CBSE Class 12 Psychology Attitude And Social Cognition Assignment Set B

ery Short Answer Questions

Question. What is a stereotype?
Answer: A stereotype is a cluster of ideas regarding the characteristics of a specific group. They are category-based schemas about a group of people. For example, a stereotype that Americans are hardworking.

Question. What is social inhibition?
Answer: Decline in performance in the presence of others is called social inhibition. For example,if you recite a poem to an audience, your performance is inhibited than when you recite it to your teacher.

Question. Explain social cognition with the help of suitable examples.
Answer: Social cognition refers to all those psychological processes that deal with the gathering and processing of information related to social objects. For example, a teacher’s conclusions regarding a student’s behavior in school are quite different from his mother’s conclusion who observes him at home.

Question. What is a prototype?
Answer: Schemas that function in the form of categories are called prototypes. They are the entire set of features or qualities that help us to define an object clearly.

Question. Explain pro-social behaviour.
Answer: Pro-social behavior or altruism is doing something or thinking about the welfare of others without any self-interest. For example, sharing things, cooperating with others, helping during natural calamities, showing sympathy, doing favours to others.

Question. Explain the concept of pro-social behaviour.
Answer: Pro-social behavior or altruism is doing something or thinking about the welfare of others without any self-interest. For example, sharing things, cooperating with others, helping during natural calamities, showing sympathy, doing favours to others.

Short Answer Questions

Question. Explain the concept of prejudice.
Answer: Prejudices are negative attitudes towards a particular group and are based on stereotypes (the cognitive component). The cognitive component of prejudice is accompanied by dislike or hatred (the affective component). Prejudice gets translated into discrimination (the behavioural component) whereby people behave in less positive way towards a particular target group compared to another group which they favour. In our society there has been cases of discrimination due to prejudice based on gender, religion, community, caste, physical handicap and illness such as AIDS.

Question. State any 3 sources of prejudice.
Answer: (i) Learning: Prejudices are learned through association, reward and punishment, observing others, group or cultural norms and exposure to information. Family,reference groups, personal experiences and media play a role in the learning of prejudices. Prejudiced persons show low adjusting capacity, anxiety and feelings of hostility against outgroup.
(ii) A Strong Social Identity and Ingroup Bias: Prejudiced individuals who have a strong social identity and have a very positive attitude towards their own group boost this attitude by holding negative attitudes towards other groups.
(iii) Scapegoating: The majority group places the blame on a majority outgroup for its social, economic and political problems. Scapegoating is a group-based way of expressing frustration and it often results in negative attitudes or prejudices against the weaker group.

Question. Discuss the cognitive dissonance component in attitude change process.
Answer: The concept of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger. If an individual finds that two cognitions in an attitude are dissonant, then one of them will be changed
in the direction of consonance. For example, consider the case of the following two ideas or cognitions:
Cognition 1: Pan masala causes mouth cancer which is fatal.
Cognition 2: I eat pan masala.
Here the two ideas are dissonant in the attitude towards pan masala. Therefore, one of these ideas will have to be changed so that consonance can be attained. Thus, to remove or reduce the dissonance, change Cognition 2. Thus Cognition 2 will become:
I will stop eating pan masala.
Both balance and cognitive dissonance are examples of cognitive consistency. Cognitive consistency means that two components, aspects or elements of the attitude or attitude system must be in the same direction.

Question. Why do individuals show better performance in the presence of others?
Answer: Social facilitation is the process in which individuals show better performance in the presence of others. This is because:
(i) The individual experiences arousal in the presence of others which makes him react in a more intense manner.
(ii) The person feels that he would be evaluated. The idea of evaluation apprehension makes him to perform well and avoid mistakes.
(iii) The nature of task affects performance in the presence of others. In case of a simple or familiar task, the person is more sure of performing well than in case of a complex or new task, the person may be afraid of making mistakes.
(iv) If others are performing the same task, there is a situation of co-action where there is social comparison and competition and hence performance is better.
(v) If individuals are working together in a large group, a phenomenon of social loafing occurs based on the diffusion of responsibility in which there is a reduction of individual effort when working on a collective task.

Question. Discuss the sources of prejudice.
                 OR
How are prejudices formed?
Answer: The sources of prejudice are:
(i) Learning: Prejudices are learned through association, reward and punishment,observing others, group or cultural norms and exposure to information. Family,reference groups, personal experiences and media play a role in the learning of prejudices. Prejudiced persons show low adjusting capacity, anxiety and feelings of hostility against outgroup.
(ii) A strong social identity and ingroup bias: Prejudiced individuals who have a strong social identity and have a very positive attitude towards their own group boost this attitude by holding negative attitudes towards other groups.
(iii) Scapegoating: The majority group places the blame on a majority outgroup for its social, economic and political problems. Scapegoating is a group-based way of expressing frustration and it often results in negative attitudes or prejudices against the weaker group.
(iv) Kernel of truth concept: People continue to hold stereotypes because they think that after all, there must be some truth or ‘kernel of truth’ in what everyone says about the other group.
(v) Self-fulfilling prophecy: The target group may behave in ways that justify the prejudice, i.e., conform the negative expectations which may thus strengthen the existing prejudice.

