Unit V Social Behavior PDF

Unit V : Social Behavior  What will we learn? Concept of social behavior Concept and components of attitude, formation of attitude Attitude and behavior – when and why attitudes influence behavior Attitude change Cognitive dissonance theory – dissonance and attitude chang...

Unit V : Social Behavior  What will we learn? Concept of social behavior Concept and components of attitude, formation of attitude Attitude and behavior – when and why attitudes influence behavior Attitude change Cognitive dissonance theory – dissonance and attitude change, strategies to reduce dissonance Persuasion : concept, the cognitive approach to persuasion-traditional, resistance to persuasion Prejudice : nature, causes, effects and cures Discrimination and stereotypes : nature, causes, effects and cures, social inclusion Concept of social behavior  Social behavior in simple terms is known as the actions or reactions of a person or animal in response to external or internal stimuli. It focuses on how individuals respond to their environment It looks at how people interact with and relate to each other in social contexts  Concept of social behavior Social behavior is the activity of an individual which modifies or otherwise alters the act of another individual. A social behavior is stimulated by thesociety which again stimulates othermembers of the group or society. Any behavior of a person which has not been influenced or modified by the society and which itself does not modify or stimulate the members of a society is not a social behavior.  Concept of social behavior Social interaction can be both verbal andnonverbal. Some examples of human social behavior are: watching sports together, high-fiving, conversing about politics, etc Social behavior can also be considered socialization and interaction. Social behavior occurs when individuals interact with one another, engaging in a group or pairs to communicate and relate. Concept and components of attitude, formation of attitude  Concept of Attitude Attitude is an enduring pattern of evaluative response toward a person, object or issue. It can also be known as a hypothetical construct that represents an individual’s degree of like or dislike for an object. Tendencies to evaluate objects favorably or unfavorably All attitudes have 3components: Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral  Concept of Attitude Attitudes can be directed toward any identifiable object in our environment, including groups of people (e.g., ethnic groups), controversial issues (e.g., legalized abortion), and concrete objects (e.g., pizza) Some psychologists believe attitude to be unidimensional i.e. ranges from extreme favorable to extreme unfavorable Thus, attitudes can take the form of (a)favorability, (b)unfavourability, or (c)neither favorability nor unfavourability toward the attitude object  Concept of attitude Others believe attitude as bi dimensional i.e. an evaluative tendency may vary in positivity and another evaluative tendency varies in negativity: Thus, attitudes can take the form of (a)favorability, (b)unfavourability, (c) neither favorability nor unfavourability,and (d) both favorability and unfavourability toward the attitude object.  Concept of attitude Attitudes canbe: POSITIVE: In which the individual evaluates the attitude object favorably : has pleasant feeling. NEGATIVE: The individual evaluates the attitude object as unfavorable: evokes negative emotion in individual Strong positive and negative attitudes are good predictor of behaviors AMBIVALENT: Ambivalence refers to the simultaneous presence of conflicting positive and negative elements within an attitude Attitudes that are ambivalent are likely also to be low in evaluative consistency. Ambivalent are easier to change and less predictive of behavior than non ambivalent ones  Concept of Attitude Social psychologists use the term attitude to refer to people’s evaluation of almost any aspect of the world. Some attitudes are quite stable and resistant to change, whereas others may be unstable and show considerable variability depending on the situation. We may hold some attitudes with great certainty, while our attitudes toward other objects or issues may be relatively unclear or uncertain  Concept of attitude In addition, attitudes can influence our thoughts, even if they are not always reflected in our overt behavior. Many of our attitudes are : Explicit attitudes— - conscious and reportable—other attitudes may be Implicit attitudes—uncontrollable and perhaps not consciously accessible to us  Components of attitude Cognitive Component: our thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about something: i t h i n k my f r i e n d is kind, c h a r m i n g , a n d humorous Feeling or affective component: Attitude involves arousal of specific emotion: I feel good when I am around my friend Behavioral component: tendency or disposition to act in certain ways toward something: I try to hang out with my friend whenever I get the chance Attitude does not always predict behavior  Attitude formation : How attitudesdevelop How do you feel about each of the following: