Psychology Chapter 6 Important Question Attitude and Social Cognition Term 2 2022
Class 12 Psychology Chapter 6 Important Question Attitude and Social Cognition Term 2 2022, (Psychology) exams are Students are taught thru NCERT books in some of the state board and CBSE Schools. As the chapter involves an end, there is an exercise provided to assist students to prepare for evaluation. Students need to clear up those exercises very well because the questions inside the very last asked from those.
Sometimes, students get stuck inside the exercises and are not able to clear up all of the questions. To assist students, solve all of the questions, and maintain their studies without a doubt, we have provided a step-by-step NCERT Important Questions for the students for all classes. These answers will similarly help students in scoring better marks with the assist of properly illustrated Notes as a way to similarly assist the students and answer the questions right.
Class 12 Psychology Chapter 6 Important Question Attitude and Social Cognition Term 2 2022
(A) Objective Questions (1 Mark Each)
Stand Alone MCQs
Q. 1. Assigning causes to a behaviour seen in specific social situation:
(A) Schemas (B) Attribution
(C) Inhibition (D) Facilitation
Ans. Option (B) is correct.
Q. 2. The positivity or negativity of an attitude is referred to as:
(A) Valence (B) Extremeness
(C) Complexity (D) Centrality
Ans. Option (A) is correct.
Q. 3. Deepa refers to engage in the same activity as her roommates. She rarely does anything different. Such an observation is indicative of the:
(A) Cognitive aspect (B) Behavioural aspect
(C) Dissonance aspect (D) Conative aspect
Ans. Option (D) is correct.
Q. 4. When the components of an attitude system are in the same direction, it is referred to as:
(A) Dissonance (B) Attribution
(C) Consonance (D) Impression
Ans. Option (C) is correct.
Q. 5. Liking a subject on account of being close to the teacher is indicative of:
(A) Impression formation
(B) Identification
(C) Facilitation
(D) Inhibition
Ans. Option (B) is correct.
Q. 6. Cooking food in a pressure cooker may point out the saving of fuel and time:
(A) Rational appeal (B) Emotional appeal
(C) Attractiveness (D) Congruency
Ans. Option (A) is correct.
Q. 7. “Girls can only be good home makers”, is an example of:
(A) Congruence (B) Consonance
(C) Dissonance (D) Stereotypes
Ans. Option (D) is correct.
Q. 8. Pari is always targeted whenever any theft occurs in the class. The phenomena behind this is:
(A) Scapegoating (B) Learning
(C) Stereotype (D) Discrimination
Ans. Option (A) is correct.
Q. 9. Schemas that function in the form of categories are called:
(A) Stereotype (B) Prejudice
(C) Prototype (D) Archetype
Ans. Option (C) is correct.
Q. 10. Which of the following is a message characteristic?
(A) Balance (B) Mode
(C) Self esteem (D) Positivity
Ans. Option (B) is correct.
Q. 11. A__________ is a cluster of ideas regarding the characteristics of a specific group.
(A) Prejudice (B) Discrimination
(C) Scapegoating (D) Stereotype
Ans. Option (D) is correct.
Explanation: They are examples of attitudes towards a particular group. They are usually negative and in many cases, may be based on stereotypes the cognitive component about the specific group.
Q. 12. Ritesh sees his parents achieve financial success through hard work. He considers his mother to be his role model. As a result, Ritesh develops a strong attitude towards success and hard work. This is an example of: [CBSE SQI’ 2020-21]
(A) Learning attitude through exposure to information
(B) Learning attitude through observation
(C) Learning attitude through group or cultural norms
(D) Learning attitude through rewards and punishment
Ans. Option (B) is correct.
Explanation: Often it is not through association, or through reward and punishment, that we learn attitudes. Instead, we learn them by observing others being rewarded or punished for expressing thoughts or showing behaviour of a particular kind towards the attitude object.
Case-based MCQs
I. Read the following text and answer the following questions on the basis of the same:
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice is an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership of a social group. For example, a person may hold prejudiced views towards a certain race or gender, etc. (e.g., sexist). Discrimination is the behaviour or actions, usually negative, towards an individual or group of people, especially on the basis of sex/race/social class, etc.
