Notes

Attitudes and Behaviors:

An attitude is an individual’s feeling, thinking, belief, or behavior toward a person, object, or situation. Psychologists use the ABC model of attitudes to explain its different components:
Affective component: The affective component refers to a person’s feelings about someone or something. For example, some people love being with young children. Some others hate to get drenched in the rain.
Behavioral component: The behavioral component is an action or behavior resulting from a person’s attitude. For example, a claustrophobic person may refuse to use an elevator.
Cognitive component: The cognitive component is a person’s knowledge or belief about someone or something. For example, a person may believe that eating dairy products is unhealthy.
Kurt Lewin postulated the doctrine of traits. He proposed that behavior depends on an individual’s personal attributes such as attitude, motive, value, etc. Traditional psychologists did not receive this doctrine well. Psychologists later proposed the doctrine of situationism to explain people’s behavior. This theory proposes that people behave totally according to external conditions. According to them, external conditions automatically trigger certain mental processes and responses in people. Modern-day psychologists postulate the doctrine of interactionism to explain the way people behave. They state that people and their environment are interdependent and influence each other.
Dr. Albert Ellis was an American psychologist and psychoanalyst. He developed the rational emotive and cognitive-behavior therapy. He based therapy on his theory that people held irrational beliefs that affected their emotions and behavior. Dr. Ellis believed that events themselves did not affect people’s behavior. It was their thinking and judgment of an event that affected their behavior. According to Dr. Ellis, these beliefs are extreme. They are a result of a pessimistic generalization of things. He referred to these extreme beliefs as awfulizing. According to Dr. Ellis, these are some of the irrational beliefs that people have:
It is important that the significant people in their lives love them.
If they are not competent or at least satisfactory in all respects, they do not consider themselves to be worthy people.
People who perform wrong acts are bad people.
External factors cause emotional disturbances and they cannot do anything about it.
Do you think your nature or personality shapes your behavior? Or do you behave according to the situation? Let’s discuss some theories of how an individual’s different attitudes and behaviors form.
Learning theories: Learning theories explain how people process information and learn. The way people learn can influence attitude formation and changes in attitudes.
The classical conditioning theory states that the way people associate two stimuli influences their behavior. This may happen even though the stimuli may not be directly connected. For example, going to the beach may make you feel happy. This is because you may have spent many happy vacations at the beach in your childhood. Hence you associate beaches with happiness. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist. He discovered this type of conditioning when he conducted experiments on dogs to understand the role of saliva in their digestive process.
The operant or instrumental conditioning theory states that you develop attitudes and behavior according to consequences. For example, a child rewarded for honest behavior or punished for dishonest behavior. This motivates the child to be honest.
The observational learning theory states that you learn behavior and attitudes from people around you. This is especially true for people you like or admire, and the media.
Functionalist theory: This theory was proposed by Daniel Katz. It states that people form their attitudes to serve the function of reaching a goal. According to this theory, people change their attitude when it no longer serves its purpose of helping them reach a goal. Hence by changing a person’s motivational needs you can change their attitude.
Social identity theory: Tajfel and Turner proposed the theory of social identity. They proposed that people derive their entity and self-image from the group to whom they belong. The group may be based on gender, race, beliefs, etc. Being a part of a group gives people a sense of belonging. People tend to divide the world into “them” known as the “outgroup” and “us” known as the “ingroup”. People also tend to elevate the status of the ingroup by diminishing the status of the outgroup. This gives them a greater sense of self-image.
Theories that state that behavior affects attitudes: Leon Festinger proposed the cognitive dissonance theory. This theory supposes that behavior can influence attitudes. People usually experience distress when they have conflicting beliefs. They are also distressed when they perform actions that are not in accordance with their beliefs. To deal with the tension that arises, they then change one attitude to avoid conflict with the other. Alternatively, they change their attitude to conform to their behavior. For example, people who believe that smoking is harmful for their health may continue to smoke because they enjoy smoking. They may then change their belief by saying to themselves that smoking is only harmful if it exceeds 20 cigarettes a day. Role playing also affects attitudes. Role playing occurs when an individual assumes a new role such as that of a student or a new employee. The individual conforms to expected behavior through “acting a part”. However, gradually such “play acting” becomes a part of one’s usual behavior. The foot-in-the-door phenomenon refers to a technique. People use this technique to get others to perform actions that are against their beliefs or to indoctrinate people. They initially request people to perform small, seemingly harmless tasks. Later, it is easy for them to get the same people to perform bigger actions that are against their beliefs.