people who cover their bodies in tattoos, telemarketers, the TV programs ?Most people have attitudes about these issues and objects. But where, precisely, did these views come from? Did you acquire them as a result of your own experiences with each, from other people with whom you have had personal contact, or through exposure via themedia? Attitude formation : How attitudes develop Are your attitudes toward these objects' constant across time, or are they flexible and likely to change as conditions do? One important means by which our attitudes develop is through the process of sociallearning. In other words, many of our views are acquired in situations where we interact with others, or simply observe their behavior. Such learning occurs through several processes, which are outlined below.  Classical conditioning Classical conditioning: The type of learning through which an initiallyneutral stimulus comes to produce a particular response as a result of being repeatedly associated with unconditioned stimulus. It is a basic principle of psychology that when a stimulus that is capable of evoking a response—the unconditioned stimulus— regularly precedes another neutral stimulus, the one that occurs first can become a signal for the second—the conditioned stimulus.  Classical Conditioning Advertisers and other persuasion agents have considerable expertise in using this principle to create positive attitudes toward their products. Although tricky in the details, it is a fairly straightforward method for creating attitudes.  Classical Conditioning ✓First, you need to know what your potential audience already responds positively toward (what to use as the unconditioned stimulus). If you are marketing a new beer, and your target audience is young adult males, you might safely assume that attractive young women will produce a positive response.  Classical Conditioning ✓Second, you need to pair your product repeatedly (the formerly neutral or conditioned stimulus—say, your beer logo) with images of beautiful women. ✓ And, before long, positive attitudes will be formed toward your new beer! ✓As shown in Figure, many alcohol manufacturers have used this principle to beneficially affect sales of its product.  Cont.. Such classical conditioning can affect attitudes via two pathways: The direct and Indirect route The more generally effective and typical method used—the direct route. That is, positive stimuli (e.g., lots of different women) are repeatedly paired with the product, with the aim being to directly transfer the affect felt toward them to the brand.  Cont.. However, by pairing a specific celebrity endorser who is already liked by the target audience with the new brand, a memory link between the two can be established. In this case—the indirect route— the idea is that following repeatedly presenting that specific celebrity with the product, then whenever that celebrity is thought of, the product too will come to mind.  Not only can classical conditioning contribute to shaping our attitudes— it can do so even though we are not aware of the stimuli. Attitudes can be influenced by subliminal conditioning—classical conditioning that occurs in the absence of conscious awareness of the stimuli involved. Indeed, mere exposure—having seen an object before, but too rapidly to remember having seen it—can result in attitude formation.  Instrumental Conditioning: Rewards for the “Right”Views When asked you to think about your attitudes toward marijuana, what would you say? Some of you may have thought immediately “Oh, that’s wrong!”  Instrumental Conditioning: Rewards for the “Right”Views This is because most children have been repeatedly praised or rewarded by their parents and teachers (“just say no” programs) for stating such views. As a result, individuals learn which views are seen as the “correct” attitudes to hold—because of the rewards received for voicing those attitudes by the people they identify with and want to be accepted.  Instrumental Conditioning: Rewards for the “Right”Views Attitudes that are followed by positive outcomes tend to be strengthened and are likely to be repeated, whereas attitudes that are followed by negative outcomes are weakened so their likelihood of being expressed again is reduced. Thus, another way in which attitudes are acquired is through the process of instrumental conditioning— rewards and punishments.  Observational Learning: Learning by Exposure toOthers A third means by which attitudes are formed can operate even when direct rewards foracquiring or expressing those attitudes areabsent. This process is observational learning, and it occurs when individuals acquire attitudes orbehaviors simply by observing others For example, people acquire attitudes toward many topics and objects by exposure to advertising—wherewesee“peoplelike us” or “peoplelike wewant to become” acting positively or negatively toward different kinds of objects or issues.  Observational Learning: Learning by Exposure toOthers Just think how much observational learning most of us are doing as we watch television! Why do people often adopt the attitudes that they hear others express or acquirethe behaviors they observeinothers?.  