Attitudes: Evaluating The Social World: Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences

Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
Module :4
Attitudes: Evaluating the Social World
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Copyright 2006, Allyn and Bacon

Chapter Outline
• Attitude Formation
• Attitude Functions
• Link Between Attitudes and Behavior
• Persuasion
• Cognitive Dissonance

Attitudes
• Attitudes—evaluations of various aspects of

the social world
– The study of attitudes is a major topic within the field
of social psychology.
• They represent a very basic component of social cognition.
• They often influence behavior, especially when they are
strong, accessible, and long-standing.

Attitudes
• Attitudes can influence our thoughts ,even if they

are not reflected in our overt behavior.
• Explicit attitudes: Consciously accessible
attitudes that are controllable and easy to report.
• Implicit attitudes: Unconscious Associations
between objects and evaluative responses.

Attitudes
• Attitudes are evolutions of any aspect of

the social world; attitudes help us
understand people’s responses to new
stimuli.
• Knowing that a person is prevention
focused or promotion focused help us
predict what kind of Advertisement for new
product they will find persuasive.

Attitudes
• Prevention focus: when people are

concerned about avoiding losses and
focused on preventing negative events
from occurring.
• Promotion focus: when people are
concerned with promoting or gaining
outcomes; when they focus on not missing
an opportunity to benefit.

Attitude Formation
• How Attitudes Develop

– Social Learning—the process through which
we acquire new information, forms of
behavior, or attitudes from other people.
– Three learning processes are important to the
development of attitudes.
• Classical Conditioning— A basic form of learning
in which one stimulus, initially neutral, acquires
the capacity to evoke reactions through repeated
pairing with another stimulus.
• In a sense, one stimulus becomes a signal for
the presentation or occurrence of the other.

Classical Conditioning:
learning based on association

• Unconditioned stimulus: A stimulus that
evokes a positive or negative response
without substantial learning.
• Conditioned stimulus: the stimulus that
comes to stand for or signal a prior
unconditioned stimulus.

Attitude formation
• Subliminal Conditioning—classical conditioning of attitudes by

exposure to stimuli that are below individuals’ threshold of
conscious awareness.
• Mere exposure: By having seen before, but not necessarily

remembering having done so, attitudes toward an object can
become more positive.
• In fact, the effects of mere exposure on attitudes are stronger
when the stimuli are presented subliminally compared to when
they are consciously perceived.

Attitude Formation
• How Attitudes Develop

• Instrumental Conditioning—learning in which
responses (e.g., attitudes) that lead to positive
outcomes or which avoid negative outcomes are
strengthened
• Observational Learning—learning in which
individuals acquire new forms of behavior (e.g.,
attitudes) as a result of observing others
– Media exposure can influence attitude formation.
» Third-Person Effect—the impact of media exposure on
others’ attitudes and behaviors is overestimated and the
impact on the self is underestimated
– Social Comparison: The process through which we compare
ourselves to others to determine whether our view of social
reality is, or is not, correct.

• Reference group: groups of people with

whom we identify and whose opinions we
value.
• When we identify with a group, we expect
to be influenced by messages that are
aimed at our group. We don't expect to be
influenced when we do not identify with
the group that messages is aimed at.

Attitude Functions Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
• Attitude formation is a basic cognitive process that can

be viewed as almost automatic.
– Mere Exposure
• People form attitudes toward things that they have seen before, but do
not necessarily remember seeing.
– Attitudes serve many functions.
• The Knowledge Function—attitudes aid in the interpretation of
new stimuli and enable rapid responding to attitude-relevant
information (in ways that maintain them).
– Attitudes help to make sense of the social world quickly.


• The Identity or Self-Expression Function—attitudes can
permit the expression of central values and beliefs and
thereby communicate personal identity.
– This can include group membership and identity.
» People are more likely to adopt the attitude position of someone
with whom they share an important identity.
• The Self-Esteem Function—holding particular attitudes
can help maintain or enhance feelings of self-worth.
– Attitudes based on moral convictions are good predictors of behavior.


• The Ego-Defensive Function—claiming particular attitudes can
protect people from unwanted or unflattering views of themselves.
– For example, when prejudiced people state that they are against prejudice and
discrimination they protect themselves from seeing that they are actually bigoted.
• The Impression Motivation Function—people can use attitudes to
lead others to have a positive view of themselves. When motivated
to do so, the attitudes people express can shift in order to create
the desired impression on others.
– Attitudes that serve an impression motivation function can lead people to
formulate arguments that support their views.

