SPPY 103

POSTGRADUATE COURSE
M.Sc. - PSYCHOLOGY

FIRST YEAR
FIRST SEMESTER

CORE PAPER - III

ADVANCED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

INSTITUTE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS
MSc - PSYCHOLOGY CORE PAPER - III
FIRST YEAR - FIRST SEMESTER ADVANCED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

WELCOME
Warm Greetings.

It is with a great pleasure to welcome you as a student of Institute of Distance Education,

University of Madras. It is a proud moment for the Institute of Distance education as you are
entering into a cafeteria system of learning process as envisaged by the University Grants
Commission. Yes, we have framed and introduced Choice Based Credit System(CBCS) in
Semester pattern from the academic year 2018-19. You are free to choose courses, as per the
Regulations, to attain the target of total number of credits set for each course and also each
degree programme. What is a credit? To earn one credit in a semester you have to spend 30
hours of learning process. Each course has a weightage in terms of credits. Credits are assigned
by taking into account of its level of subject content. For instance, if one particular course or
paper has 4 credits then you have to spend 120 hours of self-learning in a semester. You are
advised to plan the strategy to devote hours of self-study in the learning process. You will be
assessed periodically by means of tests, assignments and quizzes either in class room or
laboratory or field work. In the case of PG (UG), Continuous Internal Assessment for 20(25)
percentage and End Semester University Examination for 80 (75) percentage of the maximum
score for a course / paper. The theory paper in the end semester examination will bring out your
various skills: namely basic knowledge about subject, memory recall, application, analysis,
comprehension and descriptive writing. We will always have in mind while training you in
conducting experiments, analyzing the performance during laboratory work, and observing the
outcomes to bring out the truth from the experiment, and we measure these skills in the end
semester examination. You will be guided by well experienced faculty.

I invite you to join the CBCS in Semester System to gain rich knowledge leisurely at
your will and wish. Choose the right courses at right times so as to erect your flag of success.
We always encourage and enlighten to excel and empower. We are the cross bearers to make
you a torch bearer to have a bright future.

With best wishes from mind and heart,

DIRECTOR

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MSc - PSYCHOLOGY CORE PAPER - III
FIRST YEAR - FIRST SEMESTER ADVANCED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

COURSE WRITER

Ms. A.MALARKODI
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
Presidency College (Autonomous)
Chennai – 600 005

COORDINATION & EDITING

Dr. S. Thenmozhi
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
Institute of Distance Education
University of Madras
Chepauk Chennnai - 600 005.

© UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS, CHENNAI 600 005.

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 MSc - DEGREE COURSE

FIRST YEAR

FIRST SEMESTER

Core Paper - III

ADVANCED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

SYLLABUS
Course Objective

To enable the students to understand the basic concepts in advanced social psychology

UNIT –I: Introduction

The objectives and methods of social psychology – Levels of social behaviour – Scope
of social psychology in modern life.

UNIT – II: Social Motives, Attitudes and Learning in Social Contexts

Social motives and behavior – The nature and measurement of attitude - - reinforcement
and learning – social learning through imitation – attitude change.

UNIT – III: Cognitive dissonance and personality as social phenomena

Festinger‘s cognitive dissonance theory – physiological changes due to cognitive

dissonance – theories of consonance and balance (Heide‘s, Newcomb‘s)

UNIT – IV: Antisocial and pro-social behaviour &Social Influence

Aggression and management – Altruism and helping behaviour.: Social facilitation – Social
status – Social roles – Social conformity – Interpersonal attraction.

UNIT V: Group Processes Leadership

Group task performance, problem solving – cooperation and competition – communication

– empathy – psycholinguistics.: Definition and categories of leadership Functions of leaders,
types of leaders, personal characteristics of leaders.

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References

 MC David and Harai (1976) Social Psychology

 Moghaddan, F.M.(1998) Social Psychology

 Abrahamson, M. (1997) Social Research Methods

 Shaw, M.E. (1995)group Dynamics.

 Beron,R.A. and Byran, D.(2000). Social Psychology, New Delhi: Allyan and Bacon.

 Tedeschi and Lindskold (1978) Social psychology

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 MSc - DEGREE COURSE

FIRST YEAR

FIRST SEMESTER

Core Paper - III

ADVANCED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

SCHEME OF LESSONS

Sl.No. Title Page

1. Understanding the Field of Applied Social Psychology 001

2. Research Methods in Social Psychology 021

3. Social Motives, Attitudes and Learning in Social Contexts 045

4. Attitude Change 054

5. The Measurement of Attitudes 086

6. Cognitive Dissonance and Personality as Social Phenomenon 104

7. Theories of Cognitive Dissonance and its Management 116

8. Aggression and its Management 127

9. Helping and Altruism 145

10. Social Context on Helping 158

11. Social Facilitation 178

12. Social Influence 191

13. Interpersonal Attraction 206

14. Group Task Performance and Problem-Solving 217

15. Cooperation and Competition 230

16. Leaders and Leadership 247

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LESSON - 1
UNDERSTANDING THE FIELD OF
APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson we are going to study about what social psychology focuses on. Social
psychology is the scientific study which deals with people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
and how they are influenced by presence of others. This lesson shows how our social behaviour
is shaped in non-social situation and in social situation. Schema, the main reason behind the
behaviour is also discussed. Apart from that how social rewards and costs affect our behaviour
were discussed. So, by studying this lesson we can understand the general causes of our
behaviour.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing your study of this lesson you should be able to:

 Define social psychology

 Describe the nature and scope of social psychology

 Trace the emergence and development of modern social psychology

 Analyse the major contributors in the field

PLAN OF STUDY
1.1 Introduction to Social Psychology

1.2 Social Situation and Social Behaviour

1.3 Social and Non-Social Situations

1.4 Objectives of Social Psychology

1.5 Major Milestones in Social Psychology

1.6 Core Concerns of Social Psychology

1.6.1 Impact of Individuals on Individuals

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1.6.2 Impact of Groups on Individuals

1.6.3 Impact of Individuals on Group

1.6.4 Impact of Groups on Groups

1.7 Levels of Social Behaviour

1.8 Scope of Social Psychology in Modern Life

1.9 Summary

1.10 Key words

1.11 Check Your Progress

1.12 Answers to Check Your Progress

1.13 Model Questions

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Providing a definition of almost any field is a complex task. In the case of social psychology,
this difficulty is increased by two factors: the field’s broad scope and its rapid rate of change.
Social psychologists truly have a wide range of interests. Yet, despite this fact, most focus
mainly on the following task: understanding how and why individuals behave, think, and feel as
they do in social situations—ones involving the actual presence of other people, or their symbolic
presence.

Accordingly, we define social psychology as the scientific field that seeks to understand
the nature and causes of individual behaviour, feelings, and thought in social situations.

Another way to put this is to say that social psychology investigates the ways in which our
thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced by the social environments in which we live—by
other people or our thoughts about them (e.g., we imagine how they would react to actions we
might perform).
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Figure: Big Ideas in Social Psychology

1.2 SOCIAL SITUATION AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

A social situation consists of the various visual, auditory and other stimuli lived through
by the individuals. It also involves besides the present perceptions, the attitudes, as well as the
revival of past experiences. Thus a mere analysis of the separate stimuli will not help us to
understand the social situation.

For example:

A boy of eight or ten may be hit by his friend. There may even be some contusion. The
pain may not be felt at all or even if felt, the boy may laugh over it. It is possible that a few hours
later the same boy may have been accidentally hit by his brother or sister at home. The immediate
response may be a loud cry, tears, abuse of the sibling, and complaint to the mother. The
stimulus may be more or less the same but the response is absolutely different. The difference
in behaviour can be understood only by the realization of the difference in the social situation.

You cannot cry or complain when you are hit by a playmate. This is the social code. On
the other hand sibling rivalry can be satisfied by loud cries and loud complaints. This is permitted
in the home.
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Thus we find that social behaviour is determined not merely by the physical stimuli but
also by the rules and codes. Social behaviour is a reciprocal interplay of personalities. It must,
however, be realized that not all reactions of persons to each other are social response. It is
possible that we may avoid collision with a person on the footpath just as we avoid a lamp post.
It is converted from non-social to social interaction if one or both smile or exclaim ‘pardon me’
or ‘I am sorry’. This depends on the social conditions which have moulded the individual through
his life history. In other words it involves the traditions, customs and standards of value. It is the
task of social psychology to trace the situations which have operated to socialize the individual.

Social behaviour implies interaction between or among persons. But it must not be
understood that social interaction always involves face to face contacts.

Social behaviour may also arise indirectly through the medium of symbols. Objects or
signs may have social values. The sign ‘Halt and Proceed’ leads to social behaviour. We react
to it in the same way as we would have reacted to a policeman in uniform speaking those
words. We know that if we disregard the sign and dash forwards on our cycle we may be
caught by a constable a few yards ahead. Similarly written and pictorial advertisements vastly
influence human behaviour. More people buy the soap which is advertised as the ‘Soap used
by millions in India’, though the ‘classes’ and socially superior may give up using it. Verbal or
non-verbal symbols serve as stimuli and lead to social reactions though there may be no
human beings in the situation. This makes it difficult to differentiate between persons and
objects as social stimuli. An object may become a social stimulus if it becomes symbolic of
interaction.

Consequently we may look upon social psychology as a basic social science. The other
social sciences like Economics, Political Science, Sociology and Law confine themselves to
specific forms of social institutions. Social psychology is a basic social science in that it is
concerned with every aspect of the individual’s behaviour in society. It may be broadly defined
as the science of the behaviour of the individual in society, or as the science of the social
behaviour of the individual.

1.3 SOCIAL AND NON-SOCIAL SITUATIONS

It is obvious that social situation involves the presence of other persons. But as we have
already seen social behaviour involves not only face-to-face situations, but it also involves
symbols which lead to psychological events connected with people. The traffic sign is a social
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situation. It involves the social effects of its observance and non-observance. It also implies
the extent to which the individual has been socialized. A properly socialized individual will obey
the law regarding the use of a lamp for his cycle after dusk whether the minion of law is in sight
or not. Thus social behaviour arises not only when we are in the presence of others, it also
arises in the absence of people but when the situation involves reference to others.

Similarly when we are alone we are often influenced by what other people might think of
us or would like us to do or would like us not to do. The young man who chooses a particular tie
to match his shirt and hat and the young woman who chooses a particular blouse to match her
sari are influenced not merely by considerations of aesthetic taste but also by what other
members of their group would comment about their choice when they meet them later. Thus
even when one is alone he may be affected by the psychological presence of others. Similarly,
though not as frequently, we may be in company of others and yet not be reciprocally reactive
to them. This is one of the characteristic features of urbanization.

In the rural atmosphere the neighbors react socially to one another. But in the apartment
houses in Bombay or Kolkata and even in some of the other big cities, people may live as
neighbours for a long time; they may perceive each other several times and yet be total strangers
to each other. We do not react socially to each person who sits in the same bus or travels by
the same ‘local’ train. On the other hand individuals may react socially to animals and even
plants and inanimate objects. We are familiar with the affectionate way in which people play
with their pets. They may also dominate over them. The child may ‘abuse’ the table against
which he knocks himself or ‘swear’ at the stone that trips him. Even today some people become
frightened when rains fail and attribute the failure to the anger of the gods or they might undertake
measures through prayers to influence the clouds to rain.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Social psychology emphasizes the influence of situations on behaviour. People often
find it difficult to see the role that powerful situations play in producing their own and others’
behaviour, and they are inclined to overemphasize the importance of personal dispositions in
producing behaviour. The two tendencies together are called the fundamental attribution
error.
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Figure: Fundamental Attribution Error

Social psychology also focuses on the role of construal in understanding situations. People
often feel that their comprehension of situations is direct, without much mediating thought. In
fact, even the perception of the simplest objects rests on substantial inference and the existence
of complex cognitive structures for carrying it out.

Figure: Schema

The primary tool people use for understanding social situations, and physical stimuli for
that matter, is the schema. Schemas are the stored representations of numberless repetitions
of highly similar stimuli and situations. They tell us how to interpret situations and how to
behave in them. Stereotypes are schemas for people of various kinds—police officers, Hispanics,
yuppies. Stereotypes serve to guide interpretation and behaviour, but they can often be mistaken
or misapplied, and they can lead to damaging interactions and unjust actions.

People’s construal of situations is often largely automatic and unconscious and, as a

consequence, people are sometimes in the dark about how they reached a particular conclusion
or behaved in a particular way.
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Figure: Stereotype of Schemas

The evolutionary perspective focuses on practices and understandings that are universal
and that seem to be indispensable to social life. This leads to the suspicion that we are pre-
wired to engage in those practices. Some evolutionary theorists have argued that differences
between males and females may be explained by the fact that the two sexes have reason for
differential parental investment. They also talk about other universal characteristics that are
more cognitive in nature, including language, which appears in almost identical fashion, at
almost identical rates of development, in people in all cultures, as well as a theory of mind,
which also apparently appears very early in normal people in all cultures.

Figure: Evolutionary Perspective

There is a great range of behaviours and meanings that can differ dramatically across
cultures. Many of these differences involve the degree to which a society is interdependent in
its characteristic social relations (that is, having relationships of different kinds with many people
of a highly prescribed nature) versus independent (that is, having fewer relationships of a
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looser sort). These differences influence conceptions of the self, understandings of the nature
of human relationships, and even basic cognitive and perceptual processes.

1.5 MAJOR MILESTONES IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Period Milestones

The Early years: Social behaviour stems from innate tendencies or

1908 – 1939: instincts.Floyd Allport (1924): Social
McDougall (1908): Facilitation Effect; emphasized the value of experimentation.
Sherif (1935): Social norms and conformity. Kurt Lewin et al
(1939): Leadership and related group processes.

Social Psychology: Expansion of Scope: every aspect of social behavior included

The Youth:1940s – 1960s in the research; 1948: a revolution got under way favouring the
concept of human behaviour as thoughtful and purposive rather
than guided by instincts, Kurt Lewin: Experimental works due
to the efforts of Kurt Lewin put social psychology as a science
in a more advantageous position 1960s: fully came off age.Study
of the influence of groups and group membership on individual
behaviour, relation between personality traits and social
behaviour. Leon Festinger (1957): the theory of cognitive
dissonance.

A Maturing Field: Rapid pace change of the last decade accelerated. New
1970s and 1980s topics and perspectives emerge: Attribution (How to infer the
causes of other’s behaviours), gender differences and
environmental psychology, growing influence of cognitive
perspective and growing emphasis on application (personal
health, legal processes, work settings, education and
population studies)

1990s and beyond Two major trends from the past decade continued, namely,
growing influence of cognitive perspective and increasing
interest in application. The study of affective states in
determining social behaviour gained impetus; Multicultural
perspective: the study of universal and cultural social behaviours.
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Current Trends Evolutionary social psychology, the changing world, technology

and human social behaviour, Neurocognitive perspective and
social behaviour.

1.6 CORE CONCERNS OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Social psychologists investigate human behaviour, of course, but their primary concern
is human behaviour in a social context. There are four core concerns, or major themes, within
social psychology:

(1) The impact that one individual has on another

(2) The impact that a group has on its individual members

(3) The impact that individual members have on the groups to which they belong, and

(4) The impact that one group has on another group.

1.6.1 IMPACT OF INDIVIDUALS ON INDIVIDUALS

Individuals are affected by others in many ways. In everyday life, communication from
others may significantly influence a person’s understanding of the social world. Attempts by
others at persuasion may change an individual’s beliefs about the world and his or her attitudes
toward persons, groups, or other objects.

Beyond influence and persuasion, the outcomes obtained by individuals in everyday life
are often affected by the actions of others. A person caught in an emergency situation, for
instance, may be helped by an altruistic bystander. In another situation, one person may be
wounded by another’s aggressive acts. Social psychologists have investigated the nature and
origins of both altruism and aggression, as well as other interpersonal activity such as cooperation
and competition.

Also relevant here are various interpersonal sentiments. One individual may develop
strong attitudes toward another (liking, disliking, loving, hating) based on who the other is and
what he or she does. Social psychologists investigate these issues to discover why individuals
develop positive attitudes toward some but negative attitudes toward others.
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Figure: Individual vs Individual

1.6.2 IMPACT OF GROUPS ON INDIVIDUALS

A second concern of social psychology is the impact of a group on the behaviour of its
individual members. Because individuals belong to many different groups—families, work
groups, seminars, and clubs—they spend many hours each week interacting with group
members. Groups influence and regulate the behaviour of their members, typically by
establishing norms or rules. One result of this is conformity, the process by which a group
member adjusts his or her behaviour to bring it into line with group norms.

For example:

College fraternities have norms—some formal and some informal—that stipulate how
members should dress, what meetings they should attend, whom they should avoid, and how
they should behave at parties (non-formal).

Groups also exert substantial long-term influence on their members through socialization,
a process that enables groups to regulate what their members learn. Socialization assumes
that the members will be adequately trained to play roles in the group and in the larger society.
It shapes the knowledge, values, and skills of group members. One outcome of socialization is
language skills; another is political and religious beliefs and attitudes; yet another is our
conception of self.

Figure: Group vs Individual

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1.6.3 IMPACT OF INDIVIDUALS ON GROUP

A third concern of social psychology is the impact of individuals on group processes and
products. Just as any group influences the behaviour of its members, these members, in turn,
may influence the group itself. For instance, individuals contribute to group productivity and
group decision making. Moreover, some members may provide leadership, performing functions
such as planning, organizing, and controlling, necessary for successful group performance.

Without effective leadership, coordination among members will falter and the group will
drift or fail. Furthermore, individuals and minority associations often install change in group
structure and procedures. Both leadership and innovation depend on the initiative, insight, and
risk-taking ability of individuals.

Figure: Individual vs Group

1.6.4 IMPACT OF GROUPS ON GROUPS

A fourth concern of social psychology is the impact of one group on the activities and
structure of another group. Relations between two groups may be friendly or hostile, cooperative
or competitive. These relationships, which are based in part on members’ identities and may
entail group stereotypes, can affect the structure and activities of each group of special interest
is intergroup conflict, with its accompanying tension and hostility.

Violence may flare up, for instance, between two teenage street gangs disputing territorial
rights or between racial groups competing for scarce jobs. Conflicts of this type affect the
interpersonal relations between groups and within each group. Social psychologists have long
studied the emergence, persistence, and resolution of intergroup conflict.
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Figure: Groups vs Groups

1.7 LEVELS OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

Because we interact with and influence each other every day, we have developed the
ability to make these interactions proceed efficiently and effectively. We cooperate with other
people to gain outcomes that we could not obtain on our own, and we exchange goods, services,
and other benefits with other people.

Figure: Social Exchange Theory

The sharing of goods, services, emotions, and other social outcomes is known as social
exchange. Social rewards (the positive outcomes that we give and receive when we interact
with others) include such benefits as attention, praise, affection, love, and financial support.
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Social costs (the negative outcomes that we give and receive when we interact with others),
on the other hand, include, for instance, the frustrations that accrue when disagreements with
others develop, the guilt that results if we perceive that we have acted inappropriately, and the
effort involved in developing and maintaining harmonious interpersonal relationships.

Figure: Social Rewards

Figure: Social Costs

Imagine a first-year student at college who is trying to decide whether or not to join an
extension activity (National Service Scheme, Red Ribbon club, Youth Red Cross etc) to gain
extra credits for the course. Joining the extension activity has costs, in terms of the expenditure
for commuting to the organisation that they need to serve, the need to make friends with each
of the other members and to attend meetings after college hours, and so forth. On the other
hand, there are the potential benefits of group membership, including having a group of friends
with similar interests and a social network to help find activities to participate in. To determine
whether or not to join, the student has to weigh both the social and the material costs and
benefits before coming to a conclusion.
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People generally prefer to maximize their own outcomes by attempting to gain as many
social rewards as possible and by attempting to minimize their social costs. Such behaviour is
consistent with the goal of protecting and enhancing the self. But although people do behave
according to the goals of self-concern, these goals are tempered by other-concern: the goals
of respecting, accepting, and cooperating with others. As a result, social exchange is generally
fair and equitable, at least in the long run. Imagine, for example, that someone asks you to do
a favour for them, and you do it. If they were only concerned about their own self-enhancement,
they might simply accept the favour without any thought of paying you back. Yet both you and
they would realize that you would most certainly expect them to be willing to do the same type
of favour for you, should you ask them at some later time.

Figure: Reciprocal Altruism

One of the outcomes of humans living together in small groups over thousands of years
is that people have learned to cooperate by giving benefits to those who are in need, with the
expectation of a return of benefits at a future time. This mutual, and generally equitable, exchange
of benefits is known as reciprocal altruism. An individual who is temporarily sick or injured will
benefit from the help that he or she might get from others during this time. And according to the
principle of reciprocal altruism, other group members will be willing to give that help to the
needy individual because they expect that similar help will be given to them should they need
it. However, in order for reciprocal altruism to work, people have to keep track of how benefits
are exchanged; to be sure that everyone plays by the rules. If one person starts to take benefits
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without paying them back, this violates the principle of reciprocity and should not be allowed
to continue for very long. In fact, research has shown that people seem to be particularly good
at detecting “cheaters”—those who do not live up to their obligations in reciprocal altruism—
and that these individuals are judged extremely negatively.

Figure: Principle of Reciprocity

1.8 SCOPE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY IN MODERN LIFE

The main aim of social psychology is an effort to find out the nature of social behaviour.
In a broad sense we may state that a social behaviour involves one of the following fundamental
reactions, as follows:

 When one person meets the other there would be a social reaction (individual – individual)

 When one person meets a group of people again the his behaviour may be affected
(group – individual)

 In turn the group may also be impacted by the person (individual/ leader – group)

 Likewise, one group may impact another group of people (group – group)

Therefore, Social Psychology attempts to study the characteristics of above the above
mentioned forms of social behaviour. It is however important to be clear on the point that social
psychology intends to study the individual in relation to the groups and not the group, as it is
the task of sociology.
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The world is filled with many social ills such as caste discrimination, crime, terrorism,
prejudice, industrial unrest and delinquency which lead to difficulties in healthy interpersonal
relationships. Hence, it is the task of social psychology to help us to understand how these
major social problems arises, how it can be predicted and controlled, so a better understanding
can lead to effect control over these issues. We are aware of the fact that the aim of pure
science is to understand and once there is better understanding of the causes of the issues a
well planned, organized and systematic application of the basic principle to resolve these
concrete problems and issues. Thus, social psychology has both pure and applied aspects.

In order to understand the basic principles of social behaviour, we need to initially motives
underlying every individual’s behaviour such as: Why do we interact with each other? Does our
biology demand social interaction? A discussion of these two issues will lead us on to the
issues of socialization. 1) How are human beings socialized? 2) What is the role of learning in
socialization? This will help us to understand the psychological basis of the most impressive
social phenomena that is social stability and social change. The social psychologist has gradually
discovered that human behaviour is largely a product of the behaviour of other men. We shall
learn why human beings prefer social stability to instability, the well-worn path to the unchartered
new paths.

Figure: Basic Principle of Understanding Social Behaviour

Another very important development in social psychology concerns the problem of

formation, change and measurement of social attitudes. These investigations have helped us
to understand the way in which a person perceives his group and other groups. They also help
us to understand how prejudices arise and why they resist the call of impracticality on the one
hand and the severe realities on the other. Public opinion research has advanced considerably.
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In brief we shall have to study such fundamental processes as how the individual perceives his
social environment, how he learns his social behaviour and how he achieves his social goals.
As indicated earlier after a study of the basic processes and after gleaning the basic principles
of social behaviour we shall try to apply them to the concrete social problems.

1.9 SUMMARY
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate
to one another.

Its central themes include the following:

 How we construe our social worlds

 How our social intuitions guide and sometimes deceive us

 How our social behaviour is shaped by other people, by our attitudes and personalities,
and by our biology.

 How social psychology’s principles apply to our everyday lives and to various other fields
of study

Social psychology has several core concerns, including the impact of one individual on
another individual’s behaviour and beliefs, the impact of a group on a member’s behaviour and
beliefs, the impact of a member on the group’s activities and structure, and the impact of one
group on another group’s activities and structure.

1.10 KEY WORDS

Social Psychology: It is a scientific field which helps to understand the reason behind
someone’s thinking and behavior with others in a social environment.

Schema: It is a mental representation stored based on the experience. People uses

schema to understand a complex situation and behave based on the interpretation of schema.

Principle of reciprocity: It is a basic law of social psychology which states that human
have a sense of obligation to do something back when receive something.

Reciprocal Altruism: People help or benefit a person who is in need by expecting a

repayment of the benefit when needs in future.
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Social Exchange: The sharing of goods, services, emotions, and other social outcomes.

Social Rewards: Positive outcomes that we give and receive when we interact with
others.

Social costs: Negative outcomes that we give and receive when we interact with others

1.11 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Social psychology as the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes
of __________ behaviour, feelings, and thought in social situations.

2. Social psychology also focuses on the role of ­­­­­­­­­­­­___________ in understanding

situations.

3. The primary tool people use for understanding social situations, and physical stimuli for
that matter, is the ­­­­­­­____________.

4. The sharing of goods, services, emotions, and other social outcomes is known as
_____________.

5. _____________ are the positive outcomes that we give and receive when we interact
with others

6. _______________ are the negative outcomes that we give and receive when we interact
with others

7. Mutual, and equitable, exchange of benefits is known as ____________________.

8. The _____________ perspective focuses on practices and understandings that are

universal and that seem to be indispensable to social life.

9. ______________ shapes the knowledge, values, and skills of group members.

10. ________________ is a theory that is concerned with the evolution of social behaviour
over successive generations.

1.12 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Individual

2. Construal
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3. Schema

4. Social Exchange

5. Social Rewards

6. Social Costs

7. Reciprocal Altruism

8. Evolutionary

9. Socialisation

10. Social Evolution

1.13 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. What are the levels of social behaviour?

2. Explain the objectives of social psychology.

3. Highlight the scope of social psychology to modern life.

4. Discuss some of the big ideas of social psychology.

5. What are the major milestones in social psychology?

6. How does an individual impact groups and groups on individual?

7. Explain social situations and social behaviour.

8. How does an individual impact individuals and groups on groups?

9. Explain behaviour in social situations and non-social situations.

REFERENCES
 Baron, R. A., Byrne, D., and Branscombe, N. R. (2006). Social Psychology. (11th edition,
Indian print).

 Feldman, R. S. (2001). Social Psychology. Prentice Hall.

 Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., Akert, R.M., (2007). Social Psychology. (6th ed.), New Jersey
: Pearson Education Prentice Hall.

 Baumeister, R.F., and Busnman, B.J. (2008). Social Psychology and Human Nature.
International student edition, Thomson Wadworth USA.
20

 Delamater, J.D., and Myers, D.J., (2007). Social Psychology. (6th ed.), Thomason
Wadworth International student edition, USA.

 Taylor, S.E., Peplau, L.A., and Sears, D.O., (2006). Social Psychology. (12th ed.). New
Delhi: Pearson Education

 McDougall, W. (2003; original published 1908). An introduction to social

psychology.Mineola, NY: Dover;

 Ross, E. A. (1974; original published 1908). Social psychology. New York, NY: Arno Press.
 21

LESSON - 2
RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
In the previous lesson we studied about the core concerns of social psychology. Thus, to
pursue research in social psychology requires competence in research methods. This lesson
teaches you the various methods to do research and also says how to do research ethically.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing your study of this lesson you should be able to:

 Describe the major research methods used in social psychology

 Social Psychology’s use of the scientific and other empirical methods

 Ethical issues for researchers

PLAN OF STUDY
2.1 Introduction to Research Methods in Social Psychology

2.2 Research Methods

2.2.1 Observational Method

2.2.2 Development Method

2.2.3 Interview Method

2.2.4 Clinical Method

2.2.5 Questionnaire Method

2.2.6 Scaling Method

2.2.7 Experimental Method

2.3 Doing research ethically

2.4 Summary
22

2.5 Key Words

2.6 Check Your Progress

2.7 Answers to Check Your Progress

2.8 Model Questions

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS IN

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
The field of social psychology relies on empirical research, which is the systematic
investigation of observable phenomena (behavior, events) in the world. Researchers try to
collect information about behaviour and events in an accurate and unbiased form. This
information, which may be either quantitative or qualitative, enables social psychologists to
describe reality in detail and to develop theories about social behavior.

When conducting empirical research, investigators usually employ a methodology, which

is a set of systematic procedures that guide the collection and analysis of data. In a typical
study, investigators first develop a research design. Then, they go into a laboratory or research
setting and collect the data. Next, they code and analyze the data to test hypotheses and arrive
at various conclusions about the behaviors or events under investigation. Throughout this
process, investigators follow specific procedures to ensure the validity of the findings.

When investigators report their research to the wider community of social psychologists,
they describe not only the results but also the methodology used to obtain the results. By
reporting their methods, they make it possible for other investigators to independently verify
their findings.

Independent verification of research findings is one of the hallmarks of any science.

Suppose, for instance, that an investigator were to report some unanticipated empirical findings
that ran contrary to established theory. Other investigators might wish to replicate the study to
see whether they can obtain the same findings in other settings with different participants.
Through this process, investigators with differing perspectives can identify and eliminate biases
in the original study. If the results are replicable, they stand a better chance of being accepted
by other social psychologists as reliable, general findings.

2.2 RESEARCH METHODS

 23

Social psychologists are not the only people interested in understanding and predicting
social behavior or the only people who study it. Social behavior is also considered by religious
leaders, philosophers, politicians, novelists, and others, and it is a common topic on TV shows.
But the social psychological approach to understanding social behavior goes beyond the mere
observation of human actions. Social psychologists believe that a true understanding of the
causes of social behavior can only be obtained through a systematic scientific approach, and
that is why they conduct scientific research. Social psychologists believe that the study of
social behavior should be empirical—that is, based on the collection and systematic analysis
of observable data.

Figure: Empirical Research

2.2.1 OBSERVATIONAL METHOD

Obviously not all social situations can be studied experimentally. Consequently this method
is even now a very important method- to collect data in social psychology. Observational method
involves considerable training in how to observe. It also involves long systematic hours of
actual observation. The use of a stop clock will further increase the reliability and objectivity
since the observer can note the exact duration of social interaction observed. The use of
recording sheets and check lists are of immense aid. The efficacy of observation method is
further increased by the use of:

 Time-sampling technique,

 By simultaneous observation by several trained observers,

24

 By fixing observation mirrors’ so that the individuals observed do not know that they are
being observed.

 By the use of ear phones and tape recorders so that all the sounds and words used in the
interaction are carefully noted and

 The use of motion pictures so that the situation could be studied more carefully afterwards.

Instead of describing spontaneous group activities the investigator may deliberately

introduce or withdraw certain persons and observe the changes in interaction. This is one of
the methods used to study the influence of the leader’s personality on group activity. Steps
may also be taken to record and compare differences in accomplishment by giving the individual
certain tasks.

Figure: Observational Method

2.2.2 DEVELOPMENT METHOD

In one sense this can be looked upon as a modification of the observational method. It
consists in studying the development of social behaviour among children from birth to maturity;
groups of children of varying ages are systematically observed when they are playing, quarrelling
and fighting. By the method observation it has been found that the play of young children tends
to be individualistic. But with increasing age the social aspect becomes more important.

Examples;

 It was found that from 12 to 15 months play is a means to an end rather than an end in
itself.
 25

 From 18 to 24 months dramatic and imitative motor play was observed.

It was also found that on 90% of the time the child played by himself. But the 5 year old
child solicits the participation of other children about 70% of the time. Group games and organized
play become more common among the school children from ten years onwards.

Figure: Social Play

But development method may involve more complicated techniques as well. Tests and
laboratory methods may be used to measure the stage of development. At the age of nursery
school children social development shows itself first in imitating another child’s actions, words,
laughter etc. The responsiveness to other children is gradually followed by the assimilation of
the mores of the nursery school: learning to take turns, giving up a toy at a fair request, defending
one’s rights to one’s toys or place, indicating the errors of others, helping others and so on.
There are also the socially unacceptable activities like interfering with or destroying others’
work, pushing or pulling others, complaining of others to the adult, staying out of group games
and so on.

2.2.3 INTERVIEW METHOD

This method has been used extensively in recent years to get information regarding the
individual who is typical or extreme in his outlook regarding social issues. For example: the
26

interview technique may be used to find the differences between a man high on Ethnocentrism
scale and another low on it. Several attempts have been made in recent years to improve the
objectivity and usefulness of the method of interview. By standardizing the interview it is possible
to have quantitative treatment of the data obtained. Standard charts are devised to record both
verbal and non-verbal behaviour in brief interviews.

Figure: Interview Method

Tensions and distractions manifest themselves in changes of posture etc., which constitute
a useful supplement to the verbal data obtained. The interview situation itself offers interesting
problems for social psychology. Reference may be made here to the development of non-
directive techniques in interviewing in the field of counseling and as well as in the Hawthorne
studies in Industrial Psychology.

Figure: Structured Interview

 27

Interview is a face-to-face verbal interchange, in which one person, the interviewer attempts
to elicit information or expression of opinion or belief from another person or persons.
Standardised as well as unstandardised interviews are extensively used in social sciences.
The unstandardised interview is more flexible and encourages true-to-life replies. But it is not
as reliable as the standardised interview with pre-determined questions. While the former
gives flexibility the latter gains in quantification. What method is chosen depends upon the
problem on hand and the- design of the investigation.

Figure: Unstructured Interview

An interview involves an interpersonal relationship. This implies that the respondent

perceives the interviewer as having some status and some power, in other words, there is role
relationship. Studies have shown that the interviewer must be trained to possess some
sophistication about the topic on which he has to conduct the interview. But he should also not
give the impression that he is an expert. He should rather appear to be a person seeking
additional information. Secondly he should be detached; he should not be a member of the
power hierarchy to which the respondent belongs. If he establishes close personal relationships
with some of the respondents the others will become suspicious. This implies that the interviewer
should retain a certain amount of reserve; he should be dignified and must make it clear that
the interview is serious. At the same time he should show genuine interest in what, the respondent
is saying, while not revealing his own attitudes nor indicating approval or disapproval.

2.2.4 CLINICAL METHOD

This method is used for the diagnosis and treatment of various disorders. It is observation
and examination for diagnostic purposes. It is usually a combination of testing, interview and
28

case history. It is essentially an individual method. This is no doubt a serious limitation to its
value. But adequate study of a few cases may increase our insight to a considerable degree,
e.g., the psycho-analytical findings.

Figure: Clinical Method

As we have seen above the study of the psychoanalytic interview situation led to the
recognition of the importance of interpersonal relationship. It was Freud’s Clinical work that led
to the discoveries of very great significance in social interaction. He showed the fundamental
significance of the need for affection in the formation and growth of the individual. Need for
affection and need for security play a very significant part in the promotion of harmonious
social relationships as well as in their retardation. The other great psychiatrist, Adler, who also
used the clinical method emphasised the significance of what he called ‘social feeling’ which
is of paramount importance in social interaction. In order to know how a man thinks, we have
to examine his relationship to his fellowmen.

Figure: Social Feeling

We cannot comprehend the psychic activities without at the same time understanding
these social relationships. “The communal need regulates all relationships between men. The
communal life of man antedates the individual life of man. In the history of human civilization
no form of life whose foundations were not laid communally can be found. No human being
 29

ever appeared except in a community of human beings”. It is the clinical study of the neurotic
which made it clear to Adler “that no adequate man can grow up without cultivating a deep
sense of his fellowship in humanity and practising the art of being a human being”. Thus we
find that the significance of the concept of socialisation, a comparatively new topic in social
psychology, is as much due to the clinical work of the psychiatrists and psychologists as to the
field work of the anthropologists.

Figure: Socialisation

Before concluding this section attention may be drawn to a few other concepts developed
by Freud which have had profound influence on our understanding of social relationships. His
concept of fixation, for example, shows how there is an arrest in socialization and consequently
in the development of personality. This corresponds in a large measure to the concept of
detachment in the Bhagawad Gita (Holy Book of the Hindus). Fixation results when there is no
detachment. Detachment is a sign of the development of personality. As Freud pointed out
fixation is the arrest or inhibition of development. It also involves regression. Thus the individual
with fixation is unable to adjust himself. He reacts at a childish level. His social relationships will
be deficient. Similarly the concept of super-ego is also of great significance to the study of
social behaviour.

“Throughout life the interaction between a person’s real ego and his ego-ideal continues
to reflect to some extent his relations with the social world about him; more particularly it
always corresponds in some measure to the relations between a child and its parents in so far
as we obey them and live up to the standards that they set us, punishment and disapproval
when we fail to do so. We, as children, on our part expect love, praise, help, and protection
from our parents when we are ‘good’, and fear punishment and blame when we are ‘naughty’.
30

Precisely these mutual relations are to be found, again mirrored in the interactions between
the ego and the ego-ideal, in as much as this latter represents incorporation or introjections of
our parents’ moral attitude”. Therefore, clinical method is of great value to the understanding of
social interactions, concepts like identification and projection are of immense value.

2.2.5 QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD

While the interview method and clinical method is very useful in testing individuals. It is
the questionnaire method that is chosen for group investigations. A questionnaire is a means
of presenting a series of standardised stimuli to elicit certain kinds of responses. It is a highly
standardized instrument and not a mere assemblage of questions to collect information. Its
aim is generally to discover the preferences of an individual. “In the use of these procedures
the emphasis is upon attributing the response to some conditions within the individual which is
more or less enduring in nature. This is to say that the responses are elicited and studied as
indices of some fundamental predisposition within the individual which functions as a determiner
of his preferences”.

The questionnaire method has been extensively used to ascertain public opinion.
Government as well as business and industry have been making use of this method to assess
opinion. Considerable amount of research work has been done regarding the framing of
questions, sampling, analysis of data and other aspects.

Two principal types of questions used are the poll question and the open-ended question.
The poll question is provided with a set of alternative answers and the respondent chooses
one of them.

For example:

“Caste system should a) remain, b) be modified, c) be abolished”.

In all such questions the respondent is requested to choose one of the stated alternatives.
“The poll question developed naturally out of the methodology of psychophysics in the
experimental laboratory and out of psychological testing, in both of which the subject was
called upon to respond in terms of fixed categories - ‘higher’ or ‘heavier’ in weight comparisons,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on test forms”. On the other hand the open-ended question is framed to elicit a
free response without providing any alternate responses.
 31

For example:

“What do you think of the Current Ruling Party of the State?” or “What do you think the
Government should do to settle the Kashmir Problem?”

Figure: Example of Polling for common sources of stress

The significant feature of such questions is that the respondent is free to answer as he
pleases. “The poll question came out of the experimental and testing laboratory; the open-
ended question may be said to have developed from the psychological clinic”. But the advantage
of the poll type question is that the responses may be tabulated easily. It admits of quantitative
and statistical treatment which is of immense help to understand the problem under investigation.

We may now refer briefly to the fundamental problem of sampling. Obviously we cannot
study the whole population, like. e.g.; the census in India once in ten years when ever family
and every individual in the country is enumerated. This is a very difficult and costly method of
study. That is why the Central Government has now established the National Sample Survey
Unit which studies a small but very representative sample as frequently as possible. This is the
method which your mother uses when she is cooking a pot of rice or dhal. When she wants to
find if the rice is cooked she takes a ladle, stirs up the whole pot and then takes a few grains
and tests whether they are cooked. If they are cooked she infers that the whole quantity is
cooked, otherwise she lets the pot boil for some more time.

This is the method which the engineer uses when he wants to study the strength of some
material used and what the doctor uses to determine the blood count of a patient. Only samples
32

are studied. We must first know what population we are studying - all people in a City or the
State or the Country or only some people like unskilled labour or business community or College
students etc.

Figure: Sample

After defining the population the next step is to get the right sample from the population.
The fundamental requisite is that the sample should be representative, unbiased, e.g., Statistics
computed on the basis of mail questionnaires are subject to bias. Those who reply mail
questionnaire are not typical of the group. Random sampling procedures, where every person
of the population has as much chance of being included as any other, are satisfactory but this
is a highly technical problem.

The sample may have to be a stratified random sample when, e.g., it has to include
people of various occupations and educational levels. Obviously a sample from professional
group cannot be a proper sample of all the adults. Mere size of the sample will not guarantee
its adequacy. The Chief Minister or Prime Minister may get hundreds of letters and telegrams
in favour of a legislative proposal or against it. This may be a biased sample. There are thousands
who have not expressed their opinion by letters or telegrams. They may think otherwise.
 33

Figure: Stratified Sampling

Further the precision of a sample does not increase proportionately with the size of the
sample; it only increases in proportion to the square root of the number of cases.

For example:

In the US a small carefully stratified sample of 200 people in New York State predicted
the results of State Governor’s election just as well as a sample of 2,800 or 48,000, while the
number of people who actually voted was more than four millions.

Figure: Questionnaire

Finally we may indicate briefly the use of breakdowns in the analysis of the responses to
questionnaires. The percentage of responses of the whole group reveals some characteristics.
The psychological and sociological ‘determinates’ of opinions can be obtained by the breakdown
technique, by getting the percentage of responses of the sub-classes on the basis of age, sex,
34

education, income, caste etc. What kind of breakdown is used depends on the particular
hypothesis to be tested. “The breakdown is one of the few tools which provide an approach to
the problem of causation. It gives us a method of attack on the questions of relative importance
of two or more variables. It also furnishes a foothold for a study of the simultaneous relationship
between variables, when opinions are held constant”.

2.2.6 SCALING METHODS

Several methods have been evolved to measure attitudes which play such an important
part in social interactions. Attitudes are more or less enduring organizations of perceptual,
motivational and emotional processes. They involve expectancy of a certain kind of experience
on the one hand and a certain readiness to respond on the other. But they cannot be observed.
So they can be measured only indirectly. Measurement requires a scale. “In essence, the
method of scaling requires that the individual react verbally with expressions of approval or
disapproval, agreement or disagreement to a section of carefully standardized items or
propositions. The pattern and summation of reactions to the set of items provide a way of
inferring the individual’s opinion or attitude concerning the object to which the items refer and
permit the individual to be assigned a position along a quantitative scale of pro-ness or con-
ness”.

Figure: Bogardus Scale

Figure: Guttman Scale

 35

Figure: Thurstone Scale

There are many methods to prepare the scales, but essentially they involve the assignment
of a particular position to a given individual along a continuum indicating approval or disapproval.
From the pattern of statements endorsed by the individual we can infer whether he is favourable,
neutral or unfavourable toward the topic investigated. Thurstone (1929) made use of the method
of equal-appearing intervals to prepare scales. Likert (1932) made use of the method of
summated ratings. Guilford (1931) made use of the method of paired comparison to prepare a
scale regarding nationality. During the Second World War, Guttman (1941) used, ‘Scalogram’
device for ascertaining the degree of consistency. Bogardus (1925) devised what is sometimes
called group-order method to measure attitudes towards nationalities. This method has been
adopted in our country to measure attitudes towards various castes and creeds. All these
methods involve very careful selection of test items. The method followed by Thurstone involves
the using of Judges and then preparing the scales.

Figure: Likert Scale

36

2.2.7 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

The experimental method involves isolation, variation and repetition. It involves the control
of conditions by the experimenter. The experimenter observes accurately what happens under
certain known conditions. It is obvious that the problems of social interaction are very complex.
Consequently it is very difficult to control the conditions. Often it is difficult to ascertain the
exact contribution of each condition. In spite of these limitations several carefully planned
researches have been conducted. We have now considerable body of knowledge concerning
social interaction on the basis of experimental work. The experimental researches have given
us some insight into the techniques of social control. “The growth of our insights in Social
Psychology as the result of recent laboratory experiments on group panic; on democratic,
authoritarian, and laissez faire leadership; on group frustration; on the operation of prejudice in
voting, etc., lead us to the conviction that this same spurt will take place in the development of
a systematic social psychology of group behavior”.

The method generally used in social investigation is the control group method. Two groups,
a control group and an experimental group are used. As far as possible these two groups are
equated in numbers, sex, education and other variables. Sometimes intelligence tests, attitude
tests, interest tests and such other tests may be used to equate the two groups. Then they are
subjected to unequal stimulation. One group may be exposed to a particular stimulation while
the other is not. The two groups are tested again and the resulting inequalities in performance
or interests or attitudes are attributed to the variable introduced.

Figure: Control Group and Experiemental Group

 37

Figure: Experimentation Method

When it is not possible to secure two initially equal groups we can measure the effect of
changed conditions on the basis of the difference between the initial and final performance of
the same group. If we want to study the effect of ‘propaganda’ we may for instance take a
group, give it an attitude test to find the initial performance, then expose the group to the
propaganda, finally give the attitude test once again and see if the propaganda has any effect.
There are many ways of designing the experiment to suit the particular problem and the group
available. If we want to know the effect of propaganda against war we may give a test to
measure the attitude towards war. On the basis of this test we can take one group that is
moderately pacific and another that is moderately militaristic. After exposing the two groups to
the propaganda we may again measure the attitude and determine the effect of propaganda
against war on the pacifists and militarists.

We may also refer here to the important experiment designed by Sherif (1936), to
determine the way in which social norms operate. Making use of the auto kinetic effect and by
introducing social factors Sherif demonstrated that the ranges and norms of different individuals
working at the same time coverage. This work, in effect, is a study of the formation of a norm
38

in laboratory situation. It showed the basic psychological processes involved in the establishment
of social norms.

Figure: Social Norm

Long ago F. H. Allport (1924) introduced experimental methods to study the influence of
the presence of others on one’s performance. He showed the effects of what he called social
facilitation. He studied the quality and quantity of output when an individual worked alone and
when he worked with others. Even as early as 1920, he found that individuals making judgments
of pleasantness and unpleasantness of odours tend to avoid extreme judgments when they
are in the presence of others, whereas they tend to give extreme judgments when they are
tested alone.

Figure: Social Facilitation

2.3 DOING RESEARCH ETHICALLY

As researchers, social psychologists confront ethical issues. For instance, is it ethical to
expose experimental participants to a treatment that is embarrassing or has potentially harmful
 39

effects on their self-concept? If such research is important, what are the rights of the person,
what are the ethical obligations of the researcher, and what guidelines are there for deciding?
A question of ethics arises most often in the psychological experiment. But they can also
confront non-experimental researchers. For example, if you were a professional observer of
crowd behaviour and witnessed a violent assault are you ethically obliged to at least try to
intercede? It is not only the social psychologist who must think this kind of problem through.
Journalists, doctors, lawyers and counsellors live with professional ethical issues as well.

To guide researchers, the American Psychological Association established, in 1972 and

updates periodically, a set of principles for ethical conduct in research involving humans. In
western countries universities do not permit research to go ahead unless it has been checked
to conform to these principles. There are five ethical principles that have received most attention:
protection from harm, right to privacy, deception, informed consent and debriefing.

Figure: Ethical Issues

Although it is pretty obvious that you should not harm your participants, much hinges on
what is defined as ‘harm’. Splinters under the fingernails is clearly a harm, but what about
telling participants they have done badly on a word-association task? It may have long-term
effects on self-esteem and could therefore be considered harmful, but on the other hand, the
effects may be, as minor and transitory as to be insignificant. Privacy is more straightforward.
Because research participants often give personal information and sometimes embarrassing
and intimate information, researchers do their best to ensure confidentiality so that data cannot
be traced back to individual participants.

Perhaps the most contentious issue is the use of deception in experiments. In experiments
participants need to be unaware of the manipulations and the hypotheses being tested otherwise
data would reflect deliberative responses rather than automatic reactions, and it would be
40

impossible to study many psychological processes.

Because the use of deception seems to imply ‘trickery’, ‘deceit’ and ‘lying’, it has attracted
a frenzy of criticism – ignited in the early 1960s by Diana Baumrind’s (1964) attack on Stanley
Milgram’s (1963) studies of destructive obedience. Social psychologists have even been urged
to abandon experiments altogether in favour of simulations or role-playing exercises.