Observational Learning: Learning by Exposure toOthers One answer involves the mechanism of social comparison—our tendency to compare ourselves with others in order to determine whether our view of social reality is correct or not. That is, to the extentthat our views agree with those of others, we tend to conclude that our ideas and attitudes are accurate; after all, if others hold the same views, these views must be right!  Observational Learning: Learning by Exposure to Others But are we equally likely to adopt all others’ attitudes, or does it depend on our relationship to those others? People often adjust their attitudes to hold views closer to those of others who they value and identify with— their reference groups.  Observational Learning: Learning by Exposure toOthers For example, Terry and Hogg (1996) found that the adoption of favorable attitudes toward wearing sunscreen depended on the extent to which the respondents identified with the group advocating this change. As a result of observing the attitudes held by others who we identify with, new attitudes can be formed. When and Why Do Attitudes Influence Behavior?  Role of the Social Context in the Link BetweenAttitudes and Behavior You have probably experienced a gap between your own attitudes and behavior on many occasions—this is because the social context can directly affect theattitude–behavior connection. For instance, what would you say if one of your friends shows you a new tattoo of which he or she is proud and asks for your opinion? Would you state that you do not like it, if that was your view? The chances are quite good that you would try to avoid hurting your friend’s feelings so you might even say you like it even though your attitude is negative.  Role of the Social Context in the Link Between Attitudes and Behavior In such cases, we are clearly aware ofour conscious choicenot to act on our “true”attitude. As this example illustrates, depending on the degree to which the action has social consequences or not, attitudes may be differentially related to behavior.  Several factors determine the extent to which attitudes and behavior correspond, with aspects of the situation influencing the extent to which attitudes determine behavior. In addition, features of the attitudes themselves are also important—for example, how certain you are of your own attitude. Attitudes that we hold with greater certainty are more strongly linked to behavior (Tormala & Petty, 2004) compared to attitudes about which we feel some uncertainty.  It is well known that older people areoften more certain of their attitudes than areyoung people. Recent research suggests that this is partly due to older people placing greater value on “standing firm” or being resolute in the attitude positions they adopt, and forthis reason they tend to show greater attitude–behavior consistency compared to younger people Attitude Extremity: Role of Vested Interests  Let’s consider first attitude extremity— the extent to which an individual feels strongly—in one direction or the other— about an issue. One of the key determinants of this is what social psychologists' term vested interest—the extent to which the attitude is relevant to the concerns of the individual who holds it. This typically amounts to whetherthe object or issue might have important consequences for thisperson.  The results of many studies indicate that the greater such vested interest, the stronger the impact of the attitude on behavior. Not only do people with a vested interest behave in a way that supports their cause, they are likely to elaborate on arguments that favor their position. By doing so, attitude-consistent thoughts come to mind when an issue is made salient (noticeable).  Attitude Extremity: Role of Vested Interests For example, Haugtvedt and Wegener (1994) found that when participants were asked to consider a nuclear power plant being built in their own state (high personal relevance) they developed more counterarguments against the plan than when the power plant might be potentially built in a distant state (low personalrelevance). Thus, attitudes based on vested interest are more likely to be thought about carefully, be resistant to change, and be an accessible guide for behavior.  Attitude Certainty: Importance of Clarity and Correctness Two important components of attitude certainty: ✓Attitude clarity— being clear about what one’s attitude is—and ✓Attitude correctness—feeling one’s attitude is the valid or the proper one to hold  Clarity reflects a lack of ambivalence about an attitude issue. The more often you are asked to report on your attitude, the more it will facilitate clarity and there by certainty. Repeatedly stating your attitude appears to “work” by increasing your subjective sense that you really do know how you feel about an object or issue.  Role of PersonalExperience Depending on how attitudes areformed initially, the link between attitudes and behavior candiffer. Considerable evidence indicates that attitudes formed based on direct experiencewith the object about whichwe hold a particular attitude can exert stronger effects on behavior than ones formed indirectly. This is because attitudes formed based on directexperience arelikely to be stronger and be more likely to come to mind when in the presence of the attitude object.  