Attitude Formation: Cognitive Consistency and Inconsistency

lieu Formation Cognitive Consistency and InconsistencyMinahil MeherAttitude FormationMany of our medical prognosiss be acquired in situations in which we interact with or preserve the behaviour of former(a)s, called social learning. Such learning can be acquired through several processes, which in bending help us take a hop stances.Classical learn Learning based on AssociationThe evoking of an situation by the association of an unin condition(p) remark with a neutral conditi oned stimulus is the first process of learning classical conditioning. When a stimulus that is capable of producing a affirmatory response (U.S) regularly precedes a secondly stimulus (C.S), the first becomes a signal for the second. Advertisers and other persuasion agents fool considerable expertise in using this principle to create positive locatings towards their products. precedent Marketing a new drink.Before condition glossy Girls Positive Emotions(Unconditioned Stimulus) (Unconditioned Respo nse)Drinks Logo No Response(Neutral Stimulus)During ConditioningAttractive GirlsPositive Emotions/AttitudesDrinks Logo (Conditioned Response)After ConditioningDrinks Logo Positive Emotions/ Attitudes(Conditioned Stimulus)As the Drinks Logo is continuously world paired with images of attractive girls, positive attitudes impart be developed within the target population.Classical conditioning takes smirch best in social settings where an exclusives close ones atomic number 18 concerned, thus helping form attitudes. A young infant sees her pay off frown and show other signs of displeasure and discomfort in the carriage of a particular societal or religious class of mint. At first the kid is neutral towards the presence of these masses as she/he is unaw be of their distinct characteristics e.g. skin colour, type of clothes, language etc. The child at this point has non hitherto learned to categorize these variations in terms of assort membership. However, once these cues atomic number 18 paired repeatedly with the gets negative emotional reactions, classical conditioning occurs, and the child so gradually begins to react in a similar fashion as her mother in the presence of the particular set of people. This ordinarily takes step forward on the unconscious level i.e. the child whitethorn not study conscious access to the role that mothers changed emotional reactions good turn on the formation of a negative attitude. As a result, the child acquires a negative attitude that is generalized to members of that concourse as a whole.Subliminal Conditioning fit in to a study by Krosnick et. al. (1992, as cited in Baron et.al. 2010), individuals can often form an attitude without be aware of the stimulus responsible. Students were shown photographs of a stranger engaging in a grocery store or walking into her apartment. While viewing these photos, other pictures associated with either positive or negative feelings, were receptive for brief periods of time. Participants who were exposed to photographs that bring forth positive feelings (e.g. laughter, newly wed couple) uniformd the stranger mend than participants who had been exposed to photos that induced negative feelings (e.g. open-heart surgery). This for of attitude formation is known as subliminal conditioning.Mere imageThis refers to having seen an prey before, but not remember having seen it. This too results in attitude formation and its effects on attitudes are stronger as the stimuli are perceived consciously rather than subliminally thus, conscious fund of the stimuli is not claimd (but conscious exposure is). Alzheimer patients, who cannot not memorize the stimuli, are seen to form new attitudes on the basis of mere exposure to accepted stimuli. submissive Conditioning Rewards for the Right Views.We can acquire an attitude toward our classes and jobs through instrumental conditioning i.e. learning based on direct throw with the object on the basis of rew ards and penalizements. If an individual experience rewards related to both(prenominal) object, his/her attitude will be favorable. Thus, if their work provides them with good pay, a gumption of accomplishment, and compliments from co-workers, their attitude toward it will be quite positive. Attitudes that are fol deplorableed by positive outcomes tend to be strengthened and are promising to be repeated, while attitudes that are followed by negative outcomes are weakened so their likelihood of being expressed again is reduced.The rewards given to individuals during such conditioning, in a social context, are usually in the form of psychological acceptance. That is why it is seen that most children express political, religious and social views that are highly similar to those of their parents and other family members, until the teen when the peer influences become especially strong.EXAMPLE Positive/Favorable Attitude toward alcohol consumption (Teenage).Before Instrumental Conditio ningAlcohol uptake Negative(Behaviour) (Attitude towards it)Peers provide IF Alcohol Consumed complaisant Acceptance/ Status(Reward Given)After Instrumental ConditioningAlcohol Consumption Positive (Behaviour) (Attitude towards it)This shows that if someone rewards a behavior, regular(a) if the behaviour itself is wrong, it is more credibly to be repeated as it is strengthened it is the remedy view in the opinions of those who are in favor of alcohol consumption.As adults, we may be aware