This is clearly too extreme, as social psychological knowledge has been enriched
enormously by classic experiments that have used deception. Although some experiments
have used excessive deception, in practice the deception used in the overwhelming majority of
social psychology experiments is trivial. For example, an experiment may be introduced as a
study of group decision making when in fact it is part of a programme of research into prejudice
and stereotyping. In addition, no one has yet shown any long-term negative consequences of
the use of deception in social psychology experiments, and experimental participants themselves
tend to be impressed, rather than upset or angered, by cleverly executed deceptions, and they
view deception as a necessary withholding of information or as a necessary trick.

One way to safeguard people’s rights in experiments is to tell them ‘the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth’ about the experiment and that they are free to withdraw at any
point, and then obtain in writing their informed consent to participate. In practice, however, ‘full
information’ can be difficult to define, and, as we have just seen, experiments often require
some deception in order that participants remain naive. Participants should also be fully debriefed
after taking part in an experiment – they should learn all about the research and the research
procedures so that they leave the laboratory with an increased respect for and understanding
of social psychology.

2.4 SUMMARY
Most social-psychological research is either correlational or experimental. Correlational
studies, sometimes conducted with systematic survey methods, discern the relationship between
variables, such as between amount of education and amount of income. Knowing two things
are naturally related is valuable information, but it is not a reliable indicator of what is causing
what—or whether a third variable is involved.

When possible, social psychologists prefer to conduct experiments that explore cause
and effect. By constructing a miniature reality that is under their control, experimenters can
vary one thing and then another and discover how those things, separately or in combination,
 41

affect behavior. We randomly assign participants to an experimental condition, which receives

the experimental treatment, or to a control condition, which does not. We can then attribute
any resulting difference between the two conditions to the independent variable.

In creating experiments, social psychologists sometimes stage situations that engage

people’s emotions. In doing so, they are obliged to follow professional ethical guidelines, such
as obtaining people’s informed consent, protecting them from harm, and fully disclosing afterward
any temporary deceptions. Laboratory experiments enable social psychologists to test ideas
gleaned from life experience and then to apply the principles and findings to the real world.

2.5 KEY WORDS

Observational Method: It is a research method used to collect data by observing the
relevant behaviour of a sample at specific time interval for the purpose of analysis.

Development Method: It is similar to observational method where the development of

social behaviour of children are observed.

Interview Method: It is a face-to-face data collection method to collect large amount of

data where psychologist ask the sample a set of question and can be explored the questions in
depth to get more valid data.

Clinical Method: It is observation and examination for diagnostic purposes of an individual.

It is usually a combination of testing, interview and case history.

Questionnaire Method: It is used in groups which contains a series of questions to

provoke certain responses.

Scaling Method: It is used to measure the amount of attribute of interest of a person

using scales.

Experimental Method: To is used to establish cause and effect relationship. The

experimenter creates a condition of one variable to observe the effect of the change in another
variable.
42

2.6 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. The process through which individuals learn skills, knowledge, values, motives, and roles
appropriate to their positions in a group or society is called ______________.

2. A phenomenon in which the mere presence of other individuals causes persons to perform
better is called_____________________.

3. __________________research means, based on the collection and systematic analysis

of observable data.

4. _____________________a set of systematic procedures that guide the collection and

analysis of data.

5. An ______________ involves an interpersonal relationship.

6. _______________are rules indicating how individuals are expected to behave in specific

situations.

7. A ______________________is a means of presenting a series of standardised stimuli to

elicit certain kinds of responses.

8. Guttman used _____________, a device for ascertaining the degree of consistency.

9. ____________________ is a method of research in which one or more factors (the

independent variables) are systematically changed to determine whether such variations
affect one or more other factors (dependent variables).

10. There are five ethical principles that have received most attention: protection from harm,
right to privacy, deception, __________________and debriefing.

2.7 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Socialization

2. Social facilitation

3. Empirical

4. Methodology

5. Interview
 43

6. Social Norms

7. Questionnaire

8. Scalogram

9. Experimentation / Experimental method

10. Informed consent

2.8 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Describe in detail the experimental method.

2. Write short notes on the developmental method of research.

3. What the different types of interview?

4. List down the benefits of questionnaire method.

5. How is clinical method of research useful?

6. Explain in detail the ethical issues in conducting a psychological research.

7. What are the major scaling methods in research?

8. Suggest how the efficacy of observational method be improved.

REFERENCES
 Baron, R. A., Byrne, D., and Branscombe, N. R. (2006). Social Psychology. (11th edition,
Indian print).

 Feldman, R. S. (2001). Social Psychology. Prentice Hall.

 Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., Akert, R.M., (2007). Social Psychology. (6th ed.), New Jersey
: Pearson Education Prentice Hall.

 Baumeister, R.F., and Busnman, B.J. (2008). Social Psychology and Human Nature.
International student edition, Thomson Wadworth USA.

 Delamater, J.D., and Myers, D.J., (2007). Social Psychology. (6th ed.), Thomason
Wadworth International student edition, USA.
44

 Taylor, S.E., Peplau, L.A., and Sears, D.O., (2006). Social Psychology. (12th ed.). New
Delhi: Pearson Education

 McDougall, W. (2003; original published 1908). An introduction to social

psychology.Mineola, NY: Dover;

 Ross, E. A. (1974; original published 1908). Social psychology. New York, NY: Arno Press.
 45

LESSON – 3
SOCIAL MOTIVES, ATTITUDES AND
LEARNING IN SOCIAL CONTEXTS

INTRODUCTION
The process of socialization to be determined by the motivation process. Thus, it is
important to study the social motives which related with social psychology. This lesson teaches
you the nature, relationship, function, and components of attitude which are cognition, evaluation
and behavioural predisposition. It also discuss about the learning which affects the attitude
formation.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing your study of this lesson you should be able to:

 Understand the role of social motives and behaviour

 Define attitude and understand its nature

 Identify the components of an attitude.

 Describe the relationship between the components of attitude.

 Identify the how attitudes are reinforced through learning.

 Understand the functions of attitudes.

 Describe how imitation influence attitudes.

PLAN OF STUDY
3.1 Social Motives and Behavior

3.2 Attitudes

3.3 Nature of Attitudes

3.4 Components of Attitudes

3.4.1 Cognition

3.4.2 Evaluation
46

3.4.3 Behavioural Predisposition

3.4. 4 Relationship among the Components

3.5 Attitude Reinforcement and Learning

3.6 Functions of Attitudes

3.7 Attitude Formation

3.7.1 Classical Conditioning

3.7.2 Instrumental Conditioning

3.7.3 Genetic Factors

3.7.4 Observational Learning

3.8 Social Learning through imitation

3.9 Summary

3.10 Key Words

3.11 Check Your Progress

3.12 Answer to Check Your Progress

3.13 Model Questions

3.1 SOCIAL MOTIVES AND BEHAVIOUR

It is now generally agreed that experience and behavior are the outcome of internal as
well as external stimulus factors which are operating at the given time. It is further generally
agreed that behaviour is goal directed; motivated. The whole process of socialization depends
upon the motivation process. The parents as well as others who are in charge of children build
up the socialization process wittingly or unwittingly on the basis of motivations. So it is necessary
for us to study these problems of motivation in relation to social psychology.

The term ‘instinct’ has gone out of usage because in the behavior of man there is the
problem of training on the one hand and adjustment on the other. Consequently, no act of
behaviour can be looked upon as instinctive in the sense that it is just a complicated physiological
response to a particular stimulus situation. The contrary view that the nature of the reaction is
 47

dependent on the properties of the stimulus is also rejected as this does not help us to understand
social phenomena. It is now realised that behaviour is based on internal as well as external
factors that behaviour is “biosocial” involving biological factors as well as social influences.

The terms ‘needs’, ‘urges’, ‘motives’ are now used to describe such internal physiological
factors , which are at the basis of behaviour. It is further realized that these motives which are
to start with biogenic, are affected by the social factors.

For example:

“To eat is biogenic but how we eat is sociogenic. Similarly, what we eat and where we eat
all these are conditioned by the group in which we have been brought up.

Our attitudes towards our own ways of eating and dressing, our attitudes towards the
ways of eating of other people are the products of socialisation. There is nothing’ natural’ in
one way of eating or another way of eating. It is purely a matter of the group in which we have
been brought up. Many motives of man are the products of social interaction. Thus the motives
as we find them operating among the human beings around us are both biogenic as well as
sociogenic. We find that a good deal of learning is at the basis of our motivated activities.

It must be realised that motivation is a concept in order to explain behaviour that can be
observed and described, ]t is an inference based on our observations of the behaviour of
animals and human beings under conditions of everyday life as well as under experimental
conditions.

The rat which is hungry will learn to go through a maze and obtain its food; a rat which
has been fed may go through the maze but its learning will be very slow. Consequently, we
infer that there is some tension in the organism which arises out of the deprival of food. The
energetic action of the organism, its goal-directed activities, its variability and its persistence
and the way in which its activities cease when it consumes the food all these lead us to infer
that the behaviour of the rat is motivated by hunger. Behaviour is looked upon as an activity
which arises when there is a state of tension in the organism and the activity itself is looked
upon as, tension-reducing’. If the organism is not allowed to move about, it becomes more and
more restless, more and more active wherever it is. When the activity leads to the reaching of
the particular goal, then the organism becomes quiet. This kind of motivated behaviour, as we
have seen, is not only based upon the physiological drives but it is also based upon drives
which are of social origin.
48

A man struggles to obtain food, clothing and shelter not only for himself but for his family.
When these minimum requirements are obtained, he does not stop working. His restlessness
does not cease with the provision of minimum requirements. He wants to be like his neighbours
with better food to eat, better clothes to wear and better house to live in. And so he works
harder, earns more and profits more. What is the limit for this? It depends upon the group in
which he is living. If he is living in a village, he is quite satisfied with a little more than his
neighbours. On the other hand, because in the city the neighbours have a good deal of amenities
he will have to struggle for much more. Irrespective of how much food or clothing or shelter a
man obtains the basic consideration is to have the same standards as his neighbours or better
standards than his neighbours whether it is in the village or in the city. Consequently, the
physiological motives do not operate purely at the somatic level. They work within the given
cultural setting.

3.2 ATTITUDES
An attitude—is a predisposition to respond to a particular object in a generally favorable
or unfavorable way. A person’s attitudes influence the way in which he or she perceives and
responds to the world.

Figure: Attitude

For example, attitudes influence attention—the person who likes Traditional Classical
music is more likely to notice news stories about the Traditional Classical musicians and
programme activities. Attitudes also influence behavior—the person who opposes the drinking
age law is more likely to violate it.

Because attitudes are an important influence on people, they occupy a central place in
social psychology. A particular attitude does not exist in isolation. The person who believes that
 49

government spending causes inflation has a whole set of beliefs about the role of government
in the economy, and this attitude about spending is related to those other beliefs. And if attitudes
influence behavior, perhaps we can change behavior by changing attitudes. How, then, do
attitudes change? Politicians, auto manufacturers, and brewers spend billions of dollars every
year trying to create favorable attitudes. Even if they succeed, do these attitudes affect our
behavior?

We shall consider three main questions here:

1. What is an attitude? Where do attitudes come from, and how are they formed?

2. How are attitudes linked to other attitudes? How does this organization affect attitude
change?

3. What is the relationship between attitudes and behavior?

3.3 NATURE OF ATTITUDES

An attitude exists in a person’s mind; it is a mental state. Every attitude is about something,
the “object” of the attitude. We shall here consider the components of an attitude, the sources
of attitudes, and their functions.

3.4 COMPONENTS OF AN ATTITUDE

Consider the following statement: “My human sexuality class is really boring.” This attitude
has three components:

(1) Beliefs or cognitions,

(2) An evaluation, and

(3) A behavioral predisposition.

Figure: Components of Attitude

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3.4.1 COGNITION

An attitude includes an object label, rules for applying the label, and a set of cognitions or
knowledge structures associated with that label. The person who doesn’t like his or her human
sexuality class perceives it as involving certain content, taught by a particular person. Often we
cannot prove whether particular beliefs are true or false.

For example, economists and government officials disagree on whether government

spending causes inflation, with both sides equally convinced they are right.

Figure: Cognition component

3.4.2 EVALUATION

An attitude also has an evaluative or affective component. “It’s boring” indicates that the
course arouses a mildly unpleasant emotion in the speaker. Stronger negative emotions include
dislike, hatred, or even loathing: “I can’t stand rock music.” Of course, the evaluation may be
positive: “I like carnatic music,” or “This food is terrific!” The evaluative component has both a
direction (positive or negative) and an intensity (ranging from very weak to very strong). The
evaluation component distinguishes an attitude from other types of cognitive elements.

Figure: Evaluation component

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3.4.3 BEHAVIORAL PREDISPOSITION

An attitude involves a predisposition to respond or a behavioral tendency toward the

object. “It’s boring” implies a tendency to avoid the class. “I like my job” suggests an intention
to go to work. People having a specific attitude are inclined to behave in certain ways that are
consistent with that attitude.

Figure: Behavioural component

3.4.4 RELATIONSHIP AMONG THE COMPONENTS

Cognitive, evaluative, and behavioral components all have the same object, so we would
expect them to form a single, relatively consistent whole. However, these three components
are distinct; if they were identical, we would not need to distinguish among them. Thus, we
should be able to measure each component, and we should be able to find relationships among
them. A survey of women’s attitudes toward contraceptives, for example, found that beliefs,
feelings, and actions are both distinct and somewhat related.

The degree of consistency between components is related to other characteristics of the

attitude.

Greater consistency between the cognitive and affective components is associated with
greater attitude stability and resistance to persuasion. Greater consistency is also associated
with a stronger relationship between attitude and behavior.
52

3.5 ATTITUDE REINFORCEMENT AND LEARNING

Where do attitudes come from? How are they formed? The answer lies in the processes
of social learning or socialization. Attitudes may be formed through reinforcement (instrumental
conditioning), through associations of stimuli and responses (classical conditioning), or by
observing others (observational learning). We can acquire an attitude toward our classes and
jobs through instrumental conditioning—that is, learning based on direct experience with the
object. If we experience rewards related to some object, our attitude will be favorable. Thus, if
our work provides us with good pay, a sense of accomplishment, and compliments from our
co-workers, our attitude toward it will be quite positive. Conversely, if we associate negative
emotions or unpleasant outcomes with some object, we will dislike it.

For example, repeated exposure to bland, overcooked food leads many students to have
a very negative attitude toward mess food at hostels.

Only a small portion of our attitudes are based on direct contact with the object, however.
We have attitudes about many political figures we have never met. We have attitudes toward
members of certain ethnic or religious groups, although we have never been face-to-face with
a member of those groups. Attitudes of this type are learned through our interactions with third
parties. For one, we learn attitudes from our parents as part of the socialization process.
Research shows that children’s attitudes toward male–female relations (gender roles), divorce,
and politics frequently are similar to those held by their parents. This influence also involves
instrumental learning; parents typically reward their children for adopting the same or similar
attitudes.

Friends are another important source of our attitudes. The attitude that the drinking age
law is unfair, for example, may be learned through interaction with peers. We acquire attitudes
and prejudices toward a particular group through classical conditioning, in which a stimulus
gradually elicits a response through repeated association with other stimuli. Children learn at
an early age that “lazy,” “dirty,” “stupid,” and many other characteristics are undesirable. Children
themselves are often punished for being dirty or hear adults say, “Don’t be stupid!” If they hear
their parents (or others) refer to members of a particular group as lazy or stupid, children
increasingly associate the group name with the negative reactions initially elicited by these
terms. Several experiments have shown that classical conditioning can produce negative
attitudes toward groups.
 53

Another source of attitudes is the media, especially television and films. Here, the
mechanism may be observational learning. 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 certain ways, TV news, news magazines, and newspapers can produce cognitive
images of a racial group as being volatile, dangerous, or unreasonable that in turn produces
negative attitudes.

Figure: Attitude reinforcement and learning

3.6 THE FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDES

We acquire attitudes through learning. But why do we retain them, sometimes for months,
years, or even a lifetime? One answer is that they serve at least some important functions for
us. The first is the heuristic or instrumental function. We develop favorable attitudes toward
objects that aid or reward us and unfavorable attitudes toward objects that frustrate or punish
us. Once they are developed, attitudes provide a simple and efficient means of evaluating
objects. Business people learn that Republican politicians frequently propose and vote for
legislation that benefits business. Learning that a new candidate is a Republican, the business
person immediately has a favorable attitude.

Second, attitudes serve a schematic or knowledge function—because the world is too

complex for us to completely understand, we group people, objects, and events into categories
or schemas and develop simplified (stereotyped) attitudes that allow us to treat individuals as
members of a category. Our attitudes about that category (object) provide us with meaning—
54

with a basis for making inferences about its members. The belief in Western culture that Blacks
are untrustworthy leads some Whites to be guarded in their interaction with Blacks. Reacting
to every member of the group in the same way is more efficient, even if less accurate and
satisfying, than trying to learn about each person as an individual.

Stereotypes of groups are often associated with intense emotions. A strong like or dislike
for members of a specific group is called a prejudice. Prejudice and stereotyping go together,
with people using their stereotyped beliefs to justify prejudice toward members of the group.
The emotional component of prejudice can lead to intergroup conflict.

Third, attitudes define the self and maintain self-worth. Some attitudes express the
individual’s basic values and reinforce his or her self-image. Many political conservatives in our
society have negative attitudes toward abortion, racial integration, and equal rights for women.
Thus, a person whose self-concept includes conservatism may adopt these attitudes because
they express that self-image. Some attitudes symbolize a person’s identification with or
membership in particular groups or subcultures. The attitude “Guns don’t kill people; people kill
people” is widespread among members of the National Rifle Association. Holding this attitude
may be both a prerequisite to acceptance by other group members and a symbol of loyalty to
the group.

Finally, some attitudes protect the person from recognizing certain thoughts or feelings
that threaten his or her self-image or adjustment. For instance, an individual (say, Tom) may
have feelings that he cannot fully acknowledge or accept, such as hostility toward his father. If
he recognized this hostility, he would feel very guilty, because such sentiments are contrary to
his upbringing. So instead of acknowledging that he hates his father, Tom may direct anger
and hatred toward members of a minority group or toward authority figures such as police
officers or teachers. Research indicates that experiences that threaten a person’s self-esteem,
such as failing a test, lead to a more negative evaluation of other groups, particularly among
people whose self-esteem was initially high.
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Figure: Functions of Attitude

3.7 ATTITUDE FORMATION

Right from our birth onwards, we are exposed to a wide diversity of stimuli, both directly
and indirectly, which lead to our acquiring scrupulous attitudes towards the attitudinal object. It
is whispered that attitudes are through and large acquired as a result of several life experiences,
although a small but rising body of proof designates that attitudes may be influenced through
genetic factors, too. A number of theories have been used to identify what lead to formation
and maintenance of attitudes.

3.7.1 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

The process of classical conditioning was first described through Pavlov. In his experiments
on dogs, he found that after repeated pairings of an unconditioned incentive (e.g. bell) with a
conditioned incentive (dog), the latter acquires the capability to evoke a conditioned response
(salivation), similar to the old, unconditioned response (salivation). It has been suggested that
in the same method that a bell can evoke a physiological response, classical conditioning can
produce a positive/negative attitude towards a previously neutral object. Arthur and Carolyn
Staats (1958) were two of the first researchers who systematically studied the classical
conditioning of attitudes. They mannered an experiment in which the goal was to condition
positive and negative attitudes to the names of countries (Sweden and Holland) which previously
were regarded neither positively nor negatively. Throughout 108 conditioning trials, two
nationalities were always followed through a negative word (e.g. failure), two were paired with
positive adjectives (e.g. happy, gift), and two others were paired with neutral words (e.g. table).
56

At the end of the experiment, it was indeed found that participants held more positive
attitudes towards the nationalities associated with positive words and more negative attitudes
toward those associated with negative words.

Figure: Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning could play a role in establishing some of the emotional components
of attitudes and prejudice. Further, through classical conditioning, people may come to have
powerful attitudinal reactions to social objects even in the absence of firsthand experience.
Hence, children who hear repeated pairings of words in their parents ‘conversations (such as
say,

Muslims-Aggressive, Muslims-Fundamentalists) throughout their early years of

development may come to adopt such negative attitudes themselves—without even meeting
them.

3.7.2 INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING

Child: ¯Mummy, doesn‘t Mausi look nice in her green dress? She really knows how to
carry herself. Mother: ¯You are absolutely right dear. I‘ve felt that for some time now and was
hoping you would agree. Your dress sense is really getting evolved. You can now suggest me
what to wear the after that time we go out. This kind of conversation illustrates quite clearly the
role of reinforcement in attitude formation. Following her mother‘s agreement, it is likely that
the child‘s initial responses of a positive attitude in relation to the Mausi will be reinforced. Of
course, had the child remarked that Mausi looks awful; the mother might have reacted with
displeasure, thereby punishing the remark. Following reward, the child‘s attitude is likely to be
strengthened; whereas punishment would almost certainly lead to a weakening of the attitude.
 57

This is the process of instrumental conditioning, a basic form of learning studied through
Thorndike (1911) and Skinner (1938). According to this, behaviours that are followed through
positive outcomes tend to be strengthened, while those that are followed through negative
outcomes are suppressed. The degree to which attitudes are verbally or nonverbally reinforced
through others will affect the acquiring and maintenance of attitudes. For e.g. early in your life,
if your parents and teachers praised you for doing well in studies, you may have doubled your
efforts and urbanized a positive attitude towards studies. Though if your friend‘s parents did
not acknowledge her achievements in studies, she would have almost certainly urbanized a
negative attitude toward studies.

Figure: Instrumental Conditioning

3.7.3 GENETIC FACTORS

Some research designates that our attitudes, at least a tendency to develop certain
views in relation to the various topics or issues, are inherited. For instance, Arvey et al. (1989)
studied the level of job satisfaction of 34 sets of identical twins separated from each other at an
early age, and found that almost 30% of job satisfaction appears to be explainable through
genetic factors. Tesser (1993) has argued that hereditary variables may affect attitudes— but
believes that they may do so indirectly. Additional research suggests that genetic factors play
a stronger role in shaping some attitudes than others. For e.g., attitudes involving gut-level
preferences (say a preference for a certain kind of food) may be more strongly influenced
through genetic factors than attitudes that are more cognitive in nature (say attitudes towards
environment conservation).
58

Figure: Genetic factors

3.7.4 OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

In both classical and instrumental conditioning approaches to attitude formation, the

person has direct get in touch with or experience (as in the case of Staats experiment) with the
attitudinal object. Though, it is also true that people may acquire attitudes simply through
observing the rewards and punishments that others get for their espousal of those attitudes.
The phenomenon through which a person acquires new forms of behaviour or thought simply
through observing others is described observational learning. For instance, you might develop
a negative attitude towards the college canteen if you saw someone throwing up after having
a meal there. Although

your friend‘s newly formed dislike is due to instrumental conditioning, your negative attitude
is a result of observational learning. The rationale behind commercials of say, Pizza Hut which
show someone ordering and then obviously enjoying a pizza is that the viewer will also form a
positive attitude vicariously and imitate such behaviour in the future.

Figure: Observational Learning

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3.8 SOCIAL LEARNING THROUGH IMITATION

A crucial source of our attitudes is the actions of other people around us. For the child,
parents are a powerful influence, involving the kinds of learning (classical conditioning,
instrumental conditioning and observational learning). Although the attitudes held by parents
and their children are not usually highly correlated, there are some exceptions. One study
reported correlations between children’s political preferences and choice of religion on one
hand and those of their parents. The mass media, in particular television, have a major influence
on people’s attitudes and those of their children – especially so when attitudes are not strongly
held. Communication scientist Steven Chaffee found that, before age 7, American children get
most of their political information from television. An extensive statistical analysis of changes in
Americans’ racial attitudes over the last half-century found that media coverage does more
than reflect public opinion – it has helped mould it. Long periods of liberalism have been followed
by periods of conservatism, and these eras have responded to cues in the American media.

Figure: Social Learning through imitation

The impact of commercials on children’s attitudes has also been investigated and reported
that two-thirds of a group of children who saw a circus strong man eat a cereal believed it
would make them strong too! These findings are of particular concern in the light of murders
sometimes committed by young children, and carried out in ways similar to those portrayed in
certain films.

3.9 SUMMARY
The term attitude refers to our relatively enduring evaluation of an attitude object.

Our attitudes are inherited and also learned through direct and indirect experiences with
the attitude objects.
60

Some attitudes are more likely to be based on beliefs, some more likely to be based on
feelings, and some more likely to be based on behaviors.

Strong attitudes are important in the sense that we hold them with confidence, we do not
change them very much, and we use them frequently to guide our actions.

Although there is a general consistency between attitudes and behavior, the relationship
is stronger in some situations than in others, for some measurements than for others, and for
some people than for others.

3.10 KEY WORDS

Motivation: It is a process of internal state which urge to behave in a certain way to
achieve a goal to satisfy the desire or needs.

Biogenic motives: These are motives which are connected with the organism such as
air, water, hunger, temperature, sex, and pain.

Sociogenic motives: These are motives which are result of social effect such as power,
achievement, status, and security. It is also called secondary motives.

Attitude: A readiness to respond in a favorable or an unfavorable manner to a particular

object or class of object.

Classical conditioning: When a neutral stimulus repeatedly paired with an unconditioned

stimulus brings a natural untrained response.

Observational Learning: The phenomenon through which a person acquires new forms
of behaviour or thought simply through observing others is described observational learning.

Instrumental Conditioning: It is also called operant learning. It uses either reinforcement

or punishment to increase or decrease the probability of a behavior to occur again.

3.11 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. The whole process of socialization depends upon the __________________process.

2. Behaviour is based on internal as well as external factors that behaviour is

______________ involving biological factors as well as social influences.
 61

3. Motives which are to start with biogenic, are affected by the _____________ factors.

4. The motives as we find them operating among the human beings around us are both
_________________as well as sociogenic.

5. _____________________is a predisposition to respond to a particular object in a generally

favorable or unfavorable way.

6. An attitude includes an object label, rules for applying the label, and a set of
_______________or knowledge structures associated with that label.

7. An attitude also has an evaluative or _________________component.

8. An attitude involves a predisposition to respond or a __________________tendency toward

the object.

9. The degree of __________________between components is related to other

characteristics of the attitude.

10. Attitudes may be formed through ______________________, through associations of

stimuli and responses, or by observing others.

11. A strong like or dislike for members of a specific group is called a________________.

12. _______________conditioning could play a role in establishing some of the emotional

components of attitudes and prejudice.

13. The degree to which attitudes are verbally or nonverbally reinforced through others will
affect the acquiring and _______________of attitudes.

14. The phenomenon through which a person acquires new forms of behaviour or thought
simply through observing others is described ___________________ learning.

15. Some research designates that our attitudes, at least a tendency to develop certain views
in relation to the various topics or issues, are________________.

3.12 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Motivation

2. Biosocial
62

3. Social

4. Biogenic

5. Attitude

6. Cognitions

7. Affective

8. Behavioral

9. Consistency

10. Reinforcement

11. Prejudice

12. Classical

13. Maintenance

14. Observational

15. Inherited

3.13 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. What are the components of attitudes?

2. How does social learning through imitation affect our attitude and behavior?

3. What are the functions of attitude?

4. Define attitude. Explain the nature of attitudes.

5. Why social motives and behavior affect attitudes?

6. Where do attitudes come from? How are they formed?

REFERENCES
 Albarracín, D., Johnson, B. T., & Zanna, M. P. (Eds.). (2005). The handbook of attitudes
(pp. 223–271). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum; Wood, W. (2000). Attitude change:
Persuasion and social influence. Annual Review of Psychology, 539–570.
 63

 Olson, J. M., Vernon, P. A., Harris, J. A., & Jang, K. L. (2001). The heritability of attitudes:
A study of twins. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(6), 845–860.

 Baron, R. A., Byrne, D., and Branscombe, N. R. (2006). Social Psychology. (11th edition,
Indian print).

 Feldman, R. S. (2001). Social Psychology. Prentice Hall.

 Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., Akert, R.M., (2007). Social Psychology. (6th ed.), New Jersey
: Pearson Education Prentice Hall.
64

LESSON – 4
ATTITUDE CHANGE

INTRODUCTION
In previous lesson we study about the attitude formation through learning of different
conditioning. Cognitive dissonance is an internal state which occur when there is an inconsistent
between one attitude and another attitude or behavior. This lesson discuss about how our
behaviour is affected by the attitude, cognitive dissonance, and how marketers make use the
principles of dissonance.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Outline the principles of self-perception and explain how they can account for the influences
of behavior on attitude.

 Outline the principles of cognitive dissonance and explain how they can account for the
influences of behavior on attitude.

PLAN OF STUDY
4.1 Changing Attitudes by Changing Behaviour

4.2 Self-Perception Involves Inferring Our Beliefs from Our Behaviours

4.3 Creating Insufficient Justification and Over justification

4.4 The Experience of Cognitive Dissonance Can Create Attitude Change

4.5 We Reduce Dissonance by Decreasing Dissonant or by Increasing Consonant

Cognitions

4.6 Cognitive Dissonance in Everyday Life

4.7 Positive Self-Esteem Reduces Dissonance

4.8 Summary

4.9 Key Words

4.10 Check Your Progress

4.11 Answers to Check Your Progress

4.12 Model Questions

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4.1 CHANGING ATTITUDES BY CHANGING BEHAVIOUR

It might not have surprised you to hear that we can often predict people’s behaviours if
we know their thoughts and their feelings about the attitude object, you might be surprised to
find that our actions also have an influence on our thoughts and feelings.

For example:

It makes sense that if I like strawberry jam, I’ll buy it, because my thoughts and feelings
about a product influence my behaviour. But will my attitudes toward orange marmalade become
more positive if I decide—for whatever reason—to buy it instead of jam?

It turns out that if we engage in a behaviour, and particularly one that we had not expected
that we would have, our thoughts and feelings toward that behaviour are likely to change. This
might not seem intuitive, but it represents another example of how the principles of social
psychology—in this case, the principle of attitude consistency—lead us to make predictions
that wouldn’t otherwise be that obvious.

For example:

Imagine that one Tuesday evening in the middle of the semester you see your friend
Ram. He’s just finished his dinner and tells you that he’s planning to head home to study and
work on a term paper. When you see him the next day, however, he seems a bit shaken. It
turns out that instead of going home to study, Ram spent the entire evening listening to music
at a music club in town. He says that he had a great time, stayed up late to watch the last set,
and didn’t get home until dawn. And he woke up so late this morning that he missed his first two
classes.

You might imagine that Ram might be feeling some uncertainty and perhaps some regret
about his unexpected behaviour the night before. Although he knows that it is important to
study and to get to his classes on time, he nevertheless realizes that, at least in this case, he
neglected his schoolwork in favour of another activity. Ram seems to be wondering why he,
who knows how important school is, engaged in this behaviour after he promised himself that
he was going home to study. Let’s see if we can use the principles of attitude consistency to
help us understand how Ram might respond to his unexpected behaviour and how his attitudes
toward listening to music and studying might follow from it.
66

Figure: Attitude and behavior link

4.2 SELF-PERCEPTION INVOLVES INFERRING OUR BELIEFS

FROM OUR BEHAVIOURS
People have an avid interest in understanding the causes of behaviour, both theirs and
others, and doing so helps us meet the important goals of other-concern and self-concern. If
we can better understand how and why the other people around us act the way they do, then
we will have a better chance of avoiding harm from others and a better chance of getting those
other people to cooperate with and like us. And if we have a better idea of understanding the
causes of our own behaviour, we can better work to keep that behaviour in line with our preferred
plans and goals.

In some cases, people may be unsure about their attitudes toward different attitude
objects.

For example:

Perhaps Ram is a bit unsure about his attitude toward schoolwork versus listening to
music (and this uncertainty certainly seems to be increasing in light of his recent behaviour).
Might Ram look at his own behaviour to help him determine his thoughts and feelings, just as
he might look at the behaviour of others to understand why they act the way that they do? Self-
perception occurs when we use our own behaviour as a guide to help us determine our own
thoughts and feelings.
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Figure: Self-perception

We can use the principles of self-perception to help understand how Ram is interpreting
his behaviour of staying out all night at the music club rather than studying. When Ram looks
at this behaviour, he may start to wonder why he engaged in it. One answer is that the social
situation caused the behaviour; that is, he might decide that the band he heard last night was
so fantastic that he simply had to go hear them and could not possibly have left the music club
early. Blaming the situation for the behaviour allows him to avoid blaming himself for it and to
avoid facing the fact that he found listening to music more important than his schoolwork. But
the fact that Ram is a bit worried about his unusual behaviour suggests that he, at least in part,
might be starting to wonder about his own motivations.

Perhaps you have experienced the effects of self-perception. Have you ever found yourself
becoming more convinced about an argument you were making as you heard yourself making
it? Or did you ever realize how thirsty you must have been as you quickly drank a big glass of
water? Research has shown that self-perception occurs regularly and in many different domains.

For instance, if people who were asked to shake their heads up and down rather than
sideways while reading arguments favouring or opposing tuition increases at their school ended
up agreeing with the arguments more, and when people were told by the experimenter to say
that certain cartoons were funny, they ended up actually finding those cartoons funnier. It
appears in these cases that people looked at their own behaviour: if they moved their head up
and down or said that the cartoons were funny, they figured that they must agree with the
arguments and like the cartoon.
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4.3 CREATING INSUFFICIENT JUSTIFICATION AND

OVER JUSTIFICATION
One common finding in social psychology is that people frequently do not realize the
extent to which behaviour is influenced by the social situation. Although this is particularly true
for the behaviour of others, in some cases it may apply to understanding our own behaviour as
well. This means that, at least in some cases, we may believe that we have chosen to engage
in a behaviour for personal reasons, even though external, situational factors have actually led
us to it. When the social situation actually causes our behaviour, but we do not realize that the
social situation was the cause, we call the phenomenon insufficient justification. Insufficient
justification occurs when the threat or reward is actually sufficient to get the person to engage
in or to avoid a behaviour, but the threat or reward is insufficient to allow the person to conclude
that the situation caused the behaviour.

Figure: Insufficient justification

Although insufficient justification leads people to like something less because they
(incorrectly) infer that they did not engage in a behaviour due to internal reasons, it is also
possible that the opposite may occur. People may in some case come to like a task less when
they perceive that they did engage in it for external reasons. Over justification occurs when
we view our behaviour as caused by the situation, leading us to discount the extent to which
our behaviour was actually caused by our own interest in it.
 69

Figure: Over justification

The over justification phenomenon was studied by leading some children to think that
they engaged in an activity for a reward rather than because they simply enjoyed it. First, they
placed some fun felt-tipped markers into the classroom of the children they were studying. The
children loved the markers and played with them right away. Then, the markers were taken out
of the classroom and the children were given a chance to play with the markers individually at
an experimental session with the researcher. At the research session, the children were randomly
assigned to one of three experimental groups. One group of children (the expected reward
condition) was told that if they played with the markers they would receive a good-drawing
award. A second group (the unexpected reward condition) also played with the markers and
got the award—but they were not told ahead of time that they would be receiving the award (it
came as a surprise after the session). The third group (the no reward condition) played with the
markers too but got no award. Then, the researchers placed the markers back in the classroom
and observed how much the children in each of the three groups played with them. The
fascinating result was that the children who had been led to expect a reward for playing with
the markers during the experimental session played with the markers less at the second session
than they had at the first session. Expecting to receive the award at the session had undermined
their initial interest in the markers.

Although this might not seem logical at first, it is exactly what is expected on the basis of
the principle of over justification. When the children had to choose whether to play with the
markers when the markers reappeared in the classroom, they based their decision on their
own prior behaviour. The children in the no reward condition group and the children in the
unexpected reward condition group realized that they played with the markers because they
70

liked them. Children in the expected award condition group, however, remembered that they
were promised a reward for the activity before they played with the markers the last time.
These children were more likely to infer that they play with the markers mostly for the external
reward, and because they did not expect to get any reward for playing with the markers in the
classroom, they discounted the possibility that they enjoyed playing the markers because they
liked them. As a result, they played less frequently with the markers compared with the children
in the other groups.

This research suggests that, although giving rewards may in many cases lead us to
perform an activity more frequently or with more effort, reward may not always increase our
liking for the activity. In some cases, reward may actually make us like an activity less than we
did before we were rewarded for it. And this outcome is particularly likely when the reward is
perceived as an obvious attempt on the part of others to get us to do something. When children
are given money by their parents to get good grades in school, they may improve their school
performance to gain the reward. But at the same time their liking for school may decrease. On
the other hand, rewards that are seen as more internal to the activity, such as rewards that
praise us, remind us of our achievements in the domain, and make us feel good about ourselves
as a result of our accomplishments, are more likely to be effective in increasing not only the
performance of, but also the liking of, the activity.

In short, when we use harsh punishments we may prevent a behaviour from occurring.
However, because the person sees that it is the punishment that is controlling the behaviour,
the person’s attitudes may not change. Parents who wish to encourage their children to share
their toys or to practice the piano therefore would be wise to provide “just enough” external
incentive. Perhaps a consistent reminder of the appropriateness of the activity would be enough
to engage the activity, making a stronger reprimand or other punishment unnecessary. Similarly,
when we use extremely positive rewards, we may increase the behaviour but at the same time
undermine the person’s interest in the activity.

The problem, of course, is finding the right balance between reinforcement and over
reinforcement. If we want our child to avoid playing in the street, and if we provide harsh
punishment for disobeying, we may prevent the behaviour but not change the attitude. The
child may not play in the street while we are watching but may do so when we leave. Providing
less punishment is more likely to lead the child to actually change his or her beliefs about the
appropriateness of the behaviour, but the punishment must be enough to prevent the undesired
 71

behaviour in the first place. The moral is clear: if we want someone to develop a strong attitude,
we should use the smallest reward or punishment that is effective in producing the desired
behaviour.

4.4 THE EXPERIENCE OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE CAN

CREATE ATTITUDE CHANGE
Let us again take the example of Ram and imagine that we now discover that over the
next two weeks he has spent virtually every night at clubs listening to music rather than studying.
And these behaviours are starting to have some severe consequences: he just found out that
he’s failed his biology midterm. How will he ever explain that to his parents? What were at first
relatively small discrepancies between self-concept and behaviour are starting to snowball,
and they are starting to have more affective consequences. Ram is realizing that he’s in big
trouble—the inconsistencies between his prior attitudes about the importance of schoolwork
and his behaviour are creating some significant threats to his positive self-esteem. According
to the self-awareness theory, this discomfort that occurs when we behave in ways that we see
as inconsistent, such as when we fail to live up to our own expectations, is called cognitive
dissonance. The discomfort of cognitive dissonance is experienced as pain, showing up in a
part of the brain that is particularly sensitive to pain—the anterior cingulate cortex.

Figure: Cognitive Dissonance

To demonstrate the extent to which behaviours that are discrepant from our initial beliefs
can create cognitive dissonance and can influence attitudes (Festinger, Carlsmith, 1959). College
students participated in an experiment in which they were asked to work on a task that was
incredibly boring (such as turning pegs on a peg board) and lasted for a full hour. After they had
72

finished the task, the experimenter explained that the assistant who normally helped convince
people to participate in the study was unavailable and that he could use some help persuading
the next person that the task was going to be interesting and enjoyable. The experimenter
explained that it would be much more convincing if a fellow student rather than the experimenter
delivered this message and asked the participant if he would be willing do to it. Thus with his
request the experimenter induced the participants to lie about the task to another student, and
all the participants agreed to do so.

The experimental manipulation involved the amount of money the students were paid to
tell the lie. Half of the students were offered a large payment ($20) for telling the lie, whereas
the other half were offered only a small payment ($1) for telling the lie. After the participants
had told the lie, an interviewer asked each of them how much they had enjoyed the task they
had performed earlier in the experiment. Festinger and Carlsmith found that the students who
had been paid $20

for saying the tasks had been enjoyable rated the task as very boring, which indeed it
was. In contrast, the students who were paid only $1 for telling the lie changed their attitude
toward the task and rated it as significantly more interesting.

Festinger explained the results of this study in terms of consistency and inconsistency
among cognitions. He hypothesized that some thoughts might be dissonant, in the sense that
they made us feel uncomfortable, while other thoughts were more consonant, in the sense that
they made us feel good. He argued that people may feel an uncomfortable state (which he
called cognitive dissonance) when they have many dissonant thoughts—for instance, between
the idea that (a) they are smart and decent people and (b) they nevertheless told a lie to
another student for only a small payment.

Festinger argued that the people in his experiment who had been induced to lie for only
$1 experienced more cognitive dissonance than the people who were paid $20 because the
latter group had a strong external justification for having done it whereas the former did not.
The people in the $1 condition, Festinger argued, needed to convince themselves that that the
task was actually interesting to reduce the dissonance they were experiencing.
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Figure: Cognitive dissonance and attitude change

Although originally considered in terms of the inconsistency among different cognitions,

Festinger’s theory has also been applied to the negative feelings that we experience when
there is inconsistency between our attitudes and our behaviour, and particularly when the
behaviour threatens our perceptions of ourselves as good people. Thus Ram is likely feeling
cognitive dissonance because he has acted against his better judgment and these behaviours
are having some real consequences for him. The dissonant thoughts involve (a) his perception
of himself as a hardworking student, compared with (b) his recent behaviours that do not
support that idea. Our expectation is that Ram will not enjoy these negative feelings and will
attempt to get rid of them.

4.5 WE REDUCE DISSONANCE BY DECREASING

DISSONANT OR BY INCREASING CONSONANT COGNITIONS
Because Ram’s perception of himself as a hardworking student is now in jeopardy, he is
feeling cognitive dissonance and will naturally try to reduce these negative emotions. He can
do so in a number of ways. One possibility is that Ram could simply change his behavior by
starting to study more and go out less. If he is successful in doing this, his dissonance will
clearly be reduced and he can again feel good about himself. But it seems that he has not
been very successful in this regard—over the past weeks he has continually put off studying
for listening to music. A second option is to attempt to reduce his dissonant cognitions—those
that threaten his self-esteem. Perhaps he might try to convince himself that he has failed only
one test and that he didn’t expect to do very well in biology anyway. If he can make the negative
behaviors seem less important, dissonance will be reduced.
74

But Ram has a third option: even if he cannot change his behavior and even if he knows
that what he’s doing has negative consequences, he can create new consonant cognitions to
counteract the dissonant cognitions. For instance, Ram might try to convince himself that he is
going to become an important record producer some day and that it is therefore essential that
he attend many concerts. When Ram takes this route he changes his beliefs to be more in line
with his behavior, and the outcome is that he has now restored attitude consistency. His behaviors
no longer seem as discrepant from his attitudes as they were before, and when consistency is
restored, dissonance is reduced. What the principles of cognitive dissonance suggest, then, is
that we may frequently spend more energy convincing ourselves that we are good people than
we do thinking of ourselves accurately. Of course we do this because viewing ourselves
negatively is painful.

Figure: Dissonant Cognitions

4.6 COGNITIVE DISSONANCE IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Cognitive dissonance is an important social psychological principle that can explain how
attitudes follow behavior in many domains of our everyday life. For instance, people who try
but fail to quit smoking cigarettes naturally suffer lowered self-esteem. But rather than accepting
this negative feeling, they frequently attempt to engage in behaviors that reduce dissonance.
They may try to convince themselves that smoking is not that bad: “My grandfather smoked
but lived to be 93 years old!” “I’m going to quit next year!” Or they may try to add new consonant
cognitions: “Smoking is fun; it relaxes me.” You can see that these processes, although making
us feel better about ourselves at least in the short run, may nevertheless have some long-term
negative outcomes.
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Figure: Cognitive Dissonance in everyday life

Aronson and Mills (1959), studied whether the cognitive dissonance created by an initiation
process could explain how much commitment students felt to a group they were part of. In their
experiment, female college students volunteered to join a group that would be meeting regularly
to discuss various aspects of the psychology of sex. According to random assignment, some
of the women were told that they would be required to perform an embarrassing procedure
before they could join the group (they were asked to read some obscene words and some
sexually oriented passages from a novel in public), whereas other women did not have to go
through this initiation. Then all the women got a chance to listen to the group’s conversation,
which turned out to be very boring.

Aronson and Mills found that the women who had gone through the embarrassing
experience subsequently reported more liking for the group than those who had not, and Gerard
and Matthewson (1966) found that having to take some electrical shocks as part of an initiation
process had the same effect. Aronson and Mills argued that the more effort an individual
expends to become a member of the group (e.g., a severe initiation), the more he or she will
become committed to the group in order to justify the effort put in during the initiation. The idea
is that the effort creates dissonant cognitions (e.g., “I did all this work to join the group”), which
are then justified by creating more consonant ones (e.g., “Okay, this group is really pretty fun”).
The women who spent little effort to get into the group were able to see the group as the dull
and boring conversation that it was. The women who went through the more severe initiation,
however, succeeded in convincing themselves that the same discussion was a worthwhile
experience. When we put in effort for something—an initiation, a big purchase price, or even
some of our precious time—we will likely end up liking the activity more than we would have if
the effort had been less. Even the effort of having to fill out a purchase agreement for a
product, rather than having the salesperson do it for you, creates commitment to the purchase
and a greater likelihood of staying in the deal.
76

Another time you may have experienced the negative affective state of cognitive
dissonance is after you have made an important and irrevocable decision. Imagine that you
are about to buy a new car and you have narrowed your search to a small new car and a larger
(but much cheaper) used car. The problem is that you can see advantages and disadvantages
to each. For instance, the smaller car would get better gas mileage, but the larger car—because
it is used—is cheaper. Imagine, however, that you finally decide to buy the larger car because
you feel that you really don’t have enough money for the new car.

That night, you’re lying in bed and wondering about your decision. Although you’ve enjoyed
driving the big car that you have just purchased, you’re worried about rising gas costs, the
negative impact of the big car on the environment, and the possibility that the car might need
a lot of repairs. Have you made the right decision? This “buyer’s remorse” can be interpreted
in terms of post decisional dissonance—the feeling of regret that may occur after we make
an important decision. However, the principles of dissonance predict that once you make the
decision—and regardless of which car you choose—you will convince yourself that you made
the right choice. Since you have chosen the larger car, you will likely begin to think more about
the positive aspects of the choice that you have made (what you are going to be able to do with
the money you saved, rather than how much more it is going to cost to fill up the gas tank), and
at the same time you will likely downplay the values of the smaller car.

Figure: Post-decisional dissonance

Brehm (1956) posed as a representative of a consumer testing service and asked women
to rate the attractiveness and desirability of several kinds of appliances, such as toasters and
 77

electric coffee makers. Each woman was told that as a reward for having participated in the
survey, she could have one of the appliances as a gift. She was given a choice between two of
the products she had rated as being about equally attractive. After she made her decision, her
appliance was wrapped up and given to her. Then, 20 minutes later, each woman was asked to
re-rate all the products. Brehm found that the women rated the appliance that they had chosen
and been given as a gift higher than they had the first time. And the women also lowered their
rating of the appliance they might have chosen but decided to reject. These results are of
course consistent with the principles of cognitive dissonance—post decisional dissonance is
reduced by focusing on the positive aspects of the chosen product and the negative aspects of
the rejected product.

What research on cognitive dissonance suggests, then, is that people who are
experiencing dissonance will generally try to reduce it. If we fail to lose the weight we wanted
to lose, we decide that we look good anyway. If we cheat on an exam, we decide that cheating
is okay or common. If we hurt other people’s feelings, we may even decide that they are bad
people who deserve our negative behavior. To escape from feeling poorly about themselves,
people will engage in quite extraordinary rationalizing. No wonder that most of us believe the
statement, “If I had it all to do over again, I would not change anything important.”