Similarly, attitudes based on personal relevance are more likely to be elaborated on in terms of supporting arguments, and this makes them resistant to change. Personal experience is one way to create involvement with an issue, and people who are more involved with an issue and whose values are linked with that issue are more likely to act on their attitudes  In sum, existing evidence suggests that attitudes really do affect behavior. However, the strength of this link is strongly determined by a number of different factors. ✓First , situational constraints (social context) may not permit us to overtly express our attitudes. ✓Second, attitude extremity, which is a function of whether we have a vested interest in the issue or not, influences whether our attitudes translate into behavior, and this is particularly likely when a message is framed as having an immediate impact rather than one far in the future! ✓Third, attitudes that are clear and experienced as correct are more likely to affect behavior than are those that lack clarity or that we are uncertain about their correctness. ✓Fourth, whether we have personal experience with the attitude object or perceive it as relevant to our important values can affect the accessibility of the attitude, and attitudes that are more accessible are more likely to determine behavior compared to those that are not accessible.  How Do Attitudes Guide Behavior? Attitudes Arrived at Through Reasoned Thought Attitudes and Spontaneous Behavioral Reactions  Attitudes Arrived at Through Reasoned Thought In some situations we give careful, deliberate thought to our attitudes and their implications for our behavior. Insight into the nature of this process is provided by the theory of reasoned action, which was later refined and termed the theory of planned behavior  Theory of reasoned action : A theory suggesting that the decision to engage in a 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 (reflects in behavioral intentions, which strongly influence overt behavior.  Theory of planned behavior : An extension of the theory of reasoned action, suggesting that ✓In addition to attitudes toward a given behavior and subjective norms about it, ✓Individuals also consider their ability to perform the behavior.  How do you form an intention to change some aspect of your behavior? According to the theory, intentions are determined by two factors: ✓Attitudes toward the behavior—people’s positive or negative evaluations of performing the behavior (whether they think it will yield positive or negative consequences), and ✓Subjectivenorms—people’s perceptions of whether others will approve or disapprove of this behavior. ✓A third factor, perceived behavioral control— people’s assessments of their ability to perform the behavior—was subsequently added to the theory. Recent research has made it clear that the intention–behavior relationship is even stronger when people have formed a plan for how and when they will translate their intentions into behavior  Suppose, for example, that you form the intention to go to the gym to work out. If you develop a plan for how you will translate your intention into actual behavior— beginning with setting your alarm, preparing your exercise clothes, and so forth—you will be more likely to succeed at doing so. Effective implementation plan (a plan for how to implement our intentions to carry out some action) is essential to translate intention to behavior.  How Do Attitudes Guide Behavior? Attitudes and Spontaneous Behavioral Reactions  Our ability to predict behavior in situations where people have the time and opportunity to reflect carefully on various possible actions that they might undertake is quite good. However, in many situations, people have to act quickly, and their reactions are more spontaneous. Think of an example!  According to one theoretical view—Fazio’s attitude-to-behavior process model—the process works as follows: ✓Some event activates an attitude; that attitude, once activated, influences how we perceive the attitude object. ✓At the same time, our knowledge about what’s appropriate in a given situation (our knowledge of various social norms) is also activated. ✓Together, the attitude and the previously stored information about what’s appropriate or expected shape our definition of the event. ✓This perception, in turn, influences our behavior  In short, attitudes affect our behavior through at least two mechanisms, and these operate under contrasting conditions. ✓When we have time to engage in careful, reasoned thought, we can weigh all the alternatives and decide how we will act. ✓Under the hectic conditions of everyday life we often don’t have time for reasoned thought, and people’s responses are spontaneous. Cognitive dissonance theory – dissonance and attitude change, strategies toreduce dissonance  Cognitive dissonance theory Cognitive dissonance is an internal state that results when individuals notice inconsistency between two or more attitudes or between their attitudes and their behavior. For example Any time you become aware of saying what you don’t really believe (e.g., praise something you don’t actually like “just to be polite”), make a difficult decision that requires you to reject an alternative you find attractive, you are likely to experience dissonance.  