You usually assume that it is possible to predict people’s behavior based on their attitude. You are surprised when their behavior is not consistent with their attitude. For example, you would expect health-conscious people to exercise and eat healthy food. It seems illogical for such people to eat junk food regularly. However, LaPiere's study in 1934 showed that inconsistent behavior is quite common. Let’s look at some of the aspects that influence behavior and changes in attitude:
An attitude originating from personal experience or interest will influence behavior more strongly than one that is not.
An attitude that is important or relevant will have a strong influence on behavior. The attitude, however, depends on how much a person may gain or lose from having such an attitude.
Social influence plays a big role in attitudes and behavior. Individuals of a group frequently tend to mimic each other’s behavior unconsciously. They also tend to conform to group norms of behavior and obey the rules set by the group. They may change their attitudes and behavior to match the attitudes and behavior of other group members. The group members may be family, peers, or a social group. At times, individuals may even publicly express an attitude that is inconsistent with their true beliefs. This may be due to a person’s perception of acceptable norms. In such cases, the attitude will strongly influence action.
People also tend to obey what they consider a legitimate authority figure without question. This could be a parent, teacher, a police officer, or religious leader. This tendency to obey is intensified with the physical proximity of the authoritative figure. It is also influenced by a person’s observation of others obeying orders.
Experiments also show that people tend to perform differently when they are alone and when they are in a group. This could depend on the task, the size of the group, and various other factors. Some individuals tend to put in less effort when performing acts toward a common goal, and others put in more effort.
Psychological experiments also show that often the mere presence of other people in your environment affects your behavior.This is called social facilitation.Positive and negative emotions intensify and your dominant responses become stronger. This is because you may be self-conscious,anxious,ordistracted.
According to Cialdini,persuasive techniques can change attitudes. He mentioned six techniques.
Reciprocity-a desire to return a favor
Commitment and consistency-a tendency to stick to an earlier decision even if circumstances change
Social proof-a tendency to copy what others are doing
Authority-a tendency to obey authority figures
Liking-a tendency to pay heed to people you like
Scarcity-a demand generated by a perceived scarcity
Social scientists postulated the social exchange theory. It states that people’s behavior is due to an exchange process. People want to maximize their benefits. They also want to minimize their costs in any exchange. Therefore, even in a social relationship they tend to weigh the benefits. These could include companionshin,physical support,emotional support.They also tend to weigh costs of a relationship. This could include time, energy, effort.
Altruism is a kind of behavior that contradicts this theory. People often devote a lot of time, energy, and money to help other people without any personal gain or benefit. Sometimes they may even risk their own health or well-being to help others. In altruism,a person has a desire to help. However,the behavior is not due to a sense of duty,obligation,loyalty,or religious beliefs. A person offers you a seat in a crowded train,or a person donates blood to a stranger.Batson proposed the empathy-altruism hypothesis. He proposed that altruism is due to an empathetic feeling toward a person needing help.
Another behavior is the bystander effect. This is what people commonly witness during emergencies.
The Attribution Theory:
Consider the following incident. You are at an ATM when a person behind you in the queue starts yelling that you are taking too much time.How would you explain such behavior?You may attribute such behavior to the person being ill mannered.You may also think that the person is in a hurry.Most people tend to attribute a cause to explain events and behavior.
Fritz Heider first proposed the theory of attribution in his book The Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships. He proposed the theory to explain how people try to understand their social world by attributing reasons for actions and events. When a person attributes the cause for an event or behavior to the person’s traits it is known as internal attribution or dispositional attribution. These traits could be in themselves or others and could include personality,emotions,abilities.External attribution or situational attribution refers to the inference that the cause is due to external conditions and circumstances. In the example above, an inference that the person is ill mannered would be an example of internal attribution.An inference that the person’s behavior is due to that person being in a hurry is an example of external attribution.The theory assumes that most people tend to interpret events and behavior in a way to maintain and protect their positive image.
There are three components of the attribution theory.They are antecedents, attribution, and consequences. In any given event or situation, people tend to form inferences. This may be based on prior knowledge, information,and beliefs.This is called antecedents. The second component is the actual inference that you form.This is the attribute that you assign to explain an event or behavior. The third component of consequence refers to your actions,emotional responses,and expectations to the situation.