Attitude Formation and Functions

• What are your thoughts?
– How is an attitude formed through the process of
classical conditioning or subliminal conditioning?
– What are examples of attitudes that people learn
from the media?
• Are there problems with learning attitudes from the
media?
– If so, what are they?
– What functions do your attitudes serve?
• Are people always aware of why they hold the attitudes
that they do?
– What are consequences of not being aware of these functions?

When and whyAmity
doInstitute
Attitudes influence
of Psychology & Allied Sciences
behaviour?
• Role of the Social Context

– Social attitudes do not always predict behavior.
• LaPiere (1934) found that the actions of business owners did
not match their attitudes.
– Businesses gave the Chinese couple traveling with him very good
service.
– But, they expressed negative attitudes in written responses to
LaPiere, saying that they would not offer service to Chinese
customers.
• Attitudes differentially predict behavior depending on how
public the action is and whether there are potential social
consequences.

Link Between Attitudes and
Behavior
• When and Why Do Attitudes Influence
Behavior?
– Situational constraints that affect attitude
expression
• People’s assumptions about the attitudes of others
and what they think others will think of them can be
better predictors of behavior than their actual
attitudes.
– And, due to pluralistic ignorance, people can be wrong
about what attitudes they think others hold.
– Strength of attitudes
• Strong attitudes are better predictors of behavior
than are weak attitudes.
Behavior
– Attitude extremity
• An important factor in determining attitude intensity
is vested interest.
– When people are affected by an object or issue (they have
a strong vested interest), their attitudes will have a larger
impact on their behavior.
» And, personal relevance increases the development of
arguments to support the attitude.
– Role of personal experience
• Direct experience with an attitude object/issue
results in a stronger link between the attitude and
behavior.
– Attitudes formed by direct experience are more accessible.
» Accessible attitudes are more likely to determine
behavior.
Behavior

How Do Attitudes Guide
Behavior?
– Attitudes arrived at through reasoned thought
• Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Azjen,
1980)—the decision to engage in a particular
behavior is the result of a rational process in
which behavioral options are considered,
consequences or outcomes of each are
evaluated, and a decision is reached to act or not
to act.
– That decision is reflected in behavioral intentions, which
strongly influence overt behavior.

How Do Attitudes Guide
Behavior?
• Theory of Planned Behavior—in addition to
attitudes toward a given behavior and subjective
norms about it, individuals also consider their
ability to perform the behavior (perceived
behavioral control).
– This theory is an extension of the theory of reasoned action.
– Behavioral intentions are determined by attitudes toward a
behavior, subjective norms, and also perceived behavioral
control.
• Both theories are useful in predicting the link between
attitudes and behavior.

How Do Attitudes Guide Behavior?

– Attitudes and spontaneous behavioral reactions
• Attitude-to-Behavior Process Model (Fazio, 1989)—
emphasizes the influence of attitudes and stored
knowledge of what is appropriate in a given situation
on an individual’s definition of the present situation,
which then influences overt behavior.
– Attitudes affect behavior in two ways.
• Attitudes can result in conscious deliberation in which
alternatives are weighed and people decide how to act.
• Or, attitudes spontaneously shape perceptions of the
situation and behavioral reactions.

Link Between Attitudes and Behavior

– What accounts for pluralistic ignorance, people’s false
belief that others have different attitudes than they do?
• Which sources in society may be promoting this belief?
– Are attitudes formed by deliberate thoughts that guide
actions or do attitudes spontaneously shape perceptions of
the situation and behavioral reactions?
• Do situational factors determine how attitudes will guide behavior?
– When are people more deliberate and when are they more
spontaneous?

The fine art of Persuasion:
how attitudes are changed
• Persuasion—efforts to change
others’ attitudes through the use
of various kinds of messages

PersuasionAmity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
– Communicators, messages, and Audiences (findings from early

research by Hovland, Janis, and Kelley, 1953)
• Communicators who are perceived as credible experts, are
attractive, speak rapidly, and appear confident are more persuasive.
• Communicators who are attractive
• Messages that do not appear to try to change attitudes are more
persuasive.
• Distraction can make people more likely to be persuaded.
• A two-sided approach is more persuasive when the audience’s
attitude is different from the communicator’s.
• Younger people (e.g., between the ages of 18 and 25) are more
likely to be persuaded than are older people.
• If in message there is mild fear appeal people persuades more
towards the message.