In all these situations, there is a gap between your attitudes and your actions, and such gaps tend to make us uncomfortable. Recent research has revealed that the discomfort associated with dissonance is reflected in elevated activity in the left front regions of our brain. From the present perspective, cognitive dissonance can sometimes lead us to change our own attitudes—to shift them so that they are consistent with our overt behavior, even in the absence of any strong external pressure to do so.  Dissonance and Attitude Change: We can engage in attitude-discrepant behavior for many reasons. When will our attitudes change more? ‽ When there are “good” reasonsfor engaging in attitude-discrepant behavior or ‽ When there is little justification for doingso?  Cognitive dissonance theory argues that dissonance will be stronger when we have few reasons for engaging in attitude- discrepant behavior. This is so because when we have little justification and therefore cannot explain away our actions to ourselves, dissonance will be quite intense.  Festinger's Experiment Initially, subjects will be told that they will be participating in a two-hour experiment. They used 71 male students as participants to perform a series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in a peg board ). They were then paid either $1 or $20 to tell a waiting participant (relay a confederate) that the tasks were interesting. Almost all the participants agreed to walk into the waiting room and persuade the confederate that the boring experiment would be fun.  Festinger's Experiment The participants who were paid only $1 rated the tedious task as more fun and enjoyable than the participants who were paid $20 to lie. Cognitive dissonance says that people felt bad about lying for $1 because they could not justify the act, so they said no or changed the truth.They could only overcome that dissonance by coming to believe that the tasks really were interesting and enjoyable. Being paid $20 provides a reason for turning pegs and there is therefore no dissonance.  As shown in Figure 5.21 , cognitive dissonance theory predicts that it will be easier to change individuals’ attitudes by offering them just enough to get them to engage in attitude-discrepant behavior. Social psychologists sometimes refer to this surprising prediction as the less-leads to more effect—less reasons or rewards for an action often leads to greater attitude change. Video  Strategies for Resolving Dissonance We experience the motivation to reduce cognitive dissonance (An unpleasant state that results when we notice inconsistency between two or more of our attitudes or between our attitudes and behaviors) Attempt to reduce inconsistency becomes a source of persuasion Individual tries one of the following mechanisms:  Strategies for Resolving Dissonance Changing one of the attitude (or behavior) so that these are more consistent with each other ✓ When one of the dissonant elements is a behavior, the individual can change or eliminate the behavior Acquiring new information that supports attitudes or behaviors (justifications) ✓to acquire new information that outweighs the dissonant beliefs ✓“research has not proved definitely that smoking causes lung cancer”  Strategies for Resolving Dissonance Trivialization: concluding that the attitudes or behaviors are not important ✓Example: reduce the importance of the cognitions (i.e. beliefs, attitudes) ✓"live for today" than to "save for tomorrow." ✓Individual uses any of the mentioned mechanism to reduce dissonance and Trivialization is Last resort  How might Mrs. Keech and her followers deal with their dissonance when the prophecy failed and the world did not end on the specified date? They were faced with two dissonant cognitions: ✓ “We predicted the end of the world on a certain date” and ✓ “That date has undeniably passed, and the world has not ended.”  After disconfirmation of the prophecy, they did not conclude their belief in the prophecy had been wrong, but instead the group sought to add followers in order to reaffirm the rightness of their beliefs. Adding followers to the group adds a consonant cognition: great numbers of faithful believers couldn’t be wrong! Indeed, when the “end of the world” date had passed, the group reported that Earth had been spared because of their strong faith. By adding this belief that their faith saved Earth, these believers were able to resolve their dissonance, without changing their attitudes or behavior.  All of these strategies can be viewed as direct methods of dissonance reduction: They focus on the attitude– behavior discrepancy that is causing the dissonance.  