The concept of social attitude: what is it in psychology, structure and components, examples

Every society has a number of specific values that are formed over many years. For example, these include freedom, honesty, nobility, kindness or decency. These postulates will characterize a certain person only if the individual adheres to these rules of behavior. In psychology, this phenomenon is known under the term “social attitude.”

Beliefs

Social attitudes in psychology

In 1918, F. Znaniecki and W. Thomas, studying the adaptation of an individual, were able to establish a dependence, without which it was impossible to describe this process: the relationship between social organization and personality.

Scientists have proposed characterizing this relationship using 2 brief concepts:

"Social value". This term began to be called social organization.
“Attitude” or “social attitude” - to characterize a person.

After this, the term “attitude” was firmly rooted in foreign psychology, which reflected the state of the individual in relation to one or another social value.

F. Znaniecki and W. Thomas

Concept and main types

Social maladjustment in psychology

Modern sociology and psychology include various definitions of social attitudes. Most often, Gordon Allport's interpretation is used to explain this term. According to the American psychologist, a social attitude is a psychological state of an individual in which the person is ready to behave in a certain way, according to past experience of “collision” with an object.

G. Allport

In the socio-psychological literature one can find 5 main types of social attitudes:

Perceptual. Attitude is characterized by an individual's readiness to see what he wants to see.
Situational, in which a person is ready to behave differently in relation to the same object, depending on the circumstances.
Social, aimed at an object. This attitude is characterized by specific actions of the individual, regardless of the current situation.
Generalized or general. The emergence of an attitude is influenced by a collection of identical objects.
Private or partial. An attitude towards a certain object arises on the basis of the individual’s personal experience.

Depending on the modality, attitudes are:

positive or positive;
negative or negative;
neutral;
ambivalent.

Functions

The phenomenon performs four main roles:

Self-protective. It resolves intrapersonal conflicts, protects individuals from unpleasant data about themselves or about things that are important to them. After all, everyone tries to think in such a way as to protect themselves from unwanted information.
Adaptive or utilitarian. These are adaptive tendencies that increase rewards and reduce losses. The attitude directs the individual towards objects that can help him achieve what he wants. For example, when a subject supports certain views, he deserves the approval of others and is accepted in the company. Because a particular group is attracted to those who have similar ideas.
Expression of values (self-realization). Through this function, the individual has the opportunity to express his opinion and adjust his own behavior to it. When he carries out actions in accordance with his attitudes, he realizes himself in relation to social objects. This aspect helps a person understand who he really is and what he is like.
Organization of knowledge. Through it, a person organizes the surrounding reality in a semantic sense. She acquires the ability to evaluate information from the outside world and correlate it with motives, aspirations or interests. Thanks to this, the process of social cognition occurs.

Basic functions of social attitudes

Social environment - what is it in psychology

Attitudes are characterized by 4 key functions:

Utilitarian, adaptive or instrumental. Social installation ranks first among important attitudes. The mechanism of action is aimed at helping the individual achieve his goals. The function also helps the individual adapt to the situation, reduce losses and increase rewards. Attitude influences individual identification in a group.
Self-protective. Helps resolve conflicts within the individual. Protects the individual from traumatic information that can negatively affect the psyche. The function allows you to guide a person along a more “gentle” path.
Self-realizing. Helps a person to discover his own abilities and organize behavior in such a way as to satisfy the necessary needs. Thanks to attitudes, the individual realizes himself and begins to understand what kind of person he is.
Organizational. The main direction of this function is to organize the world around us. With the help of attitudes, an individual evaluates the acquired knowledge and correlates it with his own goals, interests and motives. Attitude helps to learn new information in the process of social cognition. This helps solve many problems.

World of Psychology

Social attitude is a state of psychological readiness of an individual to behave in a certain way, based on past social experience and regulating the social behavior of the individual. (Allport). In Western social psychology, the term “attitude” is used to denote social attitudes. Social attitude has 3 components:

Cognitive, involving rational activity;
Affective (emotional assessment of an object, manifestation of feelings of sympathy or antipathy);
Conative (behavioral) involves consistent behavior towards an object.

Various authors have identified four key functions (which have some similarities with the attitude functions in the theory of Smith, Bruner and White).