Of course, the tendency to justify our past behavior has positive outcomes for our affect.
If we are able to convince ourselves that we can do no wrong, we will be happier—at least for
today. But the desire to create positive self-esteem can lead to a succession of self-justifications
that ultimately result in a chain of irrational actions. The irony is that to avoid thinking of ourselves
as bad or immoral, we may set ourselves up for more immoral acts. Once Joachim has convinced
himself that his schoolwork is not important, it may be hard to pick it up again. Once a smoker
has decided it is okay to smoke, she may just keep smoking. If we spend too much time
thinking positively about ourselves we will not learn from our mistakes; nor will we grow or
change. In order to learn from our behavior, it would be helpful to learn to tolerate dissonance
long enough to examine the situation critically and dispassionately. We then stand a chance of
breaking out of the cycle of action followed by justification, followed by more action.

There is still another potential negative outcome of dissonance: when we have to make
choices we may feel that we have made poor ones. Schwartz (2004) has argued that having
too many choices can create dissonance and thus the opportunity for regret. When we go to
the store and have to pick only one out of 30 different types of chocolates, we have more
78

opportunities for post decisional dissonance. Although it seems like being allowed to choose
would be a good thing, people report being happier when they are given a free gift than when
they are given a choice between two similar gifts and have to reject one of them.

4.7 POSITIVE SELF-ESTEEM REDUCES DISSONANCE

We have seen that the experience of cognitive dissonance can influence our thoughts
and feelings about an attitude object by making us feel uncomfortable about our own behaviors.
The discrepant behavior causes our sense of self-worth to be lowered, which then causes us
to change our attitudes to feel better about ourselves.

Discrepant behavior ’! lowered self-worth ’! changes in thoughts and feelings

Figure: Importance of self-esteem in reducing dissonance

Imagine that immediately after you did something dishonest, but before you had a chance
to try to reduce the dissonance you were experiencing, you were able to remind yourself of the
fact that you had recently done something else very positive—perhaps you had recently spent
some time volunteering at a homeless shelter or gotten a really high score on an important
exam. Would the possibility of boosting your self-esteem in this other, but unrelated, domain
make it unnecessary for you to engage in dissonance reduction? Could you say, “Well, it’s true
that I cheated, but I’m really a fine, intelligent, and generous person.” Research has demonstrated
that this is the case. If we can affirm our self-worth, even on dimensions that are not related to
the source of the original dissonance, the negative feelings we experience are reduced and so
is the tendency to justify our attitudes.
 79

Just as finding ways to affirm our self-esteem should reduce cognitive dissonance, threats
to our self-esteem should increase it. Because cognitive dissonance poses a threat to one’s
self-esteem, people who are more motivated by self-concern should show bigger changes in
their thoughts and feelings after they engage in a discrepant behavior than should those who
are less motivated by self-concern.

Figure: Affirmation of self-esteem

Following the research of Brehm (1956), Heine and Lehman (1997) conducted an
experiment to determine if threats to self-esteem would increase the magnitude of the
dissonance-reduction effect, and if dissonance reduction would also occur for Japanese students
as they had previously been found in students from Western samples. They expected that
there would be less need for dissonance reduction in the Japanese than in Western students
because the Japanese (and other Easterners) were less motivated overall to maintain a positive
self-image.

In their study, 71 Canadian and 71 Japanese participants were first asked to take a
personality test. According to random assignment to conditions, one-third of the sample in
each country were led to believe that they had scored much higher on the test than did the
other participants and thus that they had “positive” personalities (the positive feedback condition).
Another third of the sample (the negative feedback condition) were led to believe that they had
scored more poorly on the test than average, and the final third (the control condition) were not
given any feedback on their personality test scores.
80

Then all participants rated the desirability of 10 compact discs (which were known to be
popular in both Canada and Japan) and were asked to choose between their fifth-and sixth-
rated CDs as compensation for their participation. Finally, after choosing one of the CDs, the
participants were asked to again rate their liking for the CDs. The change in the ratings from
before choice to after choice, which would have occurred if the participants increased their
liking of the CD they had chosen or decreased their liking of the CD they had rejected, was the
dependent measure in the study.

The researchers found a significant interaction between culture and personality feedback.
The pattern of means showed that the feedback mattered for the Canadian participants—the
difference in the ratings of the chosen versus the rejected CD (the “spread of alternatives”)
increased from the positive to the control to the negative feedback conditions. However, there
was no significant simple effect of feedback for the Japanese students, nor did they show a
significant spread of alternatives in any feedback condition.

However, other researchers have found that individuals from collectivistic cultures do
show dissonance effects when they are focused on their relationships with others. For instance,
Kitayama, Snibbe, Markus, and Suzuki (2004) found that East Asian participants experienced
dissonance particularly when they were asked to think about a close friend who had made a
dissonance-creating decision. Such a result would be expected because behaviors that involve
more other-oriented, collectivistic outcomes should be more important for these people. Indeed,
research has found that advertisements that are framed in terms of personal benefits (e.g.,
“Use this breath mint!”) are more persuasive in individualistic cultures, whereas ads that
emphasize family or in-group benefits (e.g., “Share this breath mint with your friends!”) are
more persuasive in collectivistic cultures (Han & Shavitt, 1994).

Although dissonance is most likely when our behavior violates our positive self-concept,
attitude change can occur whenever our thoughts and behaviors are inconsistent, even if the
self-concept is not involved. For instance, Harmon-Jones and his colleagues (Harmon-Jones,
 81

Brehm, Greenberg, Simon, & Nelson, 1996) had people drink an unpleasant-tasting beverage
(Kool-Aid made with vinegar instead of sugar) and then write down on a small slip of paper,
which they then immediately crumpled up and threw away, a statement saying that they really
liked the drink. Harmon-Jones and his colleagues found that even though the lie could not
possibly harm anyone, the act of lying nevertheless made the participants express more positive
attitudes toward the drink. It appears that even lying to oneself about something relatively
unimportant can produce dissonance and change attitudes (Prislin & Pool, 1996; Stone, 1999).

Salespeople make use of psychological principles, including self-perception and cognitive

dissonance, to encourage people to buy their products, often in ways that seem less than
completely open and ethical. Informed consumers are aware of such techniques, including the
foot-in-the-door technique, the low-ball technique, and the bait-and-switch

ech
tnique.

Figure: Foot-in-the Door Technique Figure: Bait-switch Technique

Figure: Low-ball Technique

4.8 SUMMARY
 As predicted by the principle of attitude consistency, if we engage in an unexpected or
unusual behavior, our thoughts and feelings toward that behavior are likely to change.

 Self-perception occurs when we use our own behavior as a guide to help us determine
our thoughts and feelings.
82

 Self-perception can lead to either insufficient justification—the perception that there was
not enough external threat to avoid engaging in a behavior—or over-justification—the
perception that our behavior was caused primarily by external factors.

 Principles of self-perception suggest that to create true attitude change we should avoid
using too much punishment or too much reward.

 Cognitive dissonance refers to the discomfort that occurs when we behave in ways that
we see as inappropriate, such as when we fail to live up to our own expectations

 Dissonance is reduced by changing behavior, by reducing dissonant cognitions, or by

creating new consonant cognitions to counteract the dissonant cognitions.

 Dissonance is observed in many everyday experiences, including initiation and the

experience of post-decisional dissonance.

 Engaging in dissonance reduction has many positive outcomes for our affect but may
lead to harmful self-justifications and irrational actions.

 Because dissonance involves self-concern, it is stronger when we do not feel very positively
about ourselves and may be stronger in Western than in Eastern cultures.

· Marketers use the principles of dissonance in their attempts at persuasion. Examples are
the foot-in-the-door technique, low-balling, and the bait-and-switch technique.

4.9 KEY WORDS

Self-perception: It is a theory which describes that people knows their attitude by
understanding and interpreting their own behavior.

Cognitive dissonance: It is an internal state which occur when there is an inconsistent

between one attitude and another attitude or behavior.

Post decisional dissonance: The feeling of regret that may occur after we make an
important decision.

Foot-in-the-door technique: It a compliance tactics where a small request is asked to

a person first which follows with a larger request later.
 83

Bait &Switch: It is an advertising technique where a bargain-prices item is used to

attract a customer then they are encouraged to buy a more expensive similar items.

Low-ball technique: It is a selling technique where a service or product is offered at low

price initially to attract a customer then increase the price.

4.10 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. We can often predict people’s _____________if we know their thoughts and their feelings
about the attitude object.

2. People have an avid interest in understanding the causes of behaviour, both theirs and
others, and doing so helps meet the important goals of other-concern and
_______________.

3. ____________________occurs when we use our own behaviour as a guide to help us

determine our own thoughts and feelings.

4. When the social situation actually causes our behaviour, but we do not realize that the
social situation was the cause, we call the phenomenon _______________________.

5. ______________________occurs when we view our behaviour as caused by the situation,

leading us to discount the extent to which our behaviour was actually caused by our own
interest in it.

6. The discomfort that occurs when we behave in ways that we see as inconsistent, such as
when we fail to live up to our own expectations, is called ____________________.

7. ____________________ is the feeling of regret that may occur after we make an important
decision.

8. Discrepant behavior ’! lowered ______________ ’! changes in thoughts and feelings

9. Many salespeople make use of psychological principles, including ________________

and cognitive dissonance, to encourage people to buy their products.

10. Marketers use the principles of dissonance such as the_________________________,

low-balling, and the bait-and-switch technique in their attempts at persuasion.
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4. 11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Behaviour

2. Self-concern

3. Self-perception

4. Insufficient justification

5. Over justification

6. Cognitive dissonance

7. Post decisional dissonance

8. Self-worth

9. Self-perception

10. Foot-in-the-door technique

4.12 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. How does positive self-esteem help reduce dissonance?

2. Discuss how dissonance affects our everyday life.

3. Can we reduce dissonance by decreasing dissonant or by increasing consonant

cognitions? Justify.

4. Explain the role of cognitive dissonance in attitude change.

5. Does changing attitude change behaviour? Illustrate with an example.

6. How can you reduce cognitive dissonance?

7. Describe the role of self-perception in attitude and behaviour link.

REFERENCES
 Cooper, J. M. (2007). Cognitive dissonance: 50 years of a classical theory. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage; Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston, IL:
Row, Peterson; Harmon-Jones, E., & Mills, J. (1999). Cognitive dissonance: Progress on
a pivotal theory in social psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
 85

 Baron, R. A., Byrne, D., and Branscombe, N. R. (2006). Social Psychology. (11th edition,
Indian print).

 Feldman, R. S. (2001). Social Psychology. Prentice Hall.

 Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., Akert, R.M., (2007). Social Psychology. (6th ed.), New Jersey
: Pearson Education Prentice Hall.

 Baumeister, R.F., and Busnman, B.J. (2008). Social Psychology and Human Nature.
International student edition, Thomson Wadworth USA.

 Delamater, J.D., and Myers, D.J., (2007). Social Psychology. (6th ed.), Thomason
Wadworth International student edition, USA.

 Taylor, S.E., Peplau, L.A., and Sears, D.O., (2006). Social Psychology. (12th ed.). New
Delhi: Pearson Education
86

LESSON – 5
THE MEASUREMENT OF ATTITUDES

INTRODUCTION
In previous lesson we study about attitude and cognitive dissonance. Attitude measurement
is performed frequently by various fields such as sociologist, economist, and marketers for
different purposes. Attitude cannot be measured easily like other psychological constructs.
This lesson teaches the different methods of attitude measurement developed by the research
workers.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the concept of attitude measurement

 Identify the different methods of attitude measurement

 Describe the explicit measurement technique/ direct self-report method of measurement

 List down the classic methods of measurement

 Provide the advantages and disadvantages of these methods

 Give the alternatives to direct measurement

 Discuss the notion of social desirability response bias

 Describe the implicit method of measurement

PLAN OF STUDY
5.1 Introduction

5.2 Methods of Attitude Measurement

5.2.1 The Judgement Method
5.2.2 The Method of Summated Rating
5.2.3 The Method of Scalogram Analysis
5.2.4 The Method of Rating
5.2.5 The Unfolding Technique
5.2.6 The Method of Latent Structure Analysis
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5.3 Explicit Measurement Technique/ Direct Self-Report Methods

5.3.1 Classic Self-Report Measurement Methods

5.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of These Methods

5.5 Alternatives to Direct Self Reports

5.5.1 The Notion of Social Desirability Response Bias

5.6 Implicit Measurement Techniques

5.6.1 Unobtrusive Behavioural Observation

5.6.2 Response Latency

5.6.3 Physiological Measures of Attitudes

5.7 Summary

5.8 Key Words

5.9 Check Your Progress

5.10 Answers to Check Your Progress

5.11 Model Questions

5.1 INTRODUCTION
Attitude measurement is pervasive. Social psychologists routinely measure attitudes when
studying their causes, how they change and then impact on cognition and behavior. Attitude
measurement is also frequently done by political scientists, sociologists, economists, and other
academics. Commercial market researchers are constantly engaged in measuring attitudes
toward real and imagined consumer products and services. Beginning in the 1990s, all agencies
of the U.S. federal government initiated surveys to measure attitudes towards the services
they provided. And the news media regularly conduct and report surveys assessing public
attitudes towards wide range of objects. One of the most consequential examples is the routine
measurement of Americans’ approval of their president.

To gauge people’s attitudes, researchers have used a wide variety of measurement

techniques. These techniques have varied across history, and they vary across professions
today. This variation is due to both varying philosophies of optimal measurement and varying
availability of resources that limit assessment procedures. When attitude measurement was
first formalized, the pioneering scholars presumed that an attitude could be accurately assessed
88

only using a large set of questions that were selected via an elaborate procedure (e.g., Likert,
1932; Thurstone, 1928). But today, attitudes are most often assessed using single questions
with relatively simple wordings and structures and the variability of the approaches is striking,
suggesting that there is not necessarily one optimal way, to achieve the goal of accurate
measurement.

Recently, however scholars have begun to recognise that the accumulating literature
points to clear advantages and disadvantages of various assessment approaches so there
may in fact be ways to optimize measurement by making good choices among the available
tools. Furthermore, some challenging puzzles have appeared in the literature on attitude
measurement that is stimulating a reevaluation of widely shared presumptions. This makes
the present a particularly exciting time for reconsidering the full range of issues relevant to
attitude measurement.

Attitudes like all psychological constructs, are latent, we cannot observe them directly.
So attitude measurement depends on those attitudes being revealed in overt responses either
verbal or nonverbal. We, therefore turn next to outlining the process by which we believe
attitudes are expressed so we can harness those processes to accurately gauge the construct.

5.2 METHODS OF ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT

The different methods of attitude measurement developed by the research workers have
been arranged by into six main categories:

 The Judgement Method

 The Method of Summated Ratings

 The Method of Scalogram Analysis

 The Rating Method

 The Unfolding Technique

 The Method of Latent Structure Analysis

Other methods of measuring attitudes are the Projective Techniques developed by

psychologists whose approach is largely analytical, and a technique based on the measurement
of perspiration level on the palm of the hand of a subject, which was recently reported by
psychologists of the Neo-Behaviourist school.
 89

5.2.1 THE JUDGEMENT METHOD

The Judgement methods of attitude testing are all varieties of a technique first reported
by Thurstone and Chave in 1929. The two main factors in the Judgement method are:

 The items must be scaled

 The respondents must be scored on the basis of their response to these items

The first step to be taken by investigators using this method is the definition of some
issue towards which attitudes might be measured such as, for example, attitudes towards the
church, towards conscription, towards people with HIV or towards war. The second step is the
collection of a number of statements which might be relevant towards the issue. These
statements are then presented to a number of independent judges who are asked to sort the
statements into piles ranging from very unfavourable to very favourable. This sorting of the
statements is very important for it is the agreement or disagreement of the judges about a
particular item which determines whether that item is to be retained or discarded. If, for example,
an item was classified by some judges as favourable and by other judges as unfavourable
such an item would be deemed to be ambiguous and it would be discarded. The final
questionnaire consists of a number of statements (usually about twenty) on which the judges
have reached a measure of agreement as showing degrees of favourableness or
unfavourableness towards the issue which is to be investigated. When the questionnaire is
presented to the respondent he is asked to check those items with which he agrees, and the
respondent’s final score on the attitude test is the average scale value of the items which he
has checked.

Figure: Judgement method

90

5.2.2 THE METHOD OF SUMMATED RATING

The method of Summated Ratings was developed by Likert in 1932. Although similar to
the Judgement Method in that it requires the definition of an issue and the collection of a
number of statements. Likert’s technique, according to Green, is based on methods then in
use in the mental testing field. Likert’s method dispenses with the use of judges and their task
of category sorting. The statements were presented direct to the subjects in a pilot group who
were asked to indicate their reactions within the five categories; strongly approve, approve,
undecided, disapprove, strongly disapprove, (5, 4, 3, 2, 1 scores respectively). After the pilot
survey had been scored items with a high correlation to the total score were retained as relevant
to the issue under consideration, whilst items not showing a high degree of correlation were
rejected as being poor statements. The resulting scale of attitudes was summated into a Rating
for or against a particular attitude. The relative merits of the Judgement Method as used by
Thurstone and Chave and the method of Summated Ratings as used by Likert are discussed
by Krech and Crutchfield s who conclude that from the point of scale construction neither
shows any appreciable advantage over the other, that the scoring of each method is
straightforward, that Likert’s method provides more information and is slightly more reliable,
but that there is little definitive evidence on the validity of the actual tests.

Figure: Example of method of Summated Ratings

5.2.3 THE METHOD OF SCALOGRAM ANALYSIS

The method of Scalogram Analysis was first reported by Guttman in 1944 and it is based
on the notion of a Social Distance Scale first designed by Bogardus in 1925. Bogardus, who
was trying to design a method of measuring attitudes towards ethnic groups, selected a number
of statements which indicated acceptance or non-acceptance of the particular racial group.
These statements were then arranged in an order of ascending prejudice and the respondent
asked to indicate which statements he would accept. The respondent’s attitude towards the
 91

particular ethnic group is then measured by the closeness of tolerated relationship. Although
the Bogardus scale elicits expression of the degree of feeling of social distance it is generally
accepted that there is a high correlation between the social distance feeling towards an object
and social and personal attitudes towards that object. In 1944 Guttman devised his own Social
Distance Scale by assembling the items in a cumulative form so that a person who responded
positively to, say, item four on the scale, responded positively to items below this point. The
Guttman method also included a Scalogram or mathematical model designed to ascertain the
relative degree of certainty.

Figure: Method of Scalogram

5.2.4 THE METHOD OF RATING

The method of Rating is a more general method in which a judge or judges rate the
individual’s attitude on the basis of data drawn from some or all of the following sources of
information: (i) non-verbal behaviour towards the object, (ii) verbal statements relating to the
object, (iii) secondary expressive clues, (iv) responses in clinical type interviews, (v) personal
documents, (vi) immediate experience, (vii) responses on’ projective tests’. Morgan suggests
that the Rating method is a crude and unreliable method and that, despite the possibility of
numerical assessment there is no method of telling how reliable the results may be. Green, on
the other hand expresses confidence in the Rating Method, suggesting that it’ introduces a
new aspect of reliability since different judges will undoubtedly give different ratings’9 but Green
advocates the use of some standardised interview rather than haphazard observation and
refers to Ebels 1951 study on’ Rater Reliability’.
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Figure: Example of Rating Scale

5.2.5 THE UNFOLDING TECHNIQUE

The Unfolding Technique was first presented in 1952 and it is, according to Green, a type
of Scalogram Analysis in which the respondent is again asked to rank the items in order of
preference on a scale ranging from strong disagreement to strong agreement. Each item is
viewed as having a fixed position (which is determined by the tester) on the scale; the
respondent’s replies are located as an average position on the scale and the tester can thus
show the relationship between the attitudes of several subjects. As yet practical methods of
analysis of such data have not been worked out. Green, while accepting this new tool for
attitude measurement, suggests that ‘the respondents could be asked to indicate which
statements were more pro than his own position and which were more con’ claiming that such
additional information would help in the unfolding process.

Figure: Example of the Unfolding Technique

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5.2.6 THE METHOD OF LATENT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

The method of Latent Structure Analysis was developed by Lazarsfeld in 1950 and is an
attempt to reformulate the theory of attitude measurement. Whereas the more usual definition
of an attitude is a syndrome of response consistency along a continuum, Lazarsfeld sees
attitude as a discrete variable having only a few values. The method of Latent Structure Analysis
resembles Factor Analysis and Green is of the opinion that Thurstone’s Multiple Factor Analysis
is a special case of the general latent structure model extended to continuous manifest variables.
The method involves the use of a mathematical model but it has been criticised on the grounds
of difficulty of item selection and statistical tests of goodness of fit; consequently few attempts
have been made to use the model. Green comments additionally that it is impossible to evaluate
the utility of the class model until more empirical evidence has accumulated.

During the past 30 years the majority of research workers seem to have used one form
or another of the ‘Judgement Method’, but recently the tendency has been towards a combined
approach using a combination of the Judgement Method and some form of Rating. It is perhaps
convenient to divide this research into two main categories: research concerned with attitudes
specifically directed towards education, and research directed towards more general social
attitudes.

Figure: Example of Latent structure analysis

5.3 EXPLICIT MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE/ DIRECT

SELF-REPORT METHODS
With this perspective on measurement theory established we can now turn to the
procedures available for measuring attitudes. We begin with a focus on direct self-reports that
involve asking participants explicitly to describe their own attitudes. Our discussion starts with
94

a review of the relatively cumbersome measurement techniques proposed by the pioneers of

attitude measurement nearly 70 years ago. Although widely appreciated these techniques are
rarely implemented these days, in favour of simpler practices. We, therefore, review a range of
guidelines for optimal building such simpler measures and identify sources of random and
systematic measurement error in responses to them.

5.3.1 CLASSIC SELF-REPORT MEASUREMENT METHODS

The origins of elaborate attitude measurement via direct self-reports lie in the work of
Louis

Thurstone (1928), Rensis Likert (1932), and Charles Osgood (Osgood’ Suci, &
Tannenbaun

(1957), each of these scholars developed a unique technique for measuring attitudes
with multiple self-report items that have strong face validity.

5.3.1.1 THURSTONE’S EQUAL APPEARING INTERVALS METHOD

The method of attitude measurement he proposed involved seven steps of materials

preparation

The first stage entailed gathering or generating between 100 and 150 statements of
favourable or unfavourable evaluations of an object.

 Next, this set is edited down to a set of 80 to 100 statements that seem to have the most
potential to perform effectively in lager stages.

 Then, between 200 and 300 judges place each statement into one of 11 pi1es, with the
piles defined as representing equally spaced points, along the evaluative continuum running
from extremely negative to extremely positive

 Next, each statement is assigned a numeric value from 1 to 11, representing the place at
which each participant placed it, and then the mean and variance of the numbers assigned
to each statement are calculated. Statements with large variances are interpreted in
different ways by different judges, so they are adopted from consideration.

 Then two or three statements with means very close to each point along the continuum
are selected, thus yielding a final battery with sets of statements that are equally spaced
from one another. At this point, the measure is ready for administration.
 95

 Participants are asked to read all the statements and to indicate those with which they
agree.

 Each participant is assigned an attitude score by averaging the mean scale values of the
statements that he or she endorses. Ideally, each participant agrees with just 2 or 3
statements pinpointing his or her place along the continuum.

Figure: Example of Equal Appearing Intervals

5.3.1.2 LIKERT’S METHOD OF SUMMATED RATINGS

Rensis Likert’s (1932) summated rating method is less labour intensive during the materials
preparation phase. First, the researcher prepares about 100 statements that express positions
either strongly favourable or unfavourable toward an object. In contrast to Thurstone’s method,
statements expressing neutrality are not included here. A set of pretest participants are then
given a set of five response options (strongly disagree, disagree undecided, agree, or strongly
agree) and are asked to choose one response to express their view of each statement. For
statements expressing favourable views of the object, responses are coded 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
respectively. For statements expressing unfavorable views of the object responses are coded
5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, respectively

Each pretest participant is then assigned a total score by summing his or her scores on
all of the items. Finally, for each item, each person’s score is correlated with his or her total
score, and items with low item-to-total correlations are dropped. Approximately 20 items with
the strongest correlations are retained for use in the final battery. When this final battery is later
administered to other samples, participants express their extent of agreement or disagreement
96

with each statement, and total scores are generated accordingly for each participant. This
procedure shares some of the spirit of Thurstone’s but involves a unique feature: assessment
of the validity of the each item via the item-to-total correlation.

Figure: Example of Summated Rating

5.3.1.3 OSGOOD, SUCI, AND TANNENBAUM’S SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL

The semantic differential is the simplest and easiest to administer of the landmark attitude
measurement techniques. Through extensive developmental research Osgood and his
colleagues identified a set of adjective pairs that represent the evaluative dimension, including
good-bad, valuable- worthless, wise-foolish, pleasant-unpleasant, and others. Each pair anchors
the ends of a 7-point rating scale, and participants select the point on each scale to indicate
their evaluation of the object.

Osgood, Suci, and Tannenbaun’s (1957) response scale consisted of a long horizontal
line, intersected by six short vertical lines dividing the horizontal line into seven sections. At the
two ends of each horizontal line were two antonyms, such as good and bad. Participants were
instructed to mark a spot on the horizontal line to evaluate the goodness or badness of an
object. In addition, Osgood et al. (1957) provided extensive instructions explaining the meanings
of all the points on the rating scale.

For example:

For a rating scale anchored on the ends by good and bad participants were told that the
end point labeled good meant extremely good, the next point over meant quite good, the next
point meant slightly good, the midpoint meant neither good nor bad/equally good and bad, the
next point meant slightly bad, and so on. The semantic differential is the foundational technique
used most often in research today, but it is typically administered not following Osgood et al.’s
(1957) procedure. Instead, the horizontal line is presented with no labels on any points except
 97

the end points and these end points are not labeled extremely (good instead of extremely good
and bad instead of extremely bad). Typically the scale points are scored 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7,
running from the most negative response to the most positive response and the participant’s
attitude scores the average of the scores he or she receives on each item in the battery.

Figure: Example of Semantic Differential Scale

5.4 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THESE METHODS

All three of these foundational methods involve the administration of a large set of
questions to measure a single attitude. Therefore, these approaches are time consuming and
demanding for participants. In addition, the Thurstone and Likert procedures entail a great
deal of preparatory work up front, prior to the administration of the battery to one’s focal sample
of participants.

However, these methods have at least two key advantages:

(1) First, administering many items yields a final score that contains less random measurement
error (Allison, 1975).

(2) Second, these procedures have the advantage of being built using empirical evidence of
convergence of interpretations across people and of correlational validity of the statements.
98

Unfortunately, the time pressures typical of most data collection efforts these days mean
that researchers find it difficult to justify expending the resources necessary to build and then
administer full-blown Thurstone, Likert, or Osgood rating batteries to measure a single attitude.

Therefore, most researchers measure attitudes using a very small number of questions
that have not been selected based on extensive pretesting and development work. This practice
means that there is a strong incentive to design these few items to yield maximally reliable and
valid assessments.

5.5 ALTERNATIVES TO DIRECT SELF REPORTS

Given that direct self-reports will only be valid if participants are willing to describe
themselves accurately, it is understandable that researchers have wondered whether
motivational forces might sometimes lead participants to abandon this goal and to misrepresent
themselves, creating a different sort of measurement error.

5.5.1 THE NOTION OF SOCIAL DESIRABILITY RESPONSE BIAS

The idea that research participants might lie to researchers is not an implausible proposition
to be sure. For example, DePaulo. Kashy, Kirkendol, Wyer, and Epstein (1996) had people
complete daily diaries in which they recorded any lies that they told during a 7 day period. On
average, people reported telling one lie per day, with some people telling many more, and 91%
of the lies involved misrepresenting oneself in some way. This evidence is in line with theoretical
accounts from sociology (Goffman, 1959) and psychology (Selenker & Weigold, 1989) asserting
that an inherent element of social interaction is constructing an image of oneself in the eyes of
others in pursuit of relevant goals. The fact that being viewed more favourably by others is
more likely to bring rewards and minimize punishments may motivate people to construct
favourable self-image.

There are, in fact, a number of reasons to believe that the motivation to lie when answering
questionnaires might be minimal. First, when filling out an anonymous questionnaire, no rewards
or punishments can possibly be at stake. And second, in most surveys and laboratory
experiments, the participants’ relationships with the researcher are so short-lived and superficial
that very little of consequence is at stake as well. Certainly, a small frown of disapproval from
a total stranger can cause a bit of discomfort, but little more than that. The cognitive task of
figuring out which response to each question one is asked will garner the most respect from
 99

researcher is likely to be demanding enough to be worth doing only when the stakes are
significant. So perhaps there is not much danger here after all.

Unfortunately, however, there is another potential source of systematic distortion in

responses to even self-administered anonymous questionnaires: self-deception. Not only do
people want to maintain favourable images of themselves in the eyes of others, but they also
want to have such images in their own eyes as well. According to many psychological analyses,
the pursuit of self-esteem is a basic human motive and it is driven party by such inevitable
realities as the prospect of death. So people may be motivated to convince themselves that
they are respectable, good people, and doing so may at times entail misconstrual of facts. If
people fool themselves in this way, then of course such misconstrual will find its way into
questionnaire responses, even when participants wan to accurately report their attitudes to an
interviewer and/or researcher. Obviously, it is a tricky business to fool oneself, because part of
the mind would need to know that it’s fooling another part. However, such deception can be so
automatic that people may not be aware of it at all.

5.6 IMPLICIT MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES

To overcome the problems with intentional and unintentional distortion of direct attitude
reports, much research has explored using measurement techniques that keep self-
presentational concerns from entering a person’s deliberation of his or her evaluation in the
first place. Such techniques have long history in attitude research, but have in recent years,
become more popular of the availability of the increasingly sophisticated technologies. We
shall discuss three of the implicit measures in this section: unobtrusive behavioural observation,
response latency and physiological measures.

5.6.1 UNOBTRUSIVE BEHAVIOURAL OBSERVATION

Unobtrusive measures are measures that don’t require the researcher to intrude in the
research context. Direct and participant observation requires that the researcher be physically
present. This can lead the respondents to alter their behaviour in order to look good in the eyes
of the researcher. A questionnaire is an interruption in the natural stream of behaviour.
Respondents can get tired of filling out a survey or resentful of the questions asked. Unobtrusive
measurement presumably reduces the biases that result from the intrusion of the researcher
or measurement instrument. However, unobtrusive measures reduce the degree the researcher
has control over the type of data collected. For some constructs there may simply not be any
available unobtrusive measures.
100

5.6.2 RESPONSE LATENCY

Response latency is the speed or ease with which a response to a survey question is
given after a respondent is presented with the question. It is used as an indicator of attitude
accessibility, which is the strength of the link between an attitude object and a respondent’s
evaluation of that object. While response latency has been used for some time in cognitive
psychology lab experiments, its use in surveys came about more recently. In telephone surveys,
response latency are measured in milliseconds as the elapsed time from when an interviewer
finishes reading a question until a respondent begins to answer.

Physiological measures are those that involve recording any of a wide variety of
physiological processes, including heart rate and blood pressure, galvanic skin response,
hormone levels, and electrical activity and blood flow in the brain.

Physiological measures indicate intensity and not direction. Physiological measures are
sensitive to variables other than attitudes, e.g., vigilance tasks lower heart rate, skin response
changes in the presence of novel or incongruous stimuli.

5.7 SUMMARY
The different methods of attitude measurement developed by the research workers have
been arranged by Green 6 into six main categories which he calls, the Judgement Method, the
Method of Summated Ratings, the Method of Scalogram Analysis, the Rating Method, the
Unfolding Technique and the Method of Latent Structure Analysis.

The semantic differential is the simplest and easiest to administer of the landmark attitude
measurement techniques.

Unobtrusive measures are measures that don’t require the researcher to intrude in the
research context.

Response latency is the speed or ease with which a response to a survey question is
given after a respondent is presented with the question.

Physiological measures are those that involve recording any of a wide variety of
physiological processes, including heart rate and blood pressure, galvanic skin response,
hormone levels, and electrical activity and blood flow in the brain.
 101

5.8 KEY WORDS

Attitude measurement: A procedure in which individuals’ attitudes and responses are
assigned quantitative values.

Judgement method: An issue is defined first then relevant statement about the issue
are collected. The statement are given to some independent judges and ask to sort the responses
from very unfavourable to very favourable to determines whether that item is to be retained or
discarded.

Summated rating: An issue is defined first then relevant statement about the issue are
collected. The responses are given to pilot group and ask to score the responses within the
five categories; strongly approve, approve, undecided, disapprove, strongly disapprove. Retain
the items with a high correlation to the total score which relevant to the issue and reject the
remaining.

Self-reports: This involve asking participants explicitly to describe their own attitudes.

Response latency: It is the speed or ease with which a response to a survey question is
given after a respondent is presented with the question.

5.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Attitude measurement is ____________________.

2. Attitude measurement depends on those attitudes being revealed in _________ responses

either verbal or nonverbal.

3. The first step to be taken in _____________ method by investigators using this method is
the definition of some issue towards which attitudes might be measured.

4. The method of Summated Ratings was developed by___________________.

5. The method of Scalogram Analysis is based on the notion of a ________________ scale.

6. The method of _______________is a more general method in which a judge or judges

rate the individual’s attitude on the basis of data drawn from some sources of information.

7. Each item in unfolding technique is viewed as having a fixed position on the scale; the
respondent’s replies are located as an ___________________ position on the scale and
the tester can thus show the relationship between the attitudes of several subjects.
102

8. The method of _________________________Analysis was developed by Lazarsfeld.

9. Likert’s method of summated ratings involves a unique feature: assessment of the validity
of the each item via the ________________correlation.

10. The ________________________is the simplest and easiest to administer of the landmark
attitude measurement techniques.

11. The fact that being viewed more favourably by others is more likely to bring rewards and
minimize punishments may motivate people to construct favourable ________________.

12. ________________________measures are those that involve recording any of a wide

variety of physiological processes, including heart rate and blood pressure, galvanic skin
response, hormone levels, and electrical activity and blood flow in the brain.

13. ___________________is the speed or ease with which a response to a survey question
is given after a respondent is presented with the question.

14. __________________are measures that don’t require the researcher to intrude in the
research context.

15. Measurement techniques that keep self-presentational concerns from entering a person’s
deliberation of his or her evaluation in the first place are called ________________.

5.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Pervasive

2. Overt

3. Judgement

4. Likert

5. Social Distance

6. Rating

7. Average

8. Latent Structure

9. Item-to-total

10. Semantic differential

11. Self-image
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12. Physiological measures

13. Response latency

14. Unobtrusive measures

15. Implicit Measurement

5.11 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. What are the different methods of attitude measurement?

2. Explain in detail the explicit methods of measurement techniques.

3. Discuss the implicit methods of measurement techniques.

4. What are the direct self-report methods of measurement?

5. Write short notes on social desirability response bias.

6. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of classic self-report measurement methods.

REFERENCES
 Bert F. Green, “Attitude Measurement,” Handbook of Social Psychology, ed. Gardner
Lindzey, Vol. 1 (Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1953), p. 335.

 D. Katz, “The Functional Approach to -The Study of Attitudes,” Public Opinion Quarterly,
24 (Summer 1960), pp. 163-204.

 D.T. Cambell, “The Indirect Assessment of Social Attitudes,” Psychological Bulletin, 47

(1950), pp. 15-38.

 Baron, R. A., Byrne, D., and Branscombe, N. R. (2006). Social Psychology. (11th edition,
Indian print).

 Feldman, R. S. (2001). Social Psychology. Prentice Hall.

 Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., Akert, R.M., (2007). Social Psychology. (6th ed.), New Jersey:
Pearson Education Prentice Hall.

 Baumeister, R.F., and Busnman, B.J. (2008). Social Psychology and Human Nature.
International student edition, Thomson Wadworth USA.
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LESSON – 6
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND PERSONALITY AS
SOCIAL PHENOMENON

INTRODUCTION
In previous lesson we saw that it is difficult to change the attitude. Dissonance theory
addresses the discrepancies between behaviour and attitudes, it addresses attitude change,
while the self-perception theory explains attitude formation. This lesson discusses how attitude
can be changed through different factors and self-affirmations.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the concept of cognitive dissonance

 Identify the difference between cognitive dissonance and attitude change

 Describe self-perception

 Compare between cognitive dissonance and self-perception theories

 Discuss about self affirmations

 Describe dissonance and physiological responses

PLAN OF STUDY
6.1 Cognitive Dissonance

6.2 Cognitive Dissonance and Attitude Change

6.3 Self-Perception

6.4 Comparison between Cognitive Dissonance and Self-Perception Theories

6.5 Self Affirmations

6.6 Dissonance and Physiological Responses

6.7 Summary

6.8 Key Words

6.9 Check Your Progress

6.10 Answers to Check Your Progress

6.11 Model Questions

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6.1 COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

One of the most influential approaches in social psychology having far reaching
implications is that human beings have a tendency to seek consistency in one’s cognitions
(attitudes, beliefs, self-perceptions). First introduced by Heider (1946), this principle of cognitive
consistency implies that our attitudes change because we are motivated to maintain consistency
among our cognitions.

This seemingly simple cognitive distance theory was proposed by Festinger (1957).
According to Festinger, we feel tension (‘dissonance’) when we become aware of two
simultaneous inconsistent cognitions. In order to reduce this unpleasant arousal, we often
adjust our thinking.

The classical example of cognitive dissonance can be found in the Aesop fable The Fox
and the Grapes, in which a fox sees some high-hanging grapes and wishes to eat them. After
several failed attempts at reaching the grapes, he decides that the grapes are probably not
worth eating anyway (that they are not yet ripe or that they are too sour).

Dissonance theory addresses the discrepancies between behaviour and attitudes. We

are aware of both. Hence, if we sense some hypocrisy, we feel pressure for change. In a
classic experiment done by Festinger and Carlsmith (1959), students were asked to spend an
hour on boring and tedious tasks (e.g. turning wooden knobs again and again). The tasks were
designed to generate a strong, negative attitude. After the subjects had finished, the
experimenters asked some of them

to do a ‘simple favour’. They were asked to talk to the next subject (actually the
experimenter’s assistant) and lie that the tasks were interesting and that he will enjoy it. Some
participants were paid $20 (a huge amount back in 1959) for this, another group was paid $1,
and a control group was not asked to perform the favour. In the end, the subjects were asked
to actually rate the boring tasks.

What do you think the results were? Answer the sentence given below as true/false:

The group that was paid $20 for lying thought that the tasks were more interesting than
those paid $1. (True or False)

If you thought the above was true, you are wrong! Contrary to operant conditioning
principles that big rewards produce big effects, those in the $1 group rated the task more
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positively than those in the $20 and control groups. This was explained by Festinger and
Carlsmith as evidence for cognitive dissonance: ‘I told someone that the task was interesting’,
and ‘I actually found it boring.’ When paid only $1, students were forced to internalize the
attitude they were induced to express, because it is unpleasant to say something that you don’t
feel. Those in the $20 condition, however, had an obvious external justification for their behaviour
(‘I lied because I was paid $20 to lie’), and thus experienced less dissonance. People paid only
small amounts of money have less justification for their inconsistency, tend to experience more
dissonance, and hence change their attitudes more. This is referred to as the less-leads-to-
more effect.

In 1969, Aronson reformulated the basic theory by linking it to one’s self concept. According
to this interpretation, cognitive dissonance does not arise because people experience dissonance
between contradictory cognitions. Instead, it occurs when people see their actions as conflicting
with their normally positive view of themselves. Thus, in the original Festinger and Carlsmith
study, the dissonance was between the cognition, ‘I am an honest person’ and the cognition, ‘I
lied to someone about finding the task interesting’.

One real life example of cognitive dissonance is smoking. It is widely accepted that
cigarettes can cause lung cancer, yet virtually everyone wants to live a long and healthy life.
The desire to live a long life is dissonant with the activity of doing something that will most likely
shorten one’s life. Smokers therefore should experience tension produced by these contradictory
ideas. Such tension can be reduced by quitting smoking, denying the evidence of lung cancer
(‘only very heavy smokers get lung cancer’; ‘my chances of dying in a road accident are higher
than that of dying from lung cancer’ etc.), or justifying one’s smoking (‘It helps me control my
weight’). Because it is often easier to make excuses than it is to change behaviour, dissonance
theory leads to the conclusion that humans rationalize rather than be rational.

Dissonance theory has implications for parenting. It suggests that parents should aim to
elicit desired behaviour without threats, thus motivating children to internalize the appropriate
attitudes: ‘I am not watching television because it’s more interesting to play outside’ as opposed
to ‘I am not watching television because my father will punish me if I do so’.

Another implication of the dissonance theory is after making decisions- post decision
dissonance. Let’s say you bought an expensive pair of sunglasses from a store. You are feeling
very happy because this is what you wanted to buy for a long time. After buying it, you see a
similar pair in another shop, priced at almost half the price you paid for it. What would you feel
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now? If you feel upset or anxious, you are experiencing post decision dissonance, dissonance
experienced after making a decision regarding the possibility of it being wrong. So what do you
do to reduce this dissonance? You might rationalize and change your perceptions: find additional
reasons or justifications to support your choice and make your decision seem more attractive
(assuming that the shop will not permit any return or exchange). You might decide that your
sunglasses are better— ‘the two are not really the same’, ‘the second shop might be selling
fake sunglasses, mine are real branded’ etc. This may not be true, but it would make you feel
better. After making important decisions, we usually reduce dissonance by upgrading the chosen
alternative and downgrading the unchosen one.

Some research suggests that dissonance can be used to generate hypocrisy as a powerful
tool for beneficial changes in people’s behaviour. When people fail to practice what they preach,
their act of hypocrisy can induce cognitive dissonance and the motivation to change their
behaviour. This has been demonstrated in several areas regarding health and safety. Thus
dissonance induced through hypocrisy can result in change in behaviour- for the better.

One important caveat: cultural factors influence the operation of cognitive dissonance.
Although dissonance occurs all around the world, it is less likely to influence attitudes in
collectivistic cultures like ours as compared to individualistic cultures like the United States.
After all, if your marriage is based on your parent’s choice, and you are not happy, you can say
to yourself ‘I didn’t like him in the first place. He was my parent’s choice’ as opposed to where
your marriage is based on personal choice. In case of latter, the possibility of making an incorrect
decision is perceived more as a threat to one’s own self: ‘How could I be so stupid?” as opposed
to ‘How could my parents be so stupid?’ Thus, the desire to engage in cognitively consistent
actions may not be uniform across cultures.

6.2 COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND ATTITUDE CHANGE

Attitudes as mentioned earlier are indeed difficult to change. But there are many ways in
which attitudes could also be changed. Many studies as for example that of Veen et al (2009),
demonstrated that attitude change also shows in the neural changes. They found that when
the person’s actions conflict with the prior attitudes, these often change the person’s attitudes
to be more consistent with their actions. This phenomenon, known as cognitive dissonance, is
considered to be one of the most influential theories in psychology. Using a Solomon four
group design, they scanned participants with functional MRI while the subjects argued that the
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uncomfortable scanner environment was nevertheless a pleasant experience. They found that
cognitive dissonance engaged the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula; they
also reported that the activation of these regions tightly predicted participants’ subsequent
attitude change. These effects were not observed in a control group. Their findings elucidate
the neural representation of cognitive dissonance, and support the role of the anterior cingulate
cortex in detecting cognitive conflict and the neural prediction of attitude change.

According to Festinger’s theory, there are basically two factors that affect the strength of
the dissonance, viz., (i) the number of dissonant beliefs, and (ii) the importance attached to
each belief.

Hence one can eliminate dissonance by the following methods:

1) Reduce the importance of the dissonant beliefs

2) Add more consonant beliefs that outweigh the dissonant beliefs.

3) Change the dissonant beliefs so that they are no longer inconsistent.

As mentioned earlier, Dissonance occurs when an individual has to make a choice between
two incompatible beliefs or actions. The dissonance created is very high when the two alternatives
are equally attractive. This is akin to approach –approach conflict which creates considerable
tension. Attitude change is more likely in the direction of less incentive as this result in lower
dissonance. These explanations could be very effectively used in attitude formation and change.

In regard to changing of attitude towards a certain community people, the integrated

housing scheme provides a good example of application of cognitive dissonance. When people
start living together, and have to interact with each other for various reasons, they get to know
each other and many ideas and beliefs about the other person belonging to a certain community
start changing considerably as experience shows that these people are not as the individual
thought them to be. In course of time with the changes in beliefs and ideas getting stronger the
individual is able to get over the negative attitude and change to a more positive attitude. This
is one way of changing attitude. Here dissonance is created by facts and figures and the
individual reduces the dissonance by changing his attitude.

To cite another example, consider someone who buys an expensive car but discovers
that it is not comfortable on long drives. Dissonance exists between their beliefs that they have
bought a good car and that a good car should be comfortable. Dissonance could be eliminated
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by deciding that it does not matter since the car is mainly used for short trips (reducing the
importance of the dissonant belief) or focusing on the cars strengths such as safety, appearance,
handling (thereby adding more consonant beliefs). The dissonance could also be eliminated
by getting rid of the car, but this behaviour is a lot harder to achieve than changing beliefs.

Thus the two most important principles of cognitive dissonance can be stated as that:

(i) Dissonance occurs when a person has to choose between contradictory attitudes and
behaviour.

(ii) Another principle is that the dissonance can be removed by changing the importance of
conflicting beliefs and acquiring new beliefs that change the balance or remove the
conflicting attitude or remove the conflicting behaviour.

6.3 SELF PERCEPTION

Self-perception theory (SPT) is an account of attitude change developed by psychologist
Daryl Bem. It asserts that people develop their attitudes by observing their behaviour and
concluding what attitudes must have caused them. The theory is counterintuitive in nature, as
the conventional wisdom is that attitudes come prior to behaviours. According to this theory,
attitudes come about without accessing the internal cognition and moods. The persons logically
reasons out and explain their overt behaviours rationally in the same way they attempt to
explain others’ behaviours. Bem was an early critic of cognitive dissonance theory. He proposed
self perception theory as an alternative explanation of the results of Festinger and Carlsmith’s
(1959) study. In other words, people form and develop attitudes by observing their own behaviour,
much as they use other people’s behaviour to infer what their underlying attitudes are.

Applying this principle to the Festinger and Carlsmith study, Bem argued that the
participants must be inferring their attitudes from their behaviour, without necessarily
experiencing any dissonance. Thus, when asked ‘Did you find the task interesting?’ they decided
that they must have found it interesting because that is what they told someone. To test this
hypothesis, Bem (1967) presented participants a description of the original study (You would
recall that a subject performed a boring task and then was paid either $1 or $20 to tell another
that it was fun and interesting). He then asked the participants to guess the person’s attitude
towards the task. The participants did guess that subjects in $1 condition would hold more of
task being boring than those in the $20 condition. Their reasons: the subject who was paid $20
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to say the task was interesting really was lying because he clearly did it for the money. However,
the subject who was paid $1 must have been honest, because such a small amount doesn’t
justify lying!

Thus, Bem’s theory and Festinger’s theory make identical predictions, but offer different
explanations. Dissonance theory predicts the presence of unpleasant tension or arousal, while
self perception theory suggests that no negative drive state is involved in attitude formation—
attitudes are inferred from behavior rather than the other way around. While dissonance theory
addresses attitude change, self perception theory explains attitude formation. Dissonance
theory explains what happens when we act contrary to clearly defined attitudes: we feel an
unpleasant tension, so we modify our attitudes to reduce it. In situations, where attitudes are
not well formed, self-perception theory explains attitude formation. As we act and then reflect,
we develop attitudes in line with our actions.

6.4 COMPARISON BETWEEN COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND

SELF PERCEPTION THEORIES
S.No. Cognitive Dissonance Theory Self Perception Theory

1 Attitudes directly known Attitudes are inferred from behaviour

2 Unpleasant affect necessary for No unpleasant affect involved in

attitude formation attitudeformation

3 Applicable when attitudes are Applicable when attitudes are weak orvague
clearly formed

4 Dissonance most likely when Self perception of attitudes is most

the attitude in question is likelywhen the attitude in question is
important to the self or the lessimportant to the self or the
attitude behavior discrepancy attitudebehaviour discrepancy is small
is substantial

Whether cognitive dissonance or self-perception is a more useful theory has raised

considerable debate. Based on a number of studies, it seems that both are correct, but in
different situations. Aronson (1969) suggests that the cognitive dissonance theory explains
attitude changes when people’s behaviours are inconsistent with their original attitudes which
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are clear and important to them; while the self-perception theory is used when those original
attitudes are relatively unclear and less important to the self. Since a large proportion of our
attitudes are vague, the self-perception theory is significant in interpreting one’s own attitudes.
Finally, it has also been demonstrated that both cognitive dissonance and self-perception could
co-exist.