Dissonance can be reduced via indirect means. The unpleasant or negative feelings generated by dissonance can still be reduced by, for example, consuming alcohol. Adoption of indirect tactics to reduce dissonance is most likely when the attitude–behavior discrepancy involves important attitudes or self-beliefs (so trivialization isn’t feasible). Under these conditions, individuals experiencing dissonance may not focus so much on reducing the gap between their attitudes and behavior, but instead on other methods that will allow them to feel good about themselves despite the gap  When I experienced dissonance as a result of saying nice things about my neighbor’s giant new SUV, even though I am strongly against such vehicles, I could remind myself that I am a considerate person. Specifically, people will engage in self-affirmation—restoring positive self- evaluations that are threatened by the dissonance It can help to reduce the discomfort produced by my failure to act in a way that was consistent with my pro-environmental (and anti-SUV) attitudes When Dissonance Is a Tool for Beneficial Changes in Behavior Despite having positive attitudes, they are often not translated into overt actions: Some people continue to drive without seatbelts, to smoke etc. To address these major social problems, perhaps what’s needed is not so much a change in attitudes as shifts in overt behavior. Can dissonance be used to promote beneficial behavioral changes? A growing body of evidence suggests that it can especially when it is used to generate feelings of hypocrisy When Dissonance Is a Tool for Beneficial Changes in Behavior Hypocrisy Publicly advocating someattitudes or behavior and then acting in a way that is inconsistent with these attitudes orbehavior. Such feelings might be sufficiently intense that only actions that reduce dissonance directly, by inducing behavioral change, may be effective.  When Dissonance Is a Tool for Beneficial Changes in Behavior Such procedures must involve several elements: ✓People must publicly advocate the desired behaviors (e.g., using seat belts), ✓They need to be induced to think about their own behavioral failures in the past, and ✓They must be given access to direct means for reducing their dissonance (i.e., a method for changing their behavior). When these conditions are met, dissonance can bring about beneficial changes in behavior.  The Fine Art of Persuasion : How attitudes are changed  Persuasion :Concept Persuasion is the process through which one or more persons attempt to alter the attitudes of one or more others and uses effort to change others’ attitude. The process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors. Eg : People, magazine,television  Factors or approaches to persuasion Traditional approach Traditional approach: Who says what to whom; researches primarily focused on communication Focused on characteristics of communicator, communication and audience: Also known as Yale approach Expertise Messages that do not seem to be designed to change attitude  Factors or approaches to persuasion Traditional approach Communicators who are credible—who seem to know what they are talking about or who are expert with respect to the topics or issues they are presenting—are more persuasive than those who are seen as lacking expertise. Attractive communicators advertisers who use attractive models are attempting to suggest to us that if we buy their product, we too will be perceived as attractive.  Factors or approaches to persuasion Messages that do not appear to be designed to change our attitudes are often more successful than those that seem to be designed to achieve this goal. Existing research on this issue indicates that forewarning does typically lessen the extent to which attitude change occurs (Benoit, 1998). So, simply knowing that a sales pitch is coming your way undermines its persuasiveness  Factors or approaches to persuasion One approach to persuasion that has received considerable research attention is the effect of fear appeals—messages that are intended to arouse fear in the recipient. For example, any health message can be framed positively as “Do this and you will feel better.” Negative framing of the same message might be “If you don’t do this, you will shorten your life.”  Factors or approaches topersuasion Attractive communicators When they are distracted by some extraneous events than when they are paying full attention to what is being said Low self esteem of audience Rapid speakers: especially when speakers present views different from those hold by their audience: Messages that arouse strong emotionsetc  Cognitive approach Approach that attempts to understand persuasion by identifying the cognitive processes that play role inpersuasion Elaboration likelihood model  Elaboration likelihood model Suggests that persuasion can occur in either of two distinct ways, differing in the amount of cognitive effort or elaboration they require Central and peripheral route Central route in which attitude change results from systematic processing of information presented in persuasive message: message interesting to audience Peripheral route: attitude change results in response to persuasion cues such as the