipino as the
medium of instruction in colleges and universities? Do you like the way you have been
brought up by your parents?

Responses to the above questions will reveal in varying tones and degrees the
attitudes of the respondents. They may fully or partially express or manifest their true feelings
or they may succeed in keeping them to themselves if they intend to do so in the first place.

Most psychologists define attitude as a tendency to react positively or negatively

toward an object. There are three concepts involved in this definition:
 first, the object of the attitude which may be a policy, a group, an event, or an abstract
entity such as religion or democracy;
 second, a tendency of positiveness or negativeness in relation to the object, varying
in degree from extremely favorable to extremely unfavorable, neutral or ambivalent;
and
 third, a tendency to react in a certain way, a readiness or disposition to have certain
positive or negative reactions aroused in relation to the object.
Three categories of covert responses compose the aroused attitude: affective reactions
(emotions), cognitions (thoughts, perceptual reactions, judgments), and action tendencies
(motivations to do particular things). Some observable behaviors are indicative of an aroused
attitude but other behavioral data for making inferences regarding people's attitude could be
insufficient and inconsistent. For example, kissing babies in public during election campaigns
and distributing gifts to the poor could be doubtful reflections of the real attitudes of the
persons demonstrating these behaviors.

Attitudes are defined as a mental predisposition to act that is expressed by evaluating

a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. Individuals generally have attitudes
that focus on objects, people, or institutions. Attitudes are comprised of four components.

A. Cognitions. Cognitions are our beliefs, theories, expectancies, cause and effect beliefs,
and perception relative to the focal object.

B. Affect. The affective component refers to our feeling with to the focal object such as fear,
liking, or anger.

C. Behavioral Intentions. Behavioral intentions are our goals, aspirations, and our expected
to the object.

D. Evaluation. Evaluations are often considered the central component of attitudes.

Evaluations consist of the imputation of degree of goodness or badness to an attitude object.
When we speak of a positive or negative attitude toward an object, are referring to the
evaluative component. Evaluations are function of cognitive, affective, and behavioral
intentions of the object. It is most often the evaluation that is stored in memory, often without
the corresponding cognition and affect that were responsible for its formation.

An attitude is also regarded as a relatively stable evaluative response toward an

object that has cognitive, affective, and behavioral components or consequences. Attitudes
are generally thought of as beliefs or cognitions about reality or some aspects of reality.
Values may be categorized as something that is more ethical in nature. It is a quality or
object that is desirable as a means or as an end in itself. When referred to as ideals or
customs that arouse an emotional response in persons in a society, values possess a more
artistic flavor. For example, returning extra change received at the store, assisting the infirm,
or demonstrating hospitality to guests are values that are held high in most societies. On the
whole, however, attitudes, not opinions and values, have been the interest of psychologists.

A person forms his own attitudes despite outside influences on his behaviors such as
the teaching of elders or peers. For instance, a young boy who is regularly reminded to
observe the rules of personal hygiene may or may not attend to the bodily cleaning routine
on initiative, depending upon the attitude he has formed toward keeping oneself clean. Our
attitudes are important determinants of behavior. If the young boy in our example has formed
a negative attitude towards personal hygiene, he would regularly irritate the concerned family
members with his obstinacy during the bathing and cleaning ritual hours.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDES

We have learned in our unit on perception that our attitudes influence what we
perceive. Attitudes determine what we notice in the environment, how we code the
information we notice, and what our responses would be.

1. Our attitudes are determinants of our behavior. Since our attitudes are important
determinants of our behavior, it can be said, that in general, positive or negative
attitudes toward certain things are manifested in behavior. For example, a person
interested in his job arrives at his place of work on time, works with enthusiasm, asks
pertinent questions so that he may improve his performance, and works beyond
departure time. On the other hand, the young child who has a negative attitude
towards schooling can successfully feign sickness to avoid attending his class, or
fabricate unpleasant experiences with classmates or probably with his teacher which
can justify the behavior of cutting class that he is exhibiting.

2. Our attitudes influence our social perceptions and vice-versa. Social perception and
social attitude are interdependent, each affecting the other. Advertising campaigns of
large corporations dedicate enormous outlays and a great deal of effort toward getting
people buy their products. Government agencies work to create attitudes about
protecting the national economy by using less electricity and imported goods, by
walking more instead of using cars to be able to save gasoline, and so on schools try
hard to change student's study habits and wasteful use of time. Sons and daughters
of a family try very hard to convince their parents to increase their allowance, toward
liking their hair or dress styles, or toward accepting their friends and weekend
activities. Have you once tried and succeeded in changing your parents' unfavorable
attitude toward your personal activities and preferences?

3. Our behavior can be predicted from our attitudes. The way we behave shapes our
attitudes. Suppose that during the Japanese occupation of the country, a young
Filipino witnessed how some of his countrymen were maltreated by Japanese
soldiers; hence his being greatly prejudiced against the Japanese. Years later, this
Filipino was sent to Japan on a scholarship for further studies in veterinary
microbiology. He had pleasant and gainful experiences with Japanese students taking
the same course. Because of his happy associations in that country he may become
less prejudiced against the Japanese. His changed behavior has brought about
changed attitudes, too.

4. Attitudes can have a strong and lasting impact on individuals, groups, and societies.
Individuals are usually attracted to others whose attitudes toward certain things and
 events are similar to theirs. Close friends generally enjoy the same activities, such as
sports, reading novels, watching movies, attending gatherings, and so on.

5. Attitudes help us walk with the world around us. On the whole, attitudes and their
associated belief systems (a belief is a judgment that a preposition is true or false)
help us cope with the world. Attitudes provide a basis on which we can make
decisions and act on motivationally relevant matters. As long as our attitudes and
beliefs enable us to deal adequately with our environment, we are likely to accept
them as valid. However, when they fail to meet our needs, they are likely to be
changed or probably modified by us so that we can cope with the changed demands
or conditions in our environment. In the country, various attitudes of the people
toward important issues such as toward martial law, the devaluation of the peso, the
assassination of Senator Aquino, certain provisions of the Constitution, even the state
of nationhood, and so on, emerge as attitudinal propositions for coping with the
surrounding.

FORMING OUR ATTITUDES

Attitudes are generally learned through three basic ways: classical conditioning,
instrumental conditioning, and imitation. Parents hold certain attitudes, and early in life,
children likewise ascribe to the same position even though their parents have not specifically
tried to teach these to them. These are, quite possibly, learned by association with pleasant
things that occur in social setting in families — in naturally occurring forms of — classical
conditioning. Studies by Bandura reveal that the learned associations can also be acquired
by mere observation. For example, observing another person hurt in a traffic accident serves
to make us more careful along busy roads. We may adopt attitudes of our parents or other
people close to us because we see how important those attitudes are to them and feel we
and/or other individuals can benefit from them, too.