that different groups we belong to will reward or punish us for expressing support for a particular attitude position. We may even find ourselves expressing one view on a topic to one earshot and another view to a different audience. A germane(predicate) example would be the upcoming Elections 13 of Pakistan i.e. they direct on a candidates success at delivering the right view to the right audience, and so may be perceived as change their responses to accommodate the views of different a udiences rather than taking a firm floor on anything. This shows that they alter their attitudes just to gain rewards from people (votes). This however, can in any case be applied to the voters who will change their views or attitudes of voting for a particular party on the basis of the rewards in store for them e.g. monetary benefits, technological advancements etc.Observational Learning Learning by Exposure to OthersAttitudes can form also in the absence of direct rewards for acquiring or expressing those attitudes through the method of observational learning or secondary learning when individuals acquire attitudes or behaviors simply by observing others. According to Myers and Caniglia (2004, as cited in Delamater Myers, 2011) the media provide interpretive packages or frames about an object that may influence the attitudes of viewers and readers. By portraying events and actors in sure ways, TV news, news magazines, and newspapers can produce cognitive images of a racial g roup as being volatile, dangerous, or unreasonable that in turn produce negative attitudes. A common example is that of how Muslims are shown on international television as terrorists, instilling within the international audience that all Muslims are terrorists even though they may never piddle actually been in direct contact with them and yet develop a negative attitude towards them. But why do people collect the attitudes that they hear others express or imitate the behaviors they regain in others?Social ComparisonThis refers to our tendency to compare ourselves with others to determine whether our view of social reality is correct or not, as we often adopt the attitudes that others hold. An individual is then seen to adopt the attitude position of those they see as similar to themselves and not of those they consider or see as dissimilar. An 18 year-old girl is more likely to look at another 18 year-old girl to adopt a clothing fashion or be up-to-date with the current trends rather than a 50 year-old woman who isolates herself from societal values. Similarly if a teenaged boy fates to know about the latest games to play on his Xbox/PS3, he will more likely observe gamers rather than non-gamers also, if we go deeper, he will observe gamers who play the equal kind of games as him same genre of games.Reference GroupsA audience group consists of the people an individual values and prefers to identify with, who they look up to when adjusting and forming their attitudes. The adoption of an attitude thus depend on extend to which an individual identifies with the group advocates the formation of an attitude or the change. This may apply to fashioning small purchase decisions which brand of sunscreen to buy, as well as forming attitudes about other groups of people whether a new social group is positive or negative. According to a research it has been proven that if your character reference group holds negative views about a new social group we have never been in contact with, we are more likely to form the similar negative attitude towards them despite not keen them at all. Not only this but we ourselves expect to be influenced by those who we consider as similar. spokesperson University students being given a tattle on AIDS and the hazards of unprotected sex are more likely to be influenced by the attitude or views of the speakers if they are also university students, like themselves.Cognitive Consistency/InconsistencyConsistency among a someones cognitions i.e. beliefs and attitudes is widespread. If you have liberal political values, you plausibly favor medical attention programs for people living in poverty. If you value equal rights for all individuals, you probably support affirmative action plans. The observation that most peoples cognitions are consistent with one another implies that individuals are motivated to stay fresh that consistency. Several theories of attitude organization are based on this principle. In general, these cognitive consistency theories hypothesize that if an inconsistency develops between cognitive elements, people are motivated to restore harmony between those elements.Balance hypothesisSocial eternal rest possibleness as proposed by Fritz Heider (1946) is the theory that people strive for cognitive correspondence in their network of likes and dislikes. According to the balance theory, an imbalanced state is one in which two of the consanguinitys between elements are positive and one is negative or in which all terzetto are negative. This theory can thus be used to excuse our attitudes and anxiety related to people we know, and consists of threesome possible statesBalance When the person/people we know have the same attitude as us. instability When the person/people we know hold a contradictory attitude to ours.Non-balance When the person/people we dont like hold a contradictory attitude to ours.ExampleConsider Fatima and Bilal, who are seniors in college. They have been going out together for 3 years and