attractiveness, expertise, or status of would-be persuaders  SYSTEMATIC VERSUS HEURISTIC PROCESSING The first type of processing we can employ is known as systematic processing or the central route to persuasion. It involves careful consideration of message content and the ideas it contains. Such processing requires effort, and it absorbs much of our information-processing capacity  SYSTEMATIC VERSUS HEURISTIC PROCESSING This type of processing occurs ✓ if we have a lot of knowledge about the topic, ✓ we have a lot of time to engage in careful thought, or ✓ the issue is sufficiently important to us and ✓ we believe it is essential to form an accurate view  SYSTEMATIC VERSUS HEURISTIC PROCESSING The second approach, known as heuristic processing or the peripheral route to persuasion, involves the use of mental shortcuts. ❖ belief that “experts’ statements can be trusted,” or ❖the idea that “if it makes me feel good, I’m in favor of it.” Requires less effort and allows us to react to persuasive messages in an automatic manner. It occurs in response to cues in the message or situation that evoke various mental shortcuts.  SYSTEMATIC VERSUS HEURISTIC PROCESSING E.g., Beautiful models evoke the “What’s beautiful is good and worth listening to” heuristic.  SYSTEMATIC VERSUS HEURISTIC PROCESSING We engage in heuristic processing that Requires less effort (heuristic processing) When we lack the ability or capacity to process more carefully (we must make up our minds very quickly or we have little knowledge about the issue) or When our motivation to perform such cognitive work is low (the issue is unimportant to us or has little potential effect on us).  SYSTEMATIC VERSUS HEURISTIC PROCESSING Advertisers, politicians, salespeople, and others wishing to change our attitudes prefer to push us into the heuristic mode of processing because, it is often easier to change our attitudes when we think in this mode than when we engage in more careful and systematic processing. Strong arguments in favor of the position being advocated aren’t needed when people do not process those arguments very carefully!  Modes of Persuasion by Aristotle Aristotle taught that a speaker's ability to persuade an audience is based on how well the speaker appeals to that audience in three different areas: logos, ethos, and pathos. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are referred to as the 3 Persuasive Appeals and are all represented by Greek words. They are modes of persuasion used to convince audiences. Resistance to Persuasion  Resistance to persuasion Reactance Protecting our personal freedom The negative reaction towards threats to one’s personal freedom Can produce opposite of what was actually intended When we are feeling resistant, strong arguments in favour of attitude change can increase opposition as compared to moderate or weak arguments. (Fuegen and Brehm, 2004) Reactance examples  Forewarning: prior knowledge ofpersuasive intent Advance knowledge that one is about to be persuaded It often increases resistance to the persuasion that follows Provides us more opportunity to form counterarguments Research has shown that forewarning actually makes resistance stronger.(Cialdini and Petty, 1979; Johnson, 1994)  Selective Avoidance To direct attention away from information that challenges existing attitudes. Example: ✓muting commercials, ✓watching favourite programs, ✓surfing channels  Defending our attitudes Counterarguing against the competition Ignoring information incongruent with our current views We not only ignore information that is inconsistent with our current views, but we also carefully process counter attitudinal input and argue actively against it. In this way, exposure to arguments opposed to our attitudes can serve to strengthen the views we already hold, making us more resistant to subsequent efforts to change them  Skepticism Skepticism is resistance to the content of the message. It focuses on the logic and evidence of the arguments in the message It produces a desire to critically evaluate and refute those arguments Skepticism can be strengthened by (a) increasing a person’s motivation to examine the message and (b) assembling information and tools to effectively evaluate a message. Realizing that persuasion is coming will energize both aspects of skepticism Prejudice and Discrimination  Prejudice The word “prejudice” has its roots in the Latin words “prae” (in advance) and “judicum” (judgment), which literally translates to “judge before”. The term prejudice refers to a biased, often negative, attitude formed about a group of people. Prejudice is a baseless and usually negative attitude toward members of a group. “Prejudice is an attitude; usually negative, toward the members of some group, based solely on their membership in that group”  Prejudice is a feeling, favourable or unfavourable, toward a person or thing, prior to, or not based on, actual experience. (Allport, 1979) There are 7 types of prejudices that are based on dominant factors such as religion, race, gender, age, socioeconomic status, nationality and sexual orientation: Racism Sexism Ageism Religious Prejudice Classicism Homophobia Nationalism Prejudice is emotional commitment to ignorance - Nathan Rutstein  Prejudice Common features of prejudice ✓Negative feelings, ✓Stereotyped beliefs, ✓A tendency to discriminate against members of the group.  