Another way in which attitudes are learned is by instrumental conditioning. This

occurs when some desired behavior is reinforced and/or some undesired behavior is
punished. An instrumental component is generally involved in attitude formation in real life
situations. Children are often reinforced for being nice or polite by social and material
rewards; they are often punished for being rude or discourteous.

Imitation is another basic process in the formation of attitudes. Attitudes can be

learned by mere observation of others, i.e., by watching a model. Children imitate attitudes of
significant people around them. Their parents, teachers, and older people influence their
attitudes a lot. They also look up to role models in the government, media, and the church. If
a person is of great influence the child, most likely, the latter will imitate the attitudes
manifested by that role model.

Major Influences in Attitude Formation

Morgan describes the main agents that influence the formation of attitudes at different
periods of development:
1. Attitude Influences from Birth to Puberty. Parental influences primarily shape
children's attitudes from birth to puberty. Studies have shown high correlation between
attitudes of children and those of their parents. There is more overall similarity than
dissimilarity in their attitudes. 'Mother says that it is not good to play with the
neighbors' children." or "Father tells me that Aquino was a brave man. He was not
afraid to die." Statements like these undoubtedly reveal the attitudes of parents who
uttered them to their children. Likewise, the attitudes of the very young reflect parental
influences that obviously have long-lasting effects.
 2. Attitude Influences from Twelve to Thirty (The Critical Period in Attitude Formation).
Parental influences wane and other social influences become increasingly important
with the beginning of adolescence. This starts the critical period of attitude formation
which ends at about 30, whereby most of the person's attitudes take final form and
change little thereafter. At this time, the three main factors that influence the formation
of attitudes' from news, the media and other sources, and education come into play.

During adolescence, when boys and girls spend less time in their home and with their
parents, and more time with friends and Classmates, peers (people of the same general age
and educational level with whom one associates) become powerful influences since they are
readily accepted as "authorities," people that are liked and easy to talk to.
Depending on how far a person goes in his schooling, education more importantly stands
out as the factor involved in the formation of his attitudes. People high in economic status but
low in education tend to be conservative, especially in economic matters. Those with higher
economic status and high education tend to be liberal.

Attitudes are shaped during the period of adolescence (12-21) and crystallized during young
adulthood (21-30) taking any of the following sequences:

1. Commitment. The attitudes of the adolescents vary quite a bit and are not yet
strongly held. Upon reaching the twenties, they commit themselves in various ways,
they vote in elections, they finish their education, find employment, or decide to marry.
These commitments tend to freeze the attitudes they hold so that these do not change
much afterwards.

2. Conservative drift. College students are slightly more conservative twenty years after
their graduation from college. Older people see this small drift toward conservatism in
themselves. This is the only thing that happens to attitudes once they are crystallized
in the twenties.

SOURCES OF ATTITUDES

1. Specific Experiences. We usually come to like a person after a series of rewarding

experiences in dealing with him. On the other hand, a series of punishing or negative
experiences will usually engender an unfavorable attitude. Sometimes a single
experience produces a strongly favorable or unfavorable attitude. We should beware of
the danger of generalizing from just a single experience which is inappropriate. We must
learn to discriminate between those circumstances in which favorable or unfavorable
events happen with dependable frequency and those conditions under which they do
not.

2. Communication from Others. These may consist of various forms: For children,
specifically, these are informal verbal instructions they hear or receive from members of
the family; for young adults, these are opinions expressed by others who are highly
respected or admired by them; and for everyone, various mass media (television, radio,
films, newspapers, and magazines) are important in influencing and maintaining
attitudes. Generally we tune out information that contradicts with our opinion and find
support for what we already believe in.

3. Models. Identification with the model and respect for his judgment tend toward
acceptance of the model's way of perceiving and feeling about certain situations.
Children and adults seek to emulate and to retain values, attitudes, and beliefs of people
that are functional. Non-functional and unrewarded attitudes are consequently ignored.
 4. Institutional Factors. Many institutions in our society, such as churches, schools, military
organizations, and the like function as sources of and support attitudes and beliefs.

Development of Interpersonal Attraction

Promoting interpersonal attraction or attitudes toward other People is of utmost importance

for many people most of the time. Generally, it matters much to us that we like the people we
meet and that they like us, too. Hilgard, et al., and Silverman discuss the factors that
influence people's liking for one another. According to them, the most important determinants
of interpersonal attraction are Proximity, familiarity, similarity, and physical attractiveness.

1. Proximity. Studies cited by Hilgard (Rubin, 1973, and Priest and Swayer, 1979), show
that a very good predictor of whether two people are friends is how far apart they live.
Most married couples were neighbors as children, or studied in the same university
blocks as students, or worked in the same office or building. This implies that people
are attracted to one another if they see each other most often.

2. Familiarity. Research from Hilgard (Zajon, 1968) also revealed that just as proximity or
nearness creates liking, familiarity or sheer exposure increases it. The strength of the
"familiarity breeds-liking" effect is obvious as we note the persistent visiting of a young
man to his object of admiration who does not yet reciprocate the affection showered
upon her. Eventually, he is able to win the heart of the girl basically through familiarity.

3. Similarity. People who are initially similar in many aspects generally like each other
and end up as better friends than those who are dissimilar in various ways. Successful
marital adjustment is common among couples who are similar in educational level,
general intelligence, professional aspirations, and probably in age and socio-economic
status.

4. Physical attractiveness. Hilgard, et al., 1983, mention that in general, people tend to
believe that what is beautiful is good and what is good is beautiful. This stereotyped
belief (an overgeneralized, often false belief about a group of people that lets one
assume that every member of the group possesses a particular trait) has its limitation,
however. As the authors further mention, physical attractiveness plays a less
important role when people seek marital partners. Choosing the life-time partner
generally follows the so-called matching stage whereby people tend to end up with
partners who match their own attractiveness.

Hilgard, et al., term the tendency for relationships to move from liking to greater intimacy as
love or the process of social penetration. This is markedly characterized by reciprocal self-
disclosure. They suggest that as shown by observations across cultures, strong long term
relationships are less based on the intensity of romantic love than on sufficient
communication between partners, on an acceptable proportion of division of labor, and on
equity in making decisions.