soon fatality to get married. Bilal is thinking about going to natural law shoaltime. Fatima doesnt want him to stay in school after he gets his bachelors degree. She doesnt want him to go to school for 3 more years, during their scratch years of marriage.Bilal feels strongly about Law School (Positive Attitude).Bilal loves Fatima greatly and so does she (Positive Attitude).Fatima doesnt want him to go to Law School (Negative Attitude).Thus thither is an imbalance that unavoidably to be restored. on that point are three rudimentary ways to do thisFirst, Bilal may change his attitudes so that the attitude consideration (negative or positive) of one of the relations is reversed. For instance, Bilal may decide he does not want to attend law school (Positive to Negative). Alternatively, Bilal may decide he does not love Fatima (Positive to Negative), or he may persuade Fatima it is a good idea for him to go to law school (Negative to Positive). Each of these involves ever- changing one relationship so the system of beliefs contains either zero or two negative relationships.Bilal can restore balance by changing a positive or negative relation to a unserviceable relation. Bilal may decide that Fatima doesnt know anything about law school and her attitude toward it is irrelevant.Third, Bilal can restore balance by differentiating the attributes of the other person or object. For instance, Bilal may distinguish between major law schools, which require all the time and energy of their students, and slight prestigious ones, which require less work. Fatima is correct in her belief that they would have to postpone marriage if he went to Yale Law School. However, Bilal believes he can go to a local school part-time and also work and maintain a marriage.Balance is usually restored in whichever way is easiest. If one relationship is weaker than the other two, the easiest mode of restoring balance is to change the weaker relationship. Because Bilal and Fatima have been seeing each other for 3 years, it would be very difficult for Bilal to change his sentiments toward Fatima. It would be easier for him to change his attitude toward law school than to get a new fiance. However, Bilal would prefer to maintain their relationship and go to law school. Therefore, he may attempt to change Fatimas attitude, perhaps by differentiating the object (law schools). If this influence attempt fails, Bilal will probably change his own attitude towards law school.Cognitive-Dissonance TheoryWhenever we make a decision, there are some cognitions attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, that are consonant with that decision, and other cognitions that are dissonant with it. Dissonant cognitions create an unpleasant psychological state that we are motivated to reduce or eliminate. Whereas balance theory deals with the relationships among three cognitions, racquet theory deals with consistency between two or more elements (behavio rs and attitudes). There are two situations in which noise commonly occursAfter a decision.When one acts in a way that is inconsistent with ones beliefs.Post-decision DissonanceAfter one has make a decision.Example Sajid needs a job in the city to earn money for his family.Having made the choice, Sajid is experiencing cognitive haphazardness a state of psychological tension induced by dissonant relationships between cognitive elements. Some decisions produce a large amount of cognitive dissonance, others very little. The magnitude of dissonance experienced depends in part on the proportion of elements that are dissonant with a persons decision. In Sajids case, there are three consonant and only two dissonant cognitions, so he will experience moderate dissonance. The magnitude is also influenced by the importance of the elements. He will experience less dissonance if it is not important that he will seldom get a holiday, but more dissonance if spending time with his family is of gr eat importance to him. A way of cut back the dissonance would be to emphasize more on the consonant cognitions and destress the dissonant cognitions.Counter-attitudinal BehaviorA second circumstance that produces dissonance occurs when a person behaves in a way that is inconsistent with his or her attitudes.Example When a person who considers himself high in honesty is asked to lie. Jameel works as a sales man and is asked to lie to the customers about the quality of a certain product asked to say its imported when its not. For all(prenominal) customer he convinces to make such a purchase, he receives unembellished money (apart from his basic salary). If Jameel actually lies to the customer, he will face dissonance as it goes against his attitude of being honest behaviour is inconsistent with cognitions. The theory of cognitive dissonance, in regard to reducing the amount of dissonance being faces predicts thatOne will change their attitudes toward the tasks (like them better).Th e amount of change will depend on the incentive paid to tell the lie.Specifically, the theory predicts that greater attitude change will occur when the incentive to tell the lie is low rather than high, because one will experience greater dissonance downstairs low incentives than under high incentives.ReferencesBaron, R. A., Bhardwaj. G., Branscombe, N. R. Byrne, D. (2011) Social psychological science(12th ed). India Dorling Kindersley.Delamater, J. D. Myers, D. J. (2011) Social Psychology (7th ed). CA, USAWadsworth Cengage Learning.