Numerous studies support the self-perception theory, demonstrating that emotions do

follow behaviours. For example, when Laird (1974) asked college students to enact different
facial expressions, gazes and postures (to approximate happiness, sorrow, anger, etc.), they
did feel corresponding emotions. In the end of the experiment, subjects inferred and reported
their affections and attitudes from their practiced behaviours, despite being previously told to
act that way. This is also consistent with the James-Lange theory of emotion: first we act, and
then the acting creates the feeling. We feel angry because we scowl; we feel sad because we
cry, and so on. Based on findings like these, Duclos et al. (1989) proposed the facial feedback
hypothesis. This view holds that people’s emotions— and thus their attitudes— can be
manipulated by changing their facial expressions, body posture or other motor responses.

One interesting implication of the self perception theory is the over-justification effect:
rewarding people for what they like doing anyway decrease their internal motivation for doing
that task. According to the self-perception theory, people pay more attention to the incentive,
and less attention to the enjoyment and satisfaction that they receive from performing the
activity. An experiment to demonstrate this was done by Greene, Sternberg and Lepper (1976).
They played mathematical games with schoolchildren, which the children seemed to enjoy.
After a while, they started giving rewards for success. When they took away the rewards, the
children quickly gave up playing the games. Do you know why this happened? Because playing
became less about ‘fun’ and more about ‘work’.

6.5 SELF AFFIRMATION

Another interpretation of dissonance theory with a focus on one’s self image is Steele’s
self affirmation theory. According to Steele (1988), people are motivated to maintain the integrity
of the self. The ultimate goal of the self is to protect an image of its self-integrity, morality and
adequacy. These two premises lead to two implications:

(i) We experience a self-image threat, after acting in a manner inconsistent with our sense
of honesty or integrity.
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(ii) When our self concept is threatened, we often compensate by affirming another aspect
of the self. In other words, we can reduce ‘dissonance’ by affirming our integrity in some
other unrelated area of our lives.

As a result, these ‘self-affirmations’ enable people to deal with threatening events and
information in a more open and even-handed manner, without resorting to defensive biases.
For example, if you show me that I cannot sing, I’ll go and dance even more, which I know I’m
better at.

Besides reducing threats to the individual self, self-affirmations could also reduce threats
to the self at a collective level, i.e. when people confront some threatening opinions or humiliating
comments about the groups they belong to, such as nation or gender. For example, when
someone says ‘Women are lousy drivers as their spatial ability is inferior to men’, I often cite
evidence of women having better verbal and interpersonal abilities.

Individual and cultural differences have been reported in self-affirmations. For e.g. people
with high and secure self esteem engage in less self-justification (Holland et al., 2002). People
with high self-esteem are more likely to rely on self-affirmation than other defensive mechanism
such as rationalisation. Culture also imposes some effect on the process of self-affirmation. In
individualistic cultures, the self is more emphasized, and independence stands out; in collectivist

cultures, kinship and interdependence are emphasized. Collectivists are less likely to be
motivated to protect the self-integrity since self esteem is less emphasized in their culture.

There are numerous applications of this theory. The technique of self affirmation can
also be used in multiple domains such as:

 Personal relationship: When faced with an emotional upheaval in a personal relationship,

the affirmation process can be done by writing down positive statements about our partners,
such as how they care about us and what we appreciate in them.

 Health: Self-affirmation is an effective tool in health interventions. In a group based cigarette

cessation program for smokers, those who received a self-affirmation intervention had a
lower defensiveness towards graphic cigarette warning labels than a control group.
Moreover, these self-affirmed smokers also had a stronger intention to quit smoking.
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Research has found that providing people with affirmation opportunities on alternative
sources of self-integrity lead to a less biased evaluation to threatening information. Self-
affirmation thus increases the openness of people to ideas that are difficult to accept.

6.6 DISSONANCE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES

To provide direct evidence that direct discrepancy increased arousal, researchers have
conducted experiments to assess whether discrepancy increased sympathetic nervous activity.
For instance, Elkin and Leippe (1986) found that participants who wrote counter-attitudinal
essays under high choice evidence heightened electro-dermal activity (which is associated
with sympathetic nervous activity) in the minutes immediately following essay writing and
changed their attitudes to align them with their behavior, whereas low-choice participants did
not.

6.7 SUMMARY
 Dissonance theory addresses the discrepancies between behavior and attitudes.

 Dissonance theory has implications for parenting. It suggests that parents should aim to
elicit desired behavior without threats, thus motivating children to internalize the appropriate
attitudes.

 Post decision dissonance is experienced after making a decision regarding the possibility
of it being wrong.

 After making important decisions, we usually reduce dissonance by upgrading the chosen
alternative and downgrading the unchosen one.

 When people fail to practice what they preach, their act of hypocrisy can induce cognitive
dissonance and the motivation to change their behavior.

 Cultural factors influence the operation of cognitive dissonance.

 According to Festinger’s theory, there are basically two factors that affect the strength of
the dissonance, viz., (i) the number of dissonant beliefs, and (ii) the importance attached
to each belief.

 The two most important principles of cognitive dissonance can be stated as that:
Dissonance occurs when a person has to choose between contradictory attitudes and
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behavior. Another principle is that the dissonance can be removed by changing the
importance of conflicting beliefs and acquiring new beliefs that change the balance or
remove the conflicting attitude or remove the conflicting behavior.

 Self-perception theory (SPT) is an account of attitude change developed by psychologist

Daryl Bem which asserts that people develop their attitudes by observing their behavior
and concluding what attitudes must have caused them.

 The ultimate goal of the self is to protect an image of its self-integrity, morality and adequacy.

 When our self-concept is threatened, we often compensate by affirming another aspect

of the self.

 People with high self-esteem are more likely to rely on self-affirmation than other defensive
mechanism such as rationalization.

6.8 KEY WORDS

Cognitive dissonance: It is an internal state which occurs when there is an inconsistent
between one attitude and another attitude or behavior.

Self-perception: It is a theory which describes that people knows their attitude by

understanding and interpreting their own behavior.

Cognitive consistency: It implies that our attitudes change because we are motivated
to maintain consistency among our cognitions.

Dissonance theory: It addresses the discrepancies between behaviour and attitudes.

Self-affirmations: It enable people to deal with threatening events and information in a

more open and even-handed manner, without resorting to defensive biases.

6.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Dissonance theory addresses the discrepancies between _________ and _________.

2. The dissonance experienced after making a decision regarding the possibility of it being
wrong is called _______________________.
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3. Dissonance can be used to generate __________as a powerful tool for beneficial changes
in people’s behavior.

4. The two factors that affect the strength of the dissonance are (i) ___________ and
(ii)______________________.

5. The self-perception theory is significant in interpreting one’s own ___________.

6. ______________enable people to deal with threatening events and information.

7. ________________are the two domains in which the technique of self esteem is used.

6.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Behavior, attitudes

2. Post decision dissonance

3. Hypocrisy

4. (i) The number of dissonant beliefs, and (ii) the importance attached to each belief.

5. Attitudes

6. Self-affirmations

7. Personal relationship and Health

6.11 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Define cognitive dissonance.

2. Discuss the methods to eliminate dissonance.

3. List the important principles of cognitive dissonance.

4. What is self-perception

5. Enumerate the differences between cognitive dissonance and self-perception theories.

6. Discuss the implications of self-affirmations?

7. Explain the uses of self-affirmations

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LESSON – 7
THEORIES OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND ITS
MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Previous lesson discuss about cognitive dissonance and dissonance theory addresses
how attitude change. This lesson discusses the three different theory of cognitive dissonance,
Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance, Heider’s P-O-X theory and Newcomb’s symmetry
theory and dissonance is act as a tool for beneficial changes in behaviour.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the concept of theory of cognitive dissonance

 Describe the Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance

 Discuss the Heider’s P-O-X theory

 Describe the Newcomb’s symmetry theory

 Discuss the strategies for resolving dissonance

 Explain dissonance as a tool for beneficial changes in behaviour

PLAN OF STUDY
7.1 Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
7.2 Festinger’s Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
7.3 Heider’s P-O-X Theory
7.4 Newcomb’s Symmetry Theory
7.5 Strategies for Resolving Dissonance
7.6 Dissonance as a Tool for Beneficial Changes in Behaviour
7.7 Summary
7.8 Key Words
7.9 Check Your Progress
7.10 Answers to Check Your Progress

7.11 Model Questions

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7.1 THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

Cognitive dissonance, a theory originally urbanized through Festinger, is the thought that
people experience a sense of guilt or uneasiness when two connected cognitions are
inconsistent, such as when there are two conflicting attitudes in relation to the topic, or
inconsistencies flanked by one’s attitude and behavior on a certain topic. The basic thought of
the Cognitive Dissonance Theory relating to attitude change, is that people are motivated to
reduce dissonance which can be achieved through changing their attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors
(action). Cooper & Fazio’s (1984) have also added that cognitive dissonance does not arise
from any simple cognitive inconsistency, but rather results from freely chosen behavior that
may bring in relation to the negative consequences. These negative consequences may be
threats to the consistency, stability, predictability, competence, moral goodness of the self-
concept, or violation of general self-integrity.

Research has suggested multiple routes that cognitive dissonance can be reduced. Self-
affirmation has been shown to reduce dissonance, though it is not always the mode of choice
when trying to reduce dissonance. When multiple routes are accessible, it has been found that
people prefer to reduce dissonance through directly altering their attitudes and behaviors rather
than through self-affirmation. People who have high levels of self-esteem, who are postulated
to possess abilities to reduce dissonance through focusing on positive characteristics of the
self, have also been found to prefer modifying cognitions, such as attitudes and beliefs, over
self-affirmation. A simple instance of cognitive dissonance resulting in attitude change would
be when a heavy smoker learns that his sister died young from lung cancer due to heavy
smoking as well, this individual experiences conflicting cognitions: the desire to smoke, and
the knowledge that smoking could lead to death and a desire not to die. In order to reduce
dissonance, this smoker could change his behaviour (i.e. stop smoking), change his attitude in
relation to the smoking (i.e. smoking is harmful), or retain his original attitude in relation to the
smoking and modify his new cognition to be constant with the first one—”I also work out so
smoking won’t be harmful to me”. Therefore, attitude change is achieved when individuals
experience feelings of uneasiness or guilt due to cognitive dissonance, and actively reduce the
dissonance through changing their attitude, beliefs, or behavior relating in order to achieve
consistency with the inconsistent cognitions.
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7.2 FESTINGER’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

Cognitive dissonance is the term used in modern psychology to describe the state of
holding two or more conflicting cognitions (e.g.,ideas, beliefs, values, emotional reactions)
simultaneously. In a state of dissonance, people may sometimes feel surprise, dread, guilt,
anger, or embarrassment. The theory of cognitive dissonance in social psychology purposes
that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by altering existing cognitions,
adding new ones to create a consistent belief system, or alternatively by reducing the importance
of any one of the dissonant elements. An example of this would be the conflict between wanting
to smoke and knowing that smoking is unhealthy; a person may try to change their feelings
about the odds that they will actually suffer the consequences, or they might add the consonant
element that the short term benefits of smoking outweigh the long term harm. The need to
avoid cognitive dissonance may bias one towards a certain decision even though other factors
favour an alternative.

The phrase was coined by Leon Festinger in his 1956 book When Prophecy Fails, which
chronicled the followers of a UFO cult as reality clashed with their fervent belief in an impending
apocalypse. Festinger subsequently published a book called “A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance”,
published in 1957, in which he outlines the theory. Cognitive dissonance is one of the most
influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology.

Cognitive dissonance theory warns that people have a bias to seek consonance among
their cognitions. According to Festinger, we engage in a process he termed “dissonance
reduction”, which he said could be achieved in one of three ways: lowering the importance of
one of the discordant factors, adding consonant elements, or changing one of the dissonant
factors. This bias gives the theory its predictive power, shedding light on otherwise puzzling,
irrational, and even destructive behavior.

7.3 HEIDER’S P-O-X THEORY

In 1946, social psychologist Fritz Heider proposed balance theory. Balance theory is
sometimes called P-O-X theory because it focuses on situations containing three elements
(triads): the person (P), the other person (O), and the attitude object (X). Two types of
relationships exist among elements: sentiment and unit. Sentiment relationships involve
attitudes or evaluations (e.g., P likes O; P favors issue X). Unit relationships involve possession
(e.g., P dates O; P owns X).
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Heider proposed that a person’s understanding of the relationships among P, O, and X

was either “balanced” or “unbalanced.” Balanced is the term for consistency. (For example, the
principle that “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” is balanced, because there is something
consistent about liking the person who has attacked your enemy.) A sign, + or –, is assigned to
each relationship. To determine whether balance exists, simply multiply the signs together. If
the outcome is positive, the cognitive structure is balanced (consistent). If the outcome is
negative, it is unbalanced .

Balance theory states that balanced states are preferred over unbalanced states, and
that unbalanced states motivate people to change them to balanced states. This was Heider’s
way of saying that people prefer and seek consistency. In an early study (Heider, 1958),
participants were shown triads. (For example, Rajdoesn’t like Babu, but he likes the poem that
Babu wrote). About 80% of participants said something needed to change. Most recommended
changing the relationship with Raj (e.g., Babu isn’t so bad after all). About a third recommended
changing Jim’s attitude toward the poem (e.g., the poem is bad). About 5% recommended
changing the relationship between Babu and the poem (e.g., Babu must have plagiarized the
poem!).

All triads contain a P, but they may contain two O’s rather than one O and one X. In
addition, more than one triad can be combined. (For example, You (P) like social psychology
(X1), and you also like your sister (O1). You don’t like Vicky (O2), but your sister loves him. You
don’t like street drugs (X4), but Vicky likes them. Street drugs are associated with violence
(X3), and you don’t like violence either. You don’t like the KKK (X2), a group also associated
with violence. Is the cognitive structure balanced? The easiest way to tell is to count the number
of negative signs. If the number of negative signs is odd, the structure is unbalanced. Otherwise
it is balanced. Because there are five negative signs, the structure is unbalanced. Let’s hope
your sister dumps Vicky!

Although Heider’s balance theory appeals to many people on an intuitive or commonsense

level, it does have a few problems. It assumes that relationships are symmetrical when they
may not be. For example, the fact that P likes O does not necessarily mean that O also likes P
(Cartwright & Haray, 1956). It does not assess the relative or absolute strengths of relationships
(e.g., P likes O and P is head-over heels in love with O are not equivalent relationships, but
both would be coded as positive). It only accommodates situations involving three elements,
but it would be desirable to consider balance in situations with four or more elements (Suedfeld,
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1971). Despite its problems, balance theory has been applied to several areas, including
friendship development (Newcomb, 1961), conformity (Brown, 1965), and reactions to criticism
(Pilisuk, 1962).

7.4 NEWCOMB’S SYMMETRY THEORY

Social psychologist Theodore M. Newcomb took Heider’s idea of balance out of the head
of one person and applied it to communication between people. He uses the term symme­try
to distinguish it from balance theory and contends that we attempt to influence one another to
bring about symmetry (or balance or equilibrium).

Newcomb postulates that attempts to influence another person are a function of the
attraction one person has for another. In this respect Newcomb’s theory is more of a theory of
interpersonal attraction than one of attitude change. If we fail to achieve symme­try through
communication with another person about an object important to both of us, we may then
change our attitude toward either the other person or the object in question in order to establish
symmetry.

Because Newcomb’s model deals with two people and the communica­tion between
them, he labels them A and B (rather than Heider’s (P and O) and retains X to represent the
object of their attitudes. As with Heider, he assumes a human need for con­sistency, which he
calls a “persistent strain toward symmetry.” If A and B disagree about X, the amount of this
strain toward symmetry will depend on the intensity of A’s attitude toward X and A’s attraction
for B. An increase in A’s attraction for B and an increase in A’s intensity of attitude toward X will
result in (1) an increased strain toward symmetry on the part of A toward B about their attitudes
toward X, (2) the likelihood that symmetry will be achieved, and (3) the probability of a
communication by A to B about X. The last item, of course, is the focus of our concern.

Newcomb says, “The likelihood of a symmetry-directed A to B re X varies as a multiple

function of the perceived discrepancy (i.e., inversely with perceived symmetry), with va­lence
toward B and with valence toward X”.

Newcomb, in contrast to Heider, stresses communication. The less the symmetry be­tween
A and B about X, the more probable that A will communicate with B regarding X. Symmetry
predicts that people associate with or become friends of people with whom they agree (“Birds
of a feather flock together”).
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However, for attitude change to take place, a person must come into contact with
infor­mation that differs from his or her present. Newcomb’s symmetry model predicts that the
more A is attracted to B (a person or a group), the greater the opinion change on the part of A
toward the position of B.

7.5 STRATEGIES FOR RESOLVING DISSONANCE

The Dissonance theory began with a very reasonable idea: People find inconsistency
between their attitudes and actions uncomfortable. But is changing our attitudes the only method
by which we can resolve dissonance? No, we can also alter our behavior so it is more consistent
with our attitudes—for example, we could resolve to only buy organic products in the future
and not change our “green environmental attitudes” after we’ve made some non-environmentally
friendly purchase.

We can also reduce cognitive dissonance by acquiring new information (justifications)

that supports our behavior. Usually people are faced with two dissonant cognitions:

For example: In the case of mass suicide

“They predicted the end of the world on a certain date” and “that date has undeniably
passed, and the world had 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.

Another option for managing dissonance when inconsistency is salient involves deciding
that the inconsistency actually doesn’t matter! In other words, we can engage in trivialization—
concluding that either the attitudes or behaviors in question are not important so any
inconsistency between them is of no importance.

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. Research by Steele
and his colleagues (1988, 1983) indicates that dissonance can be reduced via indirect means.
That is, although the basic discrepancy between the attitude and behavior are left intact, the
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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–behaviour 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.

Specifically, people will engage in self-affirmation—restoring positive self- evaluations

that are threatened by the dissonance. This can be accomplished by focusing on positive self-
attributes—good things about oneself.

For instance: When You experienced dissonance as a result of saying nice things about
your neighbour’s giant new SUV, even though you are strongly against such vehicles, You
could remind yourself that you are a considerate person. By contemplating positive aspects of
the self, it can help to reduce the discomfort produced by your failure to act in a way that was
consistent with your pro-environmental (and anti-SUV) attitudes. However we choose to reduce
dissonance—through indirect tactics or direct strategies that are aimed at reducing the attitude–
behavior discrepancy—we all find strategies to help us deal with the discomfort that comes
from being aware of discrepancies between our attitudes and behavior.

7.6 DISSONANCE AS A TOOL FOR BENEFICIAL

CHANGES IN BEHAVIOUR
 People who don’t wear seat belts are much more likely to die in accidents than those who
do . . .

 People who smoke are much more likely to suffer from lung cancer and heart disease
than those who don’t . . .

 People who engage in unprotected sex are much more likely than those who engage in
safe sex to contract dangerous diseases, including AIDS, as well as have unplanned
pregnancies . . .

Most of us know these statements are true, and our attitudes are generally favorable
toward using seat belts, quitting smoking, and engaging in safe sex. Despite having positive
attitudes, they are often not translated into overt actions: Some people continue to drive without
seatbelts, to smoke, and to have unprotected sex. To address these major social problems,
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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—publicly
advocating some attitude, and then making salient to the person that they have acted in a way
that is inconsistent with their own attitudes. Such feelings might be sufficiently intense that only
actions that reduce dissonance directly, by inducing behavioral change, may be effective. These
predictions concerning the possibility of dissonance-induced behavior change have been tested
in several studies.

Stone, Wiegand, Cooper, and Aronson (1997) asked participants to prepare a videotape
advocating the use of condoms (safe sex) to avoid contracting AIDS. Next, participants were
asked to think about reasons why they themselves hadn’t used condoms in the past (personal
reasons) or reasons why people in general sometimes fail to use condoms (normative reasons
that didn’t center on their own behavior). The researchers predicted that dissonance would be
maximized in the personal reasons condition, where participants had to come face-to-face with
their own hypocrisy. Then, all people in the study were given a choice between a direct means
of reducing dissonance—purchasing condoms at a reduced price—or an indirect means of
reducing dissonance—making a donation to a program designed to aid homeless people. The
results indicated that when participants had been asked to focus on the reasons why they
didn’t engage in safe sex in the past, an overwhelming majority chose to purchase condoms,
suggesting that their behavior in the future will be different—the direct route to dissonance
reduction. In contrast, when asked to think about reasons why people in general didn’t engage
in safe sex, more actually chose the indirect route to dissonance reduction—a donation to the
aid the-homeless project—and didn’t change their behavior.

These findings suggest that using dissonance to make our own hypocrisy salient can
indeed be a powerful tool for changing our behavior in desirable ways. For maximum
effectiveness, however, such procedures must involve several elements: People must publicly
advocate the desired behaviors (e.g., using condoms), 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.
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7.7 SUMMARY
 The cognitive dissonance theory relates to attitude change, where people are motivated
to reduce dissonance that can be achieved by changing their attitudes, beliefs or behaviours
(action).

 Self affirmation has shown to reduce dissonance.

 People who have high level of self-esteem are postulated to posses to reduce dissonance
through focusing on positive characteristics of themselves.

 Festinger describe cognitive dissonance as a state of holding two or more conflicting

cognitions (eg. beliefs, values, emotional reactions).

 According to Festinger, dissonance reduction can be achieved in three ways: (a) lowering
the importance of one of the discordant factors, (b) adding consonant elements, (c)
changing one of the dissonant factors.

 Heider’s proposed a balance theory where it includes three elements: (P) the person, (O)
the other person, (X) the attitude object.

 According to Newcomb’s symmetry theory is more of a theory of interpersonal attraction

than one of attitude change.

7.8 KEY WORDS

Cognitions: Ideas, beliefs, values, emotional reactions, and opinions

Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance: According to this theory, people have a

tendency to seek cognitive consistency if there is dissonance then either attitude or behaviour
is changed to eliminate dissonance.

Heider’s P-O-X Theory: It is also called balance theory. It have three elements person
(P), the other person (O), and the attitude object (X). Balance theory states that unbalanced
states motivate people to change them to balanced states because people prefer and seek
consistency.

Newcomb’s symmetry theory: Newcomb postulates that attempts to influence another

person are a function of the attraction one person has for another. If we fail to achieve symmetry
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through communication with another person about an object important to both of us, we may
then change our attitude toward either the other person or the object in question in order to
establish symmetry.

7.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. _______ has been shown to reduce dissonance.

2. People prefer to reduce dissonance through directly altering their _______ and ________.

3. Attitude change is achieved when individual experience feelings of _______ or ________

due to cognitive dissonance.

4. A book called “A Theory of cognitive dissonance” was published in _______.

5. Heider’s theory has three elements, (a) _______, (b)_______, (c)_______.

6. Newcomb used a term ________ to distinguish it from balance theory & contends that we
attempt to influence one another to bring about equilibrium.

7. People find inconsistency between their _______ and _______.

8. ______________can be achieved through focusing on good things about oneself.

9. According to the research of Steele & his colleagues, dissonance can be reduced through
_________.

10. Sentiment relation involves________ and unit relationship involve _______.

7.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Self affirmation

2. Attitudes and behaviours

3. Uneasiness or guilt

4. 1957

5. P- the person, O- the other person, X- the attitude object.

6. Symmetry

7. Attitudes and actions

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8. Self affirmation

9. Indirect means

10. Attitude or evaluation and possession.

7.11 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Describe the Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance

2. Discuss the Heider’s P-O-X theory

3. Describe the Newcomb’s symmetry theory

4. Explain dissonance as a tool for beneficial changes in behaviour

5. Explain the three theories on cognitive dissonance?

6. How does self affirmation can help to reduce dissonance?

7. Justify why Heider has used the term balance and disbalance in his theory. Explain it with
an example.

8. Discuss the strategies to resolve dissonance. Explain with an example.

9. Explain trivialization
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LESSON – 8
AGGRESSION AND ITS MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
When a behavior is performed in the intention of harming others or objects is called
aggression. This lesson first discusses about the different types of aggressions. It is required
to know the causes of aggression and how it can be reduced. So, the next part discuss about
the causes and the previously done experiments to understand further.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the concept and types of aggression

 Provide the clinical classification of aggression

 Describe the causes of aggression

 Discuss on how to reduce aggression

 Explain the concept of catharsis

 Describe the Social Learning Approach

PLAN OF STUDY
8.1 Nature and Types of Aggression

8.2 Clinical Classification

8.3 Instrumental versus Hostile Aggression

8.4 Proactive versus Reactive Aggression

8.5 Positive versus Negative Aggression

8.6 Causes of Aggression

8.7 Environmental Stressors

8.8 Reducing Aggression

8.9 Catharsis
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8.10 Social Learning Approach

8.11 Summary

8.12 Key Words

8.13 Check Your Progress

8.14 Answers to Check Your Progress

8.15 Model Questions

8.1 NATURE AND TYPES OF AGGRESSION

Separately from physical violence against the body of other humans, there may also be
verbal abuse and verbal assault etc., which all can be measured as aggression. In addition,
damaging or destroying another‘s property can be a highly effective method of aggressing
against another person. Even something as subtle and controlled as a social snub can be a
powerful source of harm to the victim, a harm that is clearly planned through the person delivering
it. Accidental harm is not aggressive because it is not planned. Harm that is an incidental
through-product of helpful actions is also not aggressive, because the harm-doer believes that
the target is not motivated to avoid the action (e.g., pain experienced throughout a dental
procedure). Similarly, the pain administered in sexual masochism is not aggressive because
the victim is not motivated to avoid it. Indeed, the pain is actively solicited in service of a higher
goal. Aggressive behaviour throughout early childhood is measured a part of the normal
developmental process. Acts of aggression change throughout a person‘s life span. When
young children lack verbal skills, aggression is predominantly physical. When verbal skills
develop, they could be used as peaceful communication, but also for aggressive purposes.
Outbursts of anger usually peak approximately 18 to 24 months of age and slowly decrease
through five years of age. Tremblay et al., found that most children have experienced their
onset of physical aggression through the end of their 2nd year. Early aggressive behaviour
consists of crying, screaming, temper tantrums, biting, kicking, throwing, and breaking objects.
At this stage, intention is instrumental.

Early childhood aggressive behaviour may be in response to parental authority and

unrealistic expectations on the part of the parent toward their child. Later as social interactions
augment, aggression may be directed towards peers. Later on, such behaviours as teasing,
bullying, fighting, irritability, cruelty to animals, and fire-setting occur. Throughout early
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adolescence, more serious violence develops, including gang fights and use of weapons. In
human research, a widely used definition of aggression is behaviour deliberately aimed at
harming people and/or objects. In this definition harm has implicitly been defined as hurting
someone physically, e.g. through kicking. Though, other forms of harm, like psychological
harm, e.g. humiliating, and relational harm such as malicious gossiping, are just as significant.
In addition to physical aggression, two other forms of aggression are currently recognized,
namely psychological aggression and relational aggression.

Antisocial behaviour is defined as behaviour through which people are disadvantaged

and basic norms and values are violated. Examples of such behaviours are lying, stealing and
truancy. Aggressive behaviour then is a specific form of antisocial behaviour. Aggressive
behaviour is an significant component of many common mental health disorders in young
people, including conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, and intermittent explosive disorder. Effective treatment of aggression is significant
not only because this behaviour is associated with negative developmental outcomes for
perpetrators but also because it harms people in addition to the client.

There are different types of aggression. Theoretical perspectives on aggression suggest

that typographically and functionally separate subtypes of aggression exist. It is significant to
consider the multidimensional nature of aggression because different stimuli combine with
different types of physiological and mental processes to make separate forms of aggression.

Although different classification systems for aggression have been proposed, as seen
below, these typologies tend to overlap somewhat, with each system having a slightly different
emphasis. The forms of types of aggression that are reviewed consist of the clinical classification,
the incentive-based classification, the instrumental versus hostile classification, and the positive
versus negative classification.

8.2 CLINICAL CLASSIFICATION

The clinical literature research, heavily influenced through the work of Feshbach (1970)
has regularly referred to two forms of aggression the first form being “affective”, “reactive”,
“suspicious”, “impulsive”, or “hot-blooded” aggression. This type of aggression is defined as a
violent response to physical or verbal aggression initiated through others that is relatively
uncontrolled and emotionally charged. In contrast, the second form of aggression is referred to
as “predatory”, “instrumental”, “proactive”, or “cold-blooded” aggression. This type of aggression
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is characterized as controlled, purposeful aggression lacking in emotion that is used to achieve

a desired goal, including the power and control of others.

8.3 INSTRUMENTAL VERSUS HOSTILE AGGRESSION

Feshbach originally urbanized this typology, and it has been elaborated upon more recently
through Atkins et al. (1993). This influential model separates aggression into instrumental and
hostile functions. Instrumental aggression produces some positive reward or advantage (impact)
on the aggressor unrelated to the victim‘s discomfort. The purpose of hostile aggression is to
induce injury or pain (negative impact) upon the victim. In this case, there is little or no advantage
to the aggressor. This model has been widely studied in community samples of children and
adults with varying results. One problem with this classification is that the constructs require
careful delineation because several aggressive episodes will have components of both
instrumental and hostile aggression.

8.4 PROACTIVE VERSUS REACTIVE AGGRESSION

A number of recent studies of aggression draw a distinction flanked by reactive and
proactive aggression. The first of these conditions refers to aggressive behaviour that is enacted
in response to provocation, such as an attack or an insult, and it is manifested in both self-
suspicious and angry actions. The latter term refers to aggression that is initiated without
apparent provocation, such as we see in bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is not evoked
through anger, hostility or the need to defend oneself, but through other motives that relate to
obtaining goods, asserting power, assuring the approval of reference groups and other such
goals. Reactive and proactive aggressions are the equivalent of what earlier theorists described
affective and instrumental aggression.

8.5 POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE AGGRESSION

Usually speaking, aggression is measured to have a negative function that not only
elicits disapproval from others, but also is evaluated as destructive and damaging in its
consequences. Though, Blustein (1996) argues that the term “aggressive” behaviour is
ambiguous, denoting both positive and negative behaviours. Ellis (1976) measured positive
aggression to be healthy, productive behaviour if it promoted the basic values of survival,
protection, happiness, social acceptance, preservation, and intimate relations. In the context
of positive aggression, a certain amount of aggression is thought to be necessary and adaptive
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throughout childhood and adolescence because it helps build autonomy and identity.

Furthermore, a certain degree of aggression or dominance helps to facilitate engagement

in cooperative and competitive activities with one‘s peers. Channeled in the proper direction,
human aggression is the force that enables a person to be healthfully self-assertive, dominant,
and independent and to achieve mastery of both the environment and the self. So, it is whispered
that positive aggression takes several forms, including self-protection, standing up in the face
of negation, pushing for new possibilities, and defending against harm. With respect to negative
aggression, this behaviour has been defined as acts that result in personal injury or destruction

of property. Alternatively, it also has been defined as attacking behaviour that harms
another of the same species. Negative aggression also is defined as forceful action that is
directed towards the goal of harming or injuring another living being.

Encroaching on the home or territory of a resident and causing others financial, physical,
and emotional damage also is incorporated in negative aggression. Negative aggression is
measured unhealthy because it induces heightened emotions that can in the long-term be
damaging to the individual.

8.6 CAUSES OF AGGRESSTION

Neurophysiologic Perspectives: Neurophysiologic perspectives argue that aggression
is a biological response that is under the control of the brain. There are many significant
principles, It emphasizes the role of the brain, hormones and neurotransmitters in aggressive
behaviour; It stresses that our behaviour is largely governed through biological forces rather
than environmental ones; It states that aggression is innate not learned.

Biological Causes: Research is beginning to indicate that biological processes (internal

stimuli) may serve a role in predisposing to aggression. Five specific processes are selected
for brief description: (1) brain dysfunction, (2) testosterone, (3) serotonin, (4) birth complications,
and (5) nutrition deficiency.

 Brain Dysfunction: Aggressive criminals have been found to have poor brain functioning.
One source of proof comes from neuropsychological tests, which have indicated poor
functioning of the frontal and temporal regions of the brain in violent offenders. In addition,
EEG studies have shown that aggressive prisoners are more likely to show EEG
abnormalities. Aggressive psychopaths are more likely to show excessive slow EEG wave.
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A third source of proof comes from brain imaging studies. Aggressive prisoners have
been shown to have reduced glucose metabolism in the prefrontal region of the brain,
while individuals with antisocial personality disorder show an 11% reduction in the volume
of prefrontal gray matter compared to normal and psychiatric control groups. The cause
why brain dysfunction predisposes to aggression may be because the prefrontal region
of the brain normally acts to control and regulate the emotional reactions generated through
deeper, limbic brain structures like the amygdale. If the prefrontal region of the brain is
functioning poorly, it will be less able to keep these aggressive impulses in check, resulting
in an increased likelihood of impulsive, aggressive acts.

 Testosterone: Sex hormones appear to play a role in shaping aggressive behaviour.

Aggressive, violent offenders have been found to have significantly higher levels of
testosterone than controls. Female criminals also have been found to be much more
likely to commit crimes approximately the menstrual phase of their cycle when progesterone
is low, while aggression is reduced approximately the time of ovulation when estrogen
and progesterone levels are high. Weight-lifters who take anabolic steroids become more
aggressive and hostile, and normal men who are given testosterone become more irritable
and hostile.

 Serotonin: There has been a recent augment in research on neurotransmitters and their
relationship to aggression in animals and humans. Although there is emerging data
implicating the role of a diversity of neurotransmitters in mediating impulsive aggressive
behaviour in humans, most data have suggested a particularly strong role for serotonin.
Both animal and human research has shown that aggressors have lower levels of the
neurotransmitter serotonin. Nevertheless, the links flanked by brain chemistry and
aggression in humans are intricate, because the environment plays a key role in regulating
neurochemistry. Social dominance influences serotonin levels in monkeys, and alcohol
consumption also plays a important role. Birth complications have been repeatedly found
to be associated with later increased aggressive behaviour in childhood and criminal
activity in adults. Interestingly, birth complications alone have rarely been found to have a
direct link with aggression and violence. Instead, aggressive behaviour is especially likely
to develop when birth complications combine with psychosocial risk factors such as
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disadvantaged family environment, and poor parenting. Specific birth complications e.g.,
forceps delivery etc. are whispered to result in central nervous system damage, which in
turn impairs brain function, which then predisposes aggression.

 Nutrition Deficiency: Research on nutrition deficiency and aggressive behaviour is

beginning to get attention. Factors contain food additives, hypoglycemia, cholesterol,
and deficiencies in protein, iron, and zinc. In humans, the male offspring of pregnant
women starved throughout the German blockade of food to Holland at the end of World
War II had 2.5 times the rates of antisocial personality disorder in adulthood compared to
controls. In addition, many studies reported that iron deficiency is directly associated with
aggressive behaviour and conduct disorder. Similarly, zinc deficiency has been found to
be connected with aggressive behaviour in both animals and humans. It is whispered that
early malnutrition negatively impacts brain growth and development, and that brain
impairments predispose individuals to antisocial and violent behavior through impacting
cognitive functions.

Environment and Genes: Twin and adoption studies suggest a large shared (family)
environmental effect, a moderate non-shared (unique) environmental effect, and a modest
genetic effect. Typical twin concordance rates for adolescent delinquency are 87% for
monozygotic twins and 72% for dizygotic twins. Adoption studies suggest that genetically
vulnerable children—that is, children whose birth parents were antisocial—may be especially
susceptible to unfavorable family circumstances. The genetic element seems to be stronger
for adult criminality than childhood conduct disorder and delinquency.

Parental Rearing Style: Five characteristics of how parents bring up their children have
been shown repeatedly to be strongly associated with long term antisocial behavior problems,
namely (a) poor supervision, (b) erratic, harsh discipline, (c) parental disharmony, (d) rejection
of the child, and (e) low involvement in the child‘s activities. One study showed that among
antisocial boys aged 10, differences in parenting styles predicted over 30 % of the variance in
aggression two years later.

 Parent-child Interaction Pattern: Direct observation in the home shows that much
aggressive behaviour in children is influenced through the method parents behave towards
them. In several families with antisocial children the parents do little to encourage polite
or considerate behaviour through the child. Such behaviour is often ignored and rendered
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ineffective. Yet regularly when the child yells or has a tantrum he or she gets attention,
often the parent provides in, so the child wins and soon learns to adapt accordingly. The
coexistent unresponsiveness to the child‘s communications and emotional needs
contributes further to the child‘s disturbance.

 Parental Influence on Children’s Emotions and Attitudes: Difficulties can often be

traced back to infancy. A high proportion of toddlers who go on to develop conduct problems
show disorganized attachment patterns, experiencing fear, anger, and distress on reunion
with their parent after a brief separation. This behaviour is likely to be a response to
frightening, unavailable, and inconsistent parenting. The security of infant attachment
can be predicted with substantial certainty before the child is even born, from the emotionally
distorted, confused style in which the mother talks in relation to the relationships with her
own parents. Through middle childhood, aggressive children are quick to construe neutral
overtures through others as hostile and have difficulty judging other people‘s feelings.
They are poor at generating constructive solutions to conflicts, believing instead that
aggression will be effective. This quickness to take offence at the slightest opportunity is
reflected on the street in sensitivity to disrespect, which can lead to swift retribution. This
designates the fragile self esteem and confrontational view of the world that these young
people have come to develop after experiencing years of frustration and failure. Some
find that being violent creates them feel good in relation to themselves and provide them
control.

Difficulties with Friends and at School: In the school playground these children lack
the skills to participate and take turns without upsetting others and becoming aggressive. Peer
rejection typically ensues quickly, and the children then associate with the other antisocial
children, who share their set of values. Those with difficulty reading typically fail to get any
qualifications through the time they leave school, and they become unemployed. This may
contribute to persisting aggressive behaviour.

Predisposing Child Characteristics: genetically determined. Children who show this

restless, impulsive pattern of behaviour do not necessarily start off aggressive, but over time a
proportion become so. They have difficulty waiting their turns in social encounters and games
and so easily provoke retaliation and get into fights. Where hyperactivity and conduct disorder
coexist from an early age the long term outlook is especially poor.
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Delinquents have repeatedly been shown to have an IQ that is 8-10 points lower than law
abiding peers—and this is before the onset of aggressive behaviour. Other traits predisposing
to conduct problems contain irritability and explosiveness, lack of social awareness and social
anxiety, and reward seeking behaviour. The interplay flanked by a child‘s characteristics and
the environment is intricate. As children grow older, their environment is increasingly determined
through their own behaviour and choices. There may be turning points when certain decisions
set the scene for years to come. Therefore it is not simply a young person‘s level of antisocial
behaviour per se that determines later outcome but also how the behaviour shapes the social
world inhabited later on. This has significant implications for intervention.

8.7 ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS

Temperature: When the temperature rises people tend to feel more disposed to
aggressive behaviour. A researcher looked at incidents of violence crossways the USA and the
corresponding weather reports. He found that when it was moderately hot (84°F) there was the
most violence, but after the weather showed higher temperature, the violence decreased. This
was backed up through a lab study through Baron and Bell who put participants in rooms of
different temperatures then increased the heat in each of the rooms. The participants were
asked to provide electric shocks. They found that as the temperature rose, the participants
gave more electric shocks, but then once the temperatures got to extreme levels, the shocks
decreased. Though, another researcher described Anderson looked at cases of violent acts
including rape, murder and assault. He found that there was a steady augment as the
temperature rose but that there was no indication of decline in extreme heat. One problem with
this theory is that it would almost certainly not be true to say that people in hotter countries are
more aggressive.

Crowding: A higher density of people leads to higher levels of aggression. This theory
links to de-individuation. It is also unpleasant when your personal space is invaded. For instance,
there is the most aggression beside the most heavily congested roads. There are more prison
riots when the population density in the prison is higher. A study shows there was more
aggression in a day nursery as the nursery got more crowded. Though, this pattern is not
found in families, as people expect others to be in close proximity. This suggests that it is not
just a high density, but overcrowding that is the problem. There are also limitations to this, as
some people do not find encroachment of their personal space to be a problem. Furthermore,
there are also cultural differences e.g. Arabs tend to stand very close together. Also, if you can
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confront people in relation to it, aggression can be reduced. Both crowding and heat lead to
physiological arousal which leads to aggression. Though, this may depend on your interpretation
of the arousal; for instance, crowds can be uplifting, fun and exciting.

Noise: Noise is an unwanted sound that causes a negative effect. It can cause aggression
when it is too loud or unpredictable. Glass and Singer (1972) mannered experiments where
participant were asked to complete a maze task and were then asked to complete a proof-
reading task. Throughout the maze task, some of participants were subjected to noise, but all
of them had quietness and no noise throughout the proofreading task. It was found that the
people who had the noise in the first task made more mistakes in the second task. They made
the most mistakes when the noise was very loud, was random and when they had no control
over it.

8.8 REDUCING AGGRESSION

Treatment needs to be targeted at major modifiable risk factors and its outcome measured
objectively. It should preferably be at an early age as conduct disorder can be reliably detected
early, has high stability, is amenable to treatment at a young age, and is very hard to eradicate
in older children.

8.9 CATHARSIS
“Youngsters should be taught to vent their anger.” So advised Ann Landers (1969). If a
person “bottles up his rage, we have to find an outlet. We have to give him an opportunity of
letting off steam.” So asserted the once prominent psychiatrist Fritz Perls (1973). “Some
expression of prejudice . . . lets off steam . . . it can siphon off conflict through words, rather
than actions,” argued Andrew Sullivan (1999) in a New York Times Magazine article on hate
crimes. Such statements assume the “hydraulic model,” which implies accumulated aggressive
energy, like dammed-up water, needs a release.

The concept of catharsis is usually credited to Aristotle. Although Aristotle actually said
nothing about aggression, he did argue that we can purge emotions by experiencing them and
that viewing the classic tragedies therefore enabled a catharsis (purging) of pity and fear. To
have an emotion excited, he believed, is to have that emotion released (Butcher, 1951). The
catharsis hypothesis has been extended to include the emotional release supposedly obtained
not only by observing drama but also through our recalling and reliving past events, through
our expressing emotions, and through our actions.
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Assuming that aggressive action or fantasy drains pent-up aggression, some therapists
and group leaders have encouraged people to ventilate suppressed aggression by acting it
out—by whopping one another with foam bats or beating a bed with a tennis racket while
screaming. If led to believe that catharsis effectively vents emotions, people will react more
aggressively to an insult as a way to improve their mood (Bushman & others, 2001). Some
psychologists, believing that catharsis is therapeutic, advise parents to encourage children’s
release of emotional tension through aggressive play.

Many laypeople have also bought the catharsis idea, as reflected in their nearly two-to-
one agreement with the statement “Sexual materials provide an outlet for bottled-up impulses”
(Niemi & others, 1989). But then other national surveys reveal that most Americans also agree,
“Sexual materials lead people to commit rape.” So is the catharsis approach valid or not?

Consider: If viewing erotica provides an outlet for sexual impulses, places with high
consumption of sex magazines should have low rape rates. After viewing erotica people should
experience diminished sexual desire and men should be less likely to view and treat women as
sexual objects. But studies show the opposites are true (Kelley & others, 1989; McKenzie-
Mohr & Zanna, 1990). Sexually explicit videos are an aphrodisiac; they feed sexual fantasies
that fuel a variety of sexual behaviors.

The near consensus among social psychologists is that—contrary to what Freud, Lorenz,
and their followers supposed—viewing or participating in violence fails to produce catharsis
(Geen & Quanty, 1977). Actually, notes researcher Brad Bushman (2002), “Venting to reduce
anger is like using gasoline to put out a fire.” For example, Robert Arms and his associates
report that Canadian and American spectators of football, wrestling, and hockey games exhibit
more hostility after viewing the event than before (Arms & others, 1979; Goldstein & Arms,
1971; Russell, 1983). Not even war seems to purge aggressive feelings. After a war, a nation’s
murder rate has tended to jump (Archer & Gartner, 1976).

In laboratory tests of catharsis, Brad Bushman (2002) invited angered participants to hit
a punching bag while either ruminating about the person who angered them or thinking about
becoming physically fit. A third group did not hit the punching bag. When given a chance to
administer loud blasts of noise to the person who angered them, people in the punching bag
plus rumination condition felt angrier and were most aggressive. Moreover, doing nothing at all
more effectively reduced aggression than did “blowing off steam” by hitting the bag.
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In some real-life experiments, too, aggressing has led to heightened aggression. Ebbe
Ebbesen and his co-researchers (1975) interviewed 100 engineers and technicians shortly
after they were angered by layoff notices. Some were asked questions that gave them an
opportunity to express hostility against their employer or supervisors—for example, “What
instances can you think of where the company has not been fair with you?” Afterward, they
answered a questionnaire assessing attitudes toward the company and the supervisors. Did
the previous opportunity to “vent” or “drain off” their hostility reduce it? To the contrary, their
hostility increased. Expressing hostility bred more hostility.

Cruel acts beget cruel attitudes. Furthermore, as we noted in analyzing Stanley Milgram’s
obedience experiments, little aggressive acts can breed their own justification. People derogate
their victims, rationalizing further aggression.

Retaliation may, in the short run, reduce tension and even provide pleasure (Ramirez &
others, 2005). But in the long run it fuels more negative feelings. When people who have been
provoked hit a punching bag, even when they believe it will be cathartic, the effect is the
opposite—leading them to exhibit more cruelty, report Bushman and his colleagues (1999,
2000, 2001). “It’s like the old joke,” reflected Bushman (1999). “How do you get to Carnegie
Hall? Practice, practice, practice. How do you become a very angry person? The answer is the
same. Practice, practice, practice.”

Should we therefore bottle up anger and aggressive urges? Silent sulking is hardly more
effective, because it allows us to continue reciting our grievances as we conduct conversations
in our heads. Bushman and his colleagues (2005) experimented with the toxic effect of such
rumination. After being provoked by an obnoxious experimenter with insults such as “Can’t you
follow directions? Speak louder!” half were given a distraction (by being asked to write an
essay about their campus landscape), and half were induced to ruminate (by writing an essay
about their experiences as a research participant). Next, they were mildly insulted by a supposed
fellow participant (actually a confederate), to whom they responded by prescribing a hot sauce
dose this person would have to consume. The distracted participants, their anger now abated,
prescribed only a mild dose. The still-seething ruminators displaced their aggressive urge and
prescribed twice as much.

Fortunately, there are nonaggressive ways to express our feelings and to inform others
how their behavior affects us. Across cultures, those who reframe accusatory “you” messages
as “I” messages—”I feel angry about what you said,” or, “I get irritated when you leave dirty
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dishes”—communicate their feelings in a way that better enables the other person to make a
positive response (Kubany & others, 1995). We can be assertive without being aggressive.

8.10 SOCIAL LEARNING APPROACH

If aggressive behavior is learned, then there is hope for its control by briefly reviewing the
factors that influence aggression and speculate how to counteract them. Aversive experiences
such as frustrated expectations and personal attacks predispose hostile aggression. So it is
wise to refrain from planting false, unreachable expectations in people’s minds. Anticipated
rewards and costs influence instrumental aggression. This suggests that we should reward
cooperative, nonaggressive behavior.

In experiments, children become less aggressive when caregivers ignore their aggressive
behavior and reinforce their nonaggressive behavior (Hamblin & others, 1969). Punishing the
aggressor is less consistently effective. Threatened punishment deters aggression only under
ideal conditions: when the punishment is strong, prompt, and sure; when it is combined with
reward for the desired behavior; and when the recipient is not angry (R. A. Baron, 1977).