ATTITUDE CHANGES

Meaning and Importance of Attitude Change

In our earlier discussion on the nature of an attitude, we identified its three

components — the cognitive, the affective, and the behavioral. The questions as to the
degree of consistency among the components, particularly between attitudes and behavior,
supports the idea that if attitudes can be changed, then — behavior can be changed, too.
Prejudiced attitudes, specifically toward minority groups, indeed need to be changed.
Regional prejudices, for example, affect the unity of our people. A change toward lessening
these, if not eliminating them completely, would bring about the benefits characteristic of a
strongly knit or united nation.

The art of changing attitudes could be a "multibillion dollar business" as advertising

agencies try to change people's attitudes on using the brand of product they seek to
promote; as politicians seek to influence voting behavior; and as governments, through
various propaganda, try to change the attitudes of the people toward appreciating
government activities and supporting their actions. Undoubtedly, the substantial, monetary,
or patriotic benefits have an important impact on attempts to change the attitudes of people
in all walks of life for any gainful purpose.

Theories of Attitude Change

Formation and change of attitude are very much interwoven. people are always
embracing, modifying, and renouncing attitudes to fit their ever changing needs and
interests. Attitudes cannot be changed overnight or by simple instruction. Adopting new
attitudes depends on who is presenting the knowledge, how it is presented, how the person
is perceived, the credibility of the communicator, and the conditions by which the knowledge
was received (Hallorah, in Attitude Change.html).

There are three (3) theories of attitude change most popularly discussed.
1. The Reinforcement Theory of Attitude Change. The emphasis of this theory is on
giving the individual reinforcement for changing his or her attitude.

2. The Balance Theory of Attitude Change. According to this theory, people try to
maintain consistency, congruity, or balance in their attitudes toward some things. A
person, for example, who has a positive feeling about a certain thing, is likely to feel
uncomfortable and will try then to resolve his or her conflict. He/ she may do this by
probably changing his or her feeling in the unfavorable direction by rejecting the
information, or by reinterpreting the information so that it seems less negative.

3. The Cognitive Dissonance Theory. This theory involves a kind of cognitive conflict or
the occurrence of contradictory beliefs or ideas.

Psychoanalytic theorists, describe cognitive dissonance as a warring of the id (primitive

urges) and superego (internalized rules of morality). The ego attempts to resolve the tension
or conflict although not successfully all of the time. The major root of psychological disorders
are inner conflicts of thoughts and feelings.

Group Pressure and Attitude Change

Group pressure can act either to change our attitudes or to maintain them. Through
control of important rewards such as popularity, promotions, and symbols of recognition, a
group may exert great influence toward conformity. On the other hand, continued non-
conformity may lead to a person's unpopularity, loss of prestige, ostracism, and the like.

The following observations have further been pointed out by Sartain regarding group
influence toward conformity or attitude change.

1. Greater group pressure can be put on as we manifest a great desire to belong to the
group.
2. If the group wants us as members, it will exert greater influence to have us agree with
its norms.
 3. The less information we have about a group situation, the more we can be greatly
swayed by group pressure. The more information we have for holding on to our own
opinions, the better we can resist group pressure. Thus, if we know nothing of the
qualifications of political candidates, the more we can be influenced to vote for the
group's choice; on the other hand, the better informed we are of our candidate's
strengths or accomplishments, the more we are likely to follow our voting convictions.
4. Unanimous group agreement or uniformity is difficult to resist. It is difficult to disagree
when everyone in the group feels differently from us.
5. Discrepancies between our own attitudes and the group's norms may be resolved by:
(a) rejecting the group' s norms while holding strongly to our own attitudes;
(b) yielding to the group norms because of outside pressure but privately disagreeing with
these;
(c) superficial conformity with the group's norms without any deep changes in our attitudes;
and
(d) exercising flexibility and discrimination in reacting to the group's norms — accepting
some and rejecting others.

Persuasive Communication and Attitude Change

Not all attitude changes can be attributed to group factors. More impersonal appeals
by way of television, radio, magazines, books, speeches, and the like that surround us are to
some extent, directly aimed at changing our attitudes and opinions about the importance of
things, such as the better toothpaste or soap, the form of government suited for the country's
economic stability, the economy tips for fuel consumption, and others.
There are three parts in the act of communication that must be considered in
attempting to change an individual's attitude: the source of the communication (who says it),
the nature of the communication (what is said and how it is said), and the characteristics of
the audience (who hears it).

Attitudes can be changed by a number of sources including other people, family,

media, church, or the object itself. In 1998, McGuire developed steps to changing an attitude.
The steps are attention, comprehension, yielding, retention, and action. Traindis said, "In
analyzing the attitude change process, "we must consider the effect of who says what, how
to whom, with what effect.

Attitude will be changed based on how a person sees the communication and the
communicator. Less committed people will change ideas more frequently. Attitude change
also has to do with other personality characteristics such as susceptibility to persuasion,
intelligence, readiness to accept change, etc. We are more likely to accept information if we
feel the communicator has no intent to change our attitudes and opinions.

The Source of the Communication

Advertisers employ famous or prestigious people to endorse their products because

they know that the source of a communication plays a vital role in attitude change: a well-
known piano virtuoso shown playing her favorite song in a classic style of piano, a basketball
superstar promoting a particular brand of rubber shoes, or a fashion model raving about a
certain kind of soap. People often do not think about the intentions of the communicator,
rather, they are influenced by the attractive image and reputations of those communicators. If
these people thought about it, they would understand that people endorse products because
they are paid to do so.
The Nature of the Communication

When you attempt to convince an individual or group that your beliefs are the right
ones, would it be more effective to present only one side of the issue you believe in, or both
sides of the argument?

A one-sided argument is more effective when delivered to relatively unintelligent or

poorly informed people or to people who already argue with your position. On the other hand,
if people are generally well-informed and intelligent, they are often aware that there is more
than one side to the issue. Such people resist one-sided presentation. To get them to agree,
a two-sided argument is more effective.

Does the order of presenting two sides, as in a debate or courtroom summation, have an
effect on people for them to be convinced?

Sometimes the speaker who speaks first leaves the dominant impression during a debate.
This is called the primary effect. But at other times, the last speaker's message remains
more vivid in memory only because his communication was the most recent — this is known
as the recency effect. In the Miller and Campbell study in 1999, an audience received a
condensed version of the transcript of an actual jury trial. All the arguments for the plaintiff
were presented in one block and all those for the dependent in another. The latter
immediately followed the former. A week was then allowed to pass before measuring the
audience's attitude. A significant primacy effect appeared that is, the first argument was more
influential than the second. In this case, the first argument that people had is more likely to
be the one they believe. As memory declines, the primary effect becomes more prominent.
In attempting to change people's attitudes, should there be an optimal level of discrepancy
(difference) between the attitudes of the audience and those of the communicator?