Difference Between Prejudice and Discrimination
A prejudiced person may not act on his attitude. Therefore, someone can be prejudiced towards a certain group but not discriminate against it. Also, prejudice includes all three components of an attitude (affective, behavioural and cognitive), whereas discrimination just involves behaviour.
There are four main explanations of prejudice and discrimination:
• Authoritarian Personality
• Realistic Conflict Theory – Robbers Cave
• Stereotyping
• Social Identity Theory
Racial Discrimination: Apartheid (literally “separateness”) was a system of racial segregation that was enforced in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Non-white people were prevented from voting and lived in separate communities.
World War II: In Germany and German-controlled lands, Jewish people had to wear yellow stars to identify themselves as Jews. Later, the Jews were placed in concentration camps by the Nazis.
Gender Discrimination: In Western societies, while women are often discriminated against in the workplace, men are often discriminated against in the home and family environments. For instance, after a divorce women receive primary custody of the children far more often than men. Women on average earn less pay than men for doing the same job.
Q. 1. Women receiving less pay than men for doing the same job is an example of:
(A) Gender Discrimination
(B) Racial Discrimination
(C) Prejudice
(D) Stereotype.
Ans. Option (A) is correct.
Q. 2. Prejudice includes all three components of an attitude:
(A) affective (B) behavioural
(C) cognitive (D) All of the above
Ans. Option (D) is correct.
Explanation: Prejudices are examples of attitudes towards a particular group. They are usually negative and in many cases, may be based on stereotypes (the cognitive component) about the specific group. As will be discussed below in the section on social cognition, a stereotype is a cluster of ideas regarding the characteristics of a specific group. All members belonging to this group are assumed to possess these characteristics. Often, stereotypes consist of undesirable characteristics about the target group and they lead to negative attitudes or prejudices towards members of specific groups. The cognitive component of prejudice is frequently accompanied by dislike or hatred, the affective component.
Q. 3. Discrimination is the behaviour or action on the basis of:
(A) Sex (B) Race
(C) Social class (D) All of the above
Ans. Option (D) is correct.
Explanation: Prejudice may also get translated into discrimination, the behavioural component, whereby people behave in a less positive way towards a particular target group compared to another group which they favour.
II. Read the following text and answer the questions given below:
Social cognition is a sub-topic of social psychology that focuses on how people process, store and apply information about other people and social situations. It focuses on the role that cognitive processes play in our social interactions. The way we think about others play a major role in how we think, feel and interact with the world around us.
What is Social Cognition? How exactly do psychologists define social cognition? While there is no single definition, there are some common factors that many experts have identified as being important.
Social cognition involves: The processes involved in perceiving other people and how we come to know about the people in the world around us. The study of the mental processes is involved in perceiving, remembering, thinking about and attending to the other people in our social world. The reasons we attend to certain information about the social world, how this information is stored in memory and how it is then used to interact with other people.
Social cognition is not simply a topic within social psychology—it is an approach to studying any subject with social psychology. Using a social- cognitive perspective, researchers can study a wide range of topics including attitudes, person perception, prejudice, stereotypes, self-concept, discrimination, persuasion, decision-making and other areas.
Examples: Imagine that you are getting ready to go on a blind date. Not only do you worry about the impression and signals that you are sending to the other person, but you are also concerned with interpreting the signals given by your date. How do you form an impression of this person? What meaning do you read into the other person’s behaviour? This is just one example of how social cognition influences a single social interaction, but you can probably think of many more examples from your daily life. We spend a considerable portion of every day interacting with others, which is why an entire branch of psychology formed to help understand how we feel, think and behave in social situations.
Q. 1. Identify the topics that can be studied using social cognition:
(A) Prejudice (B) Stereotype
(C) Decision making (D) All of the above
Ans. Option (D) is correct.
Q. 2. Social cognition is:
(A) a sub-topic of social psychology that focuses on how people process, store and apply information about other people and social situations.
(B) an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership of a social group.
(C) Both of them
(D) None of the above
Ans. Option (B) is correct.
