Social Psychology: The Nature of Attitudes - Assignment Example

Running head: Social Psychology Social Psychology: The Nature of Attitudes Introduction Strauss defined attitude as a process of individual consciousness which determines real or possible activity of the individual in the social world. It rests upon innate stimulus-response patterns as these have become modified, elaborated, and integrated through learning in the social world (Strauss, 2010). Attitudes are hypothetical traits which represent an individual’s likes or dislikes, views or opinions, suggestions or arguments etc. Attitudes can be positive or negative based on the perception of the topic by a person. Attitudes are some kind of judgments which can be true or false and more over it is an invisible entity. No two individuals are alike because of the differences in inborn traits, intelligences, culture, social setups etc and hence the attitudes of different persons might be different. Even the siblings may vary in their attitudes towards certain issues. Attitudes play a major part in controlling the social psychology. A person will react to a situation based on the attitude towards that issue. For example, lesbians and gays are common is most of the societies now. There are different opinions about these things. For some people lesbians and gays are doing nothing wrong whereas for some others, they are doing something against the natural law. In short, the attitude plays a major role in supporting or objecting a social issue. This paper briefly analyses the nature of attitudes and its relationships with social psychology. Social Psychology: Attitudes Strauss (2010) has argued that attitudes expressed by acts can be interpreted (and labeled) psychiatrically or psychoanalytically or anthropologically (Strauss, 2010).Acts represents attitudes. A person expresses his attitudes with the help of acts. As mentioned before attitudes are invisible and hence it is impossible for a person to express it in its real form. Because of the above fact a person uses his visible actions to reveal his attitudes. For example, in American parliament election a voter expresses his attitude towards the policies of the republicans and democrats through the ballot. An attitude gets its value or result when it is expressed in a visible or measurable form. Attitudes are controlled by four components like; affective responses, cognitions, behaviors, and behavioral intentions (The Nature of Attitudes, 2001). The affective component controls the likes, dislikes, and the emotions. For example, it is a fact that most of the people will become overjoyed when they receive unexpected money through lottery or bumper draws whereas same people will become sad when some of the beloved ones pass away. In other words, a person expresses the affective component of his attitude in the form of emotions. The affective component of attitude is visible everywhere in the society. It is difficult to see a person without emotions. The cognitive component of attitude reveals a person’s knowledge of a situation or problem. For example, some people approach an interview without confidence whereas some others face the same interview with confidence. In other words the mindsets are different when same problem is faced by different people. This is because of the difference in knowledge level of the topic or the situation. An experienced worker may perform a task easily whereas a fresher may find it extremely difficult because of lack of knowledge. The cognitive component of attitude is also more evident in the society. In elections, different people vote for different parties because of these differences in the cognitive components. Cognitive components of attitude are mostly covert. The behavioral component of attitude involves the overt behavior in response while facing certain situations or problems. For example, an inexperienced worker shows lack of confidence and disgusts when facing task whereas an experienced worker may not reveal such things while performing the same task. A swimmer may not express any dislikes when thrown into a pool whereas a person who doesn’t know swimming may express anxiety and dislikes when somebody dropped him forcefully in a pool. In our society we often come across with people who show confidence and lack of confidence while facing similar tasks and these differences can be attributed to the differences in the behavioral component of attitudes. Behavioral intention component of attitude refers to the prejudice a person may have before facing a certain task or problem. For example, Mathematics is a tough subject for many students whereas it is easy for some others. The students who were afraid of Mathematics may face the class with anxiety whereas others face the same class with pleasure. It is quite possible that the student who approached the Mathematics class with anxiety may find it easy to manage whereas the student who approached the Mathematics class with ease may find it difficult once the class is over. In other words, the students were driven by the behavioral intention component of their attitude in this case. “Attitudes signify what people think of, how they feel about and how they tend or intend to behave toward an attitude object” (Arul, n.d). Some people believe that there is nothing wrong in achieving socialism through forceful means. Communists try to achieve socialism through forceful means by controlling the freedom and liberty of the public. Some others believe that socialism should be achieved only through peaceful means. Democrats or people who believe in democracy are the supporters of the above view. In other words, even if the ultimate target remains the same, people differ in their attitudes about the path of achieving socialism. There are some psychologists who think of the attitude as an element which can be employed in causal analysis in much the same fashion as chemical and physical elements are used in unraveling chemical and physical causations (Strauss, 2010). But such assumptions are not fully correct. Same people may have different attitudes towards same issue. For example, a person who was extremely dejected because of the departure of a relative may not be that much depressed or dejected when another relative passes away. This is because of the differences in attitude he keeps towards two relatives of similar kind. So it is impossible for us to generalize the principles of attitudes. Arul (n. d) has argued that people strive to maximize success and minimize failures in their interaction with the world and hence they develop favorable attitudes toward those objects which they perceive will facilitate success and unfavorable attitudes toward those which they perceive will hinder success or lead to failure (Arul, n. d). In other words, attitudes are related to the expected utility of an action. Nobody wants to keep a positive attitude towards a problem which may destroy their interests, but everybody likes to keep a positive attitude towards an issue which may bring benefit to them. In short characteristics of attitudes are problems based or issue based. Conclusions Attitudes are invisible traits which are often come out in the form of actions. Attitudes actually drive a person or a society. Attitudes have major role in controlling the social psychology. It can be positive or negative with respect to the issue a person faces. Favorable topics may develop positive attitude whereas unfavorable topics may develop negative attitudes. Attitudes have four different components like affective responses, cognitions, behaviors, and behavioral intentions. Because of the variations in the above components, different people may have different attitudes. Same person may have different attitude towards similar issues and hence it is impossible to judge the correct attitude of a person based on the previous experiences. Attitudes are issue driven or problem driven and hence it is impossible for us to generalize it. References 1. Arul MJ (n.d), Attitude: Its Nature, Development and Change Retrieved on 11 June 2010 from http://arulmj.net/attitud1.html 2. Strauss Anselum, (2010), The Concept of Attitude in Social Psychology, Retrieved on 11 June 2010 from http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Strauss/Strauss_1945.html 3. The Nature of Attitudes, (2001), Retrieved on 11 June 2010 from http://www.aect.org/edtech/ed1/34/34-02.html Read More