The Cognitive Processes Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
Underlying Persuasion
– Systematic versus heuristic processing
• Systematic Processing—involves careful consideration
of message content and ideas (argument strength
matters)
– Central Route (to persuasion)—attitude change resulting from
systematic processing of information presented in persuasive
messages
• Heuristic Processing—involves the use of simple rules

or mental shortcuts (argument strength does not matter)
– Peripheral Route (to persuasion)—attitude change in response
to peripheral persuasion cues, e.g., expertise or status

The Cognitive Processes Underlying
Persuasion
– According to the elaboration likelihood model (Petty
& Cacioppo, 1986) and the heuristic-systematic
model (Chaiken, et al., 1989), persuasion can occur
in two ways, differing in the amount of cognitive
effort or elaboration they require.
• People can take the central route (use systematic
processing).
• People can take the peripheral route (use heuristic
processing).

Persuasion

Resisting Persuasion
– Reactance—negative reactions to threats to

one’s personal freedom
• Often increases resistance to persuasion and can
even produce negative attitude change or that
opposite to what was intended
• Is one reason why hard-sell persuasion attempts
often fail
– Forewarning—advance knowledge that one
is about to become the target of an attempt
at persuasion and increases resistance to
the persuasion that follows
• Provides opportunity to develop counterarguments

PersuasionAmity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
• Resisting Persuasion
– Selective Avoidance—tendency to direct attention
away from information that challenges existing
attitudes, which increases resistance to
persuasion
• In addition, people seek information consistent with their
attitudes (selective exposure).
– Actively defend attitudes
• Generate counterarguments to refute opposing position
– Inoculation (McGuire, 1961)
• Exposure to arguments opposed to one’s attitudes, along
with arguments that refute these counterattitudinal positions,
can strengthen people’s original attitudes.

Persuasion

– Why are younger people more persuadable than
older people?
– Do most voters take the central route or the
peripheral route when listening to the persuasive
messages of political candidates?
• What determines which route people take?
• What are the consequences for the political process of
taking the central route or the peripheral route?
– Are fear-based persuasive appeals effective at
changing attitudes and related behavior?
• What factors are important to consider when using fear?

Cognitive Dissonance
• Cognitive Dissonance—an (unpleasant)

internal state which results when
individuals notice inconsistency
between two or more attitudes or
between their attitudes and their
behavior
– Can result in attitude change

Cognitive Dissonance Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
– People are motivated to reduce cognitive dissonance and use

the following strategies to do so (Aronson, 1968; Festinger,
1957).
• Change attitudes or behavior to be consistent with each other
• Acquire information that supports attitude or behavior
• Engage in trivialization of the inconsistency, concluding that the
attitudes or behaviors are unimportant
• Also, people use indirect ways to restore positive self-evaluations,
which is more likely when the dissonance involves important attitudes
or self-beliefs (Steele, 1988) (e.g., they may use self-affirmation).

– Is dissonance really unpleasant?

Cognitive DissonanceAmity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
– Is dissonance a universal human experience?

• Dissonance is universal, but the factors that produce
it and its magnitude are influenced by cultural
factors.
– The spreading of alternatives (when making a decision
people tend to downplay the item they did not choose and
promote the item that they did choose) effect was found to
be stronger for Canadian students than for Japanese
students (Heine & Lehman, 1997).

– Dissonance and attitude change: The effects of Induced or Forced

Compliance
• Dissonance and the less-leads-to-more effect
– Less reasons or rewards for performing an attitude-discrepant behavior often results in
more dissonance and thus greater attitude change, since it gives people less justification.
– Effect only occurs when people believe that they have a choice about performing the
behavior and when they feel personally responsible for their choice and its negative
effects.
– Effect only occurs when people view the reward as a well-deserved payment, and not as
a bribe.
• Dissonance is stronger and attitudes change more when there is no real
justification for engaging in attitude-discrepant behavior.


– When dissonance is a tool for beneficial changes in behavior

• Dissonance can promote positive behavioral changes, especially
when it generates hypocrisy—publicly advocating some
attitudes or behavior and then acting in a way that is
inconsistent with these attitudes or behavior.
– For maximum effectiveness of this tool:
» People must publicly advocate the desired behaviors.
» People must be induced to think about their own failures to engage in
these behaviors in the past.
» People must be given access to direct routes to dissonance reduction.