Q. 3. It is an approach to studying any subject with social psychology:
(A) Physiotherapy (B) Social Cognition
(C) Social Dilemma (D) None of the above
Ans. Option (B) is correct.
(B) subjective Questions
Very Short Answer Type Questions (2 Marks Each)
Q. 1. State any four significant features of attitudes. [CBSE Delhi Set-4, 2020]
Ans. Four features of attitude are:
• Valence
• Extremeness
• Simplicity or Complexity
• Centrality
Q. 2. Discuss how attitudes are learnt through exposure to information.
Ans. In today’s world an individual is exposed to a lot of information with the help of the media, so a negative or positive attitude is formed on the information provided.
By reading the biographies of self-actualised persons, an individual may develop a positive attitude towards hard work and other aspects for achieving success in life.
Q. 3. Explain “Kernel of Truth” as a source of prejudice.
Ans. Prejudices are examples of attitudes towards a particular group and which are mostly negative. Sometimes people continue to hold stereotypes i.e., ideas regarding the characteristics of a specific group and they think that, after all, there must be some truth or ‘kernel of truth’ in what everyone says about the other group.
Even a few examples are sufficient to support the “kernel of truth” idea.
Q. 4. Mention any two factors that influence the formation of an attitude.
Ans. The following factors provide the context for the learning of attitude through various processes:
(i) Family and School Environment: Parents and other family-members play a significant role in attitude formation. Learning of attitudes within the family and school usually takes place by association, through rewards and punishment and through modelling.
(ii) Reference Groups: Attitudes towards political, religious and social groups, occupations, national and other issues are often developed through reference groups. Reference groups indicate to an individual the norms regarding acceptable behaviour and ways of thinking. Various institutions, religion, culture and communities are form of reference groups.
(iii) Personal Experiences: Many attitudes are formed, not in the family environment or through reference groups, but through direct personal experiences which bring about a drastic change in our attitude towards people and our own life.
(iv) Media Related Influences: Technological advances have made audio-visual media and internet as very powerful sources for attitude formation. School textbooks also influence attitude formation. The media can be used to create consumerist attitude. The media can exert both good and bad influences on attitudes.
Q. 5. Define attitude.
Ans. Attitudes are state of mind, set of views or thoughts or ideas regarding some topic which have an evaluative feature (positive, negative or neutral). These are relatively stable predispositions.
Various components of an attitude are as follows:
(i) The thought component is referred to as the cognitive aspect of attitude.
(ii) The emotional component is known as the affective aspect.
(iii) The tendency to act is called the behavioural (conative) aspect.
Q. 6. How is attitude learnt through culture?
Ans. Learning Attitudes through Group or Cultural Norms: Norms are unwritten rules of behaviour. Gradually, these norms may become part of our social cognition, in the form of attitudes, e.g., offering money, sweets, fruits and flowers in a place of worship is a normative behaviour in various religions. People imitate such behaviour shown by others as socially approved and develop positive attitude towards it.
Short Answer Type Questions-I (3 Marks Each)
Q. 1. Explain the processes involved in the learning of attitudes. [CBSE SQP, 2020-21]
Ans. The process of learning attitude is:
• learning of attitudes usually takes place by association,
• through rewards and punishments,
• through modelling,
• through group and cultural norms,
• through exposure to information.
[Explanation of any three points]
Detailed Answer:
The conditions that lead the learning of attitudes are:
(i) Learning attitudes by association: A positive association between two factors or set of people can help in learning of attitude. For example; students take a liking to a particular subject because of the teacher concerned. This is because the students are able to identify with many of the qualities of such a teacher. These qualities transcend the subject such a teacher teaches and are important to the students liking that subject.
(ii) Learning attitudes by being rewarded or punished: Ait individual develops a particular attitude if she is praised for it. For example, a student who is good at sports and is called the Numbero Uno of sports then she develops a positive attitude towards sports and health and fitness. On similar lines, if a child is taken ill repeatedly on eating junk food, then she develops a negative attitude towards junk food and a positive attitude towards eating healthy food.