When a person discovers that someone feels differently about something that the person
does, it often produces a feeling of discomfort. And that feeling in turn, becomes a force
directed toward change. It therefore, can be said, that the greater the discrepancy between
how that person feels and how someone else feels, the more intense is the feeling of
discomfort, and the more intense the feeling of discomfort, the greater the tendency to
change attitudes.

People are motivated to discount or "put down" someone who has extremely different
attitudes. To avoid this, Mussen, et al. suggested that one should use someone of
recognized wisdom and trustworthiness as the communicator of the different attitudes.
According to them, it is more difficult to discount such a person, and so when attitudes are
highly discrepant, that kind of communicator can produce large degree of attitude change.

The common saying "familiarity breeds contempt" apparently does not hold ground in
matters of repeated advertisement of commercials. In the Sajon experiments (1998), it was
found that people repeatedly exposed to stimuli formed positive attitudes toward them,
whether those stimuli were nonsense syllables, unfamiliar music, unusual color
combinations, or faces. This also applies to the names of common grocery-store products.

The Characteristics of the Audience

The factors of individual differences in all respects should not be overlooked.

Some listeners, readers, or viewers are easier to persuade than others. We have already
seen that level of intelligence determines to some extent whether a one-sided or a two-sided
communication is more effective. In some experimental tests, women change their attitudes
more easily than men, which parallel the finding that women usually conform to group
pressure more than men because society has encouraged them to be more submissive and
less skeptical.

Resistance to Persuasion
Education as Agent in Resisting Change

What can people do to preserve their independence of judgment under the barrage of
various attitude-changing processes or propaganda which are so much a part of our lives?
The importance of education in informing us and equipping us with knowledge to evaluate
situations critically and in regard to various values cannot be overestimated here. Education
makes us more resourceful and judicious in solving problems and even in judging the
veracity of propaganda or other means of mass communication.
Exposing people to counterarguments (similar to an inoculation with a weakened
virus) that are then refuted appears to strengthen their attitudes and to make them highly
resistant to change. Parents or governments that do not permit exposure to opposing belief
or viewpoints tend to foster resistant attitudes, but these are just as easily changed if they
are presented with effective counterarguments.

Ego-Involvement in Resisting Change

When our self-esteem is threatened, we are likely to resist vigorously any attempts to
change our attitudes. For example, an employee's proposal about a new advertising idea
may be rejected by his supervisor whose accepting or agreeing would appear to admit the
superiority of the former (his subordinate) and his weakness as supervisor. In cases,
however, where the threat of his self-esteem has been removed, he can change his opinion
and consider new proposals more objectively.

Changing Prejudiced Attitudes

Meaning and Nature of Prejudice

Prejudice is a fixed attitude toward a person or group. It is an irrational judgment

based on the emotion rather than on facts. The word "prejudice" is commonly used to
indicate negative judgment suggesting hostility toward another person, group, or object. In its
more destructive form, prejudice is debilitating in that it is used as a vehicle for the
expression of hatred of individuals towards one group simply because they belong to another
group.
Exposing people to counterarguments (similar to an inoculation with a weakened
virus) that are then refuted appears to strengthen their attitudes and to make them highly
resistant to change. Parents or governments that do not permit exposure to opposing belief
or viewpoints tend to foster resistant attitudes, but these are just as easily changed if they
are presented with effective counterarguments.

Ego-Involvement in Resisting Change

When our self-esteem is threatened, we are likely to resist vigorously any attempts to
change our attitudes. For example, an employee's proposal about a new advertising idea
may be rejected by his supervisor whose accepting or agreeing would appear to admit the
superiority of the former (his subordinate) and his weakness as supervisor. In cases,
however, where the threat of his self-esteem has been removed, he can change his opinion
and consider new proposals more objectively.
Changing Prejudiced Attitudes
Meaning and Nature of Prejudice
Prejudice is a fixed attitude toward a person or group. It is an irrational judgment
based on the emotion rather than on facts. The word "prejudice" is commonly used to
indicate negative judgment suggesting hostility toward another person, group, or object. In its
more destructive form, prejudice is debilitating in that it is used as a vehicle for the
expression of hatred of individuals towards one group simply because they belong to another
group.
Group prejudice is marked by unfavorable attitudes held by the members of a group
toward another group and its members, deviating from the norms of the group that regulate
treatment of the out-group.

The nature of prejudice and its social effects as presented by Silverman and Sartain, et al.
are outlined below.

1. Prejudice is a failure of human-heartedness in an individual's attitude toward members

of another ethnic group. This is manifested in over commitment to stereotypes, in
thinking about other groups, refusal to modify opinion in the light of new information,
or unwillingness to recognize individual differences.
2. Prejudice is also associated with a failure of justice. Wherever gross differences in
group privileges and burdens exist, there also is mutual prejudice. The ideal feeling is
that rewards and burdens should be fairly distributed among groups.
3. A person who is prejudiced against another group tends to lack empathy for its
members. An individual tends to be unaware and non-appreciative of his or her
anxieties, hopes, doubts, and sufferings. Impaired communication between mutually
prejudiced groups breeds lack of empathy, stereotyping, and other aspects of
prejudice.
4. Prejudices, like attitudes in general, are produced by social learning. Communication
from others, modeling of behavior, specific experiences with group members, and
institutional factors may give rise to prejudice or biases.
5. Fear is often a powerful support for prejudice. A group which is perceived as a danger
to one's life and security or to cherished ideals is likely to become a target of
prejudice.
6. Some of the strongest prejudices are noted in personality factors. In some people,
prejudices may be done to unconscious anxieties and hostilities which developed in
early childhood experiences in their family.
7. Psychologists believe that the best way to eliminate prejudice is to keep prejudiced
attitudes from developing in the first place.
8. Prejudice, one of the most serious problems of humanity, always brings out social
effects that are extremely destructive. People sharing commonality of prejudices can
create social conditions that appear to provide objective evidence to support them. For
example, the low intelligence test scores of handicapped blacks in America would be
made to affirm the common white prejudice that blacks are inherently less intelligent.
The facts are that the test has been designed for whites and that blacks have been
subjected to unequal educational opportunities.