– What are your thoughts?

• What are the factors that increase the likelihood that someone
will experience cognitive dissonance?
• Why are people motivated to reduce cognitive dissonance?
• Why may dissonance be felt more strongly in individualist
cultures than in collectivist cultures?
• How could dissonance be used as a tool to promote
behaviors that conserve energy and environmental
resources?

MODULE : 4
Stereotypes: Its Causes,

Effects, and Cures
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copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
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image over a network;
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Copyright 2006, Allyn and

Nature and Origins of Stereotyping,
etc.
• Stereotyping: Beliefs About Social Groups
– Stereotypes—beliefs about social groups in terms of the
traits or characteristics that they are believed to share
• These mental categories affect the processing of social information.
– Gender Stereotypes—the traits possessed by females and

males, and that distinguish the two genders from each other
• Contain both positive and negative traits and convey status

etc.
• Stereotypes and the “glass ceiling,” the barriers that prevent
qualified females from advancing to top-level positions
– Female leaders tend to receive lower evaluations from their
subordinates compared to male leaders.
» Women who violate expectancies based on stereotypes are likely
to be rejected in male occupations.
» Women face greater obstacles than men do to achieve similar
levels of success.
– Men in traditionally female occupations do not face the glass ceiling.

etc.
• Consequences of token women in high places
– Tokenism can be an effective strategy for deterring protest by
disadvantaged groups.
» Tokens serve purpose of maintaining status quo
» It can be used as evidence that employers are not really
prejudiced and maintains perceptions that system is fair
– Being a token employee can be upsetting and damaging to self-
esteem
» Tokens are perceived negatively by their coworkers

etc.
• Do targets agree with stereotypes of their group?
– Benevolent Sexism—suggests that women are superior to
men in various ways (e.g., they have better taste) and are
necessary for men’s happiness
» Women are more likely than men are to agree with these ideas.
» Indicates tendency for low status groups to engage in social
creativity responses in the attempt to link positive qualities to
their group
» May serve to keep women in low-status positions

etc.
– Hostile Sexism—suggests that women are a threat to
men’s position (e.g., they are trying to seize power
from men which they are perceived as not deserving)
» Men report higher levels than do women
» Predicts negative stereotyping of women
– Countries with greater gender inequality are likely to have
more of both forms of sexism

etc.

etc.
• Gender stereotypes and differential respect
– People may think that men deserve more respect due to the higher positions
they hold compared to women.
» This has consequences for discrimination against women in the workplace.
• Are gender stereotypes accurate?

– Although some behavioral differences between males and females exist, the
degree of these differences is much smaller than gender stereotypes suggest.
» Despite this, stereotypes continue to influence ratings people give of men
and women

Nature and Origins of Stereotyping, Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
etc.
• Why do People Form and Use Stereotypes?
– Stereotypes often act as schemas
• Their use saves cognitive effort and they serve motivational purposes.
– How stereotypes operate

• They are easily accessible.
• They strongly affect how social information is processed.
– Information related to an activated stereotype is remembered better
– Stereotype-consistent information is more likely to be noticed

Nature and Origins of Stereotyping,Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
etc.
– Stereotype-inconsistent information, if noticed, often is refuted or changed to
make it appear consistent with the stereotype.
» People who do not fit their group’s stereotype are put in a subtype and the
stereotype is not changed.
• Stereotypes contribute to the formation of illusory correlations, the

perception of a stronger association between two variables than
actually exists.
– For example, white Americans overestimate the crime rates of some minority
groups.
» One explanation is that infrequent events stand out and are easily noticed,
especially when they confirm existing stereotypes.

etc.
– Another result of stereotype use
• Out-group homogeneity—members of an out-group appear to
be “all alike” or more similar to each other than are members of
the in-group
– In-group differentiation—members of own group are more heterogeneous
– May be due to greater experience within one’s in-group and less experience
with members of other groups
– Its converse is the in-group homogeneity effect, which tends to occur most
commonly among minority group members who are uniting to respond to
perceived inequalities.

etc.
– Do stereotypes ever change?
• Change may result when the relationships between groups and
corresponding behaviors change
• Change may result if in-group favoritism becomes socially
unacceptable
• Change may result when social values and group memberships
change since stereotypes justify unequal social conditions
– For example, people with power are more likely to attend to negative
stereotypic information about members of subordinate groups.

etc.
– What are examples of traits that comprise gender stereotypes (for women
and for men)?
– Why don’t men typically face the same glass ceilings that women do?
– What are the consequences of stereotyping for accurate social perception?
• Would you like to be judged on the basis of a stereotype about your group
membership?
– Why or why not?