Prejudice Prejudice includes allthree components of an attitude (affective, behavioural and cognitive) ✓Cognitivecomponent (belief) Leads the individual to belief in a certain way. For example an individual who likes dogs find dogs faithful animal. ✓Feeling component (emotion) Refers to the emotions attached to the person, object or thought. For example if an individual feels street children should be taken care of then he loves, takes care of them. ✓Behavioral component (action) Tendency to act in certain way as directed by cognitive and feeling component.  Prejudice Prejudice often begins in the form of a stereotype. Stereotype is, a generalized belief or assumption about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless of their individual characteristics.  Causes of prejudice ❖Unequal status ❖Need for status ❖Direct inter- group conflict ❖Authoritarian Personality ( hostility towards those who defy social norms. ❖Frustration and aggression theory (frustrated people target their frustration towards minority) ❖Illusory correlation ( Over estimating negative behaviors in relatively small groups) ❖ Social Conformity  Causes of prejudice ❖Saving effort ❖Role of media ❖Social categorization ( Us vs Them) ❖Role of learning and socialization ❖ Close Minded and rigid cognitive styles Discrimination  Discrimination ❖Discrimination is the behaviour or actions, usually negative, towards an individual or group of people, on the basis of their membership in a particular group. ❖Prejudice leads to discrimination and discrimination can lead to exclusion from jobs, neighborhoods, and educational opportunities, and it may result in lower salaries and benefits for members of specific groups.  Discrimination ❖Discrimination can also result in more favorable treatment to favored groups—for example, when an employer hires a job applicant of his or her own racial group because of the applicant’s race. Discrimination takes place mostly in two ways :  Discrimination ❖Individual Discrimination It occurs with the behavior of an individual with other individual or the group of people. ❖Instutionalized Discrimination Institutionaldiscrimination occurs when a societal system has developed with embedded exclusion of a group, such as historical no acceptance of minority sexualities  Discrimination ❖ Prejudice not only lead to overt discrimination, but also can cause members of prejudiced group to behave in ways that reflect self-fulfilling prophecy. ❖ Self-fulfilling prophecies are expectations about the occurrence of a future event or behavior that act to increase the likelihood the event or behavior will occur. ❖For example, if people think that members of a specific group lack ambition, they may treat them in a way that actually brings about a lack of ambition.  Techniques to reduce Prejudice and Discrimination On learning not to hate As prejudice is not innate, they are learned or acquired from different sources or situations. So, we can unlearn them. Training people to discourage prejudice and teaching tolerance. Parents, teachers and medias are the primary sources contributing to prejudice. And biased teachers and parents should be made aware about their prejudiced behavior  Techniques to reduce Prejudice and Discrimination Direct inter- group contact Researches have shown that increasing the amount of communication and contact among the people can reduce prejudice and discrimination. Increasedcontact between groups and people can lead to a growing recognition of similarities between them which may increase mutual attraction and cooperation.  Techniques to reduce Prejudice and Discrimination Re-categorization ❖Redrawing boundary between us and them can reduce prejudice. ❖According to Gaertner’s theory of recategorization or common in group identity model, groups or individuals in a group "us" shift the boundary to view the other group as in group  Techniques to reduce Prejudice and Discrimination Cognitive intervention: ❖Saying no to stereotype is another way to reduce it. Motivating people to be non-prejudiced can reduce the stereotype. ❖Promoting egalitarian norms and standards of all having to receive fair treatment  Techniques toreduce Prejudice and Discrimination Psycho education ❖Making people aware of their values they already hold regarding prejudice and discrimination. ❖Teaching people to be more aware of the positive characteristics of targets groups of prejudice and discrimination.  Techniques toreduce Prejudice and Discrimination ❖Other strategies include ❖extensive media for mass publicity programs, ❖reducing stereotype threats, ❖involvement of organizations to fight against prejudice, ❖improving the standards of the minority groups.  Question s 1.Define prejudice. Explain in brief the causes /sources of prejudice. 2.Compare and contrast stereotype, prejudice and discrimination. 3.Illustrate the techniques to reduce prejudice and discrimination.