Moreover, there are limits to punishment’s effectiveness. Most homicide is impulsive, hot
aggression—the result of an argument, an insult, or an attack. If mortal aggression were cool
and instrumental, we could hope that waiting until it happens and severely punishing the criminal
afterward would deter such acts. In that world, states that impose the death penalty might have
a lower murder rate than states without the death penalty. But in our world of hot homicide, that
is not so (Costanzo, 1998). As John Darley and Adam Alter (2009) note, “A remarkable amount
of crime is committed by impulsive individuals, frequently young males, who are frequently
drunk or high on drugs, and who often are in packs of similar and similarly mindless young
men.” No wonder, they say, that trying to reduce crime by increasing sentences has proven so
fruitless, while on-the-street policing that produces more arrests has produced encouraging
results, such as a 50 percent drop in gun-related crimes in some cities.

Thus, we must prevent aggression before it happens. We must teach nonaggressive

conflict-resolution strategies. When psychologists Sandra Jo Wilson and Mark Lipsey (2005)
assembled data from 249 studies of school violence prevention programs, they found
encouraging results, especially for programs focused on selected “problem” students. After
being taught problem-solving skills, emotion-control strategies, and conflict resolution
techniques, the typical 20 percent of students engaging in some violent or disruptive behavior
in a typical school year was reduced to 13 percent.
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Physical punishment can also have negative side effects. Punishment is aversive
stimulation; it models the behavior it seeks to prevent. And it is coercive (recall that we seldom
internalize actions coerced with strong external justifications). These are reasons why violent
teenagers and child-abusing parents so often come from homes where discipline took the form
of harsh physical punishment.

To foster a gentler world, we could model and reward sensitivity and cooperation from an
early age, perhaps by training parents how to discipline without violence. Training programs
encourage parents to reinforce desirable behaviors and to frame statements positively (“When
you finish cleaning your room, you can go play,” rather than, “If you don’t clean your room,
you’re grounded”). One “aggression- replacement program” has reduced rearrest rates of
juvenile offenders and gang members by teaching the youths and their parents communication
skills, training them to control anger, and raising their level of moral reasoning (Goldstein &
others, 1998).

If observing aggressive models lowers inhibitions and elicits imitation, then we might
also reduce brutal, dehumanizing portrayals in films and on television—steps comparable to
those already taken to reduce racist and sexist portrayals. We can also inoculate children
against the effects of media violence. Wondering if the TV networks would ever “face the facts
and change their programming,” Eron and Huesmann (1984) taught 170 Oak Park, Illinois,
children that television portrays the world unrealistically, that aggression is less common and
less effective than TV suggests, and that aggressive behavior is undesirable. (Drawing upon
attitude research, Eron and Huesmann encouraged children to draw these inferences
themselves and to attribute their expressed criticisms of television to their own convictions).
When restudied two years later, these children were less influenced by TV violence than were
untrained children. In a more recent study, Stanford University used 18 classroom lessons to
persuade children to simply reduce their TV watching and video-game playing (Robinson &
others, 2001). They reduced their TV viewing by a third—and the children’s aggressive behavior
at school dropped 25 percent compared with children in a control school.

Aggressive stimuli also trigger aggression. This suggests reducing the availability of
weapons such as handguns. In 1974, Jamaica implemented a sweeping anticrime program
that included strict gun control and censorship of gun scenes from television and movies (Diener
& Crandall, 1979).
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Suggestions such as these can help us minimize aggression. But given the complexity of
aggression’s causes and the difficulty of controlling them, who can feel the optimism expressed
by Andrew Carnegie’s forecast that in the twentieth century, “To kill a man will be considered as
disgusting as we in this day consider it disgusting to eat one.” Since Carnegie uttered those
words in 1900, some 200 million human beings have been killed. It is a sad irony that although
today we understand human aggression better than ever before, humanity’s inhumanity endures.
Nevertheless, cultures can change. “The Vikings slaughtered and plundered,” notes science
writer Natalie Angier. “Their descendants in Sweden haven’t fought a war in nearly 200 years.”

8.11 SUMMARY
 Types of aggressions comprise ‘physical and verbal’, ‘reactive-inexpressive’ and ‘proactive-
relational’.

 The two clinical forms of aggression are ‘affective’, ‘reactive’, ‘suspicious’, ‘impulsive’, or
‘hot-blooded’ and ‘predatory’, ‘instrumental’, ‘proactive’, or ‘cold-blooded’.

 ‘Instrumental aggression’ is the intentional use of harmful behavior so that one can achieve
some other goal. ‘Hostile aggression’ has the sole goal of causing injury or death to the
victim.

 Reactive or hostile aggression is performed in response to provocation. Proactive

aggression is said to be motivated by the perceived benefits of aggression, reactive
aggression is driven by an attributional style that perceives hostile intent in others.

 Aggression is considered to have negative function that not only elicits disapproval from
others, but also is evaluated as destructive and damaging in its consequences.

 Neurophysiologic perspectives argue that aggression is a biological response that is under

the control of the brain.

 Environment and genes seems to be stronger for adult criminality than childhood conduct
disorder and delinquency.

 Long term antisocial behaviors problems, like poor supervision, erratic, harsh discipline,
parental disharmony, rejection of the child, and low involvement in the child‘s activities
are been shown repeatedly to be strongly associated with parenting rearing style.
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 Environmental stressors are stimuli in our environment that cause stress and the common
stressors are war, temperature, noise and crowds.

8.12 KEY WORDS

Aggression: When a behavior is performed in the intention of harming others or objects
is called aggression.

Hostile Aggression: A behavior is performed in the intention of harming others to induce

injury or pain (negative impact) upon the victim.

Instrumental aggression: It produces some positive reward or advantage (impact) on

the aggressor unrelated to the victim‘s discomfort.

Proactive aggression: Aggressive behavior is enacted in response to provocation, such

as an attack or an insult.

Reactive aggression: Aggression that is initiated without apparent provocation Such

behaviour is not evoked through anger, hostility or the need to defend oneself, but through
other motives that relate to obtaining goods, asserting power, assuring the approval of reference
groups and other such goals.

Positive aggression: It is a healthy, productive behavior which promoted the basic values
of survival, protection, happiness, social acceptance, preservation, and intimate relations.

Negative aggression: It is defined as forceful action that is directed towards the goal of
harming or injuring another living being.

8.13 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. ____________________is defined as behaviour through which people are disadvantaged
and basic norms and values are violated.

2. ___________________perspectives argue that aggression is a biological response that

is under the control of the brain.

3. There is an emerging data implicating the role of a diversity of neurotransmitters in

mediating impulsive aggressive behaviour in humans, most data have suggested a
particularly strong role for__________________.
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4. When the _________________rises people tend to feel more disposed to aggressive

behaviour.

5. Five characteristics of how parents bring up their children have been shown repeatedly to
be strongly associated with long term antisocial behavior problems, namely
(a)______________, (b) ________, ____________________, (c)________________,
(d)__________________, and (e) __________________in the child’s activities.

6. Female criminals also have been found to be much more likely to commit crimes
approximately the menstrual phase of their cycle when _________________is low, while
aggression is reduced approximately the time of ovulation when _____________ and
______________ levels are high.

7. Aggressive criminals have been found to have poor __________functioning.

8. The concept of _______________is usually credited to Aristotle who argued that we can
purge emotions by experiencing them and that viewing the classic tragedies therefore
enabled a purging of pity and fear.

9. __________________ is an unwanted sound that causes a negative effect. It can cause

aggression when it is too loud or unpredictable.

10. ______________and _____________studies suggest a large shared (family)

environmental effect, a moderate non-shared (unique) environmental effect, and a modest
genetic effect.

8.14 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Antisocial behaviour

2. Neurophysiologic

3. Serotonin

4. Temperature

5. (a) Poor supervision, (b) erratic, harsh discipline (c) parental disharmony (d) rejection of
the child e) low involvement

6. (a) Progesterone (b) estrogen (c) progesterone

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7. Brain

8. Catharsis

9. Noise

10. Twin and adoption

8.15 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Write briefly on nature and types of aggression.

2. Explain the clinical classification of aggression.

3. List the causes of aggression.

4. What are the biological causes of aggression? Write at least 3 causes.

5. List the five characteristics of how parents bring up their children have been shown
repeatedly to be strongly associated with long term antisocial behavior problems.

6. Explain the main environmental stressors.

7. How to reduce aggression?

8. Explain the concept of catharsis.

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LESSON – 9
HELPING AND ALTRUISM

INTRODUCTION
Altruism is an unselfish behavior which is performed without considering any rewards to
the person performed but increases another person’s welfare. In previous lesson we discuss
about the harming behaviour, aggression. But, in this lesson we are going to study about the
helping behaviour, social exchange, and how it benefit each other.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the concept of altruism

 Discuss the role of kinship in altruism

 Explain reciprocity and social exchange

 Discuss the relationship between social reinforcement and altruism

 Provide the social norms for helping

 Give the alternatives to direct measurement

 Discuss the role of affect in helping

 Describe the determinants of helping

PLAN OF STUDY
9.1 Understanding Altruism: Self and other concerns

9.2 Kinship

9.3 Reciprocity and Social Exchange

9.4 Social Reinforcement and Altruism: The Role of Rewards and Costs

9.5 Social Norms for helping

9.6 The Role of Affect: Moods and Emotions

9.6.1 Positive Moods Increases Helping

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9.6.2 Relieving Negative Emotions: Guilt Increases Helping

9.6.3 Personal Distress and Empathy as Determinants of Helping

9.7 Summary

9.8 Key Words

9.9 Check Your Progress

9.10 Answers to Check Your Progress

9.11 Model Questions

9.1 UNDERSTANDING ALTRUISM: SELF AND OTHER

CONCERNS
Altruism refers to any behavior that is designed to increase another person’s welfare,
and particularly those actions that do not seem to provide a direct reward to the person who
performs them (Batson, 2011; Dovidio, Piliavin, Schroeder, & Penner, 2006; Penner, Dovidio,
Piliavin, & Schroeder, 2005). Altruism occurs when we go out of our way to help people who
have lost their homes as a result of a natural disaster such as a hurricane, when we stop to
help a stranger who has been stranded on the highway, when we volunteer at a homeless
shelter or donate to a charity, or when we get involved to prevent a crime from occurring. Every
day there are numerous acts of helping that occur all around us. As we will see, some of these
represent true altruism, whereas other represent helping that is motivated more by self-concern.
And of course, there are also times when we do not help at all, seeming to not care about the
needs of others.

Helping is strongly influenced by affective variables. Indeed, the parts of the brain that
are most involved in empathy, altruism, and helping are the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex,
areas that are responsible for emotion and emotion regulation.

9.2 KINSHIP
Is the tendency to help others, at least in part, a basic feature of human nature?
Evolutionary psychologists believe so. They argue that although helping others can be costly
to us as individuals, altruism does have a clear benefit for the group as a whole. Remember
that in an evolutionary sense the survival of the individual is less important than the survival of
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the individual’s genes (McAndrew, 2002). Therefore, if a given behavior such as altruism
enhances our reproductive success by helping the species as a whole survive and prosper,
then that behavior is likely to increase fitness, be passed on to subsequent generations, and
become part of human nature.

If we are altruistic in part to help us pass on our genes, then we should be particularly
likely try to care for and to help our relatives. Research has found that we are indeed particularly
helpful to our kin (Madsen et al., 2007; Stewart-Williams, 2007). Burnstein, Crandall, and
Kitayama (1994) asked students in the United States and Japan to report how they would
respond to a variety of situations in which someone needed help. The students indicated that
in cases in which a person’s life was at stake and the helping involved a lot of effort, time, and
danger, they would be more likely to help a person who was closely related to them (for instance,
a sibling, parent, or child) than they would be to help a person who was more distantly related
(for example, a niece, nephew, uncle, or grandmother). People are more likely to donate kidneys
to relatives than to strangers (Borgida, Conner, & Manteufel, 1992), and even children indicate
that they are more likely to help their siblings than they are to help a friend (Tisak & Tisak,
1996).

According to evolutionary principles, this degree of genetic closeness should be positively

correlated with the likelihood that we will help each of those people. Do you think that your own
likelihood of helping each of the people listed corresponds to the degree to which you are
genetically related to that person? Our reactions to others are influenced not only by our genetic
relationship to them but also by their perceived similarity to us. We help friends more than we
help strangers, we help members of our ingroups more than we help members of outgroups,
and we help people who are more similar to us more generally (Dovidio et al., 1997; Krupp,
DeBruine, & Barclay, 2008; Sturmer, Snyder, Kropp, & Siem, 2006). It is quite possible that
similarity is an important determinant of helping because we use it as a marker—although not
a perfect one—that people share genes with us (Park & Schaller, 2005; Van Vugt & Van Lange,
2006). Cialdini, Brown, Lewis, Luce, and Neuberg (1997) have proposed that it is the sense of
perceived similarity—the sense of ‘‘oneness’’ between the helper and the individual in need—
that motivates most helping.

9.3 RECIPROCITY AND SOCIAL EXCHANGE

Although it seems logical that we would help people we are related to or those we perceive
as similar to us, why would we ever help people to whom we are not related? One explanation
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for such behavior is based on the principle of reciprocal altruism (Trivers, 1971). Reciprocal
altruism is the idea that, if we help other people now, they will return the favor should we need
their help in the future. By helping others, we both increase our chances of survival and
reproductive success and help others increase their chances of survival too. Over the course
of evolution, those who engage in reciprocal altruism should be able to reproduce more often
than those who do not, thus enabling this kind of altruism to continue. Reciprocal altruism
means that people even may help total strangers, based on the assumption that doing so is
useful because it may lead others to help them in the future.

One fact that might help convince you that altruism is in fact evolutionarily adaptive is
that many animals also engage in reciprocal altruism. Birds emit an alarm to nearby birds to
warn them of a predator even at a potential cost to themselves. Dolphins may support sick or
injured animals by swimming under them and pushing them to the surface so they can breathe.
Male baboons threaten predators and guard the rear of the troop as it retreats. And even bats
have a buddy system in which a bat that has had a successful night of feeding will regurgitate
food for its less fortunate companion (Wilkinson, 1990).

Altruism can even be found in low-level organisms, such as the cellular slime molds.
Slime molds are groups of cells that live as individuals until they are threatened by a lack of
food, at which point they come together and form a multi-cellular organism in which some of
the cells sacrifice themselves to promote the survival of other cells in the organism. Altruism,
then, is truly all around us.

Reciprocal altruism is one example of the general principle of social exchange. We

frequently use each other to gain rewards and to help protect ourselves from harm, and helping
is one type of benefit that we can provide to others. In some cases this exchange reflects overt
cooperation, such as when two students take notes for each other in classes that they miss or
when neighbors care for each other’s pets while one of them is away. In other cases the
exchange may be more subtle and indirect, for instance, when we help someone we don’t
really know, with the expectation that someone else may help us in return someday.

9.4 SOCIAL REINFORCEMENT AND ALTRUISM: THE ROLE

OF REWARDS AND COSTS
Although there continues to be a lively debate within the social psychological literature
about the relative contributions of each factor, it is clear that helping is both part of our basic
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human biological nature and also in part learned through our social experiences with other
people (Batson, 2011). The principles of social learning suggest that people will be more likely
to help when they receive rewards for doing so. Parents certainly realize this—children who
share their toys with others are praised, whereas those who act more selfishly are reprimanded.
And research has found that we are more likely to help attractive rather than unattractive
people of the other sex (Farrelly, Lazarus, & Roberts, 2007)—again probably because it is
rewarding to do so.

Darley and Batson (1973) demonstrated the effect of the costs of helping in a particularly
striking way. They asked students in a religious seminary to prepare a speech for presentation
to other students. According to random assignment to conditions, one half of the seminarians
prepared a talk on the parable of the altruistic Good Samaritan; the other half prepared a talk
on the jobs that seminary students like best. The expectation was that preparing a talk on the
Good Samaritan would prime the concept of being helpful for these students.

After they had prepared their talks, the religion students were then asked to walk to a
nearby building where the speech would be recorded. However, and again according to random
assignment, the students were told that they had plenty of time to get to the recording session,
that they were right on time, or that should hurry because they were already running late. On
the way to the other building, the students all passed a person in apparent distress (actually
research confederate) who was slumped in a doorway, coughing and groaning, and clearly in
need of help. The dependent variable in the research was the degree of helping that each of
the students gave to the person who was in need. Darley and Batson found that the topic of the
upcoming speech did not have a significant impact on helping. The students who had just
prepared a speech about the importance of helping did not help significantly more than those
who had not. Time pressure, however, made a difference. Of those who thought they had
plenty of time, 63% offered help, compared to 45% of those who believed they were on time
and only 10% of those who thought they were late. You can see that this is exactly what would
be expected on the basis of the principles of social reinforcement—when we have more time to
help, then helping is less costly and we are more likely to do it.

Of course, not all helping is equally costly. The costs of helping are especially high when
the situation is potentially dangerous or when the helping involves a long-term commitment to
the person in need, such as when we decide to take care of a very ill person. Because helping
strangers is particularly costly, some European countries have enacted Good Samaritan laws
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that increase the costs of not helping others. These laws require people, with the threat of a
fine or other punishment if they do not, to provide or call for aid in an emergency if they can do
so without endangering themselves in the process. Many countries and states also have passed
“Angel of Mercy” laws that decrease the costs of helping and encourage people to intervene in
emergencies by offering them protection from the law if their actions turn out not to be not
helpful or even harmful.

These policies are particularly applied to doctors and other medical professionals who
are encouraged, or even required, to volunteer medical care when they happen upon
emergencies.

In addition to learning through reinforcement, we are also likely to help more often when
we model the helpful behavior of others (Bryan & Test, 1967). In fact, although people frequently
worry about the negative impact of the violence that is seen on TV, there is also a great deal of
helping behavior shown on TV. Smith et al. (2006) found that 73% of TV shows had some
altruism and that about three altruistic behaviors were shown every hour. Furthermore, the
prevalence of altruism was particularly high in children’s shows.

Viewing positive role models provides ideas about ways to be helpful to others and gives
us information about appropriate helping behaviors. Research has found a strong correlation
between viewing helpful behavior on TV and helping. Hearold (1980) concluded on the basis of
a meta-analysis that watching altruism on TV had a larger effect on helping than viewing TV
violence had on aggressive behavior. She enncouraged public officials and parents to demand
more TV shows with prosocial themes and positive role models. But just as viewing altruism
can increase helping, modeling of behavior that is not altruistic can decrease altruism. Anderson
and Bushman (2001)found that playing violent video games led to a decrease in helping.

There are still other types of rewards that we gain from helping others. One is the status
we gain as a result of helping. Altruistic behaviors serve as a type of signal about the altruist’s
personal qualities. If good people are also helpful people, then helping implies something good
about the helper. When we act altruistically, we gain a reputation as a person with high status
who is able and willing to help others, and this status makes us better and more desirable in
the eyes of others. Hardy and Van Vugt (2006) found that both men and women were more
likely to make cooperative rather than competitive choices in games that they played with
others when their responses were public rather than private. Furthermore, when the participants
made their cooperative choices in public, the participants who had been more cooperative
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were also judged by the other players as having higher social status than were the participants
who had been less cooperative. Finally, helpers are healthy! Research has found that people
who help are happier and even live longer than those who are less helpful (Brown, Nesse,
Vinokur, & Smith, 2003).

9.5 SOCIAL NORMS FOR HELPING

The outcome of reinforcement for and modeling of helping is the development of social
norms of

morality—standards of behavior that we see as appropriate and desirable regarding

helping (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998). One norm that we all are aware of and that we attempt to
teach our children is based on the principles of equity and exchange. The reciprocity norm is a
social norm reminding us that we should follow the principles of reciprocal altruism—if someone
helps us, then we should help them in the future, and we should help people now with the
expectation that they will help us later if we need it. The reciprocity norm is found in everyday
adages like “Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” and in religious and philosophical teachings
such as the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The reciprocity
norm forms the basis of human cooperation and is found in every culture. For instance, you
can see a list of variations of the golden rule, as expressed in 21 different religions.

Because the rule is normally followed, people generally do help others who have helped
them (Whatley, Webster, Smith, & Rhodes, 1999). Because helping following the reciprocity
norm is based on the return of earlier help and the expectation of a future return from others,
it might not seem so much like true altruism to you. But we might also hope that our children
internalize another relevant social norm that seems more altruistic—the social responsibility
norm. The social responsibility norm tells us that we should try to help others who need
assistance, even without any expectation of future paybacks. The social responsibility norm
involves a sense of duty and obligation, in which people are expected to respond to others by
giving help to those in need. The teachings of many religions are based on the social
responsibility norm that we should, as good human beings, reach out and help other people
whenever we can.

9.6 THE ROLE OF AFFECT: MOODS AND EMOTIONS

Because our ability to successfully interact with other people is so important to our survival,
these skills have become part of human nature. We determine whether to help in large part on
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the basis of how other people make us feel, and how we think we will feel if we help or do not
help them.

9.6.1 POSITIVE MOODS INCREASE HELPING

People help more when they are in good mood. We ask our parents to use their car, and
we ask our boss for a raise, when we think they are in a positive mood rather than a negative
one. Positive moods have been shown to increase many types of helping behavior, including
contributing to charity, donating blood, and helping coworkers (Isen, 1999). It is also relatively
easy to put people in a good mood. You might not be surprised to hear that people are more
likely to help after they’ve done well on a test or just received a big bonus in their paycheck. But
research has found that even more trivial things, such as finding a coin in a phone booth,
listening to a comedy recording, having someone smile at you, or even smelling the pleasant
scent of perfume is enough to put people in a good mood and to cause them to be helpful
(Baron & Thomley, 1994; Gueguen & De Gail, 2003; Isen & Levin, 1972).

In another study, van Baaren, Holland, Kawakami, and van Knippenberg (2004) had
students interact with an experimenter who either mimicked them by subtly copying their
behaviors out of their awareness or did not mimic them. The researchers found that people
who had been mimicked were more likely to help, by picking up pens that had fallen on the
floor and by donating to a charity. It seems quite possible that this effect is due to the influence
of positive moods on helping—we like people we see as similar to us and that puts us in a good
mood, making us more likely to help. In sum, the influence of mood on helping is substantial
(Carlson, Charlin, & Miller, 1988), so if you’re looking for help, ask on a nice day, subtly mimic
the person’s behaviors, or prepare some good jokes.

But why does being in a good mood make us helpful? There are probably several reasons.
For one, positive mood indicates that the environment is not dangerous and therefore that we
can safely help others. Second, we like other people more when we are in good moods, and
that may lead us to help them. Finally, and perhaps most important, is the possibility the helping
makes us feel good about ourselves, thereby maintaining our positive mood. In fact, people
who are in good moods are particularly likely to help when the help that they are going to give
seems likely to maintain their positive mood. But if they think that the helping is going spoil their
good mood, even people in good moods are likely to refuse to help (Erber & Markunas, 2006).
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9.6.2 RELIEVING NEGATIVE EMOTIONS: GUILT INCREASES HELPING

Although positive moods can increase helping, negative emotions can do so too. The
idea is that if helping can reduce negative feelings we are experiencing, then we may help in
order to get rid of those bad feelings (Cialdini, Darby, & Vincent, 1973). One emotion that is
particularly important in this regard is guilt. We feel guilt when we think that we (or others we
feel close to) may have caused harm to another person (Tangney, 2003). The experience of
guilt increases our desire to create positive relationships with other people. Because we hate
to feel guilty, we will go out of our way to reduce any feelings of guilt that we may be experiencing.
And one way to relieve our guilt is by helping. Put simply, feelings of guilt lead us to try to make
up for our transgressions in any way possible, including by helping others.

In research by Dennis Regan and his colleagues (Regan, Williams, & Sparling, 1972),
students were led to believe that they had broken another person’s camera, which in turn
made them feel guilty. Then another person presented a need for help. The students who were
feeling guilty were more likely to help the second person than were those who were not feeling
guilty. Thus participants who unintentionally harmed one person ended up being more helpful
to another person who had nothing to do with the original source of the guilt. This situation
illustrates the function of guilt: We feel guilty when we think we have harmed our relationships
with others, and the guilt reminds us that we need to work to repair these transgressions
(Baumeister, Stillwell, & Heatherton, 1994). Advertisers may try to invoke guilt to get people to
contribute to charitable causes. This approach is particularly effective when people feel that
they are able to engage in the necessary helping (Basil, Ridgway, & Basil, 2008).

But what about other emotions, such as sadness, anger, and fear? It turns out that we
also may be more likely to help when we are fearful or sad—again to make ourselves feel
better. Jonas, Schimel, Greenberg, and Pyszczynski (2002) found that people who were induced
to think about their own death—for instance, when they were interviewed in front of a funeral
home—became more altruistic.

9.6.3 PERSONAL DISTRESS AND EMPATHY AS

DETERMINANTS OF HELPING

Imagine that you arrive upon the scene of a car accident that has just occurred. The
driver of the car has been thrown out on the highway and is seriously injured. He is bleeding,
has many broken bones, and may be near death. Other cars are just driving by the scene, but
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you could easily pull over to help. Would you be likely to just drive by, or would you stop to
help?

The negative emotions that we may experience when we are perceiving another person’s
distress have a big influence on our helping. In some cases people feel rather sickened or
disgusted by the victim of an emergency—for instance, when the person is seriously injured
and bleeding. Personal distress refers to the negative emotions that we may experience when
we view another person’s suffering. Because we feel so uncomfortable, when we feel personal
distress we may simply leave the scene rather than stopping. In other cases we may not feel
so many negative emotions upon viewing another person in need but rather more positive
feelings of a close connection with the person who is suffering. When we really experience the
pain and the needs of the other person, we say that we are feeling empathy for the other.
Empathy refers to an affective response in which a person understands, and even feels, another
person’s distress and experiences events the way the other person does. Empathy seems to
be a biological aspect of human nature—an emotion that is an integral part of being human—
and that is designed to help us help. Empathy allows us to quickly and automatically perceive
and understand the emotional states of others and to regulate our behavior toward others in
coordinated and cooperative ways (de Waal, 2008). Empathy may also create other emotions,
such as sympathy, compassion, and tenderness. You can well imagine that we are more likely
to help someone when we are feeling empathy for them—in this case we want to comfort and
help the victim of the car accident.

9.7 SUMMARY
 Altruism refers to any behavior that is designed to increase another person’s welfare, and
particularly those actions that do not seem to provide a direct reward to the person who
performs them.

 According to evolutionary principles, this degree of genetic closeness should be positively

correlated with the likelihood that we will help each of those people.

 Reciprocal altruism is the idea that, if we help other people now, they will return the favor
should we need their help in the future.

 The principles of social learning suggest that people will be more likely to help when they
receive rewards for doing so.
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 Altruistic behaviors serve as a type of signal about the altruist’s personal qualities.

 The reciprocity norm is a social norm reminding us that we should follow the principles of
reciprocal altruism—if someone helps us, then we should help them in the future, and we
should help people now with the expectation that they will help us later if we need it.

 People help more when they are in good mood.

 Perhaps the most important reason for helping, is the possibility the helping makes us
feel good about ourselves, thereby maintaining our positive mood.

 Helping can reduce negative feelings we are experiencing, then we may help in order to
get rid of those bad feelings.

 Feelings of guilt lead us to try to make up for our transgressions in any way possible,
including by helping others.

 Personal distress refers to the negative emotions that we may experience when we view
another person’s suffering.

 Empathy allows us to quickly and automatically perceive and understand the emotional
states of others and to regulate our behavior toward others in coordinated and cooperative
ways.

9.8 KEY WORDS

Altruism: It is an unselfish behavior which is performed without considering any rewards
to the person performed but increases another person’s welfare.

Reciprocal Altruism: People help or benefit a person who is in need by expecting a

repayment of the benefit when needs in future.

Social norms of morality: Standards of behavior that we see as appropriate and desirable
regarding helping

Personal distress: It is a negative emotions that we may experience when we view

another person’s suffering.

Empathy: It refers to an affective response in which a person understands, and even

feels, another person’s distress and experiences events the way the other person does.
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9.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. ___________refers to any behavior that is designed to increase another person’s welfare,
and particularly those actions that do not seem to provide a direct reward to the person
who performs them.

2. Parts of the brain that are most involved in empathy, altruism, and helping are the ________
and the _________.

3. According to __________principles, this degree of genetic closeness should be positively

correlated with the likelihood that we will help each of those people.

4. ___________is the idea that, if we help other people now, they will return the favor should
we need their help in the future.

5. The _________norm is a social norm reminding us that we should follow the principles of
reciprocal altruism.

6. The _____________norm tells us that we should try to help others who need assistance,
even without any expectation of future paybacks.

7. ____________indicates that the environment is not dangerous and therefore that we can
safely help others.

8. Feelings of ________ lead us to try to make up for our transgressions in any way possible,
including by helping others.

9. ___________ refers to the negative emotions that we may experience when we view
another person’s suffering.

10. ___________ refers to an affective response in which a person understands, and even
feels, another person’s distress and experiences events the way the other person does.

9.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Altruism

2. Amygdala and prefrontal cortex

3. Evolutionary
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4. Reciprocal altruism

5. Reciprocity

6. Social responsibility

7. Positive mood

8. Guilt

9. Personal distress

10. Empathy

9.11 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Explain reciprocity and social exchange.

2. Discuss how kinship is correlated to altruism.

3. How does social reinforcement influence the behaviour of altruism?

4. Can we reduce negative emotions by acts of helping? Justify.

5. Why does being in a good mood make us helpful? Give reasons.

6. How does personal distress and empathy influence helping?

7. Explain social norms for helping

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LESSON - 10
SOCIAL CONTEXT ON HELPING

INTRODUCTION
Latane and Darley created five decisions an individual must go through in deciding to
help a stranger in need they are notice something unusual, determine whether it is an emergency,
take responsibility, know appropriate form of assistance and intervene. The previous lesson
discusses the altruism behaviour and how its components affect altruism. In this lesson, we
are going to see about helping model and the issues in helping.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand about the influences of social contexts in helping

 Describe Latane and Darley’s model of helping

 Explain the other determinants of helping

 Provide the reactions to receiving help

 Discuss the cultural issues in helping

 Explain how to increase helping

PLAN OF STUDY
10.1 Influences of Social Contexts in Helping

10.2 Latane and Darley’s Model of Helping

10.2.1 Noticing

10.2.2 Interpreting

10.2.3 Taking Responsibility

10.2.4 Implementing Action

10.3 Other Determinants of Helping

10.3.1 The Altruistic Personality

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10.3.2 Gender Difference in Helping

10.3.3 Attributions and Helping

10.4 Reactions to receiving help

10.5 Cultural Issues in Helping

10.6 Increasing Helping

10.7 Summary

10.8 Key Words

10.9 Check Your Progress

10.10 Answers to Check Your Progress

10.11 Model Questions

10.1 INFLUENCES OF SOCIAL CONTEXT IN HELPING

Although emotional responses such as guilt, personal distress, and empathy are important
determinants of altruism, it is the social situation itself—the people around us when we are
deciding whether or not to help—that has perhaps the most important influence on whether
and when we help.

10.2 LATANE AND DARLEY’S MODEL OF HELPING

Two social psychologists, Bibb Latané and John Darley, found themselves particularly
interested and realized that emergencies are unusual and that people frequently do not really
know what to do when they encounter one. Furthermore, emergencies are potentially dangerous
to the helper, and it is therefore probably pretty amazing that anyone helps at all.

To better understand the processes of helping in an emergency, Latané and Darley

developed a model of helping that took into consideration the important role of the social
situation. Their model, which is shown in, has been extensively tested in many studies, and
there is substantial support for it.
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10.2.1 NOTICING

Latané and Darley thought that the first thing that had to happen in order for people to
help is that they had to notice the emergency. This seems pretty obvious, but it turns out that
the social situation has a big impact on noticing an emergency. Consider, for instance, people
who live in a large city such as New York City, Bangkok, or Beijing. These cities are big, noisy,
and crowded—it seems like there are a million things going at once. How could people living in
such a city even notice, let alone respond to, the needs of all the people around them? They
are simply too overloaded by the stimuli in the city (Milgram, 1970).

Many studies have found that people who live in smaller and less dense rural towns are
more likely to help than those who live in large, crowded, urban cities (Amato, 1983; Levine,
Martinez, Brase, & Sorenson, 1994). Although there are a lot of reasons for such differences,
just noticing the emergency is critical. When there are more people around, it is less likely that
the people notice the needs of others. You may have had an experience that demonstrates the
influence of the social situation on noticing. Imagine that you have lived with a family or a
roommate for a while, but one night you find yourself alone in your house or apartment because
your housemates are staying somewhere else that night. If you are like me, I bet you found
yourself hearing sounds that you never heard before—and they might have made you pretty
nervous. Of course the sounds were always there, but when other people were around you,
you were simply less alert to them. The presence of others can divert our attention from the
environment—it’s as if we are unconsciously, and probably quite mistakenly, counting on the
others to take care of things for us.
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Latane and Darley (1968) wondered if they could examine this phenomenon
experimentally. To do so, they simply asked their research participants to complete a
questionnaire in a small room. Some of the participants completed the questionnaire alone,
while others completed the questionnaire in small groups in which two other participants were
also working on questionnaires. A few minutes after the participants had begun the
questionnaires, the experimenters started to release some white smoke into the room through
a vent in the wall while they watched through a one-way mirror. The smoke got thicker as time
went on, until it filled the room. The experimenters timed how long it took before the first
person in the room looked up and noticed the smoke. The people who were working alone
noticed the smoke in about 5 seconds, and within 4 minutes most of the participants who were
working alone had taken some action. But what about the participants working in groups of
three?

Although we would certainly expect that having more people around would increase the
likelihood that someone would notice the smoke, on average, the first person in the group
conditions did not notice the smoke until over 20 seconds had elapsed. And although 75% of
the participants who were working alone reported the smoke within 4 minutes, the smoke was
reported in only 12% of the three-person groups by that time. In fact, in only three of the eight
three-person groups did anyone report the smoke at all, even after it had entirely filled the
room!

10.2.2 INTERPRETING

Even if we notice an emergency, we might not interpret it as one. The problem is that
events are frequently ambiguous, and we must interpret them to understand what they really
mean. Furthermore, we often don’t see the whole event unfolding, so it is difficult to get a good
handle on it. Is a man holding an iPod and running away from a group of pursuers a criminal
who needs to be apprehended, or is this just a harmless prank? Were the cries of someone in
trouble really calls for help, or were they simply an argument with the husband? It’s hard for us
to tell when we haven’t seen the whole event (Piliavin, Piliavin, & Broll, 1976). Moreover, because
emergencies are rare and because we generally tend to assume that events are benign, we
may be likely to treat ambiguous cases as not being emergencies. The problem is compounded
when others are present because when we are unsure how to interpret events we normally
look to others to help us understand them (this is informational social influence).
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However, the people we are looking toward for understanding are themselves unsure
how to interpret the situation and they are looking to us for information at the same time we are
looking to them. When we look to others for information we may assume that they know
something that we do not know. This is often a mistake, because all the people in the situation
are doing the same thing. None of us really know what to think, but at the same time we
assume that the others do know. Pluralistic ignorance occurs when people think that others
in their environment have information that they do not have and when they base their judgments
on what they think the others are thinking. Pluralistic ignorance seems to have been occurring
in Latané and Darley’s studies, because even when the smoke became really heavy in the
room, many people in the group conditions did not react to it. Rather, they looked at each other,
and because nobody else in the room seemed very concerned, they each assumed that the
others thought that everything was all right. You can see the problem—each bystander thinks
that other people aren’t acting because they don’t see an emergency. Of course, everyone is
confused, but believing that the others know something that they don’t, each observer concludes
that help is not required.

Pluralistic ignorance is not restricted to emergency situations (Miller, Turnbull, & McFarland,
1988; Suls & Green, 2003). Maybe you have had the following experience: You are in one of
your classes and the instructor has just finished a complicated explanation. He is unsure whether
the students are up to speed and asks, “Are there any questions?” All the class members are
of course completely confused, but when they look at each other, nobody raises a hand in
response. So everybody in the class (including the instructor) assumes that everyone
understands the topic perfectly. This is pluralistic ignorance at its worst—we are all assuming
that others know something that we don’t, and so we don’t act. The moral to instructors in this
situation is clear: Wait until at least one student asks a question. The moral for students is also
clear: Ask your question! Don’t think that you will look stupid for doing so—the other students
will probably thank you.

10.2.3 TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

Even if we have noticed the emergency and interpret it as being one, this does not
necessarily mean that we will come to the rescue of the other person. We still need to decide
that it is our responsibility to do something. The problem is that when we see others around, it
is easy to assume that they are going to do something and that we don’t need to do anything.
Diffusion of responsibility occurs when we assume that others will take action and therefore we
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do not take action ourselves. The irony of course is that people are more likely to help when
they are the only ones in the situation than they are when there are others around.

Darley and Latane (1968) had study participants work on a communication task in which
they were sharing ideas about how to best adjust to college life with other people in different
rooms using an intercom. According to random assignment to conditions, each participant
believed that he or she was communicating with either one, two, or five other people, who were
in either one, two, or five other rooms. Each participant had an initial chance to give his opinions
over the intercom, and on the first round one of the other people (actually a confederate of the
experimenter) indicated that he had an “epileptic-like” condition that had made the adjustment
process very difficult for him. After a few minutes, the subject heard the experimental confederate
say, for example:

I-er-um-I think I-I need-er-if-if could-er-er-somebody er-er-er-er-er-er-er give me a liltle-

er-give me a little help here because-er-I-er-I’m-er-er having a-a-a real problcm-er-right now
and I-er-if somebody could help me out it would-it would-er-er s-s-sure be-sure be
good…because there-erer-a cause I-er-I-uh-I’ve got a-a one of the-er-sei er-er-things coming
on and-and-and I could really-er-use some help so if somebody would-er-give me a little h-
help-uh-er-er-er-er-er c-could somebody-er-er-help-er-uh-uh-uh (choking sounds).…I’m gonna
die-er-er-I’m…gonna die-erhelp-er-er-seizure-er- (chokes, then quiet). (Darley & Latané, 1968)

As you can see in, the participants who thought that they were the only ones who knew
about the emergency (because they were only working with one other person) left the room
quickly to try to get help. In the larger groups, however, participants were less likely to intervene
and slower to respond when they did. Only 31% of the participants in the largest groups
responded by the end of the 6-minute session. You can see that the social situation has a
powerful influence on helping. We simply don’t help as much when other people are with us.
Perhaps you have noticed diffusion of responsibility if you have participated in an Internet
users group where people asked questions of the other users. Did you find that it was easier to
get help if you directed your request to a smaller set of users than when you directed it to a
larger number of people?

To study the possibility that this lack of response was due to the presence of others, the
researchers (Markey, 2000) conducted a field study in which they observed about 5,000
participants in about 400 different chat groups. The experimenters sent a message to the
group, from either a male (John) or female (Susan) screen name. Help was sought by either
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asking all the participants in the chat group, “Can anyone tell me how to look at someone’s
profile?” or by randomly selecting one participant and asking “[name of selected participant],
can you tell me how to look at someone’s profile?” The experimenters recorded the number of
people present in the chat room, which ranged from 2 to 19, and then waited to see how long
it took before a response was given.

It turned out that the gender of the person requesting help made no difference, but that
addressing to a single person did. Assistance was received more quickly when help was asked
for by specifying a participant’s name (in only about 37 seconds) than when no name was
specified (51 seconds). Furthermore, a correlational analysis found that when help was
requested without specifying a participant’s name, there was a significant negative correlation
between the number of people currently logged on in the group and the time it took to respond
to the request.

Garcia, Weaver, Moskowitz, and Darley (2002) found that the presence of others can
promote diffusion of responsibility even if those other people are only imagined. In these studies
the researchers had participants read one of three possible scenarios that manipulated whether
participants thought about dining out with 10 friends at a restaurant (group condition) or whether
they thought about dining at a restaurant with only one other friend (one-person condition).
Participants in the group condition were asked to “Imagine you won a dinner for yourself and
10 of your friends at your favorite restaurant.” Participants in the one-person condition were
asked to “Imagine you won a dinner for yourself and a friend at your favorite restaurant.”

After reading one of the scenarios, the participants were then asked to help with another
experiment supposedly being conducted in another room. Specifically, they were asked: “How
much time are you willing to spend on this other experiment?” At this point, participants checked
off one of the following minute intervals: 0 minutes, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15
minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes, and 30 minutes. As you can see in, simply imagining that
they were in a group or alone had a significant effect on helping, such that those who imagined
being with only one other person volunteered to help for more minutes than did those who
imagined being in a larger group.

10.2.4 IMPLEMENTING ACTION

The fourth step in the helping model is knowing, how to help. Of course, for many of us
the ways to best help another person in an emergency are not that clear; we are not professionals
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and we have little training in how to help in emergencies. People who do have training in how
to act in emergencies are more likely to help, whereas the rest of us just don’t know what to do
and therefore may simply walk by. On the other hand, today most people have cell phones,
and we can do a lot with a quick call. In fact, a phone call made in time might have saved
someone’s life. The moral: You might not know exactly what to do, but you may well be able to
contact someone else who does.

Latane and Darley’s decision model of bystander intervention has represented an important
theoretical framework for helping us understand the role of situational variables on helping.
Whether or not we help depends on the outcomes of a series of decisions that involve noticing
the event, interpreting the situation as one requiring assistance, deciding to take personal
responsibility, and deciding how to help. Fischer et al. (2011) recently analyzed data from over
105 studies using over 7,500 participants who had been observed helping (or not helping) in
situations in which they were alone or with others. They found significant support for the idea
that people helped more when fewer others were present. And supporting the important role of
interpretation, they also found that the differences were smaller when the need for helping was
clear and dangerous and thus required little interpretation. They also found that there were at
least some situations (such as when bystanders were able to help provide needed physical
assistance) in which having other people around increased helping.

Although the Latane and Darley model was initially developed to understand how people
respond in emergencies requiring immediate assistance, aspects of the model have been
successfully applied to many other situations, ranging from preventing someone from driving
drunk to making a decision about whether to donate a kidney to a relative.

10.3 OTHER DETERMINANTS OF HELPING

Although we have discussed many of the most important factors, there are still other
variables that determine our willingness to help others. These include characteristics of the
people who are potentially providing help as well as the ways that others respond to the help
they may receive.

10.3.1 THE ALTRUISTIC PERSONALITY

We have seen that the social situation is a very strong determinant of whether or not we
help. But although the effects of personality may not generally be as strong as those of the
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social context, person variables do matter. Some people are indeed more helpful than others
across a variety of situations, and we say that these people have analtruistic or prosocial
personality.

The altruistic personality involves both the cognitive and the emotional responses that
we experience around others. People with altruistic personalities tend to show empathy and
sympathy for others and feel that it is appropriate and right to follow the norm of social
responsibility. These people help more people in a wider variety of areas, including providing
help to coworkers, donating organs, and volunteering, and also have been found to help more
quickly than do people who score lower on these measures. A longitudinal study conducted by
Nancy Eisenberg and her colleagues (Eisenberg et al., 1999) found that children who were the
most helpful when they were measured in their preschool classes also were the most helpful
later in childhood and in early adulthood, suggesting that they really were helpful people. People
with altruistic personalities seem to be people who have a strong other-concern—they like to
be with, to relate to, and to help others.

The altruistic personality is in part heritable. Research has found that identical twins are
more similar to each other in both their helping-related emotions (such as empathy) and their
actual helping than are fraternal twins, who share only a portion of their genetic makeup (Davis,
Luce, & Kraus, 1994).

10.3.2 GENDER DIFFERENCES IN HELPING

You may have already asked yourself an important question about helping: Do men or
women help more? And perhaps you have answered this question. For instance, you might
have decided that women would be more helpful because they are by and large more attuned
to the needs of others. Or perhaps you decided that men would be more helpful because
helping involves demonstrating bravery and heroicism and men are more likely to desire to be
heroes, or at least to look heroic in the eyes of other people. In fact, on average there are no
big differences between men and women in terms of their helping, the percentage of women
volunteering (46%) was not significantly different than the percentage of men (42%). Rather,
there appears to be a person-by-situation interaction, such that gender differences show up
more strongly in some situations than in others. The differences depend not only upon the
opportunity to help but also on the type of helping that is required (Becker & Eagly, 2004). In
general, men are more likely to help in situations that involve physical strength. If you remember
photos and videos taken immediately after the World Trade Center attack in 2001, you’ll probably
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recall the many images of firefighters and police officers, who were primarily men, engaged in
heroic acts of helping.

This does not mean that women are any less helpful—in fact thousands of women helped
during and after the World Trade Center attack by tending to the wounded in hospitals, donating
blood, raising money for the families of the victims, and helping with the cleanup of the disaster
sites. Because women are, on average, more focused on other-concern, they are more likely
than men to help in situations that involve long-term nurturance and caring, particularly within
close relationships. Women are also more likely than men to engage in community behaviors,
such as volunteering in the community or helping families (Becker & Eagly, 2004; Eagly &
Becker, 2005). Helping within the family is done in large part by mothers, sisters, wives, and
female friends. (You might ask yourself when you last received a thank-you note from a man!)

Although this type of helping might be less likely to be rewarded with newspaper stories
and medals, providing social support and helping connect people serves to help us meet the
important goal of relating to others and thus helps improve the quality of our lives. And women
are not afraid to help in situations that are dangerous. In fact, women have been found to be as
likely as men are to engage in dangerous behaviors such as donating a kidney to others
(Becker & Eagly, 2004).

10.3.3 ATTRIBUTIONS AND HELPING

We do not help everyone equally—some people just seem to be more worthy of help
than others. Our cognitions about people in need matter as do our emotions toward them. For
one, our perception of the amount of the need is important. Bickman and Kamzan (1973)
found that people were considerably more reluctant to help someone requesting money in a
grocery store to buy some cookie dough (a relative luxury item) than they were to help someone
requesting money to buy milk (which seems more necessary).

In addition to attempting to determine whether the help is really needed, we also tend to
determine whether people are deserving of the help. We tend to provide less help to people
who seem to have brought on their problems themselves or who don’t seem to be working very
hard to solve them on their own than we do to people who need help as a result of events that
seem to be out of their control. Imagine, for instance, that a student in your class asks to
borrow your class notes to prepare for an exam. And then imagine if the student said, “I just
can’t take good notes—I attend every class, and I really try, but I just can’t do it.” I’m guessing
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that you might be willing to help this student. On the other hand, imagine that the student said,
“Well, I miss class a lot because I don’t feel like coming, and even when I’m here I don’t bother
to take notes every day.” I bet you’d be less likely to help this person, who doesn’t seem to be
trying very hard.

Supporting this idea, Dooley (1995) had students read scenarios about a person who
had been diagnosed with AIDS. Participants who learned that the person had contracted the
disease through a blood transfusion felt more empathy and pity for the person, and also
expressed a greater desire to help them, than did participants who believed that the disease
was caused by unprotected sex or by illicit drug use. One reason we may be particularly likely
to help victims of hurricanes and other natural disasters, then, is that we see that these people
did not cause their own problems. Those who do argue against helping these victims may well
take the opposite position because they believe that the individuals deserved what they got
(“they should have known better than to live there”). It has been argued that a fundamental
difference between individuals who hold politically conservative views and those who hold
politically liberal views is how they perceive the necessity or moral responsibility of helping
others, and that this relates to how they perceive the causes of people’s outcomes.

Consider people who appear to need help because they have inadequate food, shelter,
or health care, for example. Liberals tend to attribute these outcomes more externally, blaming
them on unjust social practices and societal structures that create inequalities. Because they
are likely to believe that the people do not deserve their unfortunate situation, they are likely to
favor spending on social programs designed to help these people. Conservatives, on the other
hand, are more likely to hold just world beliefs—beliefs that people get what they deserve in life
(Lerner, 1980). Conservatives make more internal attributions for negative outcomes, believing
that the needs are caused by the lack of effort or ability on the part of the individual. They are
therefore less likely than liberals to favor government spending on welfare and other social
programs designed to help people.