PREJUDICE Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
• Prejudices are examples of attitudes towards a particular group.

They are usually negative, and in many cases, may be based on
stereotypes about the specific group.
• All members belonging to this group are assumed to possess

these characteristics.
• Often, stereotypes consist of undesirable characteristics about
the target group, and they lead to negative attitudes or prejudices
towards members of specific groups.
• The cognitive component of prejudice is frequently accompanied
by dislike or hatred, the affective component.
• Prejudice may also get translated into discrimination, the
behavioral component, whereby people behave in a less positive
way towards a particular target group compared to another group
which they favor.
• Prejudices can exist without being shown in the form of

discrimination.
• Similarly, discrimination can be shown without
prejudice.
• Yet, the two go together very often. Wherever prejudice
and discrimination exist, conflicts are very likely to arise
between groups within the same society.
• Our own society has witnessed many deplorable
instances of discrimination, with and without prejudice,
based on gender, religion, community, caste, physical
handicap, and illnesses such as AIDS.
THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL

NORM ON PREJUDICE
• Minard (1952) investigated how social norms influence prejudice and
discrimination. The behaviour of black and white miners in a town in the
southern United States was observed, both above and below ground.
• Results: Below ground, where the social norm was friendly behaviour towards
work colleagues, 80 of the white miners were friendly towards the black miners.
Above ground, where the social norm was prejudiced behaviour by whites to
blacks, this dropped to 20.
• Conclusion: The white miners were conforming to different norms above and
below ground. Whether or not prejudice is shown depends on the social context
within which behaviour takes place.
• Pettigrew (1959) also investigated the role of

conformity in prejudice. He investigated the idea
that people who tended to be more conformist
would also be more prejudiced, and found this to
be true of white South African students. Similarly,
he accounted for the higher levels of prejudice
against black people in the southern United States
than in the north in terms of the greater social
acceptability of this kind of prejudice in the south.
• A study by Rogers and Frantz (1962) found that
immigrants to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) became
more prejudiced the longer they had been in the
country. They gradually conformed more to the
prevailing cultural norm of prejudice against the
black population.
• Evaluation: Conformity to social norms, then, may
offer an explanation for prejudice in some cases. At
the same time, norms change over time, so this can
only go some way towards explaining prejudice.
SOURCES OF PREJUDICE Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
• Learning : Like other attitudes, prejudices can also be learned

through association, reward and punishment, observing others,
group or cultural norms and exposure to information that
encourages prejudice. The family, reference groups, personal
experiences and the media may play a role in the learning of
prejudices
• A strong social identity and ingroup bias : Individuals who have a

strong sense of social identity and have a very positive attitude
towards their own group boost this attitude by holding negative
attitudes towards other groups. These are shown as prejudices.
• Scapegoating : This is a phenomenon by which the majority

group places the blame on a minority outgroup for its own social,
economic or political problems. The minority is to week or too
small in number to defend itself against such accusations.
Scapegoating is a way of expressing frustration and it often leads
to negative attitude or prejudice against minority group
• Kernel of truth concept : Sometimes people may continue to hold

stereotypes because they think that, after all, there must be some
truth, or ‘kernel of truth’ in what everyone says about the other
group.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy : In some cases, the group that is the
target of prejudice is itself responsible for continuing the
prejudice. The target group may behave in ways that justify the
prejudice, that is, confirm the negative expectations.
STRATEGIES FORAmity
HANDLING PREJUDICE
Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
Knowing about the causes or sources would be the first