Instrumental (adaptive, utilitarian) function: expresses adaptive tendencies of human behavior, helps to increase rewards and reduce losses. Attitude directs the subject to those objects that serve to achieve his goals. In addition, social attitude helps a person evaluate how other people feel about a social object. Supporting certain social attitudes enables a person to gain approval and be accepted by others, since they are more likely to be attracted to someone who has attitudes similar to their own. Thus, an attitude can contribute to a person’s identification with a group (allows him to interact with people, accepting their attitudes) or leads him to oppose himself to the group (in case of disagreement with the social attitudes of other group members).
Ego-protective function: a social attitude helps resolve internal conflicts of the individual, protects people from unpleasant information about themselves or about social objects that are significant to them. People often act and think in ways to protect themselves from unpleasant information. For example, in order to increase his own importance or the importance of his group, a person often resorts to forming a negative attitude towards members of the outgroup.
Function of expressing values (function of self-realization): attitudes give a person the opportunity to express what is important to him and organize his behavior accordingly. By carrying out certain actions in accordance with his attitudes, the individual realizes himself in relation to social objects. This function helps a person to define himself and understand what he is.
Function of organizing knowledge: based on a person’s desire for semantic ordering of the world around him. With the help of attitude, it is possible to evaluate information coming from the outside world and correlate it with a person’s existing motives, goals, values and interests. The installation simplifies the task of learning new information. By performing this function, attitude is included in the process of social cognition.

Types of social attitudes:

Social attitude toward an object is the individual’s willingness to behave in a specific way. 2. Situational attitude - the willingness to behave in a certain way in relation to the same object differently in different situations. 3. Perceptual attitude - readiness to see what a person wants to see.4. Partial or particular attitudes and general or generalized attitudes. An attitude toward an object is always a private attitude; a perceptual attitude becomes general when a large number of objects become objects of social attitudes. The process from particular to general proceeds as it increases. Types of attitudes according to their modality: 1. positive or positive,
negative or negative,
neutral,
ambivalent social attitudes (ready to behave both positively and negatively) – marital relationships, managerial relationships.

A stereotype is a well-established attitude towards current events, developed on the basis of comparing them with internal ideals. A system of stereotypes constitutes a worldview.

The concept of “stereotype” entered Western socio-political discourse at the suggestion of Walter Lippmann, which he used in describing his original concept of public opinion in 1922.

According to Lippman, it is possible to derive the following definition: a stereotype is a pattern of perception, filtering, and interpretation of information accepted in a historical community when recognizing and recognizing the surrounding world, based on previous social experience. The system of stereotypes represents social reality. Dynamics of stereotypes: A stereotype begins to operate even before the mind turns on. This leaves a specific imprint on the data that is perceived by our senses even before this data reaches the mind. Nothing resists education or criticism more than a stereotype, since it leaves its mark on the facts at the moment of their perception.

To a certain extent, external stimuli, especially spoken or printed ones, activate some part of the stereotype system, so that the immediate impression and the previously formed opinion appear in the mind simultaneously.

In cases where experience comes into conflict with a stereotype, a twofold outcome is possible: if the individual has already lost a certain flexibility or, due to some significant interest, it is extremely inconvenient for him to change his stereotypes, he can ignore this contradiction and consider it an exception that confirms the rule, or find some error, and then forget about this event. But if he has not lost curiosity or the ability to think, then the innovation is integrated into the already existing picture of the world and changes it.

Socialization — the formation of personality — is the process of an individual’s assimilation of patterns of behavior, psychological attitudes, social norms and values, knowledge, and skills that allow him to function successfully in society. Human socialization begins at birth and continues throughout life. In its process, he assimilates the social experience accumulated by humanity in various spheres of life, which allows him to perform certain, vitally important social roles. Socialization is considered as a process, condition, manifestation and result of the social formation of personality. As a process, it means the social formation and development of personality depending on the nature of human interaction with the environment, adaptation to it, taking into account individual characteristics. As a condition, it indicates the presence of the society that a person needs for natural social development as an individual. As a manifestation, it is a person’s social reaction, taking into account his age and social development in the system of specific social relations. It is used to judge the level of social development. As a result, it is a fundamental characteristic of a person and his characteristics as a social unit of society in accordance with his age.