10.4 REACTIONS TO RECEIVING HELP

To this point in the chapter we have proceeded as if helping is always a good thing—that
people need to receive help and that they are appreciative of and thankful to the people who
help them. But perhaps this is not always true. We haven’t yet considered the cognitive and
affective reactions of the people who are receiving the help. Can you remember a time when
somebody tried to help you make a decision or perform a task, but you didn’t really want the
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help? How did that make you think and feel about yourself? Maybe there are costs involved in
receiving help, just as there are in giving it.

Although people who receive help often really need the help and may indeed feel
appreciative and grateful to those who help them, receiving help may also have some negative
consequences. When we help another person, it indicates that we have enough resources that
we can afford to give some of them to the recipient; it also indicates that the recipient is dependent
on our goodwill. Thus helping creates a status disparity in the sense that the helper is seen as
having higher status than the person being helped. This inequality makes giving help an indication
of high status and power, and receiving help a potentially self-threatening experience for the
recipient (Nadler, 2002; Nadler & Halabi, 2006).

There are a variety of emotions that help recipients might feel in these cases, including
embarrassment and worry that they are, or are seen as, incompetent or dependent. Research
has found that people frequently respond negatively when they receive help and may in some
cases even prefer to endure hardships rather than to seek out help (Nadler, 1991). Receiving
help, then, can be a potential blow to our self-esteem. The negative feelings that we experience
when receiving help are likely to be particularly strong when the recipient feels that the implication
of the helping is that they are unable to care for themselves. In these cases the help is perceived
as being dependency oriented (Nadler et al., 1983). When the helper takes control of the
situation and solves the problem facing the individual, leaving little left for the individual to
accomplish on his or her own, the behavior may be seen as indicating that the individual
cannot help herself. The potential recipients of help are likely to reject offers of dependency-
oriented help, refrain from seeking it, and react negatively when it is offered.

Another situation in which people may not appreciate the help they are receiving is when
that help comes on the basis of one’s presumed need. For instance Blaine, Crocker, and Major
(1995) found that people who imagined that they had been hired for a job because they were
disabled experienced lower self-esteem and felt that they were less likely to work hard on the
job than those who imagined that they were hired on the basis of their job qualifications. You
can see that government programs, such as those based on affirmative action, although likely
to be helpful for the people who receive them, may also lead those people to feel dependent on
others.

In contrast to dependency-oriented help, autonomy-oriented help is partial and temporary

and provides information to the other, for instance, by giving instructions or guidance or providing
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ideas about how to help oneself. Autonomy-oriented help reflects the helper’s view that, given
the appropriate tools, recipients can help themselves (Brickman, 1982). Autonomy-oriented
help allows help recipients to retain their independence despite their reliance on the more
resourceful helper. This type of help is less likely to clash with help recipients’ view of themselves
as capable people who can help themselves. There are also observed gender differences in
the willingness to seek help. Boys and men are less likely to ask for help overall, perhaps in
part because they feel that asking for help indicates to others that they are less capable of
handling their own affairs or that they have low status.

In short, when we help others we must be careful that we do it in a way that allows them
to maintain their independence and that reminds them that they are still able to help themselves.
This type of help will be more easily accepted and more beneficial in the long run.

10.5 CULTURAL ISSUES IN HELPING

Although almost every culture has a social responsibility norm, the strength of those
norms varies across cultures. And these differences relate well to what we know about
individualism and collectivism. In one study, Miller, Bersoff, and Harwood (1990) found that
children and adults in the United States (a Western and therefore individualistic culture) were
less likely than children and adults in India (an Eastern and therefore collectivistic culture) to
believe that people have an obligation to provide assistance to others. The Indian respondents
believed that there was an absolute requirement to help, whereas the Americans offered their
helping more selectively, even to their friends. Similarly, Baron and Miller (2000) found that
Indian students were more likely than U.S. students to view donating bone marrow to save
someone’s life as morally required, whereas U.S. students were more likely than Indian students
to say that donating was a decision that the potential donor had to make himself or herself.

Perlow and Weeks (2002) found that there were substantial cultural differences in the
behavior of software engineers working at similar companies and doing the same type of work
in the United States and in India. Engineers at the American site were more focused on exchange
and reciprocity—they tended to provide help to others only if they thought those people could
be helpful to them in the future. The engineers at the Indian company, on the other hand, were
more willing to help anyone who seemed to need help, regardless of the potential for a return.
Perlow and Weeks interpreted these differences in terms of different ways of meeting the goal
of self-interest. Among the Americans, helping was seen as an unwanted interruption on the
time of the individual, and thus helping was not personally beneficial. At the Indian company,
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however, helping was seen more as an opportunity for improving one’s skills by helping. These
results suggest that helping, at least in Western contexts such as the United States, can be
increased if it is framed to be perceived as important toward achieving one’s goals.

One important difference between Eastern and Western cultures is that the importance
of self-concern (versus other-concern) is higher in the latter. In fact, the strong individualistic
norms in cultures such as the United States make it sometimes inappropriate to try to help in
cases where we do not have a personal interest. Rebecca Ratner and Dale Miller (2001) had
participants read a scenario in which a governmental funding agency was planning to reduce
funding for research regarding a disease. The disease was said to affect only women or only
men. Then the participants were asked to indicate both whether they were opposed to the
reduction in funding and how comfortable they would be in attending a meeting to protest the
funding changes.

In terms of their attitudes toward the reduction in funding, there were no significant gender
differences.

Men thought that the funding should be maintained even when the disease only affected
women, and vice versa. However, when asked how comfortable they would feel attending a
meeting protesting the funding decreases, significant differences occurred. The men predicted
that they would feel less comfortable attending a meeting to protest the funding reductions
when the disease only affected women, and the women predicted that they would feel less
comfortable attending a meeting to protest the funding reductions when the disease only affected
men.

Ratner and Miller argued that in Western cultures there is a norm of self-interest that
influences whether or not we feel that we can be involved in actions designed to help others. In
short, people are not expected to volunteer for, or to be involved in, causes that do not affect
them personally. It is simply inappropriate to lend help to others unless the person is personally
involved in the issue and thus stands to benefit. Indeed, participants in another study by Ratner
and Miller reacted more negatively to an individual’s altruistic behaviors when they did not
appear consistent with his or her self-interest.

There is still another example of the subtle role of self-interest in helping. Did you ever
notice that many people who are looking for contributions to a cause do not ask directly but
rather ask that you purchase something from them, allowing them to keep the profit from the
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sale? Bake sales, car washes, and address sticker and magazine subscription charity campaigns
are all examples of this. Of course, it would be more profitable for the charity if people simply
gave the same amount of money rather than taking the gift—and perhaps the people who are
making the purchases would prefer not to have to buy the product anyway.

Is it possible that people are simply more comfortable making donations in exchange for
a product than they are simply giving money to a charity? Research by John Holmes and his
colleagues (Holmes, Miller, & Lerner, 2002) has supported this idea, finding that people are
more likely to help when they can pretend that they are acting in their own self-interest. In one
study, Holmes and his team found that students were more likely to donate money to a needy
charity when they were offered a small candle in return for their donation than when they were
not offered the candle. However, and suggesting that they didn’t really care about the candle
that much, when the request was to contribute to a charity that did not seem that needy,
contributions were smaller overall but were not greater when the candle was offered than when
it was not. Again, it seems that people feel more comfortable being altruistic when they can
pretend that they are really helping themselves—not violating the norm of self-interest.

10.6 INCREASING HELPING

Now that we have a fundamental understanding of the variables that influence the likelihood
that we will help others, let’s spend some time considering how we might use this information
in our everyday life to try to become more helpful ourselves and to encourage those around us
to do the same.

First, we need to remember that not all helping is based on other-concern—self-concern

is important. People help in part because it makes them feel good, and therefore anything that
we can do to increase the benefits of helping and to decrease the costs of helping would be
useful. Consider, for instance, the research of Mark Snyder, who has extensively studied the
people who volunteer to help other people who are suffering from AIDS (Snyder & Omoto,
2004; Snyder, Omoto, & Lindsay, 2004). To help understand which volunteers were most likely
to continue to volunteer over time, Snyder and his colleagues (Omoto & Snyder, 1995) asked
the AIDS volunteers to indicate why they volunteered. The researchers found that the people
indicated that they volunteered for many different reasons, and these reasons fit well with our
assumptions about human nature—they involve both self-concern as well as other-concern.
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Omoto and Snyder (1995) found that the volunteers were more likely to continue their
volunteer work if their reasons for volunteering involved self-related activities, such as
understanding, personal development, or esteem enhancement. The volunteers who felt that
they were getting something back from their work were likely to stay involved. In addition,
Snyder and his colleagues found that that people were more likely to continue volunteering
when their existing social support networks were weak. This result suggests that some volunteers
were using the volunteer opportunity to help them create better social connections (Omoto &
Snyder, 1995).

On the other hand, the volunteers who reported experiencing negative reactions about
their helping from their friends and family members, which made them feel embarrassed,
uncomfortable, and stigmatized for helping, were also less likely to continue working as
volunteers (Snyder, Omoto, & Crain, 1999). These results again show that people will help
more if they see it as rewarding. So if you want to get people to help, try to increase the
rewards of doing so, for instance by enhancing their mood or by offering incentives. Simple
things, such as noticing, praising, and even labeling helpful behavior can be enough.

When children are told that they are “kind and helpful children,” they contribute more of
their prizes to other children (Grusec, Kuczynski, Rushton, & Simutis, 1978). Rewards work for
adults too: People were more likely to donate to charity several weeks after they were described
by another person as being “generous” and “charitable” people (Kraut, 1973). In short, once
we start to think of ourselves as helpful people, self-perception takes over and we continue to
help.

The nations and states that have passed Good Samaritan laws realize the importance of
self-interest: If people must pay fines or face jail sentences if they don’t help, then they are
naturally more likely to help. And the programs in many schools, businesses, and other
institutions that encourage students and workers to volunteer by rewarding them for doing so
are also effective in increasing volunteering (Clary et al., 1998; Clary, Snyder, & Stukas, 1998).

Helping also occurs in part because of other-concern. We are more likely to help people
we like and care about, we feel similar to, and with whom we experience positive emotions.
Therefore, anything that we can do to increase our connections with others will likely increase
helping. We must work to encourage ourselves, our friends, and our children to interact with
others—to help them meet and accept new people and to instill a sense of community and
caring in them. These social connections will make us feel closer to others and increase the
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likelihood we will help them. We must also work to install the appropriate norms in our children.
Kids must be taught not to be selfish and to value the norms of sharing and altruism.

One way to increase our connection with others is to make those people highly salient
and personal. Charities and other organizations that seek to promote helping understand this
and do the best they can to individualize the people they are asking us to help. When we see
a single person suffering, we naturally feel strong emotional responses to that person. And, as
we have seen, the emotions that we feel when others are in need are powerful determinants of
helping. In fact, Paul Slovic (2007) found that people are simply unable to identify with statistical
and abstract descriptions of need because they do not feel emotions for these victims in the
same way they do for individuals. They argued that when people seem completely oblivious or
numb to the needs of millions of people who are victims of genocide, hurricanes, and other
atrocities, it is because the victims are presented as statistics rather than as individual cases.

As Joseph Stalin, the Russian dictator who executed millions of Russians, put it, “A
single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.” We can also use what we have learned
about helping in emergency situations to increase the likelihood of responding. Most importantly,
we must remember how strongly pluralistic ignorance can influence the interpretation of events
and how quickly responsibility can be diffused among the people present at an emergency.
Therefore, in emergency situations we must attempt to counteract pluralistic ignorance and
diffusion of responsibility by remembering that others do not necessarily know more than we
do. Depend on your own interpretation—don’t simply rely on your assumptions about what
others are thinking and don’t just assume that others will do the helping.

We must be sure to follow the steps in Latane and Darley’s model, attempting to increase
helping at each stage. We must make the emergency noticeable and clearly an emergency, for
instance, by yelling out: “This is an emergency! Please call the police! I need help!” And we
must attempt to avoid the diffusion of responsibility.

10.7 SUMMARY
 To better understand the processes of helping in an emergency, Latané and Darley
developed a model of helping that took into consideration the important role of the social
situation.

 Social situation has a big impact on noticing an emergency.

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 Pluralistic ignorance occurs when people think that others in their environment have
information that they do not have and when they base their judgments on what they think
the others are thinking.

 Diffusion of responsibility occurs when we assume that others will take action and therefore
we do not take action ourselves.

 It is argued that there is a fundamental difference between individuals who hold politically
conservative views and those who hold politically liberal views is how they perceive the
necessity or moral responsibility of helping others, and that this relates to how they perceive
the causes of people’s outcomes.

 Although people who receive help often really need the help and may indeed feel
appreciative and grateful to those who help them, receiving help may also have some
negative consequences.

 Every culture has a social responsibility norm, the strength of those norms varies across
cultures.

 Anything that we can do to increase our connections with others will likely increase helping.

 In emergency situations we must attempt to counteract pluralistic ignorance and diffusion

of responsibility by remembering that others do not necessarily know more than we do.

10.8 KEY WORDS

Latane and Darley’s model of helping: Latane and Darley created five decisions an
individual must go through in deciding to help a stranger in need they are notice something
unusual, determine whether it is an emergency, take responsibility, know appropriate form of
assistance and intervene.

Pluralistic ignorance occurs when people think that others in their environment have
information that they do not have and when they base their judgments on what they think the
others are thinking.

Prosocial personality: Some people are indeed more helpful than others across a variety
of situations, and we say that these people have analtruistic or prosocial personality.
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Dependency oriented help: When the helper takes control of the situation and solves
the problem facing the individual, leaving little left for the individual to accomplish on their own,
the behavior may be seen as indicating that the individual cannot help themselves.

Autonomy-oriented help: It is partial and temporary and provides information to the

other, for instance, by giving instructions or guidance or providing ideas about how to help
oneself.

10.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. _____________occurs when people think that others in their environment have information
that they do not have and when they base their judgments on what they think the others
are thinking.

2. _____________ occurs when we assume that others will take action and therefore we do
not take action ourselves.

3. The fourth step in the helping model is __________________.

4. ___________tend to attribute these outcomes more externally, blaming them on unjust

social practices and societal structures that create inequalities.

5. ___________make more internal attributions for negative outcomes, believing that the
needs are caused by the lack of effort or ability on the part of the individual.

6. The negative feelings that we experience when receiving help are likely to be particularly
strong when the recipient feels that the implication of the helping is that they are unable to
care for themselves is perceived as being ___________oriented.

7. __________-oriented help reflects the helper’s view that, given the appropriate tools,
recipients can help themselves.

8. Some people are indeed more helpful than others across a variety of situations, and we
say that these people have analtruistic or ___________personality.

9. One important difference between Eastern and Western cultures is that the importance
of ____________(versus other-concern) is higher in the latter.

10. We must remember how strongly ____________can influence the interpretation of events
and how quickly responsibility can be diffused among the people present at an emergency.
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10.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Pluralistic ignorance

2. Diffusion of responsibility

3. Knowing how to help.

4. Liberals

5. Conservatives

6. Dependency

7. Autonomy

8. Prosocial

9. Self-concern

10. Pluralistic ignorance

10.11 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Explain Latane and Darley’s model of helping.

2. Discuss about altruistic personality.

3. Comment on gender differences in helping.

4. How does attribution play a role in the way people help?

5. Differentiate between dependency -oriented and autonomy -oriented help.

6. Discuss the cultural issues and differences in helping.

7. Explain on ways to increase helping.

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LESSON – 11
SOCIAL FACILITATION

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson we are going to see two concepts social facilitation and group. Social
facilitation is an effect to increase the performance in the presence of others. A group consists
of two or more people who interact and influence one another. The lesson discusses the different
types of groups and how it benefits an individual.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the meaning of group

 Identify the types of group

 Describe social facilitation

 Discuss task performance and behavior

 Describe the evaluation apprehension

 Understanding Driven by distraction

 Explain mere presence

PLAN OF STUDY
11.1 Meaning of Group

11.2 Types of Group

11.3 Social Facilitation

11.3.1 Task Performance and Behavior

11.4 Evaluation Apprehension

11.5 Driven by Distraction

11.6 Mere Presence

11.7 Summary
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11.8 Key Words

11.9 Check Your Progress

11.10 Answers to Check Your Progress

11.11 Model Questions

11.1 MEANING OF GROUP

The answer to this question seems self-evident—until several people compare their
definitions. Are jogging partners a group? Are airplane passengers a group? Is a group a set of
people who identify with one another, who sense they belong together? Is a group those who
share common goals and rely on one another? Does a group form when individuals become
organized? When their relationships with one another continue over time? These are among
the social psychological definitions of a group (McGrath, 1984).

Group dynamics expert Marvin Shaw (1981) argued that all groups have one thing in
common: Their members interact. Therefore, he defines a group as two or more people who
interact and influence one another. Moreover, notes Australian National University social
psychologist John Turner (1987), groups perceive themselves as “us” in contrast to “them.” A
pair of jogging companions, then, would indeed constitute a group. Different groups help us
meet different human needs—to affiliate (to belong to and connect with others), to achieve,
and to gain a social identity (Johnson & others, 2006).

By Shaw’s definition, students working individually in a computer room would not be a

group. Although physically together, they are more a collection of individuals than an interacting
group (though each may be part of a group with dispersed others in an online chat room). The
distinction between collections of unrelated individuals in a computer lab and the more influential
group behavior among interacting individuals sometimes blurs. People who are merely in one
another’s presence do sometimes influence one another. At a football game, they may perceive
themselves as “us” fans in contrast with “them” who root for the other team.

11.2 TYPES OF GROUPS

Primary groups: According to Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929), a primary group is a
small social group whose members share personal and lasting relationships. People joined in
primary relationships spend a great deal of time together, engage in a wide range of activities,
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and feel that they know one another well. In short, they show real concern for one another. In
every society, the family is the most significant primary group. Groups based on lasting
friendships are also primary groups.

Secondary groups: Secondary groups, in contrast to primary groups, are large groups
involving formal and institutional relationships. Secondary relationships involve weak emotional
ties and little personal knowledge of one another. Most secondary groups are short term,
beginning and ending without scrupulous significance. They may last for years or may disband
after a short time. The formation of primary groups happens within secondary groups. Primary
groups can be present in secondary settings.

For instance, attending a university exemplifies membership of a secondary group, while

the friendships that are made there would be measured a primary group that you belong to.
Likewise, some businesses care deeply in relation to the well being of one another, while some
immediate families have hostile relations within it. Individuals approximately universally have a
bond toward what sociologists call reference groups. A reference group is a social group that
serves as a point of reference in making evaluations and decisions.

Some examples of types of groups contain the following:

Peer group: A peer group is a group with members of almost the same age, social
status, and interests. Usually, people are relatively equal in conditions of power when they
interact with peers.

Clique: A group of people that have several of the same interests & commonly found in
a High School/College setting; most of the time they have a name & rules for themselves.

Club: A club is a group, which usually requires one to apply to become a member. Such
clubs may be dedicated to scrupulous activities: sporting clubs, for instance.

Cabal: A cabal is a group of people united in some close design together, usually to
promote their private views or interests in a church, state, or other community, often through
intrigue.

Household: All individuals who live in the same home. Anglophone culture may contain
several models of household, including the family, blended families, share housing, and group
homes.
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Community: A community is a group of people with a commonality or sometimes a

intricate net of overlapping commonalities, often–but not always–in proximity with one another
with some degree of stability over time.

Franchise: An organization which runs many instances of a business in several locations.

Gang: A gang is usually an urban group that gathers in a scrupulous area. It is a group
of people that often hang approximately each other. They can be like some clubs, but much
less formal. They are usually recognized in several countries to cause social unrest and also
have negative influence on the members and may be a target for the law enforcers in case of
any social vices

Mob: A mob is usually a group of people that has taken the law into their own hands.
Mobs are usually groups which gather temporarily for a scrupulous cause.

Posse: A posse was originally found in English common law. It is usually obsolete, and
survives only in America, where it is the law enforcement equivalent of summoning the militia
for military purposes. Though, it can also refer to a street group.

Squad: This is usually a small group, of approximately 3 to 15 people, who work as a

team to accomplish their goals.

Dyad: This is a social group with two members. Social interaction in a dyad is typically
more intense than in superior groups because neither member shares the other’s attention
with anyone else.

Triad: This is a social group with three members, which contains three relationships,
each uniting two of the three people. A triad is more stable than a dyad because one member
can act as a mediator should the relationship flanked by the other two become strained.

Team: similar to a squad, though a team may contain several more members. A team
works in a similar method to a squad.

In-group: It is a social group toward which a member feels respect and loyalty. It is a
group that an individual identifies in positive direction. If a person is part of the in-group then
they are collectively part of an inner circle of friends. An inner circle may contain sub-groups
within the inner circle including the apex (best friends), core (very close friends), outer rim, etc.
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This group gives a support structure and being exclusive offers protection from anyone in an
Out-group.

Out-group: It is a social group toward which a person feels a sense of competition or

opposition. It is a group that an individual identifies in negative direction.

Groups can also be categorized according to the number of people present within the
group. This creates sense if the size of the group has consequences for the method group
members relate with each other. In a small group, for instance, “each member receives some
impression ... of each other member separate enough so that he or she ... can provide some
reaction to each of the others as an individual person.” This personal interaction is not possible
in superior groups.

11.3 SOCIAL FACILITATION

The Mere Presence of Others: More than a century ago, Norman Triplett (1898), a
psychologist interested in bicycle racing, noticed that cyclists’ times were faster when they
raced together than when each one raced alone against the clock. Before he peddled his
hunch (that others’ presence boosts performance), Triplett conducted one of social psychology’s
first laboratory experiments. Children told to wind string on a fishing reel as rapidly as possible
wound faster when they worked with co-actors than when they worked alone.

Ensuing experiments found that others’ presence improves the speed with which people
do simple multiplication problems and cross out designated letters. It also improves the accuracy
with which people perform simple motor tasks, such as keeping a metal stick in contact with a
dime-sized disk on a moving turntable (F. H. Allport, 1920; Dashiell, 1930; Travis, 1925). This
social facilitation effect also occurs with animals. In the presence of others of their species,
ants excavate more sand, chickens eat more grain, and sexually active rat pairs mate more
often (Bayer, 1929; Chen, 1937; Larsson, 1956).

But wait: Other studies revealed that on some tasks the presence of others hinders
performance. In the presence of others, cockroaches, parakeets, and green finches learn
mazes more slowly (Allee & Masure, 1936; Gates & Allee, 1933; Klopfer, 1958). This disruptive
effect also occurs with people. Others’ presence diminishes efficiency at learning nonsense
syllables, completing a maze, and performing complex multiplication problems (Dashiell, 1930;
Pessin, 1933; Pessin & Husband, 1933).
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Saying that the presence of others sometimes facilitates performance and sometimes
hinders it is about as satisfying as the typical Scottish weather forecast—predicting that it
might be sunny but then again it might rain. By 1940 research activity in this area had ground
to a halt, and it lay dormant for 25 years until awakened by the touch of a new idea.

Social psychologist Robert Zajonc wondered whether these seemingly contradictory

findings could be reconciled. As often happens at creative moments in science, Zajonc (1965)
used one field of research to illuminate another. The illumination came from a well-established
principle in experimental psychology: Arousal enhances whatever response tendency is
dominant. Increased arousal enhances performance on easy tasks for which the most likely—
”dominant”—response is correct. People solve easy anagrams, such as akec, fastest when
they are aroused. On complex tasks, for which the correct answer is not dominant, increased
arousal promotes incorrect responding. On harder anagrams, such as theloacco, people do
worse when anxious.

Could this principle solve the mystery of social facilitation? It seemed reasonable to
assume that others’ presence will arouse or energize people (Mullen & others, 1997); most of
us can recall feeling tense or excited in front of an audience. If social arousal facilitates dominant
responses, it should boost performance on easy tasks and hurt performance on difficult tasks.
With that explanation, the confusing results made sense. Winding fishing reels, doing simple
multiplication problems, and eating were all easy tasks for which the responses were well
learned or naturally dominant. Sure enough, having others around boosted performance.
Learning new material, doing a maze, and solving complex math problems were more difficult
tasks for which the correct responses were initially less probable. In these cases, the presence
of others increased the number of incorrect responses on these tasks. The same general
rule— arousal facilitates dominant responses —worked in both cases ( Figure 8.1 ). Suddenly,
what had looked like contradictory results no longer seemed contradictory.

Zajonc’s solution, so simple and elegant, left other social psychologists thinking what
Thomas H. Huxley thought after first reading Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: “How extremely
stupid not to have thought of that!” It seemed obvious—once Zajonc had pointed it out. Perhaps,
however, the pieces fit so neatly only through the spectacles of hindsight. Would the solution
survive direct experimental tests?

After almost 300 studies, conducted with the help of more than 25,000 volunteers, the
solution has survived (Bond & Titus, 1983; Guerin, 1993, 1999). Social arousal facilitates
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dominant responses, whether right or wrong. For example, Peter Hunt and Joseph Hillery
(1973) found that in others’ presence, students took less time to learn a simple maze and more
time to learn a complex one (just as the cockroaches do!). And James Michaels and his
collaborators (1982) found that good pool players in a student union (who had made 71 percent
of their shots while being unobtrusively observed) did even better (80 percent) when four
observers came up to watch them play. Poor shooters (who had previously averaged 36 percent)
did even worse (25 percent) when closely observed.

Athletes, actors, and musicians perform well-practiced skills, which helps explain why
they often perform best when energized by the responses of a supportive audience. Studies of
more than 80,000 college and professional athletic events in Canada, the United States, and
England reveal that home teams win about 6 in 10 games (somewhat fewer for baseball and
football, somewhat more for basketball and soccer, but consistently more than half. The home
advantage may, however, also stem from the players’ familiarity with their home environment,
less travel fatigue, feelings of dominance derived from territorial control, or increased team
identity when cheered by fans (Zillmann & Paulus, 1993).

Crowding: The Presence of Many Others So people do respond to others’ presence.

But does the presence of observers always arouse people? In times of stress, a comrade can
be comforting. Nevertheless, with others present, people perspire more, breathe faster, tense
their muscles more, and have higher blood pressure and a faster heart rate (Geen & Gange,
1983; Moore & Baron, 1983). Even a supportive audience may elicit poorer performance on
challenging tasks (Butler & Baumeister, 1998). Having your entire extended family attend your
first piano recital probably won’t boost your performance. The effect of others’ presence increases
with their number (Jackson & Latané, 1981; Knowles, 1983). Sometimes the arousal and self-
conscious attention created by a large audience interferes even with well-learned, automatic
behaviors, such as speaking. Given extreme pressure, we’re vulnerable to “choking.” Stutterers
tend to stutter more in front of larger audiences than when speaking to just one or two people
(Mullen, 1986).

Being in a crowd also intensifies positive or negative reactions. When they sit close
together, friendly people are liked even more, and un friendly people are dis -liked even more
(Schiffenbauer & Schiavo, 1976; Storms & Thomas, 1977). In experiments with Columbia
University students and with Ontario Science Center visitors, Jonathan Freedman and his co-
workers (1979, 1980) had an accomplice listen to a humorous tape or watch a movie with other
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participants. When they all sat close together, the accomplice could more readily induce the
individuals to laugh and clap. As theater directors and sports fans know, and as researchers
have confirmed, a “good house” is a full house (Aiello & others, 1983; Worchel & Brown, 1984).

Perhaps you’ve noticed that a class of 35 students feels more warm and lively in a room
that seats just 35 than when spread around a room that seats 100. When others are close by,
we are more likely to notice and join in their laughter or clapping. But crowding also enhances
arousal, as Gary Evans (1979) found. He tested 10-person groups of University of Massachusetts
students, either in a room 20 by 30 feet or in one 8 by 12 feet. Compared with those in the large
room, those densely packed had higher pulse rates and blood pressure (indicating arousal).
On difficult tasks they made more errors, an effect of crowding replicated by Dinesh Nagar and
Janak Pandey (1987) with university students in India. Crowding, then, has a similar effect to
being observed by a crowd: it enhances arousal, which facilitates dominant responses.

Arousal in the Presence of Others What you do well, you will be energized to do best in
front of others (unless you become hyper-aroused and self-conscious). What you find difficult
may seem impossible in the same circumstances. What is it about other people that create
arousal? Evidence supports three possible factors (Aiello & Douthitt, 2001; Feinberg & Aiello,
2006): evaluation apprehension, distraction, and mere presence.

11.3.1 TASK PERFORMANCE AND BEHAVIOUR

Performance in the Presence of Others: Imagine you are a dancer and you are preparing
for a national level stage performance for days and months, several hours each day. Finally on
the big day you are on the stage with hundreds of people around. How will you do? Better or
worse than you practiced alone? This was the first researched topic studied in social psychology
by Allport (1920). Allport and other researchers referred to the effects on performance of the
presence of other persons as social facilitation, because it appeared that when others were
present, performance was enhanced. But some researchers soon called the accuracy of this
research into question. It was soon clear that on certain occasions the presence of others
reduced performance.

(Pessin, 1933) One elegant answer to this mystery was offered by Robert Zajonc.

Zajonc gave the drive theory of social facilitation which propounds, the presence of
others will improve when they are highly skilled. Individuals were likely to perform dominant
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responses in the presence of others than when alone, and their performance on various tasks
was either enhanced or impaired, depending on whether the responses were correct or incorrect
in each situation. The following figure illustrates the drive theory of Social Facilitation.

Figure: Drive theory of Social Facilitation

11.4 EVALUATION APPREHENSION

Nickolas Cottrell surmised that observers make us apprehensive because we wonder
how they are evaluating us. To test whether evaluation apprehension exists, Cottrell and his
associates (1968) blindfolded observers, supposedly in preparation for a perception experiment.
In contrast to the effect of the watching audience, the mere presence of these blindfolded
people did not boost well-practiced responses.

Other experiments confirmed Cottrell’s conclusion: The enhancement of dominant

responses is strongest when people think they are being evaluated. In one experiment,
individuals running on a University of California at Santa Barbara jogging path sped up as they
came upon a woman seated on the grass— if she was facing them rather than sitting with her
back turned (Worringham & Messick, 1983).

Evaluation apprehension also helps explain

 Why people perform best when their co-actor is slightly superior (Seta, 1982).

 Why arousal lessens when a high-status group is diluted by adding people whose opinions
don’t matter to us (Seta & Seta, 1992).

 Why people who worry most about what others think are the ones most affected by their
presence (Gastorf & others, 1980; Geen & Gange, 1983).
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 Why social facilitation effects are greatest when the others are unfamiliar and hard to
keep an eye on (Guerin & Innes, 1982).

The self-consciousness we feel when being evaluated can also interfere with behaviors
that we perform best automatically (Mullen & Baumeister, 1987). If self-conscious basketball
players analyze their body movements while shooting critical free throws, they are more likely
to miss.

11.5 DRIVEN BY DISTRACTION

Glenn Sanders, Robert Baron, and Danny Moore (1978; Baron, 1986) carried evaluation
apprehension a step further. They theorized that when we wonder how co - actors are doing or
how an audience is reacting, we become distracted. This conflict between paying attention to
others and paying attention to the task overloads our cognitive system, causing arousal. We
are “driven by distraction.” This arousal comes not just from the presence of another person
but even from a nonhuman distraction, such as bursts of light (Sanders, 1981a, 1981b).

11.6 MERE PRESENCE

Zajonc, however, believes that the mere presence of others produces some arousal
even without evaluation apprehension or arousing distraction. Recall that facilitation effects
also occur with nonhuman animals. This hints at an innate social arousal mechanism common
to much of the zoological world. (Animals probably are not consciously worrying about how
other animals are evaluating them.) At the human level, most runners are energized when
running with someone else, even one who neither competes nor evaluates.

This is a good time to remind ourselves that a good theory is scientific shorthand: It
simplifies and summarizes a variety of observations. Social facilitation theory does this well. It
is a simple summary of many research findings. A good theory also offers clear predictions that
(1) help confirm or modify the theory, (2) guide new exploration, and (3) suggest practical
applications. Social facilitation theory has definitely generated the first two types of prediction:
(1) The basics of the theory (that the presence of others is arousing and that this social arousal
enhances dominant responses) have been confirmed, and (2) the theory has brought new life
to a long-dormant field of research.
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11.7 SUMMARY
 A group is defined as two or more people who interact and influence one another.

 A primary group is a small social group whose members share personal and lasting
relationships.

 Secondary groups are large groups involving formal and institutional relationships.

 Examples of types of group are: peer group, clique, club, cabal, household, community,
franchise, gang, mob, posse, squad, dyad, triad, team, in-group and out-group.

 Social facilitation is an effect to increase the performance in the presence of others.

Others’ presence will arouse or energize people.

 Being in a crowd also intensifies positive or negative reactions.

 There are effects on performance in the presence of other persons as social facilitation,
because it appeared that when others were present, performance was enhanced.

 Zajonc gave the drive theory of social facilitation which propounds, the presence of others
will improve when they are highly skilled.

 Evaluation apprehension is when observers make us apprehensive because we wonder

how they are evaluating us.

 When we wonder how co - actors are doing or how an audience is reacting, we become
distracted.

11.8 KEY WORDS

Group: A group consists of two or more people who interact and influence one another.

Primary group: It is a small social group whose members share personal and lasting
relationships. They spend a great deal of time together, engage in a wide range of activities,
and feel that they know one another well.

Secondary groups: Secondary groups are large groups involving formal and institutional
relationships. Secondary relationships involve weak emotional ties and little personal knowledge
of one another.
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Social facilitation: It is an effect to increase the performance in the presence of others.

Drive theory of social facilitation: It propounds, the presence of others will improve
when they are highly skilled.

Evaluation apprehension: Observers make us apprehensive because we wonder how

they are evaluating us. The enhancement of dominant responses is strongest when people
think they are being evaluated.

11.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. A _________consists of two or more people who interact and influence one another.

2. ______________is a small social group whose members share personal and lasting
relationships. They spend a great deal of time together, engage in a wide range of activities,
and feel that they know one another well.

3. ____________ are large groups involving formal and institutional relationships. Secondary
relationships involve weak emotional ties and little personal knowledge of one another.

4. _____________is an effect to increase the performance in the presence of others.

5. _______________of social facilitation propounds, the presence of others will improve

when they are highly skilled.

6. In_______________, observers make us apprehensive because we wonder how they

are evaluating us. The enhancement of dominant responses is strongest when people
think they are being evaluated.

7. ____________framed the drive theory of social facilitation

8. ____________surmised that observers make us apprehensive because we wonder how

they are evaluating us.

11.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Group

2. Primary group

3. Secondary groups
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4. Social facilitation

5. Drive theory

6. Evaluation apprehension

7. Zajonc

8. Nickolas Cottrell

11.11 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Explain the meaning of group

2. List the types of group

3. Describe social facilitation

4. Discuss task performance and behavior

5. Describe about the evaluation apprehension

6. Explain Driven by distraction by giving examples

7. Explain mere presence by giving examples

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LESSON - 12
SOCIAL INFLUENCE

INTRODUCTION
In previous lesson we learned the types of group and its benefits. In this lesson we are
going to study more about the group in details such as, the process of the group, what roles the
members play in a group, how the communicate, the importance of task specialists and social-
emotional specialists in a group and overcoming status generalization.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the concept of group processes

 Explain group structure and goals

 Provide the group goals and individual goals

 Explain group action

 Describe social roles

 Explain roles in groups

 Discuss the roles in group communication

 Provide the difference between task specialists and social-emotional specialists

 Discuss the status of group members

 Explain overcoming status generalisation

PLAN OF STUDY
12.1 Group Processes

12.2 Group Structure and Goals

12.3 Group Goals and Individual Goals

12.4 Group Action

12.5 Social Roles

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12.6 Roles in Groups

12.7 Roles in Group Communication

12.8 Task Specialists and Social-Emotional Specialists

12.9 Status of Group Members

12.9.1 Status Characteristics

12.9.2 Status Generalisation

12.10Overcoming Status Generalisation

12.11 Summary

12.12Key Words

12.13Check Your Progress

12.14Answers to Check Your Progress

12.15 Model Questions

12.1 GROUP PROCESSES

Groups are everywhere. We all participate in them, spending a significant portion of our
days engaging in group activities. Families, work groups, sports teams, street gangs, classes
and seminars, therapy and rehabilitation groups, classical quartets and rock groups, small
military units, neighborhood clubs, church groups—these are only some of the groups we
encounter.

Groups are important because they provide social support, a cultural framework to guide
performance, and rewards and resources of all kinds. Without them, most individuals would be
lost. The character Robinson Crusoe was depicted as living on an island, isolated and alone;
he managed to survive, but his plight was less than ideal, and he was sustained primarily by
the dream of rejoining his fellow humans. Without groups, most individuals would be isolated,
unloved, disoriented, relatively unproductive, and very possibly hungry.

12.2 GROUP STRUCTURE AND GOALS

In addition to cohesion, groups can also be characterized by their goals and by the
structure they adopt in pursuit of their goals. A group goal is an outcome viewed by group
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members as desirable and important to attain. These goals can differ in terms of specificity,
ranging from general statements about what the group does and why it exists to more specific
targets and tasks that the group members attempt to achieve along the way to its larger goals.

12.3 GROUP GOALS AND INDIVIDUAL GOALS

Although individual and group goals can be related, they are not always the same, and
these differences can be very important for the functioning of the group. Most groups function
best when there is substantial similarity, or isomorphism, between group goals and the individual
goals of its members. The term goal isomorphism refers to a state where group goals and
individual goals are similar in the sense that actions leading to group goals also lead to the
attainment of individual goals. High isomorphism benefits the group, because members are
motivated to pursue group goals and to contribute resources and effort to the group (Sniezek
& May, 1990).

To heighten isomorphism, groups can recruit selectively—that is, admit as members only
persons who strongly support the group’s main goal(s). Also, a group can try to increase
acceptance of group goals through socialization and training. Furthermore, a group can increase
its members’ awareness that they belong to the group and make their identity as members
more salient (Mackie & Goethals, 1987). This may be done by increasing the proximity of
members to one another, increasing the experiences they share in common, increasing the
amount of social contact and communication among them, or using a common designation to
label them (Dion, 1979; Turner, 1981).

12.4 GROUP ACTION

Many people do many things in groups. The effect of working in a group (as compared to
working alone) is variable: Sometimes the group produces improvement, other times disaster.
Social psychologists have spent years mapping out these effects. One theme we have already
suggested is that the effects of groups are often negative when people are submerged in the
group. In contrast, when people retain their individual identities and feel personally accountable
for their actions, many of the bad effects of groups are prevented or reduced, and the positive
effects of groups are more common.

Identifying people and holding them accountable for their actions produces better
outcomes. To be sure, accountability is not a cure-all for the broad range of lapses, mistakes,
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and mental biases people show. But when people believe they may have to justify their actions
and decisions to other people, they tend to be more careful and thorough in their thinking,
including using all the information available to them and thinking about how they would respond
to possible criticisms (Lerner & Tetlock, 1999). People cooperate more with others when they
are individually identified, whereas the anonymity of groups produces more greed, fear, and
other dangerous reactions (Schopler et al., 1995).

12.5 SOCIAL ROLES

“What are selves for?” One answer, certainly, is that the self has to gain social acceptance.
People are not designed to live by themselves. They need other people to accept them in order
to have a job, to have friends and lovers, to have a family. The self is one tool people use to
accomplish these goals. By learning how to act properly and how to conform to social rules and
norms, people can improve their chances of social acceptance. Human beings follow an
especially long road to social acceptance. The self is constructed to help them on that road,
which includes changing and adapting themselves so as to appeal to others.

Another important purpose of the self is to play social roles. A long tradition in psychology
and sociology considers social behavior as resembling a play or a movie, in which different
people play different roles (e.g., Biddle & Thomas, 1966; Goffman, 1959; Mead, 1934). Indeed
some theorists, such as Erving Goffman (1959), have taken this view to an extreme and analyzed
most human behavior and selfhood in terms of actors playing roles. A culture is a large system
with many different roles, and everyone has to find a place in it (or several places). You cannot
be a senator, or a nurse, or a parent, or a girlfriend, or a police officer unless you can reliably
act in appropriate ways. Many roles, such as spouse or engineer, can only be adopted after
you take a series of steps (such as having a wedding, or getting a college degree with a certain
major); the self has to execute these steps just to get into the role. Then after you have the
role, you must perform the duties that define it.

To succeed in traveling the long road to social acceptance, the person must have a self
capable of all those jobs. To be sure, humans are not the only creatures to have roles. What is
special about the human self is that it is flexible enough to take on new roles and change them.
A single human being, for example, might over the course of a lifetime work at mowing lawns,
writing for the school newspaper, managing the swim team, lifeguarding at several different
pools, busing tables in the college dining hall, working with computers, managing others who
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work with computers, and so forth. Also, a person may perform similar jobs with several different
organizations, such as a professor who moves from one university to another but teaches the
same courses each time.

In contrast, a worker ant almost always does the same job for its entire life and within the
same colony of ants; it does not need a self that can adopt and shed different roles. Where do
these roles come from? Often they are part of the social system. If you live in a small peasant
farming village, as most people in the history of the world have done, then many roles are not
available to you. The limited opportunities in that village’s social system mean that you could
not be a basketball coach, for example, or a software consultant, or a movie star, because the
only other people you ever meet are peasant farmers. Most roles are ways of relating to other
people within a cultural system. If you lived alone in the forest, it would be silly to describe
yourself as a police officer, a bartender, a schoolteacher, or vice president of telemarketing.

A person’s social identity thus shows the interplay of the individual organism and the
larger cultural system: Society creates and defines the roles, and individual people seek them
out, adopt them, and sometimes impose their own style on them. Without society, the self
would not exist in full. But let’s start at the beginning. The self has its roots in the human
capacity to turn attention back toward its source. Without self-awareness, selfhood and self-
knowledge would be impossible. The next section will cover what social psychologists have
learned about self-awareness.

12.6 ROLES IN GROUPS

As groups pursue their goals, the members of the group take on different roles. Usually,
it is not efficient for all members of a group to try to perform the same tasks. Instead, the group
engages in a division of labor in which members are assigned different tasks. In addition to the
assignment of tasks, members of the group also differ in the informal roles they take on in the
group. Some group members will exercise more influence over the group (even if they have no
official authority in the group), some will talk more than others, some will become close friends
with each other, and so on.

From one perspective, a role is a set of functions that a member performs for the group.
From another perspective, a role is a cluster of rules or expectations indicating the set of duties
to be performed by a member occupying a given position within a group. Group members hold
role expectations regarding one another’s performance, and they feel justified in making
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demands on one another. For instance, the members of a sales group expect the salespeople
to contact potential customers, to identify customers’ needs, and to offer customers the products
that meet these needs. If, for some reason, one of the salespeople suddenly stopped contacting
customers, other members of the sales group would view it as a violation of role expectations
and would doubtless take action to correct the situation.

12.7 ROLES IN GROUP COMMUNICATION

Sometimes, roles in groups are well-defined and have been operating for long periods of
time even as group membership changes. On the other hand, groups often form only for
temporary purposes and face the problem of developing norms, roles, and goals as part of
their group tasks. Consider five undergraduates meeting for the first time to discuss a case for
their human relations course. The case they must analyze involves a delinquent juvenile who
has committed a serious crime but who comes from an underprivileged background. The group
members have been instructed to read a summary of the boy’s history, discuss it, and reach a
collective decision about his case. At one extreme, they might decide that he should be punished
severely for the crime, whereas at the other extreme they might decide he should be treated
leniently. Because the case is complex and ambiguous, there is no obvious best decision.

All the members of this group have very similar social attributes—that is, they are of the
same age, same race, same gender, and same basic background. The group has not been
assigned a formal leader, so the five members enter the group on an equal footing. Interaction
in groups such as this one—newly formed, homogeneous, problem-solving groups working on
human relations problems—have been extensively studied by investigators (Bales, 1965; Slater,
1955). When members of such groups start to discuss their problem, certain things typically
happen. For instance, the initial equality among members disappears, and distinctions quickly
arise among them. Some members participate more than others and exercise more influence
regarding the group’s decision. Members develop different expectations about their own and
others’ activities in the group. Most often, one or more members start to exercise leadership
within the group. Role differences begin to emerge among the members.

One finding that regularly emerges in studies of these kinds of group situations is that
the members do not participate equally in a discussion. The most talkative person in a problem-
solving group typically initiates 40 to 45 percent of all communicative acts. The second most
active person initiates approximately 20 to 30 percent of the communication. As the size of the
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group increases, the most talkative person still initiates a consistently large percentage of
communicative acts, whereas the less talkative individuals are crowded out almost completely
(Bales, 1970).

Another finding concerns the stability of participation: The group member who initiates
the most communication during the beginning minutes of interaction is very likely to continue
doing so throughout the life of the group. If a problem-solving group meets for several sessions,
for example, the member who ranked highest in participation during the first session is likely to
rank highest during subsequent sessions. In general, the ranking of group members in terms
of participation is stable over time.

12.8 TASK SPECIALISTS AND SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL

SPECIALISTS
Group members differ not just with respect to the amount they contribute to the group’s
communication processes, but also with respect to the kind of communication they offer.

One study (Bales, 1953) investigated groups of five men who met to discuss a problem
in a laboratory setting. Group interaction was scored by observers, and then, at the end of the
discussion period, members filled out questionnaires and rated one another. Items included
such questions as “Who had the best ideas in the group?” “Who did the most to guide the
group discussion?” and “Which group member was the most likable?” Typically, there was high
agreement among group members in their answers regarding ideas and guidance but less
agreement in their answers regarding liking.

This study’s results showed a high correlation between participation and members’
perceptions of who offered the most guidance and the best ideas. In short, the person initiating
the most communicative acts was perceived as the group’s task leader. Results of this type
have been observed in other studies as well (Reynolds, 1984; Sorrentino & Field, 1986). But
this is not the entire picture. Often, the person initiating the most acts was not the best-liked
member; indeed, he was sometimes the least-liked member. More typically, the second highest
initiator was the best-liked member. Why does this occur?

In general, the highest initiator is someone who drives the group toward the attainment
of its goals. A high proportion of the acts initiated by this person are task-oriented. For this
reason, we can call the high initiator the group’s task specialist. In the effort to get things
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done, however, the task specialist tends to be pushy and, in some instances, openly antagonistic.
He or she makes the most impact on the group’s opinion, but this aggressive behaviour often
creates tension. So it remains for some other member, the social-emotional specialist, to
ease the tension and soothe hurt feelings in the group.

The acts initiated by this person are likely to be acts showing tension, releasing tension,
and encouraging solidarity. The social-emotional specialist is the one who exercises tact or
tells a joke at just the right moment. This person helps to release tension and maintain good
spirits within the group. Not surprisingly, the social-emotional specialist is often the best-liked
member of the group. Thus, in problem-solving groups, there are two basic functions—getting
things done and keeping relations pleasant—that are typically performed by different members.
When group members divide up functions in this manner, we say that role differentiation has
occurred in the group.

Although this type of role differentiation occurs frequently, it is not inevitable. In some
groups, a single member performs both the task-oriented and the social-emotional functions.
Observations suggest that for problem-solving groups in laboratory settings, a single member
successfully performs both functions in about 20 to 30 percent of the cases (Lewis, 1972). For
groups in natural, non-laboratory settings, the incidence of combined roles may be higher.

12.9 STATUS OF GROUP MEMBERS

So far, we have considered interactions in newly formed problem-solving groups that
consist of very similar members. Despite this initial equality among members, role and status
differences quickly emerge in groups. Members differ in their rate of participation, their influence
over group decisions, and the types of acts they contribute. But what about interactions in
newly formed groups whose members are not identical in social attributes? In particular, what
about groups composed of members who differ in gender, race, age, education, and occupation?
We encounter such groups every day—PTAs, student committees, neighborhood associations,
juries, church groups, and so on. In this section, we discuss how within group status differences
emerge in groups based on the characteristics of their members.

