Social Judgment Theory by Muzafer Sherif - Essay Example

Attitude is considered a key concept in social psychology. In academic psychology parlance, attitudes are positive or negative views of an "attitude object" which might be a person, behavior, or event. Research has also demonstrated “ambivalence”, i.e., a person cam harbor positive and negative attitude simultaneously towards a target. Attitudes are not constants rather, they are variables. Now the question is, what is the pace of this variability- is it instantaneous or does take place slowly and gradually over time without the individual aware of it.

I have so far never come across an individual who has undergone a sudden drastic change in attitude although it is not uncommon to come across sudden change in opinions. “Attitude” happens to be a cumulative effect of opinions, judgments, behaviors and viewpoints and thus is a very broad and complex term. Our attitudes are more often than not a result of our social conditioning and environmental components. They predispose an individual to react or respond in a certain way to a situation or an object.

Attitude formation or change is not a momentary event but a complex process involving multiple steps. “Social Judgment Theory” founded by Muzafer Sherif can explain the process. He has classified our attitudes into three “latitudes”:Latitude of Acceptance: This consists of the information you find pleasing and acceptable.Latitude of Reflection.: Comprised of information you find objectionable.Latitude of Noncommitment: Information, which is neither acceptable nor objectionable. According to Sheriff we are constantly making judgments as we keep get information.

We tend to compare all input to our present attitudes which is called ”anchored attitude” and on the basis of which we label all pieces of information as acceptable or non- acceptable; good or bad; right or wrong and so on. This shows the relativity of our judgmentsThe second step is the assimilation effect and the contrast effect. The former stems from the latitude of acceptance and involves “pulling “ and the latter stems from the latitude of rejection and involves ”pushing”. One significant factor that accounts for the final effect is our “ego involvement” which signifies the importance of a certain issue in our lives.

The final say depends on our personality traits and psychological characteristics. Social judgment theory says that people with large latitude of rejection are highly committed people nd strong –headed. Persuasion or advocation can also be a cause for attitude change and is influenced by target characteristics, message characteristics and source characteristics. Small to moderate discrepancies between our anchor positions and the one advocated will cause us to change; large discrepancies will not.

A change in judgment, which might be due to experience, persuasion or information, does not amount to a change in attitude although it may serve as a single step towards the same. It is therefore not wise to expect a miracle because a significant and noticeable change occurs in many small steps over a long period of time. However there are a few examples that suggest that a drastic attitude or personality change can occur in a very short span of time but these usually pertain to instances of physical, emotional or psychological trauma or abuse.

An unpleasant or terrifying episode especially in childhood can alter an individual’s perspective of an object/person /place etc. acute and unexpected change in attitudes can also be an indication for psychological illness, depression, drug use or trauma. Thus, it is apparent that sudden attitudinal change is not a healthy phenomenon but exceptions cannot be entirely ruled out. . REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDED READINGSSherif, C., Sherif, M., & Nebergall, R. (1965). Attitude and attitude change: The social judgment-involvement approach.

Philadelphia: SaundersRetrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_judgment_theory"