Attitude and Social Cognition – Class 12 Psychology Chapter 6 Notes & NCERT PDF

Introduction

Chapter 6 of NCERT Class 12 Psychology moves into social psychology — the branch that investigates how an individual's behaviour is affected by others and the social environment. Social psychology deals with behaviour in the actual, imagined or implied presence of others. Every one of us forms attitudes — ways of thinking about specific topics and people. The chapter explains what attitudes are, how they are formed and changed, when they predict behaviour, and how negative attitudes towards groups (prejudice) arise and can be handled.

Key Concepts

Explaining Social Behaviour

Social influences create attitudes that exist as behavioural tendencies. To understand how the social context influences the individual we must study both social-cognitive processes and social behaviour.

Nature and Components of Attitudes

An opinion becomes an attitude when the view is not merely a thought but also has emotional and action components. An attitude is a state of mind — a set of views about a topic (the attitude object) with an evaluative feature (positive, negative or neutral), accompanied by an emotional component and a tendency to act.

The A-B-C components:

Attitudes are not behaviour itself; they are a tendency to behave and cannot be observed from outside.

Box 6.1 — 'Green Environment': a positive view based on information (C), feeling happy at greenery and sad/angry when trees are cut (A), and joining the tree plantation campaign (B). The three are expected to be consistent, but one component may be strong while another is weak, so predicting one from the others may not be accurate.

Beliefs are the cognitive component of attitudes (belief in God, belief in democracy). Values are attitudes or beliefs containing a 'should' or 'ought' aspect (one should work hard; honesty is the best policy). Values become part of one's outlook and are therefore difficult to change.

Four features of attitudes:

Attitude Formation

Attitudes are learned through one's own experiences and interaction with others; genetic factors act only indirectly.

Processes:

Factors: family and school environment; reference groups (especially in early adolescence); personal experiences (the army driver who escaped death, returned to his village in Maharashtra and became a community leader); media-related influences (internet, audio-visual media, textbooks — both good and bad effects).

Attitude Change

Attitudes in the formative stage (more like opinions) change more easily than those that have become values.

Three concepts of the process:

Factors influencing change:

Attitude-Behaviour Relationship

Consistency is found when the attitude is strong and central, the person is aware of it, there is little external pressure, behaviour is not being watched, and the person expects a positive consequence. Richard LaPiere's study: a Chinese couple was refused service only once while travelling across the USA, yet most hotel managers later said by questionnaire they would not accommodate Chinese guests. Sometimes behaviour decides attitude, as in Festinger and Carlsmith.

Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudices are attitudes (usually negative) towards a particular group, often based on stereotypes — a cluster of ideas about the characteristics of a group, assumed to apply to all members (cognitive component). Dislike or hatred is the affective component; discrimination is the behavioural component. The Nazi genocide of Jewish people is an extreme example. Prejudice can exist without discrimination and vice versa. Discrimination can be curbed by law, but the cognitive and emotional components are harder to change.

Sources of prejudice: learning (can create a 'prejudiced personality'); strong social identity and ingroup bias; scapegoating (the majority blames a weak minority for its problems); kernel of truth concept; self-fulfilling prophecy (the target group behaves in ways that confirm the negative expectation).

Strategies for Handling Prejudice

Aim at minimising opportunities to learn prejudice, changing attitudes, de-emphasising narrow ingroup identity and discouraging self-fulfilling prophecy. Achieved through education and information dissemination; increasing intergroup contact — effective only if the groups meet in a cooperative context, interact closely and are not different in power or status; and highlighting individual identity rather than group identity.

Examples & Activities from the Text

Key-Facts Sheet

Board Exam Focus

Review questions cover components, learning and formation of attitudes, the attitude-behaviour link, prejudice versus stereotype, and changing a junk-food attitude.

Answer outline — "Is behaviour always a reflection of one's attitude?" No → conditions for consistency (strong/central attitude, awareness, little pressure, not watched, positive consequence expected) → LaPiere's Chinese couple study → behaviour can shape attitude (Festinger and Carlsmith) → conclusion.

Answer outline — "Differentiate between prejudice and stereotype." Stereotype: cluster of ideas about a group's characteristics, cognitive component, applied to all members → Prejudice: usually negative attitude towards a group with cognitive, affective (dislike) and possibly behavioural (discrimination) parts → stereotypes often form the basis of prejudice.

Answer outline — "Changing a friend's junk-food attitude." Use cognitive dissonance (health cognition vs. eating habit) → credible and attractive source → message with just enough information and a suitable appeal, face-to-face → two-step: model the change yourself → reward healthy choices.

Key Terms

Common Mistakes