12.9.1 STATUS CHARACTERISTICS

A status characteristic is any social attribute of a person around which evaluations and
beliefs about that person come to be organized. We often take status characteristics into
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consideration when establishing expectations regarding others in groups. To illustrate, suppose

that members of a new group are meeting for the first time. They have not had prior contact, so
they do not know one another. In the course of the meeting, they start to develop beliefs and
expectations about one another; this may include expectations about who will be able to ethnicity,
education, and physical attractiveness serve as diffuse status characteristics in many contexts.
In addition to these indicators, members may take note of others’ specific status characteristics—
attributes that more directly and precisely indicate someone’s level of ability on the task to be
performed by the group. For example, a player’s height could be a specific status characteristic
on a basketball team; prior experience in writing advertising copy would be a specific status
characteristic in a work group developing the advertising campaign.

In many cases, specific status characteristics provide a more secure basis for inference
than diffuse status characteristics. Expectations and evaluations based on diffuse status
characteristics tend to reflect prevailing cultural stereotypes. In the United States, for example,
despite a general ideology of equality, many persons consider it preferable to be male rather
than female, White rather than Black, adult rather than juvenile, and white-collar rather than
blue-collar. Although we may not think of ourselves as holding such views, we are nevertheless
very sensitive to attributes such as age, gender, and race, and use them to make judgments in
group settings.

12.9.2 STATUS GENERALIZATION

Status characteristics can significantly affect interactions among members in newly forming
groups. Studies show that persons with high standing on status characteristics are accorded
more respect and esteem than other members, and they are chosen more frequently as leaders.
Their contributions to group problem solving are evaluated more positively, they are given
more chance to participate in discussions, and they exert more influence over group decisions.
The tendency for members’ status characteristics to affect group structure and interaction is
called status generalization.

When status generalization occurs, a member’s status outside a group affects his or her
status inside that group. That is, the members who hold higher status in society at large will
tend to hold higher status in the group. Consider the impact of status generalization in a jury.
The members of a jury, who usually differ in status characteristics, must discuss the facts of a
case and reach a verdict. A study by Strodtbeck, Simon, and Hawkins (1965) demonstrated
that status characteristics such as occupation and gender affected jury deliberations. Because
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the investigators were precluded by law from observing actual jury deliberations, they studied
mock juries composed as authentically as possible. These juries, selected from the voter
registration list in an urban area, consisted of men and women who had occupations of varying
status, including proprietors, clerical workers, and skilled and unskilled laborers. During the
study, they listened to a tape recording of a trial, after which they were instructed to do everything
a real jury does—select a foreman, deliberate on the case, and reach a verdict.

From the recording of the deliberations, it was possible to determine which jury members
talked the most. The results indicate that men initiated more interaction than women in the
mock juries. The data also show the impact of occupational status: the higher the occupational
status, the greater the rate of participation. This held for both men and women. The questionnaire
completed by jurors at the end of the session provided information on their perceptions of one
another. This measure reflected the amount of influence each member had over the group
decision as perceived by other members. The findings are very similar to those on the rates of
participation.

On average, male jurors were perceived as more helpful than female jurors, and jurors of
high occupational status were perceived as more helpful than those of lower occupational
status.

Overall, this jury study revealed the typical impact of status generalization: Persons with
higher standing in terms of gender and occupation became the group members with the higher
status inside the group.

Although the findings in this study seem clear-cut, the interpretation in terms of status
generalization is open to criticism. A critic might argue that a person’s status inside a group is
not a function of his or her status outside but is instead caused by the same qualities or
personal traits that determine that person’s status outside the group. One might hypothesize,
for instance, that people of high intelligence translate their intelligence into both high occupational
status and better contributions to the group. If this were the case, a person’s standing inside a
group would not be caused by his or her external occupational status; rather, both internal and
external status would be caused by a third factor—intelligence.

To check this possible confound, several studies have manipulated status characteristics
experimentally. One of these studies (Moore, 1968) investigated pairs of female participants.
Both women were shown a series of large figures made up of smaller black-and-white rectangles.
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Their task was to judge which of the two colors—black or white—covered the greater area in
each of the large figures. This task was difficult because the areas were in fact approximately
equal, making the figures ambiguous. The participants, who were seated so that they could not
see or talk with each other, signaled their preliminary judgments by pressing buttons on consoles
in front of them. Each participant’s answer was revealed to the other through a system of
lights. The participants knew that after seeing each other’s initial judgments, they would have
an opportunity to make a final judgment. Because their goal was to make accurate final
judgments, participants had been told that they should weigh their own answers against the
answers of their partners. The participants did not know, however, that the connections on the
consoles were, in fact, controlled by the experimenter, who could manipulate how often one
participant perceived that her partner disagreed with her. Between their first judgment and their
final judgment, the participants were free to reverse their decisions when their partners appeared
to disagree with them.

All the participants in this experiment were junior college students. As a manipulation of
status, one-half of the participants were told that their partner was a high school student (low-
status partner), whereas the other half were told that their partner was from Stanford University
(high-status partner). The results show that the women who believed their partner to be of
higher status changed their answers on the judgmental task more often than those who thought
themselves to have higher status than their partner. The random assignment of participants to
experimental treatments eliminated the possibility that participants differed systematically in
intelligence or ability on the judgment task. These findings and other like experiments support
the case for status generalization.

12.10 OVERCOMING STATUS GENERALIZATION

Because group members often treat diffuse status characteristics as relevant to
performance expectations even when in actuality they are not, status generalization can work
to an individual’s disadvantage (Forsyth, 1999). In a mixed setting with both men and women,
for example, the women may find that they are not permitted to influence the group’s decision
significantly even though they are as qualified as—and may be more qualified than—men with
respect to the problem under discussion. Without a clear demonstration that gender is irrelevant
to performance, verbal protests regarding gender equality may be to no avail. Likewise, in an
interracial interaction between Blacks and Whites, the Blacks may feel that they are treated as
low-status minority members.
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Because irrelevant diffuse status characteristics can so easily place someone at a

disadvantage, researchers have asked whether status generalization can be overcome or
eliminated in face-to-face interaction. Some researchers have suggested that the best way to
overcome status generalization is by direct methods—that is, by raising the expectations of
lower-status persons regarding their own performance on group tasks, so that they can in turn
force a change in other people’s expectations regarding their performance. Unfortunately, this
approach does not work very well. In one study, for example, Blacks at a northern university
were trained in assertiveness techniques and then participated with Whites in biracial groups.
The training raised Blacks’ expectations for themselves, and they behaved in an assertive and
confident manner. But because the Whites’ expectations regarding the Blacks’ performance
were not affected by the training, what ensued was not smooth interaction but a status struggle.
The Whites thought the Blacks were arrogant and overreaching in light of their “limited ability,”
whereas the Blacks viewed the Whites as engaging in racist bigotry (Katz, 1970). To overcome
status generalization, one must

change not only the expectations held by low-status group members but also those held
by high status group members. A key to overcoming status generalization is to supply group
members with information that contradicts performance expectations inferred from a diffuse
status characteristic.

For instance, in one study (Cohen & Roper, 1972), investigators taught Black junior high
school students how to build a radio, then showed them how to teach another pupil to build a
radio. This created two specific status characteristics inconsistent with students’ conception of
race. Investigators then had the Blacks train White pupils to build a radio, thereby establishing
the relative superiority of the Blacks on this task. Finally, they informed some of the students
that the skills involved in building the radio and teaching others to build it were relevant to
another, entirely different task. This new task was a decision-making game, which the boys
subsequently played.

The results of this study indicated that this pattern of training modified the performance
expectations held by both Black and White boys. The change in expectations produced a
significant increase in equality between Blacks and Whites, as indicated by who exercised
influence over decisions when the boys played the game. The overall conclusion is that status
generalization can be overcome, provided that the expectations of both low-status and high-
status persons are modified simultaneously.
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12.11 SUMMARY
 Groups are important because they provide social support, a cultural framework to guide
performance, and rewards and resources of all kinds.

 A group goal is an outcome viewed by group members as desirable and important to

attain.

 Goal isomorphism refers to a state where group goals and individual goals are similar in
the sense that actions leading to group goals also lead to the attainment of individual
goals.

 The effect of working in a group (as compared to working alone) is variable: Sometimes
the group produces improvement, other times disaster.

 By learning how to act properly and how to conform to social rules and norms, people can
improve their chances of social acceptance.

 The purpose of self is to play social roles. A long tradition in psychology and sociology
considers social behavior as resembling a play or a movie, in which different people play
different roles.

 A role is a set of functions that a member performs for the group or a role is a cluster of
rules or expectations indicating the set of duties to be performed by a member occupying
a given position within a group.

 Some members participate more than others and exercise more influence regarding the
group’s decision. Members develop different expectations about their own and others’
activities in the group.

 If a high proportion of the acts initiated by a person are task-oriented, then the high
initiator in the group is called a task specialist.

 The social-emotional specialist eases the tension and soothes hurt feelings in the group.

 A status characteristic is any social attribute of a person around which evaluations and
beliefs about that person come to be organized.

 The tendency for members’ status characteristics to affect group structure and interaction
is called status generalization.
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 A key to overcoming status generalization is to supply group members with information

that contradicts performance expectations inferred from a diffuse status characteristic.

12.12 KEY WORDS

Goal isomorphism: It refers to a state where group goals and individual goals are similar
in the sense that actions leading to group goals also lead to the attainment of individual goals.

Roles in group: The group engages in a division of labor in which members are assigned
different tasks. Some group members will exercise more influence over the group (even if they
have no official authority in the group), some will talk more than others, and some will become
close friends with each other.

Task specialist: The highest initiator is someone who drives the group toward the
attainment of its goals. A high proportion of the acts initiated by this person are task-oriented.
The task specialist tends to be pushy.

Social-emotional specialist: They ease the tension and soothe hurt feelings in the
group.

Status characteristic: It is any social attribute of a person around which evaluations

and beliefs about that person come to be organized.

12.13 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. A ___________is an outcome viewed by group members as desirable and important to
attain.

2. _____________refers to a state where group goals and individual goals are similar in the
sense that actions leading to group goals also lead to the attainment of individual goals.

3. A culture is a large system with many different__________, and everyone has to find a
place in it.

4. If a high proportion of the acts initiated by a person are task-oriented, then the high
initiator in the group is called a___________ specialist.

5. The ____________specialist eases the tension and soothes hurt feelings in the group.
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6. A ________________is any social attribute of a person around which evaluations and

beliefs about that person come to be organized.

7. The tendency for members’ status characteristics to affect group structure and interaction
is called________________.

12.14 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Group goal

2. Goal isomorphism

3. Roles

4. Task

5. Social-emotional

6. Status characteristic

7. Status generalization

12.15 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Explain group processes

2. Describe group structure and goals

3. Differentiate between group goals and individual goals

4. Discuss about group action

5. Describe the social roles and roles in groups

6. Discuss the roles in group communication

7. Mention the difference between task specialists and social-emotional specialists

8. Discuss the status of group members

9. Explain how to overcome status generalisation

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LESSON – 13
INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION

INTRODUCTION
An individual’s either get attracted towards each other for the need for affiliation and
emotional response. In this lesson, we are going to study about the interpersonal attraction
and the internal and external determinants of interpersonal attractions. It also discusses the
factors which causes interpersonal attractions.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the concept of interpersonal attraction

 Identify the internal and external determinants of attraction

 Describe the factors on interacting with others

 Discuss close relationships

PLAN OF STUDY
13.1 Interpersonal Attraction

13.2 Internal Determinants of Attraction: The need to Affiliate and the basic role of Affect

13.3 External Determinants of Attraction: Proximity and Other Observable Characteristics

13.4 Factors on Interacting with others: Similarity and Liking

13.5 Close Relationships: Family and Friends

13.6 Summary

13.7 Key Words

13.8 Check Your Progress

13.9 Answers to Check Your Progress

13.10Model Questions
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13.1 INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION

In society it can be observed that individuals either get attracted towards each other or
do not get attracted. Interpersonal attraction leads to further communication among two or
more people. Interpersonal attraction can be determined by some internal as well as external
factors. As a social being we have a need for affiliation. Coupled with the need to be affiliated
emotional response plays a significant role in interpersonal attraction. A positive emotional
state leads to a smother interpersonal attraction and a negative emotional state can lead in
repulsion of some one.

There are external determinants in interpersonal attraction like similarity among individuals,
physical proximity and the mutual responding. Further, interpersonal attraction leads to formation
of relationships.

Generally close relations can be categorized in to members in the family and the friends
from our social milieu. Family is the place where relationship builds. These relationships or
attachment

styles are different for every individual. The attachment styles formed during the
interactions with the family can get generalized to the relationships outside the family i.e.,
spouse, friends and others.

13.2 INTERNAL DETERMINANTS OF ATTRACTION:

THE NEED TO AFFILIATE AND THE BASIC ROLE OF AFFECT
The importance of affiliation for human existence: Human beings have the basic
need to be part of a group, be affiliated and accepted by someone. There are certain internal
factors that drive this behaviour. This behaviour has a survival value of being protected,
reproduction and health interdependence. Need for affiliation is the basic motive to seek and
maintain interpersonal relationships.

It is observed that there are individual differences in expression of need for affiliation. It
is like a personality trait which reflects person’s preferences for need for affiliation. Some may
like to affiliate at some time and in particular context and some may not. People with high need
for affiliation will be more sociable and will desire to interact with others. This appears to be a
conscious expression of affiliation. However, some may have implicit need for affiliation and
would like to be primarily interested in limited two person interaction situations.
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It is very unpleasant experience to be excluded and ignored. It gives a left-out and

neglected feeling as reaction to be excluded. This kind of behaviour in society generates adverse
effect on the individual or group that is excluded. This kind of deprivation results in sensitivity to
interpersonal information and cognitive functioning.

There are certain situation and contexts where need for affiliation is clearly evident. During
natural disasters it can be seen that people help each other. This behaviour is seen because it
provides an opportunity for social comparison. An opportunity to communicate what they feel
and think further, generating an experience comfort.

Affect as a basic response system: Affect refers emotional state of a person, his positive
and negative feelings and moods. It is understood that emotional state of a person influences
his cognition and emotion as well as the interpersonal attraction. Affect has two basic
characteristics one is the intensity of the affect, indicating its strength and second is the direction
of the emotion, regarding the positive or negative emotion.

Affect is considered as a basic aspect of human behavior because it has survival value
from the evolutionary perspective. It helps us in avoiding the negative experiences as well as
reinforcing positive experiences. The ability to discriminate between positive and negative
affect serves an important purpose to understand hostility and attraction in social situations.
Hence, affect stands as an important internal determinant of interpersonal attraction.

Affect and attraction: The role of affect in interpersonal attraction suggests that the
positive affect will lead to positive evaluation of other people and negative affect will lead to
negative evaluation of other person. In this manner a direct effect of emotion on attraction is
observed.

However, a more interesting phenomenon is referred to as associated effect, this effect

occurs when another person is simply present in that situation when your emotional state is
aroused by some situation or by some person. For example when you are emotionally in
positive state you will evaluate a person positively, even though he is a stranger and will negatively
evaluate a friend in a negative state. This can be understood as a form of classical conditioning
where a neutral stimulus paired with positive stimulus elicits a positive response and vice
versa.

Additional implication of the affect-attraction relationship: Some applications or

implicit relationship between affect and attraction can be observed in daily life situations. Laughter
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leads to a positive evaluation among individuals in a first interaction. Because something

humorous happening make the affect positive and further distracts from the discomfort of the
situation and gives new perspective to the situation. It is also seen that this understanding
leads to manipulating affect to influence behaviour. For example, arousing positive affects and
associating it with some product in an advertisement is very much evident. A political leader
can be more humorous and arouses a positive emotional state further leading to attracting the
voters.

13.3 EXTERNAL DETERMINANTS OF ATTRACTION: PROXIMITY

AND OTHER OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS
The power of proximity: unplanned contacts: One of the important external
determinants of interpersonal attraction is physical closeness. Interpersonal attraction increases
as a result of physical proximity and is referred as mere repeated exposure effect. For example
in a classroom students sitting beside each other are more likely to making positive evaluations
just because of repeated exposure. Another example would be of people working in same
office, where mere physical exposure leads to attraction. The mechanism underlying is that
with repeated exposure uncertainty reduces and increases the familiarity in the absence of any
harmful consequences resulting in to feelings of being safe.

Repeated exposure leads to stronger positive evaluation even when the person is not
aware of the exposure. The positive affect generated due to repeated exposure can get
generalised to other new stimulus. It is also understood that initial negative reaction to the
stimulus leads to negative evaluation and repeated exposure leads to adding in to the continuous
negative evaluation of the stimulus.

Application of the knowledge regarding the effect of proximity can help us in variety of life
situations. If you are in class and prefer to have fiends or prefers isolation than you can chose
the place to sit in the classroom accordingly. We can also make out that how interpersonal
attraction gets affected by the structure of the residential complex we live.

Observable characteristics: instant evaluations: Instant likes and dislikes are seen
to be arousing a strong affect suggesting a phenomenon that goes against the repeated proximity
effect. It is possible because something about the person is responsible to elicit a positive or
negative affect. Affect is considered to be based on the past experiences, stereotypes and our
attributions. These aspects of a person could be incorrect or irrelevant. However, it is seen that
these aspects influences an individual’s instant evaluations of other person or situation.
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The other observable characteristics like physical attractiveness and appearance play
an important role. Physical attractiveness is a phenomenon that ranges from being evaluated
as beautiful or handsome to one extreme and unattractive at the other extreme. It is observed
that people do respond positively to a person who is physically attractive and negatively to the
person who is physically unattractive. Hence, physical attractiveness is considered as an initial
factor that influences positive or negative evaluations.

Appearance anxiety is the apprehension of one’s own appearance and possible negative
evaluation by other people. One’s own negative evaluation can lead to negative self-image
and decreased self-esteem. However, stereotypes based on appearance are not necessarily
correct. For example, it is generally accepted but not necessary that a physically attractive
person will be social and have a high self-esteem and a physically unattractive person will be
asocial.

The question arises that physical attractiveness is exactly constituted of what? It is

understood that child like features and mature features are seen as characteristics of
attractiveness.

13.4 FACTORS BASED ON INTERACTING WITH OTHERS:

SIMILARITY AND MUTUAL LIKING
The above discussion clearly indicates that interpersonal attraction or beginning of any
relationship is influenced by the need for affiliation, positive affect (positive emotional state),
physical proximity and the positive evaluation or reaction to the observable characteristic of
the other person. These are the internal and external salient features of the attraction
phenomenon. However, the verbal communication that takes place among the two individuals
is equally very important. There are two aspects of this communication one the similarity which
the interacting individuals found among each other and the mutual liking expressed in the
interaction.

Similarity: It is a well accepted fact that people like to be with persons who are more
similar to them. Similarity can be of attitudes, beliefs, values and many more things. The
tendency to respond positively to indications that another person is similar to them and negatively
to indications that another person is dissimilar from them is referred as similarity-dissimilarity
effect. The similarity effect also makes one to judge the similar person having positive traits.
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More the proportion of similarity among two people more possibility of attraction can be
expected. A idea that was proposed as an alternative to similarity-dissimilarity hypothesis is
that rather than people getting attracted on the basis of similarity it is opposite of that, people
repulse about dissimilarity. This is referred as repulsion hypothesis. This hypothesis could
not stand on

empirical ground but it is believed that not only similarity but the dissimilarity among two
people generates negative affect and hence influences interpersonal attraction.

Research literature provides three theoretical explanations for the phenomenon that
similarity generates positive affect and dissimilarity produces negative affect.

First is the balance theory which states that people has a tendency to organise their likes
and dislikes in symmetrical way. When people like each other and find similarity among each
other, this generates a balance and elicits positive emotional state which is pleasant state of
mind. When people like each other and find dissimilarity between them, this generates imbalance
which is an unpleasant emotional state. This situation drives the individual to restore balance
by either change in one of them for similarity or misperceive the dissimilarity or decide to
dislike each other. The non-balance occurs whenever two people dislikes each other, this does
not necessarily generates pleasant or unpleasant state. Each person can be just indifferent to
each other’s similarity and dissimilarity.

Second is the social comparison theory. It states that you compare your attitude, views
and beliefs with other person as this is the only way to evaluate that other people agree with
you or not. Through this process you keep on evaluating that you are not exceptionally different
from other people. This is referred as obtaining consensual validation by turning to others.

The third approach is to explain this phenomenon by adaptive response to potential

danger. This is an evolutionary explanation, which states that we are primed to respond like
our ancestors as they use to respond to the individual from other group by moving towards
him-for friendship, moving away from him because of some threat and moving against him-
being aggressive towards him. This indicates that these behaviours have survival value.

Till now our discussion is centred on the fact that affect is central to the interpersonal
attraction, especially similarity as it elicits positive emotional state and fosters attraction. However,
along with affective state the cognitive evaluation is also said to be equally important. Though
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we follow affect centred understanding for interpersonal attraction the role of cognitive factors
like stereotypes, beliefs and the factual knowledge needs to be considered.

Mutual liking: It will not give us a complete understanding if we ignore a very important
process which mediates initial attraction and the established interpersonal relationship. The
intention is to refer the reciprocating cues of liking. The exchange of communicating the likings
that leads to generation of positive emotional state. The next in the process is the clear
communication of mutual liking which further strengthens mutual liking.

13.5 CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS: FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Family: where relationships and attachment styles begin: Family is the immediate
social unit of an individual in a given society. This is the first experience of interaction. However,
there may be relatively quantitative and qualitative difference between the individual and his or
her family members. First interaction begins with the care giver especially mother. These
interaction shapes individual’s world. It has a lasting impact on individual’s future interpersonal
behavior.

The degree of security an individual feels in interpersonal relationships is called as

attachment style. It is understood that an infant develops two basic attitudes as a result of
these early interpersonal interactions with adults. These are self-esteem, which is an attitude
towards self and second is interpersonal trust, which is an attitude towards others. Development
of self-esteem is dependent on the reactions of the care giver of being important, valued, and
loved or the other extreme of being unimportant, unloved, etc. Interpersonal trust is dependent
upon being trustworthy, dependable and reliable or the other extreme of this. On the basis of
these two basic attitudes and they being high or low can be placed in four types of interpersonal
styles as given below:

 Secure attachment style

 Fearful- avoidant attachment style

 Preoccupied attachment style

 Dismissing attachment style

Secure attachment style: A secure attachment style is a characteristic of an individual

who is high on both, self-esteem and interpersonal trust. Person with this type of attachment
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style is found to be good at relationships, self-confidence, high on need for achievement and
has less fear of failure are other characteristics of secure attachment style.

Fearful- avoidant attachment style: This type of attachment style is a result of low self-
esteem and interpersonal trust. A person with fearful-avoidant attachment style is poor at
interpersonal relationships and also avoids close relationships.

Preoccupied attachment style: A negative attitude towards oneself and a high

interpersonal trust results in preoccupied attachment style. These types of people are ready to
get in to interpersonal relationships but are often found to be pessimistic about their relationships.

Dismissing attachment style: This type of attachment style is an outcome of high self-
esteem and low interpersonal trust. Individuals with this attachment style avoid genuine close
relationship. They feel insecure due to the belief that they deserve a close relationship but are
frustrated because of the mistrust towards others.

The above mentioned are the four basic attachment styles as result of the variations in
the attitude towards self and others. These attachment styles are assumed to be formed in
infancy and continue in the adult life, however, certain life experiences can influence and change
the attachment style of an individual.

It’s not only the mother who influences the child. In a given family the presence of others
and interaction with them definitely have an impact on the child. Every member in the family
has different experiences, different personality and attitude. Every interaction of each member
of the family with the child is likely to have positive or negative effect. The point is that it is not
only the immediate care taker but the interactions with the entire family can influence the child.

Interaction among siblings is also a significant factor. There can be variety of situations
like; single child, two siblings-either both male and female or a combination. These variations
can result in different experiences with people outside the home. However, it is observed that
relationships among sibling are also dependent upon the interpersonal relation among parents
and their marital satisfaction.

Beyond the family: friendships: Family where relationships begin and attachment styles
develop generally have close relationships among themselves. However, close relationships
extend beyond family. A close friendship is a relationship where people spend great deal of
time together, interact in variety of situations, are self-disclosing and provide mutual and
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emotional support. Having friends or not has become a social qualification and a loner is
described as person having no friends. Friends are an integral part of our life. It is seen as a
source of practical and emotional support. Generally it can be understood that the individuals
who elicits positive effect can become close friends.

Gender difference is seen in friendships. We will find two females discussing more on
the topics of their interests than males. It is observed that male gets attracted towards females
thinking that eventually their relationship will result in sexual interactions, if not then males
eventually end the relationship. In contrast females look for protective role from males and
eventually ends up the relationship if she finds nothing as expected in the relationship.

13.6 SUMMARY
 Interpersonal attraction leads to formation of relationships.

 Human beings have the basic need to be part of a group, be affiliated and accepted by
someone.

 Emotional state of a person influences his cognition and emotion as well as the
interpersonal attraction.

 The role of affect in interpersonal attraction suggests that the positive affect will lead to
positive evaluation of other people and negative affect will lead to negative evaluation of
other person.

 Laughter leads to a positive evaluation among individuals in a first interaction.

 Interpersonal attraction increases as a result of physical proximity and is referred as

mere repeated exposure effect.

 Instant likes and dislikes are seen to be arousing a strong affect suggesting a phenomenon
that goes against the repeated proximity effect.

 The two aspects of verbal communication are the similarity which the interacting individuals
found among each other and the mutual liking expressed in the interaction.

 Family is the immediate social unit of an individual in a given society.

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13.7 KEY WORDS

Interpersonal attraction: It can be determined by some internal as well as external
factors. An individual’s either get attracted towards each other for the need for affiliation and
emotional response.

Need for affiliation: It is the basic motive to seek and maintain interpersonal relationships.

The power of proximity: One of the important external determinants of interpersonal

attraction is physical closeness. It is an unplanned contact.

Similarity-dissimilarity effect: The tendency to respond positively to indications that

another person is similar to them and negatively to indications that another person is dissimilar
from them is referred as similarity-dissimilarity effect.

13.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Generally, close relations can be categorized in to _________in the family and the
________from our social milieu.

2. Need for ___________is the basic motive to seek and maintain interpersonal relationships.

3. ______refers emotional state of a person, his positive and negative feelings and moods.

4. Interpersonal attraction increases as a result of physical proximity and is referred as

mere ___________effect.

5. _____________is a phenomenon that ranges from being evaluated as beautiful or

handsome to one extreme and unattractive at the other extreme.

6. _______________is the apprehension of one’s own appearance and possible negative

evaluation by other people.

7. The tendency to respond positively to indications that another person is similar to them
and negatively to indications that another person is dissimilar from them is referred as
__________effect.

8. __________hypothesis was proposed as an alternative to similarity-dissimilarity hypothesis

is that rather than people getting attracted on the basis of similarity it is opposite of that,
people repulse about dissimilarity.
216

9. ____________theory states that you compare your attitude, views and beliefs with other
person as this is the only way to evaluate that other people agree with you or not.

10. A ________attachment style is a characteristic of an individual who is high on both, self-

esteem and interpersonal trust.

13.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Members, friends

2. Affiliation

3. Affect

4. Repeated exposure

5. Physical attractiveness

6. Appearance anxiety

7. Similarity-dissimilarity

8. Repulsion

9. Social comparison

10. Secure

13.10 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Explain the concept of interpersonal attraction

2. Describe the internal determinants of attraction

3. Describe the external determinants of attraction

4. Discuss the factors on interacting with others

5. Explain close relationships

6. Enumerate the four types of interpersonal styles

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LESSON – 14
GROUP TASK PERFORMANCE AND PROBLEM-
SOLVING

INTRODUCTION
Group’s decision making is the process of decision making in groups consisting of multiple
members/entities. The challenge of group decision is deciding what action a group should
take. In this lesson, we are going to see about the group performance, its important function
why decision making is important in groups and what is fragmentation, brainstorming and
groupthink and how it affects the group.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the concept of group performance

 Explain productivity in task performing groups

 Describe the decision-making for problem-solving in groups

 List down the rules for making decisions

 Discuss the decision-making process by groups

 Provide the steps in decision-making for effective problem-solving

 Explain selecting from one or more alternatives

 Discuss the decision-making Problems and Pitfalls

PLAN OF STUDY
14.1 Group Performance

14.2 Productivity in Task Performing Groups

14.3 Decision-Making for Problem-Solving in Groups

14.4 Rules for Making Decisions

14.5 Decision-Making Process by Groups

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14.6 Steps in Decision-Making for Effective Problem-Solving

14.7 Selecting From One or More Alternatives

14.7.1 Plan for Implementation

14.7.2 Clarify the Contract

14.7.3 The Action Plan

14.7.4 Provide for Evaluation and Accountability

14.8 Decision-Making Problems and Pitfalls

14.8.1 Fragmentation

14.8.2 Groupthink

14.9 Summary

14.10 Key Words

14.11 Check Your Progress

14.12 Answers to Check Your Progress

14.13 Model Questions

14.1 GROUP PERFORMANCE

Task performance or the outcome of some behavioural or intellectual goal is a key function
of many groups. Task-performing groups include various decision-making groups, sports teams,
and work teams. One would expect groups to benefit from their multiple and potentially
complementary skills. It is true that the more able or skilled the group or team members are,
the better the group is. Yet researchers have shown that there are a number of factors that
inhibit productivity in groups. However, groups can also reach high levels of productivity under
the right conditions and with the right group member composition.

There is an endless range of tasks that groups could potentially perform. Some of these
require a simple addition of effort, whereas others require that each group member fulfil a
particular role. On some tasks, the focus may be on quantity or speed of output, and on others,
the concern may be with quality of work. Some tasks are mainly cognitive in that they require
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some degree of ideation, whereas others may be mostly behavioural (e.g., sports or music
performance).

According to Ivan Steiner, the effectiveness of groups may depend on the nature of the
task they are required to perform. Group task performance may often be less than optimal
because of two types of process losses that occur in groups: coordination and motivation.
When group members work together, they have to coordinate with one another, and this
requirement may make it difficult for each member to contribute his or her best effort. Group
members may also be less motivated in groups than they would be if they were working by
themselves.

14.2 PRODUCTIVITY IN TASK-PERFORMING GROUPS

When someone works in a large group and each individual’s performance is combined
with that of others, a person may be less motivated to work hard on behalf of the group. This
type of motivation loss is known as social loafing or free riding. Social loafing has been found
to increase with the size of the group, the extent to which a person’s performance is anonymous,
and the degree to which the task is seen as challenging.

According to Kipling Williams and Steven Karau, a person’s motivation level in groups
depends on the extent to which he or she believes the group goal can be attained and how
much the person values this goal. That is, as long as group members perceive that there is an
incentive to work hard, they will not loaf. This incentive to work hard can be increased by
evaluating the work of group members individually. Generally there is a strong relationship
between an individual’s level of effort in the group and the personal consequences for this level
of effort.

When group members are accountable to one another or in competition with one another
and have challenging goals, they may in fact have increased motivation in groups. Individuals
may also compensate for the lack of effort on the part of other group members if they particularly
value the group goal. Similarly, a low-ability group member may increase his or her effort if the
group member thinks that a small increase in his or her effort will be important to the success
of the group.

When group members work together, they have to mesh their various talents and
perspectives in addition to coordinating their group activities. Groups have to decide who does
what, when, and how. This is seen clearly in sports teams and highly trained military units that
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require careful coordination for success. A lack of effort or mistake in coordination by one or
more group members can mean failure for the group. Research has documented several of
these types of coordination problems. Garold Stasser has shown that groups do not fully share
their unique knowledge but tend to focus on what they have in common. This may be because
the discussion of shared information makes group members feel more comfortable and validated.
In group decisions, individuals often are more concerned about being agreeable than being
right.

In the case of problem solving, someone with a correct answer often has a hard time
persuading the group of its veracity unless it can be easily demonstrated and/or support is
gained from at least one other group member. In group task performance situations, groups
are also faced with the problem of coordinating the input of individual group members into the
group task. For these reasons, it is not difficult to see why so few studies have been able to
show group synergy cases in which the performance of interacting groups exceeds the combined
performance of individual members.

14.3 DECISION-MAKING FOR PROBLEM-SOLVING IN GROUPS

One of the most significant functions of groups is to make decisions. Our lives are
enormously impacted by group decisions – those made by parliament, juries, selection
committees, committees of examiners and groups of friends. We might think that humans
come together to make decisions because groups would probably make better decisions than
individuals – two heads are better than one. However, as we have already learned in this
chapter, groups can impair and distort performance in many ways.

14.4 RULES FOR MAKING DECISIONS

How does an assembly of individuals with initially diverse opinions reach a united group
position? One of the best-known models is a set of rules described by Davis – social decisions
schemes. We can apply these to institutionalised groups, such as a parliament, but also to
informal groups, such as where your sports team will spend a rest-and-recreational holiday.

The particular rule that a group adopts can be influenced by the nature of the decision-
making task. For example, if the task is to solve a mathematical problem where there is a right
answer the group is likely to adopt truth wins. If the task is to decide which colour to re-paint
your clubroom at the university, which is a matter of preference, the group might adopt majority
wins.
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Decision rules differ in terms of how much agreement is required (in this respect unanimity
is much stricter than majority wins). In general, stricter rules are more egalitarian in that decision-
making power is better distributed across the group (unanimity is very strict but very low in
power concentration, while two-thirds majority is less strict but has greater power concentration.

The strictness and power distribution of the rule affect both group functioning and member
satisfaction (Miller, 1989). For example, stricter rules can make final agreement in the group
slower, more exhaustive and difficult to attain, but it can enhance liking for fellow members and
satisfaction with the quality of the decision.

14.5 DECISION MAKING PROCESS BY GROUPS

Group’s decision making is the process of decision making in groups consisting of multiple
members/entities. The challenge of group decision is deciding what action a group should
take.

Decision making in groups is sometimes examined separately as process and outcome.

Process refers to the group interactions. Some relevant ideas include coalitions among
participants as well as influence and persuasion. The use of politics is often judged negatively,
but it is a useful way to approach problems when preferences among actors are in conflict,
when dependencies exist that cannot be avoided, when there are no super-ordinate authorities,
and when the technical or scientific merit of the options is ambiguous.

There are many ways that a group can make a final decision, decide on a solution, or
come to agreement. Some of the most popular ways of making the decision include:

 Consensus: The group members all agree on the final decision through discussion and
debate.

 Compromise: Through discussion and readjustment of the final plan, group members
come to agreement by giving up some of their demands.

 Majority Vote: The decision is based on the opinion of the majority of its members.

 Decision by Leader: The group gives the final decision to its leader.

 Arbitration: An external body or person makes a decision for the group

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14.6 STEPS IN A DECISION-MAKING FOR EFFECTIVE

PROBLEM-SOLVING
1. Identify The Problem: Tell specifically what the problem is and how you experience it.
Cite specific examples.

 “Own” the problem as yours and solicit the help of others in solving it rather than
implying that it’s someone else’s problem that they ought to solve. Keep in mind
that if it were someone else’s problem, they would be bringing it up for discussion.

 In the identification phase of problem-solving, avoid references to solutions. This

can trigger disagreement too early in the process and prevent ever making
meaningful progress.

 Once there seems to be a fairly clear understanding of what the problem is, this
definition needs to be written in very precise language if a group is involved, it must
be displayed on a flip chart or chalkboard.

2. Clarify the Problem: This step is most important when working with a group of people. If
the problem is not adequately clarified so that everyone views it the same, the result will
be that people will offer solutions to different problems. To clarify the problem, ask someone
in the group to paraphrase the problem as they understand it. Then ask the other group
members if they see it essentially the same way. Any differences must be resolved before
going further.

In clarifying the problem, ask the group the following questions: Who is involved with the
problem? Who is likely to be affected? Can we get them involved in solving the problem?

Who legitimately or logically must be included in the decision? Are there others who
need to be consulted prior to a decision?

These questions assume that commitment of those involved (and affected by the problem)
is desirable in implementing any changes or solutions. The best way to get this commitment is
to include those involved and affected by the problem in determining solutions.

3. Analyze the Cause: Any deviation from what must be is produced by a cause or interaction
of causes. In order to change “what is” to “what is wanted” it is usually necessary to
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remove or neutralize the cause in some way. This call for precise isolation of the most
central or basic cause(s) of the problem, and requires close analysis of the problem to
clearly separate the influencing from the non-influencing factors. This is probably an easier
process to follow when dealing with problems involving physical things rather than with
interpersonal or social issues.

Typically, interpersonal and social problems are more likely to spring from a dynamic
constellation of causes that will be more difficult to solve if the causes are only tackled one at
a time. Still, whether dealing with physical or social problems, it is important to seek those
causes that are most fundamental in producing the problem. Don’t waste energy on causes
that have only a tangential effect.

4. Solicit Alternative Solutions to the Problem: This step calls for identifying as many
solutions to the problem as possible before discussing the specific advantages and
disadvantages of each. What happens frequently in problem solving is that the first two or
three suggested solutions are debated and discussed for the full time allowed for the
entire problem solving session. As a result, many worthwhile ideas are never identified or
considered. By identifying many solutions, a superior idea often surfaces itself and reduces
or even eliminates the need for discussing details of more debatable issues. These solutions
may be logical attacks at the cause or they may be creative solutions that need not be
rational. Therefore, it is important at this step to limit the time spent discussing any one
solution and to concentrate rather on announcing as many as possible. The basic tool
used in generating many possible solutions to a problem is brainstorming.

To use the brainstorming process effectively requires following a prescribed set of rules
very closely. These rules are:

1. No positive or negative comments are allowed during the brainstorming phase.

2. Positive or negative non-verbal evaluations are discouraged as well.

3. A group member may ask for clarification if the member does not understand a given
suggestion, but it is important to avoid any questions that are directed to “how” or “why” of
the idea.
224

In other words, the person suggesting a solution is not to be asked to defend the idea!

4. “Far out” or amusing suggestions are encouraged. Laughter can serve as a good release
and help people relax. A seemingly wild or amusing suggestion is listed with the more
serious ideas for group consideration, unless the “author” of the idea specifically asks
that it be withheld. Sometimes a wild idea can be changed or built upon for creative
practical solutions. The idea here is to relax and let the ideas flow.

5. Encourage group members to generate solutions that are based upon changing ideas
already presented, (e.g., reversing, expanding, limiting).

6. Combine ideas that seem to compliment each other.

14.7 SELECTING ONE OR MORE ALTERNATIVES

For action before actually selecting alternatives for action, it is advisable to identify criteria
that the desired solution needs to meet. This can eliminate unnecessary discussion and help
focus the group towards the solution (or solutions) that will most likely work. At this point it
becomes necessary to look for and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of options that
appear viable. The task is for the group members to come to a mutual agreement on which
solutions to actually put into action. It is desirable for positive comments to be encouraged
(and negative comments to be ignored or even discouraged) about any of the solutions. One
solution needs to be the best, but none must be labeled as a “bad idea”.

14.7.1 PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION

This requires looking at the details that must be performed by someone for a solution to
be effectively activated. Once the required steps are identified, it means assigning these to
someone for action; it also means setting a time for completion. Not to be forgotten when
developing the implementation plan: Who needs to be informed of this action?

14.7.2 CLARIFY THE CONTRACT

This is to insure that everyone clearly understands what the agreement is that people will
do to implement a solution. It is a summation and restatement of what people have agreed to
do and when it is expected they will have it done. It rules out possible misinterpretation of
expectations.
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14.7.3 THE ACTION PLAN

The best of plans are only intellectual exercises unless they are transformed into action.
This calls for people assigned responsibility for any part of the plan to carry out their assignments
according to the agreed upon contract. It is the phase of problem solving that calls for people
to do what they have said they would do.

14.7.4 PROVIDE FOR EVALUATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY

After the plan has been implemented and sufficient time has elapsed for it to have an
effect, the group should reconvene and discuss evaluation and accountability. Have the agreed
upon actions been carried out? Have people done what they said they would do?

14.8 DECISION-MAKING PROBLEMS AND PITFALLS

The way that people think, both as individuals and collectively within organizations, affects
the decisions that they make, in ways that are far from obvious and rarely understood. Although
bad decisions can often be traced back to the way the decisions were made (the alternatives
were not clearly defined; the right information was not collected; the costs and benefits were
not accurately weighed), the fault sometimes lies not in the decision-making process, but in
the mind of the decision maker.

14.8.1 FRAGMENTATION
 This occurs when people are in disagreement, either with their peers or their superiors in
the organization.

 Usually, the expression of emerging dissent is disguised or suppressed, although it may

appear as ‘passive aggression.’

 Dissenting opinion can often fester in the background, for example, mentioned informally
in conversation, rather than clearly raised in formal situations, such as meetings.

 Each of the fragmented groupings – and there may be several – often show a confirmation
bias. In other words, they evaluate incoming information to support initially held opinions,
rather than viewing it more objectively.

 Fragmentation is corrosive, hindering effective analysis and decision making.

226

 Fragmentation can worsen when the views of one grouping are dominant.

 Fragmentation feeds off itself in a feedback loop, with any move to break it cynically seen
as an attempt to gain dominance by one side or faction. It can, therefore, become locked-
in to the organization, and be extremely difficult to reverse.

14.8.2 GROUPTHINK
 Groupthink is the opposite of fragmentation, and is no less of a hindrance to decision
making.

 Groupthink occur when the group suppresses ideas that are critical or not in direct support
of the direction in which the group is moving.

 The group appears in agreement, and this may be caused by many factors. For example,
past success can breed a belief of an infallible team, a complacency that the team cannot
err.

 Groupthink may occur because the group is denied information, or lack the confidence or
ability to challenge the dominant views of the group.

 People may be concerned about disagreeing, either because of past events, present
concerns or a fear of what the future might hold, and so seek safety in numbers.

 Groupthink is exacerbated by the fact that cohesive groups tend to rationalize the
invulnerability of their decision or strategy, and this in turn inhibits critical analysis and the
expression of dissenting ideas. The effect is an incomplete survey of available options,
and a failure to examine the risks of preferred decisions.

 Groupthink can occur in organizations where teamwork is either strong or weak. As with
fragmentation, groupthink is also self-sustaining. Moreover, the longer it lasts, the more
entrenched and ‘normal’ it becomes in people’s minds and behaviours. After a little time,
it is also very difficult to reverse.

14.9 SUMMARY
 According to Ivan Steiner, the effectiveness of groups may depend on the nature of the
task they are required to perform.
 227

 Social loafing or free riding is when someone works in a large group and each individual’s
performance is combined with that of others, a person may be less motivated to work
hard on behalf of the group.

 One of the most significant functions of groups is to make decisions.

 One of best-known models is a set of rules described by Davis – social decisions schemes-
can be applied to institutionalised groups and also to informal groups.

 Group’s decision making is the process of decision making in groups consisting of multiple
members/entities.

 Some of the most popular ways of making the decision include: consensus, compromise,
majority vote, decision by leader and arbitration.

 The steps in a decision-making for effective problem-solving are: (i) identify the problem,
(ii) clarify the problem, (iii) analyze the cause, and (iv) solicit alternative solutions to the
problem.

 For action before actually selecting alternatives for action, it is advisable to identify criteria
that the desired solution needs to meet.

 Fragmentation occurs when people are in disagreement, either with their peers or their
superiors in the organization.

 Groupthink is the opposite of fragmentation, and is no less of a hindrance to decision

making.

14.10 KEY WORDS

Social loafing: When someone works in a large group and each individual’s performance
is combined with that of others, a person may be less motivated to work hard on behalf of the
group. This type of motivation loss is known as social loafing or free riding.

Group’s decision making: It is the process of decision making in groups consisting of

multiple members/entities. The challenge of group decision is deciding what action a group
should take.
228

Fragmentation: This occurs when people are in disagreement, either with their peers or
their superiors in the organization.

Brainstorming: It is a basic tool used in generating many possible solutions to a problem.

Groupthink: Groupthink is a phenomena occur which occurs when the group suppresses
ideas that are critical or not in direct support of the direction in which the group is moving. It is
the opposite of fragmentation and is no less of a hindrance to decision making.

14.11 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. According to Ivan Steiner, the effectiveness of groups may depend on the nature of the
______they are required to perform.

2. The set of rules described by Davis, which can be applied to both institutionalised groups
and informal groups are called _______________.

3. ___________is when the group members all agree on the final decision through discussion
and debate.

4. _________ is done through discussion and readjustment of the final plan, group members
come to agreement by giving up some of their demands.

5. _______ is the decision is based on the opinion of the majority of its members.

6. _______ is made when the group gives the final decision to its leader.

7. __________is when an external body or person makes a decision for the group

8. The steps in a decision-making for effective problem-solving are: (i) ________(ii)

________(iii) _________, and (iv) __________________

9. ____________ is a basic tool used in generating many possible solutions to a problem.

10. ___________is a phenomena occur which occurs when the group suppresses ideas that
are critical or not in direct support of the direction in which the group is moving.

14.12 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Task

2. Social decisions schemes

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3. Consensus

4. Compromise

5. Majority vote

6. Decision by Leader

7. Arbitration

8. (i) identify the problem, (ii) clarify the problem, (iii) analyze the cause (iv) solicit alternative
solutions to the problem.

9. Brainstorming

10. Groupthink

14.13 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Explain group performance

2. Discuss productivity in task performing groups

3. Describe the decision-making for problem-solving in groups

4. State the rules for making decisions

5. Discuss the decision-making process by groups

6. Provide the steps in decision-making for effective problem-solving

7. Explain selecting from one or more alternatives

8. Discuss the decision-making problems and pitfalls

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LESSON 15
COOPERATION AND COMPETITION

INTRODUCTION
This lesson discusses about the group coordination what can be done to improve the
cooperation and if conflict occurs how to overcome it. It also discusses about the roles of
communications and what can be done to make an effective communication. Later, it discuss
about the empathy, language and Psycholinguistics.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understand the concept of cooperation and competition

 Identify the coordination in groups: cooperation or conflict

 List the strategies for producing cooperation

 Describe the task characteristics and perception

 Discuss privatization

 Describe the role of communication

 Explain the tit-for-tat strategy

 Discuss formal solution to conflict: negotiation, mediation and arbitration

 Explain making communication effective

 Understanding empathy and social behaviour

 Understanding language and social behaviour

PLAN OF STUDY
15.1 Cooperation and Competition

15.2 Coordination in Groups: Cooperation or Conflict?

15.3 Strategies for Producing Cooperation

15.3.1 Task Characteristics and Perception

15.3.2 Privatization
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15.3.3 Role of Communication

15.3.4 The Tit-for-Tat Strategy

15.4 Formal Solution to conflict: Negotiation, Mediation and Arbitration

15.5 Making Communication Effective

15.6 Empathy and Social Behaviour

15.7 Language and Social Behaviour

15.7.1 Psycholinguistics

15.8 Summary

15.9 Key Words

15.10 Check Your Progress

15.11 Answers to Check Your Progress

15.12 Model Questions

15.1 COOPERATION AND COMPETITION

In some situations, cooperation is dominant, whereas in others, competition is. Factors
such as personalities of the individuals, volume of communication, size of the group, and
reciprocity of actions determine whether individuals compete or cooperate in a social situation.
These factors have been the focus of research mannered in laboratory game simulations of
everyday situations. In the game theory approach, there are two kinds of games of interest to
social psychologists: zero-sum and non-zero-sum. In zero sum games, the total gains and
losses equal zero.

For instance, in chess or tennis there is a winner and a loser. In non-zero-sum games,
the sum of the payoffs is not zero. There is value in cooperation in non-zero-sum games,
since, if players cooperate, both can gain and no one has to lose.