Q. 2. Explain the relationship between attitude and behaviour. [CBSE SQP, 2020-21]
Ans. We usually expect behaviour to follow logically from attitudes. However, an individual’s attitudes may not always be exhibited through behaviour. Likewise, one’s actual behaviour may be contrary to one’s attitude towards a particular topic. It is found that there would be consistency between attitudes and behaviour when:
• the attitude is strong and occupies a central place in the attitude system,
• the person is aware of her/his attitude,
• there is little or no external pressure for the person to behave in a particular way. For example, when there is no group pressure to follow a particular norm.
• the person’s behaviour is not being watched or evaluated by others, and
• the person thinks that the behaviour would have a positive consequence and therefore, intends to engage in that behaviour.
(Any three points)
Q. 3. You have been given the responsibility of changing the attitude of your schoolmates towards food wastage. Identify any three factors that you need to keep in mind while bringing in this attitude change and explain it with the help of an example. [CBSE Delhi Set-4, 2019]
Ans. Characteristics of the existing attitude valence, extremeness, simplicity or complexity and centrality.
Source characteristics: credibility and attractiveness.
Message characteristics: rational, emotional appeal, motives, mode.
Target characteristics: persuasibility, strong prejudices, self-esteem and intelligence.
(any three points with explanation)
Detailed Answer:
For an attitude change to take place, it is important that the following things need to be considered:
(i) The first thing is, how strong is the attitude, this can be observed by the authorities that how much food is being wasted by the pupils.
(ii) In the second aspect, one needs to identify the characteristics of the targeted pupils, the likability can be analysed by observing the interest of the students. Based on this any teacher who is liked by most of the students or any heroic character which the students liked the most can be used for communicating the message.
(iii) The third aspect is how the message is being communicated, i.e., how the teacher is communicating the message, he/she can use the valid points by explaining them, that why food is not to be wasted or more constructive methods can be adopted, like showing a documentary to them.
Short Answer Type Questions-ll (4 Marks Each)
Q. 1. Explain briefly the factors that influence attitude change. [CBSE Delhi, Set 4, 2017]
Ans. Factors influencing attitude change
Characteristics of the existing attitude – valence, extremeness, simplicity / complexity, centrality
• Source characteristics
• Credibility
• Attractiveness
• Message characteristics
• Rational / emotional appeal
• Motive
• Mode
• Target characteristics
• Persuasibility
• Strong prejudice
• Self esteem
• Intelligence
(brief explanation of above points)
Detailed Answer:
Most of the psychologists agree upon the following major factors that influence attitudinal change:
(i) Characteristics of the Existing Attitude:
• Positive attitudes are easier to changes than negative attitudes.
• Extreme attitudes and central attitudes are more difficult to change than the less, extreme and peripheral attitudes. Simple attitudes are easier to change than multiple attitudes are.
• An attitude change may be congruent if the change is taking place in the same direction as the existing attitude. On the other hand, an attitude change may be incongruent and it may change in the opposite direction to the existing attitude. It has been found that, in general, congruent changes are easier to bring about modification than presented the incongruent change in attitudes.
• Researches have found that sometimes fear works well in convincing people but if a message generates too much fear, it turns off the receiver and has little persuasive effect.
(ii) Source Characteristics: Source credibility and attractiveness are two features that affect attitude change. Attitudes are more likely to change when the message comes from highly credible source rather than from a low credible source. e.g., car sales may increase if they are publicized by automobile experts.
(iii) Message Characteristics: The message is the information that is presented in order to bring about an attitude change. Whether the message contains a rational or an emotional appeal for example makes a difference. The motive of message also determines possibility’ of change, e.g., drinking milk may be said to make person healthy. Finally, the mode of spreading the message plays a significant role. Face-to-face transmission of the message is usually more effective than indirect transmission as for instance, through letters and pamphlets or even through mass media. These days transmission through visual media such as television and the internet are similar to face-to-face interaction, but not a substitute for the later.
(iv) Target Characteristics:
• Qualities of the target, such as persuasibility, strong prejudices, self-esteem and intelligence influence the likelihood of attitude change.
• Open and flexible personality change more easily.