Prejudiced people generally arrange to avoid the groups they dislike. Contacts with
the out group are considered dangerous and unhealthy unless clarification is made as to the
superiority of the majority group. The historical past and present minority groups (racial and
religious) have been lamentably colored with humiliations, holy wars, abuse and
extermination, segregation, and degradation.
Intergroup Relations and Prejudices

Sartain describes how prejudices exist in the context of four intergroup relations which
are outlined below:

1. Competition. When goals are scarce, individuals or groups rival or compete with each
other to obtain them through any means. Violence is minimal, as long as competing
parties accept and observe common rules although feelings may run high. Prejudice is
intensified as competition becomes keener.
2. Conflict. Here, the agreed-upon rules are violated by the rival groups or individuals as
they try to obtain their goals. The intensity of the struggle increases as commitment to
the norms regulating interaction becomes inadequate. The conflicting parties aggress
or pit against each other as in violent wars between countries.
3. Segregation and Discrimination. The dominant group imposes a boundary line
between the two groups and allocates power, privilege, and burdens in its own favor.
Discrimination exists anytime and anywhere — in schools, in military services, in
police departments, in the government service, and the like. Situational arousal of
prejudice between groups is minimized through obvious lack of contact, although
mutual prejudice remains strong.
4. Cooperation. Here the individuals or groups either work for a common goal or they
mutually facilitate each other's goal attainment. Working toward common
(superordinate) goals may be illustrated by the trading of goods in which both parties
gain. Cooperative interaction is associated with low prejudice

COPING WITH FRUSTRATION, CONFLICT, AND STRESS

INTRODUCTION
Every day, we continuously respond to demands coming from our environment, our
own bodily needs, and even our learned needs. Often, our responses work out well and in
case they don't, we try to adjust to the conditions around and within us. When our attempts at
accommodation are successful, we are said to be adjusting efficiently and effectively.
Adjustment is best when we can deal with the conditions of frustration, conflict, or
stress in ways that enable us to meet our own demands and to a greater extent, those of our
environment.
The study of adjustment may help us in understanding the many varied factors that
contribute to the breakdown of adjustment, the successful attainment of which leads to
happiness and bodily equilibrium.

THE NEED FOR ADJUSTMENT OR COPING BEHAVIOR

The Universality of Coping Behavior

Replenishment of the body's supply of food, oxygen, and other primary necessities is
almost always necessary; threats of bodily harm from the forces of nature or other human
beings have to be dealt with; many life changes such as difficult school work is taxing;
applying for a new job, and others all bring us opportunities to build or establish good
relations with people and to work with them in mutually satisfying endeavors.

Nature of Coping Behavior

The term coping refers to the way in which we respond to the situations, including
stimuli, threats, and promises that we are frequently faced with. Fathers-to-be, for instance,
may smoke while waiting for the arrival of their baby because this makes them feel less
tense. Adaptation is similar, though at times, it carries the connotation of biological
accommodation; psychological processes are; likewise, as fully adaptive as biological ones.
For example, a newborn baby may manifest frequent defecation and / or elimination of body
waste and incessant crying as a result of its being exposed to a totally new environment. It
tries then, to adapt itself to new temperature conditions. Adjustment, on the other hand, is a
continuous process of satisfying one's needs, rather than something fixed and static.
Consider, for instance, a new teacher who does not know how to go about performing his
task at first but later gets used to the rudiments of teaching.

Shortly, one need or another, psychological or physiological, arises and the organism
has to find ways of satisfying it. Inability to do so may consequently lead to bodily
disequilibrium accompanied by tension and anxiety. Each of us develops characteristic ways
of responding to our problems, which determine, to a large extent, the adequacy of our
adjustment to life.

THE NATURE OF FRUSTRATION AND CONFLICT

Frustration occurs when progress toward a desired goal is blocked or delayed. The
physical environment presents obstacles, as for example, noise, long waiting line at the
canteen, traffic jam, heavy downpour. Obstacles from the social environment may likewise
present us problems like parental rejection, racial or sexual discrimination, or failure to meet
the age requirement in a job applied for. Non-social factors like service interruptions, and the
like also as of Physical handicaps, lack of specific abilities, or inadequate and other personal
limitations usually to goal if goals are set beyond one's ability, frustration is the inevitable
result.

Frustration Tolerance

People show individual differences in their tolerance of frustration experience. For

example, while one man is content to wait patiently for a long-overdue bus, another prefers
to jump angrily into a taxi. The patient man has learned to tolerate delays of this type, while
the man who cannot wait may have a low tolerance for delays of any kind. The ability to
endure anxiety without resorting to maladaptive defense artifices varies from person to
person and is termed frustration tolerance (or anxiety tolerance).

A major source of frustration is often a conflict between two opposing motives. When
two incompatible response tendencies are aroused, the satisfaction of one usually leads to
the frustration of the other. When our needs or goals are not compatible with environmental
or social requirements, we experience conflict. Almost always, every day we experience
some kind of conflict. On an unusually rainy morning and feeling a headache or having fever,
a person must decide whether to attend classes or to stay home. A groom-to-be with limited
savings should, choose between an elaborate wedding or a week-long honeymoon in an
exclusive hotel. Sometimes our own fears or insecurities conflict with our hopes and
ambitions. For example, personal insecurity may produce a conflict in a man who wants
more money for his family but is insecure about taking another job where pay is higher.

Conflict

Conflict occurs, according to Lewin, when a person experiences demands or desires

that are incompatible with each other. In approach-approach conflict, a person is attracted to
two equally desirable goals. In avoidance-avoidance conflict, the person must choose
between two equally undesirable demands. In approach-avoidance conflict, the person has
one goal that has positive and negative aspects. And in double approach-avoidance conflict,
a person experiences two or more goals, both of which have positive and negative aspects.
Types of Conflicts

1. Approach-Approach or Double Approach Conflict . Here, two positively valenced goals

are within a person's reach and he must choose one over the other. This type of
conflict can easily be resolved unless the pull of the two goals are equal in magnitude.
2. Approach-Avoidance Conflict. If both positive and negative valences are associated
with a single goal, this type of conflict arises. For instance, a man may be very much
in love with a woman but at the same time, he is hesitant to ask her to marry him
because he suffers from financial incapacity. Approach-avoidance conflict is
characterized by "and" — a parent both respected — and cursed, a child both loved
and hated, cancer inducing cigarettes both enjoyed and feared, a prostitute both
caressed and despised. This type of conflict was exploited by the Bible in the account
of Adam and Eve being attracted to and repelled by the apple, simultaneously.

When a person is having a hard time deciding whether to accept or to reject a goal, we say
that he is ambivalent toward it.
Usually, approach-avoidance conflict is the most difficult conflict to resolve.