step in handling prejudice. Thus, the strategies for
handling prejudice would be effective if they aim at :
• minimizing opportunities for learning prejudices,
changing such attitudes,
• de-emphasizing a narrow social identity based on the
ingroup
•discouraging the tendency towards self fulfilling
prophecy among the victims of prejudice
• These goals can be accomplished through :
• Education and information dissemination, for correcting
stereotypes related to specific target groups, and tackling the
problem of a strong ingroup bias.
• Increasing intergroup contact allows for direct communication,
removal of mistrust between the groups, and even discovery of
positive qualities in the outgroup. However, these strategies
are successful only if :
• - the two groups meet in a cooperative rather than competitive
context, close interactions between the groups helps them to
know each other better, and the two groups are not different in
power or status.
• • Highlighting individual identity rather than group identity-
• thus weakening the Importance of group (both ingroup and
outgroup) as a basis of evaluating the other person. More
details about social identity and intergroup conflict have been
presented in the next chapter on Social Influence and Group
Processes.
DISCRIMINATION Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
• Discrimination is usually treated in social psychology as negative, orten

aggressive behavior aimed at the target of prejudice or negative stereotype.
• Because very often terms like prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination are
used interchangeably it should be explained here that in social psychology
prejudice is understood as a negative attitude toward, or evaluation of, a
person based on his or her membership in a group other than one’s own.
• Usually in psychology prejudices are regarded as emotional attitudes.
• (For example: dislike or hostility feit toward anyone on the basis of group
membership is prejudice).
• If prejudices are regarded as attitudes, stereotypes are best thought of as
beliefs. More precisely, we can define a stereotype as a set of beliefs about
the characteristics of the people in a group that is applied to almost all
members of that group.
• Stereotypes represent our ‘knowledge’ of people in particular groups (like:
gay people, women, car drivers, Jews, and Protestants) whether true or
false
• Discrimination is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and

groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age or
sexual orientation. That’s the simple answer. But explaining why it
happens is more complicated.
• The human brain naturally puts things in categories to make sense
of the world. Very young children quickly learn the difference
between boys and girls, for instance. But the values we place on
different categories are learned – from our parents, our peers and
the observations we make about how the world works. Often,
discrimination stems from fear and misunderstanding.
DISCRIMINATION Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
EFFECT ON HEALTH
• Discrimination is a public health issue. According to the 2015 Stress in
America Survey, people who say they have faced discrimination rate their
stress levels higher, on average, than those who say they have not
experienced discrimination. That’s true across racial and ethnic groups.
• Chronic stress can lead to a wide variety of physical and mental health
problems. Indeed, perceived discrimination has been linked to issues
including anxiety, depression, obesity, high blood pressure and substance
abuse.1
• Discrimination can be damaging even if you haven’t been the target of
overt acts of bias. Regardless of your personal experiences, it can be
stressful just being a member of a group that is often discriminated
against, such as racial minorities or individuals who identify as lesbian,
gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).
• The anticipation of discrimination creates its own chronic stress. People
might even avoid situations where they expect they could be treated
poorly, possibly missing out on educational and job opportuniti es.
TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION
• Racial and Ethnic

Discrimination
• Discrimination on the basis
of Nationality
• Sexual Orientation
Discrimination
• Religious Discrimination
• Disability Discrimination
• Employment Discrimination
THEORIES OF DISCRIMINATION
• Several theories have shaped our understanding of intergroup relations, prejudice
and discrimination, and we focus on four here: the social identity perspective, the
‘behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes’ map, aversive racism theory and
system justification theory. As individuals living in a social context, we traverse the
continuum between our personal and collective selves. Different social contexts
lead to the salience of particular group Memberships (Turner et al., 1987).
• The first theoretical framework that we outline, the Social Identity Perspective (Tajfel
and Turner, 1979) holds that group members are motivated to protect their self‐
esteem and achieve a positive and distinct social Identity. This drive for a positive
social identity can result in Discrimination, which is expressed as either direct harm
to the outgroup, or more commonly and spontaneously, as giving Preferential
treatment to the ingroup, a phenomenon known as In-group bias. Going further, and
illustrating the general tendency that Humans have to discriminate, the minimal
group paradigm studies (Tajfel and Turner, 1986) reveal how mere categorisation as
a Group member can lead to ingroup bias, the favouring of in‐Group members over
outgroup members in evaluations and allocation of resources (Turner, 1978).
• In the Minimal Group Paradigm Studies, participants are classified as

belonging to arbitrary Groups (e.g. people who tend to overestimate or
underestimate .The number of dots presented to them) and evaluate
members of the ingroup and outgroup, and take part in a reward allocation
Task (Tajfel and Turner, 1986) between the two groups.
• Results Across hundreds of studies show that participants rate ingroup
Members more positively, exhibit preference for ingroup members in
allocation of resources, and want to maintain maximal Difference in
allocation between ingroup and outgroup members, thereby giving
outgroup members less than an equality Norm would require.
• Given the fact that group membership in this paradigm does not involve a
deeply‐held attachment and Operates within the wider context of equality
norms, this tendency to discriminate is an important finding, and indicative
of the spontaneous nature of prejudice and discrimination in intergroup
contexts (Al Ramiah et al., in press).
• Whereas social categorizations is sufficient to create discriminatory
treatment, often Motivated by ingroup favoritism, direct competition
between Groups exacerbates this bias, typically generating responses
directly to disadvantage the outgroup, as well (Sherif et al., 1961).
DEALING WITH DISCRIMINATION