• People with strong prejudices are less prone to any attitude change.
• Persons having low self-esteem do not have sufficient confidence in themselves, change their attitudes more easily than those who are high on self-esteem.
• Highly intelligent people may change their attitudes less easily than those with low intelligence. However, sometimes more intelligent persons change their attitudes more willingly, because they base their attitudes on more information and thinking.
Q. 2. What do you mean by prejudice? Write any three sources which lead to the development of prejudices.
Ans. Prejudices refer to preconceived opinions or attitudes held by members of one group towards another. The word literally means “pre-judgement”, that is, an opinion formed in advance of any familiarity with the subject, before considering any available evidence.
Here are the three sources that lead to the development of prejudices.
Learning:
Prejudices can also be learned through association, reward and punishment, observing others, group or cultural norms and exposure to information that encourages prejudice.
The family, reference groups, personal experiences and the media may play a role in the learning of prejudices.
People who learn prejudiced attitudes may develop a “prejudiced personality’* and show low adjusting capacity, anxiety and feelings of hostility against the outgroup.
A strong social identity and ingroup bias:
Individuals who have a strong sense of social identity and have a very positive attitude towards their own group boost this attitude by holding negative attitudes towards other groups. These are shown as prejudices.
Scapegoating:
In scapegoating, the majority group places the blame on a minority outgroup for its own social, economic or political problems.
The minority is too weak or too small in number to defend itself against such accusations.
Scapegoating is a group-based way of expressing frustration and it often results in negative attitude or prejudice against the weaker group.
Long Answer Type Questions (6 Marks Each)
Q. 1. Diya, your friend, eats too much junk food, how would you be able to bring about a change in his/ her attitude towards food?
Ans. The concept of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festmger
The cognitive components of an attitude must be ‘consonant’ (opposite of ‘dissonant’), i.e., they should be logically in line with each other. If an individual finds that two cognitions in an attitude are dissonant, then one of them will be changed in the direction of consonance.
Explanation of cognitive consistency to reduce mental discomfort.
Explanation by referring to Radhika.
Detailed Answer:
Since my friend eats junk food, it will have some reinforcing value to her. In order to bring about a change in his/her attitude towards food, following techniques could be used:
First of all what needs to be targeted is ‘the way she thinks about junk food, i.e., the cognitive aspect of his/her positive attitude towards junk food. The modification in his/ her attitude can be achieved through using rational as well as emotional appeal and, if required, help of a dietician whose credibility in this area is very high will be of great use.
Attitude change may be brought about by:
(i) Encouraging him/her to read about what is required for a healthy development, e.g., minerals etc. which are not found in junk food.
(ii) Showing him/her the negative consequences of eating junk food like obesity/ other health-related problems by exposing him/her to real life examples.
(iii) Request people around him/her like family members, elders and teachers whom he/ she likes. If they provide a role model, Le., not to consume junk food then he/she will imitate their behaviour.
(iv) Giving his/her choice and space to decide what is right for him/her considering both the aspects of the food and asking him/her to focus and think about the future problems associated with his/her liking.
All these things can bring about cognitive dissonance which might ultimately bring about the attitude change.
Q. 2. What are some of the strategies to handle prejudice?
Ans. Knowing about the causes or sources would be the first step in handling prejudice. Thus, the strategies for handling prejudice would be effective if they aim at:
(i) minimising opportunities for learning prejudices,
(ii) changing such attitudes,
(iii) de-emphasising a narrow social identity based on the ingroup and
(iv) discouraging the tendency towards self-fulfilling prophecy among the victims of prejudice.
These goals can be accomplished through:
• Education and information dissemination, for correcting stereotypes related to specific target groups, and tackling the problem of a strong ingroup bias.
• Increasing intergroup contact allows for direct communication, removal of mistrust between the groups and even discovery of positive qualities in the outgroup. However, these strategies are successful only if: – the two groups meet in a cooperative rather than competitive context, – close interactions between the groups helps them to know each other better, and – the two groups are not different in power or status.
• Highlighting individual identity rather than group identity, thus weakening the importance of group (both ingroup and outgroup) as a basis of evaluating the other person.