3. Avoidance-Avoidance or Double Avoidance Conflict. This occurs when a person is

caught between two equally negatively valenced or non-satisfying goals. A man's fear
of marriage may lead his girlfriend to have this sort of conflict. She may be put in the
position of going on in an unstable relationship or breaking off with him, both of which
are difficult for her to do. A student who dislikes his teacher has to attend his subject;
otherwise, he will be flunked by him. This third type of conflict may produce much
discomfort until it is resolved. Often, there are attempts to escape. In the first
aforementioned example, the girl might choose to keep up the relationship but she
would see another man as well, thereby escaping somewhat from this double-
avoidance situation. Avoidance-avoidance conflict is characterized by "or" —
disagreeable marriage or spinsterhood, depressing study or a comfortless "failure,"
unpalatable fried chicken or unwelcome criticism of the hostess. This type of conflict
was exploited by the Romans in one of their most famous epigrams: a front
praecipitium, a tergo lupus (in front of a masterpiece, behind a wolf).
4. Double Approach-Avoidance or Multiple Conflicts . This is on hand when a person is
confronted by a situation that involves two goals, each with positive and negative
valences and is characterized by "and," "or," and "and"— money and work or travel
and debt. A college student who decides whether to go on to a professional school or
to seek a job that will provide income right away is faced with this type of conflict. Both
choices have positive and negative aspects. A conflict of this type is usually resolved
when the approach tendency for the former is stronger than the approach tendency for
the latter. The variations of conflict combinations are infinitely large,

Value Conflicts
Tension and conflict in modern life could be frequently caused by value conflicts such
as conformity versus non-conformity, caring versus non-involvement, avoidance versus
facing reality, fearfulness versus positive action, integrity versus self-advantage, and sexual
desires versus restraints. Value conflicts usually arise from the contradictory demands
imposed by the society.

Unconscious Conflicts
Some conflicts are hidden. The person in conflict may not recognize the conflict or
may not know its source. Some of these conflicts are hard to resolve because they involve
strong emotions. As a result, the person fails to deal with his conflict. An adolescent who is
not conscious of the conflict between his urge to be independent and his need to still be
nurtured and protected by his parents typifies this.
STRESS
Some stress is necessary for normal functioning. When life is peaceful and quiet for
too long, people become bored and they seek excitement. But stress that is too intense or
prolonged can have destructive physiological and psychological effects. Stress may include
any situation that calls for more than what is normal or usual for a person. The more a
particular demand approaches the limits of a person's capacities and talents, the greater the
stress will be. Likewise, stress is produced when this demand blocks some motive or
threatens a desired goal. A grave stress situation may be seen in people trapped in locked
burning houses. In their panic, they fail to resort to possible alternatives for escape. Similarly,
an individual entrusted a large amount of money by her close friend and has unfortunately
lost it somewhere, may be in a very stressful situation. There are two kinds of stress: positive
stress called eustress, and negative stress called distress.

The General Adaptation Syndrome

Stress results when the body's normal homeostatic mechanisms fail to provide the
body with sufficient means to adapt to the demands made on it. When stress occurs, there is
a widespread bodily reaction called the general adaptation syndrome, the general
mobilization of the body's resources. The mobilization can be so complete that it interferes
with the normal functioning of the body. The three stages of the general adaptation syndrome
are as follows:

1. The alarm reaction stage. The individual is momentarily immobilized, e.g., in a state of
shock, followed by a rapid and intense mobilization of bodily resources, including a
high degree of visceral and skeletal muscle activity.
2. The stage of resistance. During this period of recovery and restoration of balance, the
individual "adapts" to the stress. Outwardly, it appears to be a quiet stage, but the
endocrine glands, the anterior pituitary, and the adrenal cortex, in particular, are hard
at work helping the individual to adapt himself "to the stressful situation."
3. The stage of exhaustion. If the stress continues and the individual 3. is unable to
maintain the resistance level, exhaustion Occurs and the alarm reaction is repeated. If
stress persists, serious injury or even death may occur.

Sources of Stress
The five major sources of stress are:

1. Biological deprivation. Extreme hunger can cause deep physical and emotional
disturbances.
2. Danger (real or imagined). "Combat exhaustion" is a term used to describe a
breakdown in behavior resulting from danger experiences which rapidly produce
stress.
3. Threats to self-esteem. These threats are often affected by age and personality
factors. A person's own expectations may be an added source of stress. Some people
set such high standards for themselves completely. Their self-esteem is constantly
being threatened by the gap between the ideal and the existing conditions (reality).
Instead of taking pleasure and feeling pride in what they have accomplished, such
people experience stress because they focus their attention on what remains undone.
Well-adjusted people learn to combine ambition with an acceptance of their own
limitations.
4. Overload. This results from too much stimulation. City dwellers adapt to stress by
paying less attention to their surroundings than do rural people. For instance, they use
a variety of protective methods to cut themselves off from too much contact with other
people, even those whom they are friendly with.
 5. Crises and stresses that accompany normal social and personal development. As we
grow up, we worry about our ability to meet the new demands and new roles that each
stage of life presents.

COPING
Coping is an active effort to eliminate or to get rid of stress. We try to deal directly with
the anxiety-producing situations by first, appraising the situation and second, by doing
something to avoid it or change its course. For example, you received a warning that you are
about to fail a course that is necessary for graduation. In this case, you might devise a work
schedule that will help you fulfill the requirements for the course and then start working on
them. These series of actions that you will do are designed specifically to help you cope with
your problem. The behavior that you use to deal directly with stressful situations is called a
coping strategy.

Coping may take any of the following forms:

1. Direct action. Young children typically show vigorous action when their needs are not
satisfied. Instrumental aggression is a form of direct coping to achieve a goal that has
been blocked. The person aggressively tries to retrieve a desired object, to protect a
territory, or to keep a privilege.
2. Avoidance. Running away from something is not always an appropriate method of
coping with an anxiety-producing situation, although as an alternative to aggression, it
is often more effective and has the advantage of being usually more acceptable to
others.
3. Prediction. This helps reduce stress by making us confident that we have handled a
situation well. If we know, for example, that an unpleasant situation is about to come,
we can predict in what ways it may be hard to handle and hence, concentrate on
preparing specific defenses rather than being totally reduced to fearful guessing of
what the future events may bring.
4. Use of defense mechanisms

DEFENSE MECHANISMS
Frustration and conflict generate anxiety which must be relieved, d an anxiety-ridden
individual has to organize his behavior to reduce patterns this anxiety that protect. When an
coping individual fails, defense mechanism or behavior patterns that protect individual from
pain, shame, or guilt are used. Instead of coping with the sources of our distress, we may
look for ways to reduce the discomfort and tension that frustrations and conflicts produce.
Defense mechanisms do not interfere with good ineffective adjustment in daily unless life.
There are three main types that of defense mechanism: escape reactions, compromise
reactions and substitute activities, and aggressive reactions.