The best strategy is to cooperate, and yet the researchers found that when the players
had a gate; the majority of the time was spent competing and threatening the other. In the
prisoner’s dilemma, two prisoners are isolated and each is accused of a crime. If neither
prisoner confesses, each receives a light sentence of 1 year of imprisonment; if both confess,
each receives a heavy sentence of 10 years.
232

If one confesses but the other does not, the one who confesses is given a very light
sentence of 3 months and the other receives a very heavy sentence of 20 years. There is an
advantage for both prisoners in cooperating and remaining silent, thereby guaranteeing both a
relatively light sentence; but, over a series of trials, personal gain favors competition: through
confessing and hoping the other person does not, one of the two might obtain the lightest
possible sentence.

Typically, subjects also show competition in this game. These games illustrate the factors
that determine whether an individual competes or cooperates. Some research suggests that
Americans are especially competitive, and that this characteristic is learned throughout
childhood. There are personality differences, with some people always competing, some always
cooperating, and some following the other person’s lead (they begin through cooperating, but
will compete if the other person does).

Communication is also a significant factor. Wichman (1970) found that when there was
no communication flanked by individuals in the prisoner’s dilemma, in relation to the40 percent
of the responses were cooperative, but if verbal communication were allowed, the cooperation
level increased to approximately 70 percent. The size of the group also creates a difference.
When the prisoner’s dilemma was customized so groups could play, researchers found that as
the size of group increased, cooperation decreased.

Reciprocity also plays a role, and several people will go beside with whatever strategy
another person begins. Cooperation and competition are significant forces in today’s world
and social psychologists are attempting to understand how groups, and even nations, can
learn to augment cooperation.

15.2 COORDINATION IN GROUPS:

COOPERATION OR CONFLICT?
We often note that individuals engage in pro-social behaviour action that benefit others
but have no obvious or immediate benefit to the persons who is performing the task. While
such behaviour is far from rare, another pattern one in which helping is mutual and both sides
benefit. This pattern is known as cooperation and involves situation in which groups work
together to attain shared goals. Cooperation can be highly beneficial through this process
group of persons can attain goals they could never hope to reach by themselves. Surprisingly,
though, cooperation does not always develop, frequently persons belonging to a group try to
coordinate their efforts but somehow fail in the attempt.
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Some times for worse person may perceive their personal interests as incompatible, with
the result that instead of working together and coordinating their effort, they often work against
each other. In this way they produce negative results for both sides, which are known as
conflict. A process in which, individuals or groups perceive that others will soon take actions
incompatible with their own interest. Conflict has a nasty way of escalating, with a simple
mistrust and quickly moving through a spiral of anger, resentment and actions designed to
harm the other side. When carried to extremes, the ultimate effects can be very harmful to both
the sides.

Cooperation is often highly beneficial to the person involved. The question is then why
don’t group members always coordinate their activities in this manner? They don’t cooperate
because some goals people don’t like to simply share. Several people seeking promotion,
same job or romantic partner cannot come together to attain the goal; rewards can go to only
one. In such cases cooperation is not possible, and conflict may quickly develop in group as
each person will maximise his or her own outcomes.

15.3 STRATEGIES FOR PRODUCING COOPERATION

When we are faced with situations in which conflict is occurring or has the potential to
develop, it will be useful if we are aware of the techniques that will help us best deal with it. We
may want to help two roommates realize that they will be better off taking the cooperative
choice—by contributing to the household chores—and we may desire to try to convince people
to take public transportation rather than their own car because doing so is better for the
environment and in the end better for everyone. The problem, of course, is that although the
parties involved may well realize the potential costs of continuing to behave selfishly or
competitively, the social situation nevertheless provides a strong motivation to continue to take
the selfish choice.

It is important to attempt to determine appropriate ways to encourage more responsible

use of social resources because individualistic consumption of these supplies will make them
disappear faster and may have overall negative effects on human beings. It should be kept in
mind that although social dilemmas are arranged such that competition is a likely outcome,
they do not always end in collective disaster.

Although the solutions are not simple, by examining the many studies that have focused
on cooperation and conflict in the real world and in the lab, we can draw some conclusions
234

about the specific characteristics that determine when and whether people cooperate or
compete. These factors include the type of task, such as its rules and regulations; our perceptions
about the task; the norms that are operating in the current situation; and the type and amount
of communication among the parties. Furthermore, we can use approaches such as negotiation,
arbitration, and mediation to help parties that are in competition come to agreement.

15.3.1 TASK CHARACTERISTICS AND PERCEPTIONS

One factor that determines whether individuals cooperate or compete is the nature of the
situation itself. The characteristics of some social dilemmas lead them to produce a lot of
competitive responses, whereas others are arranged to elicit more cooperation. Thus one way
to reduce conflict, when the approach is possible, is to change the rules of the task to reinforce
more cooperation.

If societies really desire to maintain the public goods for their citizens, they will work to
maintain them through incentives—for instance, by creating taxes such that each person is
required to contribute his or her fair share to support them. A city or a state may add a carpool
lane to the roadways, making it more desirable to commute with others and thereby help keep
the freeways unclogged.

Similarly, in terms of harvesting dilemmas, rules can be implemented that regulate the
amount of the public good that can be taken by each individual member of the society. In a
water crisis, rationing can be implemented in which individuals are allowed to use only a certain
amount of water each month, thereby protecting the supply for all, or fishing limits can be
imposed to maintain populations. People form governments in part to make sure that all
individuals in the community contribute to public goods and obey the rules of cooperation.
Leaders may also be elected by the group to help convince the members of the society that it
is important just to follow the rules, thereby increasing cooperation.

15.3.2 PRIVATIZATION

Another approach to increase the optimal use of resources is to privatize them—that is,
to divide up the public good into smaller pieces so that each individual is responsible for a
small share rather than trusting the good to the group as a whole.

In general, smaller groups are more cooperative than larger ones and also make better
use of the resources that they have available to them. One explanation for the difficulties of
 235

larger groups is that as the number of group members increases, each person’s behavior
becomes less identifiable, which is likely to increase free riding. When people are allowed to
monitor their water or energy use, they will use less of the public good (Siero, Bakker, Dekker,
& Van den Burg, 1996). Furthermore, people feel that they can make less of a difference in the
outcome of larger (versus smaller) groups, and so they are less likely to work toward the
common group goals, even if their input is actually not less important or less likely to have an
influence (Kerr, 1989).

Larger groups also lead people to feel more de-individuated, which may prevent them
from conforming to group norms of cooperation. And in large groups, there is likely to be more
difficulty coordinating the efforts of the individuals, and this may reduce cooperation. In a study
by Kelley, Condry, Dahlke, and Hill (1965) in which participants had to coordinate their efforts in
a type of crisis situation in which only one person could “escape” from a situation at a time,
larger groups had more difficulty coordinating their activities and tended to perform more poorly.
The moral is straightforward: If possible, work in smaller rather than larger groups.

Decisions about whether to cooperate or compete are also influenced by expectations

about the likely behavior of others. One factor that tends to produce conflict is that, overall,
individuals expect others to take competitive, rather than cooperative, orientations (Sattler &
Kerr, 1991), and once they see the behavior of others, they are likely to interpret that behavior
as being competitive, even if it is not.

The tendency to think that others will act in a competitive manner is more likely to cause
problems when we are not sure what others are going to do. When we have a good idea of
what the others in the situation are doing, we will likely match our responses to those of others.
So when we see that others are cooperating, we are likely to cooperate as well. In other cases,
for instance, when the group is very large, it is more difficult to be aware of or keep track of the
behavior of others, and because there is less certainty about the behavior of others, taking the
defensive (competitive) choice is more likely.

Another determinant of cooperation or competition is the prior norms of the individuals in

the group. If the norm in the situation favors cooperation, then cooperation is likely to ensue,
but if the norm favors competition, then competition will probably result. The group or society
may attempt to create or uphold social norms through appeals to appropriate social values.
Thus we should try to encourage groups to work together to create positive feelings in order to
increase cooperation.
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15.3.3 ROLE OF COMMUNICATION

When communication between the parties involved in a conflict is nonexistent, or when it

is hostile or negative in tone, disagreements frequently result in escalation of negative feelings
and lead to conflict. In other cases, when communication is more open and positive, the parties
in potential conflict are more likely to be able to deal with each other effectively, with a result
that produces compromise and cooperation.

Communication has a number of benefits, each of which improves the likelihood of

cooperation. For one, communication allows individuals to tell others how they are planning to
behave and what they are currently contributing to the group effort, which helps the group
learn about the motives and behaviors of the others and helps the group develop norms for
cooperation.

Communication has a positive effect because it increases the expectation that the others
will act cooperatively and also reduces the potential of being a “sucker” to the free riding of
others. Thus communication allows the parties to develop a sense of trust. Once cooperative
norms are in place, they can improve the possibilities for long-term cooperation because they
produce a public commitment on the part of the parties to cooperate as well as an internalized
obligation to honor those commitments.

In fact, Norbert Kerr and his colleagues (Kerr, Ganst, Lewandowski, & Harris, 1997; Kerr
& Kaufman-Gilliland, 1994) have found that group discussion commits group members to act
cooperatively to such an extent that it is not always necessary to monitor their behavior; once
the group members have shared their intentions to cooperate, they will continue to do so
because of a private, internalized commitment to it.

Communication can also allow the people working together to plan what they should do
and therefore can help them better coordinate their efforts. For instance, in a resource dilemma
game, discussion allows the group to monitor their withdrawals from the public good so that
the pool is not depleted. And if only a certain number of individuals need to contribute in a
contributions dilemma in order for the public good to be maintained, communication may allow
the group members to set up a system that ensures that this many, but not more, contribute in
any given session.

Finally, communication may also help people realize the advantages, over the long term,
of cooperating. If, as a result of communication, the individuals learn that the others are actually
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behaving cooperatively (something that might not have been apparent given prior misperceptions
that make us overestimate the extent to which others are competing), this might increase the
motivation to cooperate oneself.

Alternatively, learning that others are behaving competitively and thus threatening the
resources may help make it clear to all the parties that increased cooperation is essential.
Perhaps the most important benefit of communication is the potential of learning that the goals
of the parties involved in the conflict are not always incompatible. A major barrier to increasing
cooperation is that individuals expect both that situations are arranged such that they are
fixed-sum and that others will act competitively to attempt to gain a greater share of the outcomes.
Neither of these assumptions is necessarily true, however, and thus one potential benefit of
communication is that the parties come to see the situation more accurately.

Laboratory studies have also demonstrated the benefits of communication. Leigh

Thompson (1991) found that groups in negotiation did not always effectively communicate, but
those that did were more able to reach compromises that benefited both parties. Although the
parties came to the situation expecting the game to be a fixed-sum situation, communication
allowed them to learn that the situation was actually integrative—the parties had different needs
that allowed them to achieve a mutually beneficial solution.

Interestingly, Thompson found that it did not matter whether both parties involved in the
dispute were instructed to communicate or if the communication came in the form of questions
from only one of the two participants. In both cases, the parties who communicated viewed the
other’s perspectives more accurately, and the result was better outcomes. Communication will
not improve cooperation, however, if it is based on communicating hostility rather than working
toward cooperation. In studies in which individuals played the trucking game, for instance, the
communication was generally in the form of threats and did not reduce conflict.

15.3.4 THE TIT-FOR-TAT STRATEGY

In social dilemma games that are run over a number of trials, various strategies can be
used by the parties involved. But which is the best strategy to use in order to promote
cooperation? One simple strategy that has been found to be effective in such situations is
known as tit-for-tat. The tit-for tat strategy involves initially making a cooperative choice and
then waiting to see what the other individuals do. If it turns out that they also make the cooperative
choice (or if most of them do), then the individual again makes a cooperative choice. On the
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other hand, if the other group members compete, then the individual again matches this behavior
by competing.

The tit-for-tat strategy seems to be so effective because, first, it is “nice” in the sense that
the individual first cooperates and signals a willingness to cooperate. Second, the strategy
seems to be successful because, since it is relatively simple and easy to understand, others
can clearly see how the choices are being determined. Furthermore, the approach sends a
clear message that competitive choices on the part of the other will not be tolerated and that
cooperation will always be reciprocated. The other party cannot take advantage of a person
who is using tit-for-tat on more than one trial because if they try to do so, the result will always
be retaliation in the form of a competitive choice on the next trial.

Indeed, it has been found that having people play against a partner who uses the tit-for-
tat strategy can help them learn to be more cooperative, particularly once they become aware
what the strategy is and how it is being used (Sheldon, 1999). The tit-for-tat strategy seems
particularly effective because it balances self-concerned and other-concerned responses in an
easy-to-understand way.

Despite the fact that it generally works better than most other strategies, tit-for-tat is not
perfect. One problem is that because people are more likely to behave competitively than
cooperatively, tit-for-tat is more likely to lead opponents to match non-cooperative responses
than to follow cooperation with cooperation, and thus tit-for-tat may in some cases produce a
spiral of conflict.

This is particularly likely if the opposing party never makes a cooperative choice, and
thus the party using tit-for-tat never gets a chance to play cooperatively after the first round, or
in cases in which there is some noise in the system and the responses given by the parties are
not always perceived accurately. Variations of the tit-for-tat strategy in which the individual acts
more cooperatively than demanded by the strategy (e.g., by giving some extra cooperative
trials in the beginning or being extra cooperative on other trials) have been found to be helpful
in this regard, although they do allow the opponent to exploit the side who is playing tit-for-tat.

15.4 FORMAL SOLUTIONS TO CONFLICT: NEGOTIATION,

MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION
In some cases, conflict becomes so extreme that the groups feel that they need to work
together to reach a compromise. Several methods are used in these cases, including negotiation,
mediation, and arbitration.
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Negotiation is the process by which two or more parties formally work together to attempt
to resolve a perceived divergence of interest in order to avoid or resolve social conflict. The
parties involved are often social groups, such as businesses or nations, although the groups
may rely on one or a few representatives who actually do the negotiating. When negotiating,
the parties who are in disagreement develop a set of communication structures in which they
discuss their respective positions and attempt to develop a compromise agreement. To reach
this agreement, each side makes a series of offers, followed by counteroffers from the other
side, each time moving closer to a position that they can each agree on. Negotiation is successful
if each of the parties finds that they have more to gain by remaining in the relationship or
completing the transaction, even if they cannot get exactly what they want, than they would
gain if they left the relationship entirely or continued the existing competitive state.

Mediation involves helping to create compromise by using third-party negotiation. A

mediator is a third party who is knowledgeable about the dispute and skilled at resolving conflict.
During the mediation, the conflicting parties usually state the facts from their own perspective,
which allows the mediator to determine each party’s interests and positions. Mediators have a
number of potential tactics that they can use, and they choose which ones seem best depending
on the current state of affairs.

These tactics include attempting to help the parties have more trust in each other,
conferring with each of the parties separately, and helping them to accept the necessity of
compromise. Through these tactics, the mediator may be able to reduce overt hostility and
increase concern with understanding the others’ positions, which may lead to more integrative
solutions. If necessary, the mediator may attempt to force the parties to make concessions,
especially if there is little common ground to begin with. Mediation works best when both
parties believe that a compromise is possible and thinks that third-party intervention can help
reach it. Mediators who have experience and training make better mediators.

Arbitration is a type of third-party intervention that avoids negotiation as well as the

necessity of any meetings between the parties in conflict. In the most common type of
arbitration—binding arbitration—both sides agree ahead of time to abide by the decision of the
third party (the arbitrator). They then independently submit their offers or desires along with
their basis for their claims, and the arbitrator chooses between them. Whichever offer is chosen
becomes the outcome, and there is no negotiation.
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Arbitration is particularly useful when there is a single decision to be made under time
constraints, whereas negotiation may be better if the parties have a long-term possibility for
conflict and future discussion is necessary.

15.5 MAKING COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVE

Social psychology traditionally has been defined as the study of the ways in which people
affect, and are affected by, others. Communication is one of the primary means by which
people affect one another, and, in light of this, one might expect the study of communication to
be a core topic of social psychology, but historically that has not been the case. Communication
(from Latin “communist”, meaning to share) is the activity of conveying information through the
exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or
behavior. It is the meaningful exchange of information between two or a group of person.

One definition of communication is “any act by which one person gives to or receives
from another, the information about that person’s needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or
affective states. Communication may be intentional or unintentional, may involve conventional
or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or nonlinguistic forms, and may occur through
spoken or other modes. Communication requires a sender, a message, and a recipient, although
the receiver doesn’t have to be present or aware of the sender’s intent to communicate at the
time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space.

Communication requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative

commonality. The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the
message of the sender.

Communication is a complex and multidisciplinary concept, and, across the several

disciplines that use the term, there is no consensus on exactly how it should be defined. It is an
important theoretical construct in such otherwise dissimilar fields as cell biology, computer
science, ethology, linguistics, electrical engineering, sociology, anthropology, genetics,
philosophy, semiotics, and literary theory. And although there is a core of meaning common to
the way the term is used in these disciplines, the particularities differ enormously.

Despite this, for social psychologists communication (or some equivalent notion) remains
an indispensable concept. It’s difficult to imagine serious discussions of such topics as social
influence, small group interaction, social perception, attitude change, or interpersonal relations,
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empathy that ignore the role communication plays. Let us see empathy and language as the
other topics are discussed in the earlier lessons.

15.6 EMPATHY AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Empathy is an especially important emotion when it comes to understanding why people
help and cooperate. Dramatic evidence for this was provided in a study of 18-monthold toddlers
(Warneken & Tomasello, 2006). When the adult researcher dropped something, the human
toddlers immediately tried to help, such as by crawling over to where it was, picking it up, and
giving it to him. (The babies also seemed to understand and empathize with the adult’s mental
state. If the researcher simply threw something on the floor, the babies didn’t help retrieve it.
They only helped if the human seemed to want help.) The researchers then repeated this
experiment with chimpanzees. The chimps were much less helpful, even though the human
researcher was a familiar friend. This work suggests that humans are hardwired to cooperate
and help each other from early in life, and that this is something that sets humans apart from
even their closest animal relatives.

Empathy may be a central characteristic of emotionally intelligent behaviour, the ability to

comprehend another’s feelings and to re-experience them oneself. Empathy seems to depend
on subsidiary abilities similar to appraising and expressing emotion, understanding another
person’s point of view, identifying accurately another’s emotions, experiencing the same or
other appropriate emotion in response to them and finally, communicating and/or acting on this
internal experience

15.7 LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

Language pervades social life. It is the principal vehicle for the transmission of cultural
knowledge, and the primary means by which we gain access to the contents of others’ minds.
Language is implicated in most of the phenomena that lie at the core of social psychology:
attitude change, social perception, personal identity, social interaction, intergroup bias and
stereotyping, attribution, and so on. Moreover, for social psychologists, language typically is
the medium by which subjects’ responses are elicited, and in which they respond: in social
psychological research, more often than not, language plays a role in both stimulus and
response.

Just as language use pervades social life, the elements of social life constitute an intrinsic
part of the way language is used.
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Linguists regard language as an abstract structure that exists independently of specific

instances of usage, but any communicative exchange is situated in a social context that
constrains the linguistic forms participants use. How these participants define the social situation,
their perceptions of what others know, think and believe, and the claims they make about their
own and others’ identities will affect the form and content of their acts of speaking.

15.7.1 PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
Psycholinguistics is the study of the mental processes and skills underlying the production
and comprehension of language, and of the acquisition of these skills. 1. Production,
comprehension, and acquisition. Psycholinguists consider the skilled human language user as
a complex information-processing system. Their aim is to account for the user’s acquisition,
production and comprehension of language in terms of the various components of this system
and their interactions.

Psycholinguistics every human child has the biological ability to acquire language.
Developmentally normal children construct the grammar of his or her native language without
the help of others. However, two conditions exist in order for the child to perform:

(1) He must recognize the physical and social events which are encoded in language

(2) He must be able to process, organize, and store linguistic information.

In other words, the child must be able to comprehend both the meaning and the form of
the syllables in order to process them internally. Spoken language can be broken down into
phonology, syntax, semantics, morphology, and pragmatics. Naturally, children acquire their
first words by placing meaning upon familiar objects. For example, the word “cat” has no
meaning to a child until the child associates “cat” and the object that is a cat. When recognition
(cognition) occurs, the child will gradually obtain more vocabulary words, as well as the mental
acuity to use them.

Many older children (even as old as the age of fifteen) still maintain problems with the
construction of proper grammar, even with adequate instruction. It is evident that language
acquisition does not necessarily occur through the learning of semantics or by cognitive
complexity; at some point formal linguistic ability comes into play.
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15.8 SUMMARY
 In some situations, cooperation is dominant, whereas in others, competition is.

 Cooperation involves situation in which groups work together to attain shared goals.

 Conflict may quickly develop in group as each person will maximise his or her own
outcomes.

 One way to reduce conflict, when the approach is possible, is to change the rules of the
task to reinforce more cooperation.

 An approach to increase the optimal use of resources is to privatize them—that is, to

divide up the public good into smaller pieces so that each individual is responsible for a
small share rather than trusting the good to the group as a whole.

 When communication between the parties involved in a conflict is nonexistent, or when it

is hostile or negative in tone, disagreements frequently result in escalation of negative
feelings and lead to conflict.

 The tit-for tat strategy involves initially making a cooperative choice and then waiting to
see what the other individuals do.

 Formal solutions to conflict are negotiation, mediation and arbitration

 Communication is one of the primary means by which people affect one another.

 Empathy may be a central characteristic of emotionally intelligent behaviour, the ability to

comprehend another’s feelings and to re-experience them oneself.

 Language typically is the medium by which subjects’ responses are elicited, and in which
they respond.

 Psycholinguistics is the study of the mental processes and skills underlying the production
and comprehension of language, and of the acquisition of these skills.

15.9 KEY WORDS

Cooperation: It is a pattern in which helping is mutual and both sides benefit and involves
situation in which groups work together to attain shared goals.
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Conflict: When a person may perceive their personal interests as incompatible, with the
result that instead of working together and coordinating their effort, they often work against
each other. In this way they produce negative results for both sides, which are known as
conflict.

Privatization: It is an approach to increase the optimal use of resources by privatize

them. That is, to divide up the public good into smaller pieces so that each individual is
responsible for a small share rather than trusting the good to the group as a whole.

Negotiating conflict: It is the process by which two or more parties formally work together
to attempt to resolve a perceived divergence of interest in order to avoid or resolve social
conflict.

Mediation involves helping to create compromise by using third-party negotiation. A

mediator is a third party who is knowledgeable about the dispute and skilled at resolving conflict.
During the mediation, the conflicting parties usually state the facts from their own perspective,
which allows the mediator to determine each party’s interests and positions.

Communication: It is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of

thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior. It is
the meaningful exchange of information between two and a group of person.

Psycholinguistics: It is the study of the mental processes and skills underlying the
production and comprehension of language, and of the acquisition of these skills. 1. Production,
comprehension, and acquisition.

15.10 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. __________is a pattern in which helping is mutual and both sides benefit and involves
situation in which groups work together to attain shared goals.

2. ________is when a person may perceive their personal interests as incompatible, with
the result that instead of working together and coordinating their effort, they often work
against each other.

3. _________ is an approach to increase the optimal use of resources by privatize them.

4. ____________is the process by which two or more parties formally work together to
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attempt to resolve a perceived divergence of interest in order to avoid or resolve social

conflict.

5. Mediation involves helping to create compromise by using _________negotiation.

6. A ____________is a third party who is knowledgeable about the dispute and skilled at
resolving conflict.

7. __________ is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts,

messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior.

8. ____________is the study of the mental processes and skills underlying the production
and comprehension of language, and of the acquisition of these skills.

9. _____________is an especially important emotion when it comes to understanding why

people help and cooperate.

10. ______________is a type of third-party intervention that avoids negotiation as well as the
necessity of any meetings between the parties in conflict.

15.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Cooperation

2. Conflict

3. Privatization

4. Negotiating conflict

5. Third-party

6. Mediator

7. Communication

8. Psycholinguistics

9. Empathy

10. Arbitration
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15.12 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Differentiate between cooperation and competition

2. Identify the coordination in groups: cooperation or conflict

3. List the strategies for producing cooperation

4. Describe task characteristics and perception

5. Discuss privatization

6. Describe the role of communication

7. Explain the tit-for-tat strategy

8. Discuss formal solution to conflict

9. Explain how to make communication effective

10. Explain the relationship between empathy and social behaviour

11. Explain the relationship between language and social behaviour

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LESSON – 16
LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and
support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. This lesson discusses about the
roles of leader, important qualities of a good leader and the categories of leadership.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Understanding meaning of leaders and leadership

 Discuss functions of leaders

 List the types of leaders

 Explain personal qualities of leaders

 Provide the categories of leadership

PLAN OF STUDY
16.1 Meaning of Leaders and Leadership

16.2 Functions of Leaders

16.3 Types of Leaders

16.4 Personal Qualities of Leaders

16.5 Categories of Leadership

16.6 Summary

16.7 Key Words

16.8 Check Your Progress

16.9 Answers to Check Your Progress

16.10Model Questions
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16.1 MEANING OF LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP

Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person
can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. For instance,
some understand a leader simply as somebody whom people follow, or as somebody who
guides or directs others, while others describe leadership as “organizing a group of people to
achieve a common goal”. Studies of leadership have produced theories involving traits, situational
interaction, function, behavior, power, vision and values, charisma, and intelligence (among
others).

16.2 FUNCTIONS OF LEADERS

Leadership functions of a manager are related with his managerial functions. The leader
as a manger has to set the group goal, motivate and inspire subordinates, create plans, and
supervise performance. Over and above these managerial functions he has to perform some
other functions as a Leader. They are:

 To act as a representative of the work-group: Leader is the link flanked by the top
management and the work group. He has to communicate the problems and difficulties
of the work group to the management and the expectation of the management to the
work group. He act as a link flanked by the top management and the work group.

 To develop team spirit: One of the core functions of the Leader manager is that to make
a team spirit in flanked by the members of the group. They should act as a team rather
than performing as individuals. It is his responsibility to make a pleasant atmosphere
keeping in view the subordinates needs, potential abilities and competence.

 To act as a counsellor of the people at work: When the subordinates face problems at
work, which may be technical or emotional, the leader has to guide and advise the
subordinate concerned. There may be situations which are out of control, in that situation,
leader necessity stand behind the subordinate to encourage and support and find a solution
for the problem.

 Proper use of Power: Leader necessity be careful while exercising his power or authority
in relation to his subordinates. According to the situation he may exercise different types
of powers like reward power, corrective power, coercive power, expert power, formal or
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informal power etc., for the positive response from his subordinate. Create sure that while
using the power the response from his subordinate should not yield a negative response
to the group work. Leader necessity analyzes the situation before exercising his power.

 Time Management: Leader necessities ensure the timely completion of the work while
ensuring the quality and efficiency of the work. At different stages, the work should be
complete according to the plan. The timely completion of the individual tasks will ensure
the completion of the group work. Leader should monitor and ensure the individual tasks
at different stages are accomplished as per the plan.

 Secure effectiveness of group-effort: To get the maximum contribution towards the

achievement of objectives the leader necessity delegate authority, ensure the availability
of the adequate resources, give for a reward system to improve the efficiency of capable
workmen, invite participation of employees in decision making and communicate necessary
information to the employees.

16.3 TYPES OF LEADERS

 The Transformational Leader: Leaders who show strength in all five leadership behaviors
are those who are able to transform the commitment levels of those approximately them.
They have deep conviction in relation to goals; a determination to execute plans and is
prepared to go against conventional wisdom.

 The Enforcer: These are leaders who act in methods characterized through careful
optimism and a drive to create sure specific objectives are achieved. They display strong
belief in what they are doing and commitment to stay the course, but tend to limit options
and avoid taking action where risk is associated.

 The Deal Maker: These leaders attract followers largely because of their energy and
excitement for anything new. They thrive on change and regularly break the mold. In the
business world, they often rise to prominence on the back of their reputation for the deals
they pull off, but can be bored easily and have little regard for sustaining the performance
of their efforts after initial success is achieved.

 The Administrator: These leaders are strategic executors who are clear in what needs
to be achieved and ruthlessly follow through. They are autocratic in approach, letting
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nothing stand in the method of achieving the overall objective, and are likely to prefer
detailed and rigorous project plans, constant monitoring and updating, and tight control
over resources and people.

 The Visionary: These leaders inspire people to dream of greatness but fail to follow
through. They have all the qualities of the transformational leader, including their skill to
elevate ambition, but are weak at generating critical mass.

 The Serial Entrepreneur: These leaders are imaginative, but calculating, gamblers. They
display vast energy and commitment and sweep people beside with them because they
create seemingly impossible challenges achievable. They care deeply in relation to the
legacy but thrash about to articulate the wider context of their decisions in a method that’s
meaningful to their followers.

 The Spin Doctor: These leaders seem to be everything a leader should be, but their
behavior is inconsistent and self-serving - they have underdeveloped conviction. What
distinguishes these leaders most is their skill to convincingly argue the case, any case,
and justify the change to followers.

16.4 PERSONAL QUALITIES OF LEADERS

Having a great thought and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first
step in creating a successful business venture. While finding a new and unique thought is
unusual enough; the skill to successfully execute this thought is what separates the dreamers
from the entrepreneurs. Though you see yourself, whatever your age may be, as soon as you
create that exciting first hire, you have taken the first steps in becoming a powerful leader.
When money is tight, stress levels are high, and the visions of instant success don‘t happen
like you thought, it‘s easy to let those emotions get to you, and thereby your team. Take a
breath, calm yourself down, and remind yourself of the leader you are and would like to become.
Here are some key qualities that every good leader should possess, and learn to emphasize.

Honesty: Whatever ethical plane you hold yourself to, when you are responsible for a
team of people, it’s significant to raise the bar even higher. Your business and its employees
are a reflection of yourself, and if you create honest and ethical behavior a key value, your
team will follow suit. As we do at Rock the Post, the crowd funding platform for entrepreneurs
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and small businesses I cofounded, try to create a list of values and core beliefs that both you
and your brand represent, and post this in your office. Promote a healthy interoffice lifestyle,
and encourage your team to live up to these standards. Through emphasizing these standards,
and displaying them yourself, you will hopefully influence the office environment into a friendly
and helpful workspace.

Skill to Delegate: Finessing your brand vision is essential to creating an organized and
efficient business, but if you don‘t learn to trust your team with that vision, you might never
progress to the after that stage. It’s significant to keep in mind that trusting your team with your
thought is a sign of strength, not weakness. Delegating tasks to the appropriate departments
is one of the most significant skills you can develop as your business grows. The emails and
tasks will begin to pile up, and the more you stretch yourself thin, the lower the quality of your
work will become, and the less you will produce. The key to delegation is identifying the strengths
of your team, and capitalizing on them. Find out what each team member enjoys doing most.
Chances are if they find that task more enjoyable, they will likely put more thought and effort
behind it. This will not only prove to your team that you trust and consider in them, but will also
free up your time to focus on the higher level tasks, that should not be delegated. It‘s a fine
balance, but one that will have a vast impact on the productivity of your business.

Communication: Knowing what you want accomplished may seem clear in your head,
but if you try to explain it to someone else and are met with a blank expression, you know there
is a problem. If this has been your experience, then you may want to focus on honing your
communication skills. Being able to clearly and succinctly describe what you want done is very
significant. If you can‘t relates your vision to your team, you won‘t all be working towards the
same goal. Training new members and creating a productive work environment all depend on
healthy lines of communication. Whether that stems from an open door policy to your office, or
making it a point to talk to your staff on a daily basis, making yourself accessible to discuss
interoffice issues is vital. Your team will learn to trust and depend on you, and will be less
hesitant to work harder.

Sense of Humor: If your website crashes, you lose that major client, or your funding
dries up, guiding your team through the process without panicking is as challenging as it is
significant. Morale is connected to productivity, and it‘s your job as the team leader to instill a
positive energy. That‘s where your sense of humor will finally pay off. Encourage your team to
laugh at the mistakes instead of crying. If you are constantly learning to find the humor in the
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struggles, your work environment will become a happy and healthy space, where your employees
look forward to working in, rather than dreading it. Create it a point to crack jokes with your
team and encourage personal discussions of weekend plans and trips. It‘s these short breaks
from the task at hand that help keep productivity levels high and morale even higher. At Rock
The Post, we place a vast emphasis on humor and a light atmosphere. Our office is dog
friendly, and we really consider it is the small, light hearted moments in the day that help keep
our work creative and fresh. One custom that we like to do and brings the team closer is we
plan a fun prank on all new employees, on their first day. It breaks the ice and immediately
makes that sense of familiarity.

Confidence: There may be days where the future of your brand is worrisome and things
aren‘t going according to plan. This is true with any business, large or small, and the most
significant thing is not to panic. Part of your job as a leader is to put out fires and maintain the
team morale. Keep up your confidence level, and assure everyone that setbacks are natural
and the significant thing is to focus on the superior goal. As the leader, through staying calm
and confident, you will help keep the team feeling the same. Keep in mind, your team will take
cues from you, so if you exude a level of calm damage control, your team will pick up on that
feeling. The key objective is to keep everyone working and moving ahead.

Commitment: If you expect your team to work hard and produce quality content, you‘re
going to need to lead through instance. There is no greater motivation than seeing the boss
down in the trenches working alongside everyone else, showing that hard work is being done
on every level. Through proving your commitment to the brand and your role, you will not only
earn the respect of your team, but will also instill that same hardworking energy among your
staff. It‘s significant to show your commitment not only to the work at hand, but also to your
promises. If you pledged to host a holiday party, or uphold summer Fridays, keep your word.
You want to make a reputation for not just working hard, but also be recognized as a fair
leader. Once you have gained the respect of your team, they are more likely to deliver the peak
amount of quality work possible.

Positive Attitude: You want to keep your team motivated towards the sustained success
of the company, and keep the energy levels up. Whether that means providing snacks, coffee,
relationship advice, or even just an occasional beer in the office, keep in mind that everyone on
your team is a person. Keep the office mood a fine balance flanked by productivity and
playfulness. If your team is feeling happy and upbeat, chances are they won‘t mind staying that
extra hour to finish a report, or devoting their best work to the brand.
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Creativity: Some decisions will not always be so clear-cut. You may be forced at times to
deviate from your set course and create an on the fly decision. This is where your creativity will
prove to be vital. It is throughout these critical situations that your team will look to you for
guidance and you may be forced to create a quick decision. As a leader, its significant to learn
to think outside the box and to choose which of two bad choices is the best option. Don‘t
immediately choose the first or easiest possibility; sometimes its best to provide these issues
some thought, and even turn to your team for guidance. Through utilizing all possible options
before making a rash decision, you can typically reach the end conclusion you were aiming for.

Intuition: When leading a team through uncharted waters, there is no roadmap on what
to do. Everything is uncertain, and the higher the risk, the higher the pressure. That is where
your natural intuition has to kick in. Guiding your team through the process of your day-to-day
tasks can be honed down to a science. But when something unexpected occurs, or you are
thrown into a new scenario, your team will look to you for guidance. Drawing on past experience
is a good reflex, as is reaching out to your mentors for support. Eventually though, the tough
decisions will be up to you to decide and you will need to depend on your gut instinct for
answers. Learning to trust yourself is as significant as your team learning to trust you.

Skill to Inspire: Creating a business often involves a bit of forecasting. Especially in the
beginning stages of a startup, inspiring your team to see the vision of the successes to come
is vital. Create your team feel invested in the accomplishments of the company. Whether
everyone owns a piece of equity, or you operate on a bonus system, generating enthusiasm
for the hard work you are all putting in is so significant. Being able to inspire your team is great
for focusing on the future goals, but it is also significant for the current issues. When you are all
mired deep in work, morale is low, and energy levels are fading, recognize that everyone
needs a break now and then. Acknowledge the work that everyone has dedicated and commend
the team on each of their efforts. It is your job to keep spirits up, and that begins with an
appreciation for the hard work.

16.5 CATEGORIES OF LEADERSHIP

Authoritarian: The authoritarian leadership style or autocratic leader keeps strict, close
control over followers through keeping close regulation of policies and procedures given to
followers. To keep main emphasis on the distinction of the authoritarian leader and their followers,
these types of leaders create sure to only make a separate professional relationship. Direct
supervision is what they consider to be key in maintaining a successful environment and follower
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ship. In fear of followers being unproductive, authoritarian leaders keep close supervision and
feel this is necessary in order for anything to be done.

Examples of authoritarian communicative behavior: a police officer directing traffic, a

teacher ordering a student to do his or her assignment, and a supervisor instructing a subordinate
to clean a workstation. All of these positions require a separate set of characteristics that
provide the leader the position to get things in order or get a point crossway. Authoritarian
Traits: sets goals individually, engages primarily in one-method and downward communication,
controls discussion with followers, and donates interaction.

Paternalistic Leadership: The method a Paternalistic leader works is through acting as

a father figure through taking care of their subordinates as a parent would. In this style of
leadership the leader supplies complete concern for his followers or workers. In return he
receives the complete trust and loyalty of his people. Workers under this style of leader are
expected to become totally committed to what the leader believes and will not strive off and
work independently. The relationship flanked by these co-workers and leader are very solid.
The workers are expected to stay with a company for a longer period of time because of the
loyalty and trust. Not only do they treat each other like family inside the work force, but outside
too. These workers are able to go to each other with any problems they have concerning
something because they consider in what they say is going to truly help them. One of the
downsides to a paternalistic leader is that the leader could start to play favorites in decisions.
This leader would contain the workers more apt to follow and start to exclude the ones who
were less loyal. In today‘s market paternalism is more hard to come through according to
Padavic and Earnest who wrote “business dimensional and Organizational Counseling”. They
consider this because there have become more lay-offs and stronger unionization. This affects
paternalistic leaders because the co-workers may not consider that their jobs are 100% ensured.
When this happens, workers begin to look for bigger and better job opportunities instead of
staying at one company for a longer period of time. Because of this, the leader may be thinking
that you could be leaving and not fully consider you when you tell them something in relation to
the job opportunity. This could put the workers and leader at risk for a bad situation.

According to B. M. Bass who wrote Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations,

workers who follow paternalistic leadership also have better organization skills. The leader
encourages organization because they allow the workers to complete tasks so that they can
stay on top of their work. The workers complete tasks this boosts self-confidence and it creates
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them work harder to reach a goal and exceed the goal to prove to their boss they are working
hard. Having this style of leadership can also help implement a reward system. This system
will allow their workers to work even better because there is something for them at the end of
the tunnel. While doing this they will also be able to accomplish more work in a set time frame.

Democratic: The democratic leadership style consists of the leader sharing the decision-
making abilities with group members through promoting the interests of the group members
and through practicing social equality.

This style of leadership encompasses discussion, debate and sharing of ideas and
encouragement of people to feel good in relation to the involvement. The boundaries of
democratic participation tend to be circumscribed through the organization or the group needs
and the instrumental value of people’s attributes (skills, attitudes, etc.). The democratic style
encompasses the notion that everyone, through virtue of their human status, should play a part
in the group’s decisions.

Though, the democratic style of leadership still requires guidance and control through a
specific leader. The democratic style demands the leader to create decisions on who should
be described upon within the group and who is given the right to participate in, create and vote
on decisions. Traits of a Good Leader compiled through the Santa Clara University and the
Tom Peters Group:

 Honest — Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive behavior
will not inspire trust.

 Competent — Base your actions on cause and moral principles. Do not create decisions
based on childlike emotional desires or feelings.

 Forward-looking — Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision necessity be
owned throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to
get it. They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic values.

 Inspiring — Display confidence in all that you do. Through showing endurance in mental,
physical, and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take
charge when necessary.

 Intelligent — Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.

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 Fair-minded — Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display
empathy through being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.

 Broad-minded — Seek out diversity.

 Courageous — Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly

insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.

 Straightforward — Use sound judgment to create a good decisions at the right time.

 Imaginative — Create timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans, and methods.
Show creativity through thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and solutions to problems.
Be innovative!

Research has found that this leadership style is one of the most effective and makes
higher productivity, better contributions from group members and increased group morale.
Democratic leadership can lead to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems because
group members are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas. While democratic leadership
is one of the most effective leadership styles, it does have some potential downsides. In situations
where roles are unclear or time is of the essence, democratic leadership can lead to
communication failures and uncompleted projects.

Democratic leadership works best in situations where group members are skilled and
eager to share their knowledge. It is also significant to have plenty of time to allow people to
contribute, develop a plan and then vote on the best course of action.

Laissez-faire: The laissez-faire leadership style is where all the rights and power to
create decisions is fully given to the worker. This was first described through Lewin, Lippitt, and
White in 1938, beside with the autocratic leadership and the democratic leadership styles. The
laissez-faire style is sometimes described as a “hands off” leadership style because the leader
delegates the tasks to their followers while providing little or no direction to the followers. If the
leader withdraws too much from their followers it can sometimes result in a lack of productivity,
cohesiveness, and satisfaction.

Laissez-faire leaders allow followers to have complete freedom to create decisions

concerning the completion of their work. It allows followers a high degree of autonomy and
self-rule, while at the same time offering guidance and support when requested. The laissez-
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faire leader using guided freedom gives the followers with all materials necessary to accomplish
their goals, but does not directly participate in decision making unless the followers request
their assistance.

This is an effective style to use when:

 Followers are highly skilled, experienced, and educated.

 Followers have pride in their work and the drive to do it successfully on their own.

 Outside experts, such as staff specialists or consultants are being used.

 Followers are trustworthy and experienced.

This style should NOT be used when:

 Followers feel insecure at the unavailability of a leader.

 The leader cannot or will not give regular feedback to their followers.

Transactional: The transactional style of leadership was first described through Max
Weber in 1947 and then later described through Bernard Bass in 1981. Mainly used through
management, transactional leaders focus their leadership on motivating followers through a
system of rewards and punishments. There are two factors which form the basis for this system,
Contingent Reward and management-through-exception.

 Contingent Reward Gives rewards, materialistic or psychological, for effort and recognizes
good performance.

 Management-through-Exception allows the leader to maintain the status quo. The leader
intervenes when subordinates do not meet acceptable performance levels and initiates
corrective action to improve performance. Management through exception helps reduce
the workload of managers being that they are only described-in when workers deviate
from course.

This type of leader identifies the needs of their followers and provides rewards to satisfy
those needs in exchange of certain level of performance. Transactional leaders focus on
increasing the efficiency of established routines and procedures. They are more concerned
with following existing rules than with making changes to the organization. A transactional
leader establishes and standardizes practices that will help the organization reaches,
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 Maturity

 Goal-setting

 Efficiency of operation

 Increasing productivity.

Transactional leadership style effect on work teams: In a survey done through Jun
Liu, Xiaoyu Liu and Xianju Zeng on the correlation of Transactional leadership and how
innovations can be affected through team emotions. The research was composed of 90 work
teams, with a

total of 460 members and 90 team leaders. The study found that there is a relationship
flanked by emotions, labor behavior and transactional leadership that affect for the team.
Depending on the level of emotions of the team; this can affect the transactional leader in a
positive or negative method. Transactional leaders work better in teams where there is a lower
level of emotions going into the project. This is because individuals are able to:

 Think freely when setting their emotions aside from their work.

 Have all of their focus on the given task.

A transactional leader is:

 Negatively affected when the emotional level is high.

 Positively affected when the emotional level is low.

Transactional leadership presents a form of strategic leadership that is significant for the
organizations development. Transactional leadership is essential for team innovativeness.

Transformational: A transformational leader is a type of person in which the leader is

not limited through his or her followers’ perception. The main objective is to work to change or
transform his or her followers’ needs and redirect their thinking. Leaders that follow the
transformation style of leading, challenge and inspire their followers with a sense of purpose
and excitement. They also make a vision of what they aspire to be, and communicate this
thought to others (their followers). According to Schultz and Schultz, there are three recognized
characteristics of a transformational leader:
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 Charismatic leadership has a broad knowledge of field, has a self-promoting personality,

high/great energy level, and willing to take risk and use irregular strategies in order to
stimulate their followers to think independently

 Individualized consideration

 Intellectual stimulation

16.6 SUMMARY
 Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person can
enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”.

 The leader as a manager has to set the group goal, motivate and inspire subordinates,
create plans, and supervise performance.

 Other functions as a Leader are: To act as a representative of the work-group, to develop

team spirit, to act as a counsellor of the people at work, proper use of power, time
management and secure effectiveness of group-effort.

 The different types of leaders are the transformational leader, the enforcer, the deal maker,
the administrator, the visionary, the serial entrepreneur and the spin doctor.

 The personal qualities of leaders are honesty, skill to delegate, communication, sense of
humor, confidence, commitment, positive attitude, creativity, intuition and skill to inspire.

 The various categories of leadership are authoritarian, paternalistic, democratic, Laissez-

faire, transformational and transactional leaders.

16.7 KEY WORDS

Leadership: A process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and
support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.

Paternalistic Leadership: The method a Paternalistic leader works is through acting as

a father figure through taking care of their subordinates as a parent would.

Democratic leadership: The democratic leadership style consists of the leader sharing
the decision-making abilities with group members through promoting the interests of the group
members and through practicing social equality.
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Transformational leader: The main objective is to work to change or transform his or

her followers’ needs and redirect their thinking. Leaders that follow the transformation style of
leading, challenge and inspire their followers with a sense of purpose and excitement.

Transactional leaders: They focus their leadership on motivating followers through a

system of rewards and punishments. There are two factors which form the basis for this system,
Contingent Reward and management-through-exception.

16.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. __________is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and
support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.

2. The method a ____________leader works is through acting as a father figure through

taking care of their subordinates as a parent would.

3. The __________leadership style consists of the leader sharing the decision-making abilities
with group members through promoting the interests of the group members and through
practicing social equality.

4. The main objective of a _________ leader is to work to change or transform his or her
followers’ needs and redirect their thinking.

5. ___________leaders focus their leadership on motivating followers through a system of

rewards and punishments.

6. The two factors which form the basis for rewards and punishments system are
(i)____________and (ii) _____________

7. ____________leadership has a broad knowledge of field, has a self-promoting personality,

high/great energy level, and willing to take risk and use irregular strategies in order to
stimulate their followers to think independently

8. The _____________leadership style is where all the rights and power to create decisions
is fully given to the worker.

9. The ______________leadership style or autocratic leader keeps strict, close control over
followers through keeping close regulation of policies and procedures given to followers.
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10. ________are leaders those who seem to be everything a leader should be, but their
behavior is inconsistent and self-serving - they have underdeveloped conviction.

16.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Leadership

2. Paternalistic

3. Democratic

4. Transformational

5. Transactional

6. (i) Contingent Reward and (ii) management-through-exception.

7. Charismatic

8. Laissez-faire

9. Authoritarian

10. Spin Doctor

16.10 MODEL QUESTIONS

1. Explain the concept of leaders and leadership

2. Discuss the functions of leaders

3. List the types of leaders

4. Enumerate the personal qualities of leaders

5. Describe the categories of leadership with examples

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MODEL QUESTION PAPER

MSC - PSYCHOLOGY

Paper - III

ADVANCED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Time: 3 Hours Max Marks: 80

Part A
Answer any TEN questions in 50 words each: (10 x 2 = 20)

1. Define social psychology.

2. Define evolutionary psychology.

3. Name goals of research.

4. Define Impression formation.

5. Define pro-social behaviour.

6. Define debriefing.

7. Define the term interpersonal attraction.

8. Define evaluation apprehension.

9. Define instrumental aggression.

10. Define transactional leader.

11. Define social influence.

12. Define attitude.

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Part B

Answer any FIVE questions in 250 words each: (5 x 6 = 30)

13. What are the ethical issues in social psychology research?

14. What are the components of attitudes?

15. What are the characteristic features of positive and negative aggression?

16. Summarize the effects of positive and negative moods on helping.

17. What are the characteristics of competition?

18. Explain the role of status in groups.

19. Discuss about the four types of Inter Personal Styles.

Part C
Answer any THREE questions in 500 words each: (3 x 10 = 30)

20. What are the social psychology methods through which one gains understanding of human
behaviour?

21. What are the different methods of attitude measurement?

22. What was the experiment conducted by Festinger and colleagues in regard to
demonstrating cognitive dissonance? What was the result and why?

23. In what methods one could organize intervention programmes in schools for reducing
aggression?

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