Types of Attributions:
Attributions influence your thoughts,emotions,and relationships.You can categorize them according to their functions:
You make interpersonal attributions when you project yourself in a positive light. You usually do this to protect and maintain your self-beliefs or to get people to perceive you in a positive way.
You make explanatory attributions when you are trying to understand why things happen. People can have positive or negative styles to explain things.
You use predictive attributions because you want to have some control over your world. You want to be able to predict what actions will prevent a particular event from happening again.
Often, when people make attributions, they do not use knowledge or logic to infer. They become susceptible to their inherent prejudices and biases and often end up guessing the cause of an event or behavior. Let’s examine some of these biases:
The fundamental attribution error is also known as the correspondence bias. It refers to a tendency in people to infer that other people’s behavior is due to internal attributes but their own actions are due to external attributes.
Self-serving bias refers to a tendency for people to attribute their successes to internal traits. However, they attribute their failures to external factors.
The just world hypothesis postulates that people have an innate need to believe that the world is orderly, fair, and just. Therefore, they tend to believe that people in general face the consequences that they deserve.
Culture and the society in which people live also influences the way they make attributions. People from Western cultures such as North America and parts of Europe belong to individualist cultures. They tend to attribute events to internal factors. They also tend to have a self-serving bias. On the other hand, people from collectivist cultures such as Latin-American, Asian, and African cultures tend to attribute factors to external conditions. Some of them, such as the Japanese, tend to have a self-effacing bias. This leads them to attribute their successes to external situations and their failures to their internal traits.
Attraction
“Joanne is attracted to intelligent men.” What do people mean by the word attract? Have you asked yourself why you enjoy the company of certain people?
Interpersonal attraction in general refers to positive feelings that a person has for another individual. It may be an aspect of friendship or a romantic relationship. These are some factors that influence attraction:
Proximity: Interactions are easier when a person is easily available—that is, a person is in the same physical environment as you. Physical proximity also gives the opportunity for more interactions, leading to a greater bonding. People tend to develop friendships with persons who live in their neighborhood or someone who takes the same class as them because of physical proximity.
Familiarity: You tend to like people with whom you frequently interact.
Similarity: You tend to form relationships with people who have similar interests or opinions as your own. For example, two people who think that Mariah Carey is one of the best singers would have a good possibility of becoming friends.
Reciprocity: You tend to be attracted to people who like you.
Here are some more reasons for physical attraction:
Self-esteem: Insecurity leads people to try to boost their Self-esteem by seeking less attractive people or choosing to be with people who like them.
Association: You associate people with the situation or environment you are in, so there is more likelihood of forming a relationship with a person you meet when you are in a pleasant environment or when you are happy. For example, you are more likely to develop a friendship with a person you meet while you are on vacation than a person you meet when you are in a bad mood because you had a terrible day.
Physical appeal: Even though many people may not think so, research suggests that you tend to be attracted to people whom you find physically appealing (physical appeal is subjective).
Attraction and Love
Attraction can be the basis for friendship or romantic love. It has many forms such as liking, friendship, admiration, love, or lust. Love has many forms such as altruistic love, attachment, companionate love, passionate love, compassionate love, and romantic love, but all forms include a feeling of tenderness, affection, and respect.
Let’s examine different kinds of love.
Altruistic love, often referred to as brotherly love, is a form of unconditional love that stems from care and concern for another person’s well-being and welfare without any motive or expectations. A person does not have to know the other individual well or like the person to feel altruistic love. For example, volunteers at soup kitchens are often people who are concerned about the well-being of the homeless.
Attachment refers to the feeling of wanting to be physically close to someone, wanting the other person’s approval, a desire to be cared for, and performing actions to bring about proximity. In this case too, people can be attached without necessarily liking the person to whom they are attached.
When peopl experience passionate love, they usually have very intense emotions. They are usually thinking about the person they love most of the time, they experience the other person’s feelings intensely, they want to be with that person all the time, and they experience some anxiety. They also experience sexual desire.
Companionate love is the enduring warm love that develops between two people who have a stable relationship after the initial phase of intense love.
People who experience compassionate love have a feeling of warmth, affection, mutual respect, empathy, and trust. It has two components: intimacy and commitment. Intimacy is related to the warmth and sense of comfort between two persons and commitment refers to the will to stay in a relationship in all situations.
In 1986, Robert Sternberg, an American psychologist, described the different stages and types of love in the Triangular Theory of Love.