Escape Reactions
These are characterized by withdrawal from the frustrating or anxiety-producing
situation. Some forms of these are:

Repression
This is the unconscious withdrawal of certain painful thoughts or feelings. For
example, a girl may deliberately "tend to forget" the moments she had shared with her past
boyfriend just because thoughts of him would only make her grow fond of him and recall the
events that accompanied their breaking up. It is meant to reduce anxiety but it creates
problems when used heavily. This state of defensive "forgetfulness" is basically a retreat
from reality. The constant struggle to keep repressed memories from becoming conscious
may use up all the person's energies, leaving a tired, nervous, and unproductive individual.
Repression is an automatic unconscious process. If we exclude from our consciousness a
thought or feeling with awareness of what we are doing, it is suppression; Repressed wishes
and feelings may find expression occasionally in "slips" of speech, unconscious expressive
gestures, and even in one's dreams.

Fantasy
Another attempt of people to escape from their frustration is by retreating into a world
of fantasy or make-believe. Daydreaming is the most common form and it has several types:
display —where an individual would probably dream that he is a brilliant concert pianist and
receives splendid standing ovation and piercing shouts of—— "Bravo! Bravo!; saving where
a person sees himself as a world famous surgeon who is the only one capable of performing
an impossible operation on his girlfriend's father who has been hurt seriously in an
automobile accident; grandeur where one looks at himself as a baron of a medieval feudal as
he goes by, the field workers who are serfs bow; and homage – such a druggist who
discovers a solution for the deterioration of world's food caused by atomic fallout and for this,
he receives a Nobel Prize. Adolescents and even adults usually engage in daydreaming
when they are most worried about their unfulfilled roles as human beings. Over-dependence
on fantasy solutions may eventually result in an inability to distinguish the real from the
unreal. When this occurs, the behavior would be a pathological one.

Regression
This technique of escaping from frustrating or anxiety-producing conditions involves
reverting to earlier or more primitive forms of behavior, the reverse of progression. Fixation
should not be confused with regression because in the former, a particular kind of behavior
remains abnormally long at a given level. Fixation and regression are complementary to each
other; regression is more likely to occur in a period where there has been a fixation.

Regression is illustrated when a child who is upset by the arrival of a new sibling
resorts to thumb sucking, bedwetting, and others to get the parental attention he 'enjoyed
when he was younger. The persistence of regressive behavior only makes it more difficult for
the person to cope with his frustration.

Apathy
This common response to a frustrating condition is the opposite of active aggression
and is characterized by indifference or withdrawal. Children whose aggressive outbursts are
never successful — who find they have no power to satisfy their needs by means of their
own actions — may resort to apathy and withdrawal when faced with subsequent frustrating
situations.

Reaction Formation
This defense mechanism is a tendency to conceal a motive from oneself by giving
strong expression to the opposite motive. For example, a person with repressed sexual ideas
may consciously exhibit near-continuous shame and disgust for the sexual act and all sexual
objects; he guarantees 'may also that be involved his repressed in "anti" sexuality activities,
will such censoring pornographic literature, when actually he is fascinated these obscene
materials, He wages a campaign against it to fight this fascination and to convince others of
his own purity.
The existence of reaction formation in some people does not mean that motives can
never be taken at face value. People who defending themselves against their own
unacceptable impulses can often be distinguished from socially concerned reformers by the
excessive zeal with which they pursue their campaign and occasional slips that reveal their
true motive.
Denial
This is a "negative fantasy" where an individual may refuse to admit the existence of a
reality too painful or unpleasant to face. For example, a mother may refuse to admit that her
daughter has been forced to have sex with several men by their gang leader. Because she
cannot face this grim fact, she may even resort to consistently ignoring criticisms hurled
against her very own daughter.
Sometimes, denying facts may be better than facing them in the sense that it may give the
individual time to tolerate the pain at a more gradual pace. On the other hand, denial also
has negative aspects as in cases where people postpone seeking medical attention.

COMPROMISE REACTIONS AND SUBSTITUTE ACTIVITIES

These enable the individual to change the anxiety-arousing situation in some way.
Some of these are described below:

Rationalization
One of the most widely used defense mechanisms is rationalization. Here, self-
esteem is maintained by assigning plausible and acceptable reasons to one's own failure.
Alibis are used to substitute for real causes. Cohen enumerates the different forms and
examples of rationalization:

Argument by "Sour Grapes"

This is one of the oldest recorded, for Aesop, the Greek storyteller, made it the subject
of a fable in 500 B.C. — a famished fox saw some clusters of ripe black grapes hanging from
a trellised vine. She resorted to all her tricks to get at them, but wearied herself in vain, for
she could not reach them. At last, she turned away, beguiling herself of her disappointment
and saying: "The grapes are sour, and not as ripe as I thought." Modern rationalizations
include: "I'm glad I wasn't elected officer of the association; it would only eat up much of my
time," and" "I am really fortunate that I wasn't admitted to the medical school; I would have
become ill with all that study."

Argument by Predestination
This is an insistence that every individual is a pawn of fate and that all events are
preordained. Euripides, in 420 B.C. wrote of predestination: "What must be, no one will ever
make so that it is not." Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 B.C. and disavowed
responsibility for the coming battle by saying "Jacta alea esto" (Let the die be cast). A
popular song chants: "Que sera sera." The law student, who fails his bar examination,
rationalizes: "I was never meant to be a lawyer." Other rationalizations by predestination
include "Everything happens for the best," "Only time will tell," and "It is an act of God."

Argument by Exception
This rationalization reasons that the individual's shortcoming is highly unusual and
unrepresentative and therefore permissible. Typical statements are "I'll drink whiskey just this
once; I only want to see what it is like," and "I never failed a course before; it just isn't like
me."

Argument by the Doctrine of Balance

This is an excuse based on the concept that failure must always be equated with
success, a foolish theory reflected in the proverbs "You can't win 'em all," and "Lucky at
cards, unlucky at love." Sample rationalizations include 'Il would rather be beautiful than
bright, you can't be both," and "I failed math but I got a C in German."
Argument by Extenuating Circumstances
This is the contention that a unique adverse environment was the cause of failure; "A
poor workman quarrels with his tools," an English maxim, extenuating circumstance rational
include "The exam was objective and I didn't get a chance to express myself," "My watch
stopped," "It was too hot," and "I didn’t hear.”

Argument by Necessity for Self-Preservation

This pleads absolution using a creed set down by Homer in 825 B.C. "Whatsoever
sorrows may be thy doom, bear them with patience if necessary entail them." Representative
rationalizations are "I had to cheat or I would have failed," and "I need this chrome plated
circus wagon-like car because I must get to my job on cold mornings."

