Psychology Class XII: Chapter 6 - Attitude & Social Cognition

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, concepts, theories, and experiments from Chapter 6: Attitude & Social Cognition in Class XII Psychology.

Impression Formation

The process of making inferences about the personal qualities of individuals when we meet them.

Attribution

The process of assigning causes to the behavior shown by individuals in specific social situations.

Social Cognition

The mental activities related to the gathering and representation of information about the social world, which are activated by cognitive units called schemas.

Attitude

A state of mind comprising a set of views or thoughts regarding a topic (called an attitude object) that possess an evaluative feature (positive, negative, or neutral quality), an emotional component, and a tendency to behave in a particular way.

A-B-C Components of Attitude

The three components that make up an attitude: the Affective (emotional) component, the Behavioural (tendency to act) component, and the Cognitive (thought) component.

Beliefs

The cognitive component of an attitude on which the attitude develops (e.g., belief in God).

Values

Attitudes or beliefs that are elevated with moral values or ethics; when an attitude becomes an enduring, stable part of personality, it becomes a value (e.g., 'I should be honest').

Valence

A property of an attitude that indicates whether the attitude is positive or negative.

Extremeness

A feature of an attitude that indicates how strongly positive or negative an attitude rating is.

Simplicity / Complexity (of Attitude)

A feature describing how many individual attitudes exist within a broader attitude system (e.g., 'Health' as a complex attitude containing physical health, mental health, and happiness).

Centrality

The role of a particular attitude in influencing other attitudes within an individual's overall attitude system.

Balance Theory

An attitude change theory proposed by Fritz Heider formulated as a $P\text{-}O\text{-}X$ triangle, asserting that cognitive imbalance causes discomfort, which drives attitude change to achieve balance.

State of Imbalance (All Negative Sides)

A condition in Fritz Heider's Balance Theory where all three relationships in the $P\text{-}O\text{-}X$ triangle are negative, creating psychological discomfort that motivates attitude change.

State of Imbalance (Two Positive Sides, One Negative Side)

An unstable condition in Fritz Heider's Balance Theory where two relationships in the $P\text{-}O\text{-}X$ triangle are positive and one relationship is negative.

State of Balance (All Positive Sides)

A stable cognitive state in Fritz Heider's Balance Theory where all three relationships in the $P\text{-}O\text{-}X$ triangle are positive.

State of Balance (Two Negative Sides, One Positive Side)

A stable cognitive state in Fritz Heider's Balance Theory where two relationships in the $P\text{-}O\text{-}X$ triangle are negative and one relationship is positive.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Leon Festinger's theory stating that the cognitive components of an attitude must be consonant (logically aligned); when two cognitions are dissonant (opposite), mental discomfort arises, requiring an attitude change to restore consonance.

Festinger and Carl Smith Experiment

An experiment where participants paid 1\,\ to tell a lie experienced cognitive dissonance and subsequently altered their attitude to view the boring task as interesting, while those paid 20\,\ felt no dissonance and rated it as boring.

Two-Step Concept Model

An attitude change model proposed by S.M. Mohsin in which a target identifies with and likes a source, observes the source's positive attitude change toward an object, and imitates the source by changing their own attitude.

Congruent Attitude Change

An attitude change that proceeds in the same direction as the existing attitude (such as a positive attitude becoming more positive), which is fast-paced and relatively easy to bring about.

Incongruent Attitude Change

An attitude change that proceeds in an opposite direction to the existing attitude (such as a positive attitude becoming negative or less positive), which is slow-paced and difficult to achieve.

La Piere Study

A study conducted by American social psychologist La Piere demonstrating a gap between attitude and behavior, where a Chinese couple was denied service only once during actual travel across hotels in the US, but the majority of hotel managers later stated in questionnaires that they would not accommodate Chinese guests.

Prejudice

A negative attitude held towards a particular group that is grounded in stereotypes.

Stereotype

The cognitive component of an attitude consisting of a set of ideas or beliefs about the undesirable characteristics of a particular group.

Discrimination

The behavioral component resulting from prejudice and hatred, shown through unfair actions against a particular group.

Scapegoating

A phenomenon wherein a majority group blames a minority group for its own social, economic, or political problems as a way of expressing frustration, leading to prejudice against the weaker group.

Kernels of Truth Concept

The notion that stereotypes are maintained and supported because people believe there is some small element of truth behind them.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A situation where a target group behaves in a manner that confirms or justifies the prejudiced attitudes and behavior directed toward them by another group.