Long Answer Questions

Question. Explain how attitudes are formed.
                                  OR
Explain the conditions which lead to the learning of attitudes.
Answer: The process of attitude formation takes place in the following ways
(i) Learning attitudes by association: A positive attitude towards the subject is learned through positive association between a teacher and a student in school. In other words, students often develop a liking for a particular subject because of the teacher.
(ii) Learning attitudes by being rewarded or punished: If an individual is praised for showing a particular attitude, chances are high that s/he will develop the attitude further. For example, if a teenager does yogasanas regularly and gets the honour of being Miss Good Health in her school, she may develop a positive attitude toward yoga and health in general. Similarly, if a child constantly falls ill because he/she eats junk food instead of proper meal, then the child is likely to develop a negative attitude towards junk food, and also a positive attitude towards eating healthy food.
(iii) Learning attitudes through modeling (observing others): We learn attitudes through association and through reward and punishment. For example, children form a respectful attitude towards elders by observing that their parents show respect for elders and are appreciated for it.
(iv) Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms: Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms is through association, reward or punishment and modeling.
For example, offering money, sweets, fruit and flowers in a place of worship is a normative behavior in some religions. When individuals see that such behaviour is shown by others and is socially approved, they develop a positive attitude towards such behaviour.
(v) Learning through exposure to information: With the huge amount of information that is being provided through media, both positive and negative attitudes are being formed. By reading the biographies of self-actualised person, an individual may develop a positive attitude towards hard work.

Question. Describe the important factors that influence impression formation.
Answer: Impression formation is influences by:
(i) Nature of information available to the perceiver.
(ii) Social schemas in the perceiver (including stereotypes).
(iii) Personality characteristics of the perceiver.
(iv) Situational factors
The process of impression formation is influenced by the above factors which are in turn influenced by
– Primacy effect
– Recency effect
– Halo effect
We assign causes to the behavior shown in specific social situations. This process is called attribution. A distinction is made between the attribution that a person makes for his/her positive and negative experiences (actor-role) than the attribution made by another person’s positive and negative experiences (observer-role). This is called actor-observer effect.
When an individual attributes his/her own success, he/she emphasizes on internal factors but for failures to external factors; whereas when he/she attributes success of others he gives emphasis to external factors and for failures to internal factors.

Question. Are attitudes learnt? Explain how?
Answer: The process of attitude formation takes place in the following ways:
(i) Learning attitudes by association: A positive attitude towards the subject is learned through positive association between a teacher and a student in school. In other words, students often develop a liking for a particular subject because of the teacher.
(ii) Learning attitudes by being rewarded or punished: If an individual is praised for showing a particular attitude, chances are high that s/he will develop the attitude further. For example, if a teenager does yogasanas regularly and gets the honour of being Miss Good Health in her school, she may develop a positive attitude toward yoga and health in general. Similarly, if a child constantly falls ill because he/she eats junk food instead of proper meal, then the child is likely to develop a negative attitude towards junk food, and also a positive attitude towards eating healthy food.
(iii) Learning attitudes through modeling (observing others): We learn attitudes through association and through reward and punishment. For example, children form a
respectful attitude towards elders by observing that their parents show respect for
elders and are appreciated for it.
(iv) Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms: Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms is through association, reward or punishment and modeling.
For example, offering money sweets, fruit and flowers in a place of worship is a normative behavior in some religions. When individuals see that such behaviour is shown by others and is socially approved, they develop a positive attitude towards such behaviour.
(v) Learning through exposure to information: With the huge amount of information that is being provided through media, both positive and negative attitudes are being formed. By reading the biographies of self-actualised person, an individual may develop a positive attitude towards hard work.

Question. What are the factors that influence the formation of an attitude?
Answer: The factors influencing attitude formation are as follows:
(i) Family and School Environment: Learning of attitudes within the family and school usually takes place by association, through reward and punishment and through modeling.
(ii) Reference groups: Attitudes towards various topics such as political, religious and social groups, occupations, national and other issues is developed through reference groups. This is learning by reward and punishment.
(iii) Personal experiences: Personal experience can bring a drastic change in our attitude.Here is a real-life example. A driver in the army went through a personal experience that transformed his life. On one mission, he narrowly escaped death although all his companions got killed. He gave up his job in the army and worked actively as a community leader. Through a purely personal experience the individual evolved a strong positive attitude towards community upliftment.
(iv) Media-related influences: Media can exert both good and bad influences on attitudes.On one hand, the media and internet make people better informed than other modes of communication while on the other hand it can create negative attitudes in people.

Question. State the factors which influence pro-social behaviour.
Answer: The factors influencing pro-social behaviour are:
(i) It is based on the inborn natural tendency in human beings.
(ii) It is influenced by learning. Individuals from family environments which emphasise helping as a value and praise helpfulness show more pro-social behaviour.
(iii) Some cultures encourage people to help the needy and distressed.
(iv) Pro-social behaviour is expressed when the situation activates certain social norms that require helping others. The norms are:
(a) Norm of Social Responsibility which states that we should help anyone who needs help.
(b) Norm of Reciprocity which states one should help those persons who have helped us in the past.
(c) Norm of Equity which states that we should help others whenever it is fair to do so. For example, it is fair to help a person who has lost all belongingness in a flood than to help a person who has lost everything through gambling.
(v) People may not help the needy because they feel that the person might feel insulted or may become dependent.
(vi) Pro-social behaviour is more likely to be shown by individuals who have a high level of empathy.
(vii) Pro-social behaviour is reduced by factors such as bad mood, being busy with one’s own problems, or feeling that the person to be helped is responsible for his/her situation.
(viii) Pro-social behaviour is reduced when people are part of a large group. For example,when there is a road accident each person thinks that it is not his/her responsibility alone to give help and that someone else may take the responsibility which is not the case when the person is alone. The people are thus influenced by the phenomenon of the diffusion of responsibility