Argument by Comparison
This is the peculiar assertion that the shortcoming of others cause the individual' s
shortcomings. Representative rationalizations are "It was all right to cheat a little; everybody
else scribbled more," and "I failed, but some students received an even lower grade."

Argument by Sympathism
This is a plea for underserved compassion. Examples of this are "I can't be expected
to pass English. I came from a poor home and had no opportunity to use it at home," and "I
didn't get the teaching job because I wear glasses and I don't see well."

Argument by Procrastination
This admits a present frailty, but postpones its correction to the future. Examples of
procrastination rationalizations are "I should have performed well on the exam, but I promise
to do better next time," and "I'll think about the problem tomorrow. Maybe it will go away."

Argument by Faulty Definition

This proposes that an incorrect definition is a suitable argument, a sly use of illogical
reasoning. Typical faulty definition rationalizations are "Negroes are subhuman and I need
not treat them as people," and "Taxes are a basic wrong so I will not report all my income."

Argument by Intellectualism
This shrouds a shortcoming with technical language so that its true severity cannot be
evaluated easily. Representative intellectualization rationalizations are "I was in the 23rd
percentile, where the raw scores are expressed as T scores" (translation "I flunked"), and "I
am parsimonious" (translation "I am selfish").

Identification
Sometimes an individual unconsciously identifies himself with other persons or things;
he perceives the satisfied motives of others as his own or his own satisfied motives as
belonging to others. This defense mechanism is called identification and it may take any of
the following types.

Introjection (Positive Identification)

Here, the person senses a "oneness" between himself and another that enables him
to assimilate "reflected glory" to himself. Most introjection satisfies ego-ideal motives, and
examples are numerous: boys positively identify with their fathers ("My father owns a
"Mercedez Benz!"), girls with their mothers ("My mother is president of the PTA!"), parents
with their children ("My son, a scholar, graduated cum laude"), and college students with
their basketball team ("We won against Adamson — 112-60!").

Anna Freud has described a special kind of introjection, identification with the aggressor. The
persecuted, threatened person may defend his ego against anxiety by mimicking the
persecuting, threatening attacker. Children often identify with their aggressor, pretending for
example, to be a dentist after being hurt by a dentist.

Projection (Negative Identification)

When a person finds that some of his thoughts and feelings are intolerable, he does
not only repress them but likewise convinces himself with the belief that some people have
these thoughts and feelings toward him. In short, the individual senses his own frustrated or
conflicting motives as possessed by another and this enables him to divest failure from
himself as when a spinster projects her unfulfilled sexual motives into the neighborhood high
school own students ("The young people are oversexed!"), or when a student has a strong
desire to cheat in an examination but refuses to do so because his conscience would not let
him. Hence, he may become extremely suspicious of other students and may accuse them of
cheating when they actually do not.

Sublimation
This defense mechanism is characterized by the redirection or rechanneling of urges
(mostly libidinal or sexual) toward more socially acceptable forms of expression. According to
Freud, sublimation occurs when people realize that their attempts to reach their goal will
meet with frustration. They redirect their behavior toward an alternative goal that can be
fulfilled without risking guilt or threat to their self-esteem Thus, persons who are sexually
frustrated often substitute an abiding interest in the arts or sciences with high intensity and
prolonged attachment, leading to super-productivity.

Compensation and Atonement

This is a more socially desirable defense mechanism whereby one endeavors to make
up for a weakness in one function by excelling in some other. Thus, a student wears
attention-getting apparel as a compensating substitute for unfulfilled self-reward demanded
by his ego-ideal (manifested as inferiority feelings); a girl whose homemaking motivation is
thwarted by absence of suitors may compensate by working hard to become a success in the
business world; and a sexually promiscuous woman joins a church as an atoning substitute
for the unfulfilled self-punishment demanded by her conscience (manifested as guilt).
When the ego's inferiority feelings and guilt have been long persisting, normal
compensation and normal atonement may become overcompensation and over-atonement.
Demosthenes, the most effectual and illustrious Grecian orator, for instance,
overcompensated for his childhood stuttering by learning to speak with pebbles in his mouth.

Aggressive Reactions
When a person fails in his attempt to realize a certain goal which had been thwarted
by a social being, personal inadequacy, or in-animate objects, depending on the severity of
his frustration he may manifest destructiveness and hostile modes of behaving, termed
aggression. There are two types of aggressive reaction:

Direct Aggression
Frustration often leads to an actual or direct aggression against the individual or object
that is the source of the frustrating condition. Some children attack the wire barrier, trying to
remove it or get around it. Aggression of this kind is not necessarily hostile; it may be a
learned way of solving a problem. When one child takes a toy from another child, the second
is likely to attack the first in an attempt to regain the toy. Adults usually express their
aggression verbally rather than physically; they are more likely to exchange insults than do
boys.

Displaced Aggression
When the source of frustration is vague and intangible or when the person responsible
for the frustration is so powerful that an attack would be dangerous, aggression may be
displaced and the aggressive reactions may be directed toward an innocent person or object
(see figure) rather than toward the actual cause of the frustration. A woman working as a
secretary in a business firm, for example, having been reprimanded by her boss may have a
"carry over" of her unpleasant experiences when she gets home and may take out her
unexpressed resentment on her family. A boy may strike the wall with his fist upon learning
that he received a failing mark in one of his subjects. A student who has been humiliated by
her teacher may Figure 63 draw a caricature of this source of her unpleasant experience.
According to the famous catharsis hypothesis, aggression can be reduced through
participation in vigorous but non harm often activities. The findings of recent research,
however, agree with figure: the value of catharsis has probably been overstated.

EVALUATION OF DEFENSE MECHANISMS

Conflicts may be resolved in a number of ways. Some of them may never be settled;
yet they wane and disappear with time as existing conditions change or become modified,
and seem to leave no problems behind them.
When coping fails, defense mechanisms of various types are used. They may provide
us temporary relief from anxiety-provoking situations; but if used habitually, they may prevent
us from facing exigencies of life squarely. We might not be able to distinguish the real from
the unreal. If the problem is important such that it becomes a "between life and death" thing,
it ought to be faced head-on, not sidestepped by self-deception. When defense mechanisms
are used sparingly for minor conflicts, there is nothing to worry about so -long as they don't
do other people harm. If they allow us to feel more comfortable at times as they often do,
then their value in reducing tension and anxiety and letting us to get on with significant
problems more than offsets the trivial self-deceptions they entail.
To the psychoanalysts, defense mechanisms no doubt reflect the realities of personality
dynamics and have probably been the most accepted feature of the Freudian theory.

ACTIVITY (30 PTS)

Study well for your final examinations! Goodluck and Godbless