Finding healthy ways to deal with discrimination is important, for your physical
health and your mental well-being.
•Focus on your strengths. Focusing on your core values, beliefs and perceived
strengths can motivate people to succeed, and may even buffer the negative
effects of bias. Overcoming hardship can also make people more resilient and
better able to face future challenges.
•Seek support systems. One problem with discrimination is that people can
internalize others’ negative beliefs, even when they’re false. You may start to
believe you’re not good enough. But family and friends can remind you of your
worth and help you reframe those faulty beliefs.
•Get involved. Support doesn’t have to come from people in your family or circle
of friends. You can get involved with like-minded groups and organizations,
whether locally or online. It can help to know there are other people who have
had similar experiences to yours. And connecting with those people might help
you figure out how to address situations and respond to experiences of
discrimination in ways you haven’t thought of.
• Help yourself think clearly. Being the target of discrimination can stir up a
lot of strong emotions including anger, sadness and embarrassment.
Such experiences often trigger a physiological response, too; they can
increase your blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature.
• Don’t dwell. When you’ve experienced discrimination, it can be really hard
to just shake it off. People often get stuck on episodes of discrimination,
in part because they’re not sure how to handle those experiences. You
might want to say speak out or complain, but you’re not sure how to go
about it, or are afraid of the backlash. So instead, you end up ruminating,
or thinking over and over about what you should have done.
• Seek professional help. Discrimination is difficult to deal with, and is
often associated with symptoms of depression. Psychologists are experts
in helping people manage symptoms of stress and depression, and can
help you find healthy ways to cope. You can find a psychologist in your
area by using APA’s Psychologist Locator Service.
CONCLUSION Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences
• So far, we’ve discussed stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination as

negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors because these are typically
the most problematic.
• However, it is important to also point out that people can hold positive
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward individuals based on group
membership; for example, they would show preferential treatment for
people who are like themselves—that is, who share the same gender,
race, or favorite sports team.
• As diverse individuals, humans can experience conflict when interacting
with people who are different from each other. Prejudice, or negative
feelings and evaluations, is common when people are from a different
social group (i.e., out-group).
• Negative attitudes toward out-groups can lead to discrimination.
Prejudice and discrimination against others can be based on gender,
race, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, or a variety of other
social identities. In-group’s who feel threatened may blame the out-
groups for their plight, thus using the out-group as a scapegoat for their
frustration.

Attitudes: Evaluating The Social World: Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences

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Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences

Attitudes: Evaluating the Social World

Copyright 2006, Allyn and Bacon

Copyright 2006, Allyn and Bacon

• Attitudes—evaluations of various aspects of

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• Attitudes can influence our thoughts ,even if they

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• Attitudes are evolutions of any aspect of

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• Prevention focus: when people are

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• How Attitudes Develop

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learning based on association

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• Subliminal Conditioning—classical conditioning of attitudes by

• Mere exposure: By having seen before, but not necessarily

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• How Attitudes Develop

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• Reference group: groups of people with

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• Attitude formation is a basic cognitive process that can

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– Attitudes serve many functions.

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– Attitudes serve many functions.

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Attitude Formation and Functions

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• Role of the Social Context

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How Do Attitudes Guide Behavior?

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• What are your thoughts?

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how attitudes are changed

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– Communicators, messages, and Audiences (findings from early

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• Heuristic Processing—involves the use of simple rules

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– Reactance—negative reactions to threats to

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• What are your thoughts?

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• Cognitive Dissonance—an (unpleasant)

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– People are motivated to reduce cognitive dissonance and use

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– Is dissonance really unpleasant?

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– Is dissonance a universal human experience?

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– Dissonance and attitude change: The effects of Induced or Forced

Copyright 2006, Allyn and Bacon