In sociology, there are two levels of socialization: the level of primary socialization and the level of secondary socialization. Primary socialization occurs in the sphere of interpersonal relationships in small groups. The primary agents of socialization are the individual’s immediate environment: parents, close and distant relatives, family friends, peers, teachers, doctors, etc. Secondary socialization occurs at the level of large social groups and institutions. Secondary agents are formal organizations, official institutions: representatives of the administration and school, army, state, etc. Mechanisms of socialization: Socialization of a person in interaction with various factors and agents occurs through a number of, so to speak, “mechanisms.” Agents + factors = mechanisms of socialization. Divided into:

Socio-psychological mechanisms
Social and pedagogical mechanisms

The socio-psychological mechanisms include the following: Imprinting (capturing) - a person’s fixation at the receptor and subconscious levels of the features of vital objects affecting him.

Imprinting occurs primarily during infancy. However, even at later age stages it is possible to capture some images, sensations, etc.

Existential pressure is the mastery of language and the unconscious assimilation of norms of social behavior that are mandatory in the process of interaction with significant persons.

Imitation is following an example or model. In this case, it is one of the ways of a person’s voluntary and, most often, involuntary assimilation of social experience. Reflection is an internal dialogue in which a person considers, evaluates, accepts or rejects certain values inherent in various institutions of society, family, peer society, significant persons, etc.

Reflection can be an internal dialogue of several types: between different human selves, with real or fictitious persons, etc. With the help of reflection, a person can be formed and changed as a result of his awareness and experience of the reality in which he lives, his place in this reality and yourself.

The socio-pedagogical mechanisms of socialization include the following:

The traditional mechanism of socialization (spontaneous) is a person’s assimilation of norms, standards of behavior, views, stereotypes that are characteristic of his family and immediate environment (neighbors, friends, etc.). This assimilation occurs, as a rule, at an unconscious level with the help of imprinting, uncritical perception of prevailing stereotypes. The effectiveness of the traditional mechanism is very clearly manifested when a person knows “how to”, “what is necessary”, but this knowledge of his contradicts the traditions of his immediate environment. In this case, the French thinker of the 16th century turns out to be right. Michel Montaigne, who wrote: “...We can repeat our own as much as we like, but custom and generally accepted everyday rules drag us along with them.” In addition, the effectiveness of the traditional mechanism is manifested in the fact that certain elements of social experience, learned, for example, in childhood, but subsequently unclaimed or blocked due to changed living conditions (for example, moving from a village to a big city), can “pop up” in human behavior during the next change in life conditions or at subsequent age stages.

The institutional mechanism of socialization, as follows from the name itself, functions in the process of interaction of a person with the institutions of society and various organizations, both specially created for his socialization, and implementing socializing functions along the way, in parallel with their main functions (production, public, club and others structures, as well as mass media). In the process of interaction of a person with various institutions and organizations, there is an increasing accumulation of relevant knowledge and experience of socially approved behavior, as well as experience of imitation of socially approved behavior and conflict or conflict-free avoidance of fulfilling social norms. It must be borne in mind that the media as a social institution (print, radio, cinema, television) influence the socialization of a person not only through the broadcast of certain information, but also through the presentation of certain patterns of behavior of characters in books, films, and television programs. The effectiveness of this influence is determined by the fact that, as subtly noted back in the 18th century. reformer of Western European ballet, French choreographer Jean Georges Nover, “since the passions experienced by heroes are distinguished by greater strength and certainty than the passions of ordinary people, it is easier to imitate them.” People, in accordance with their age and individual characteristics, tend to identify themselves with certain heroes, while perceiving their characteristic patterns of behavior, lifestyle, etc.

The stylized mechanism of socialization operates within a certain subculture. Subculture in general terms is understood as a complex of moral and psychological traits and behavioral manifestations typical of people of a certain age or a certain professional or cultural layer, which as a whole creates a certain style of life and thinking of a particular age, professional or social group. But a subculture influences a person’s socialization insofar and to the extent that the groups of people that bear it (peers, colleagues, etc.) are referents (significant) for him.

The interpersonal mechanism of socialization functions in the process of interaction between a person and persons who are subjectively significant to him. It is based on the psychological mechanism of interpersonal transfer due to empathy, identification, etc. Significant persons can be parents (at any age), any respected adult, peer friend of the same or opposite sex, etc. Naturally, significant persons can be members certain organizations and groups with which a person interacts, and if these are peers, then they can also be carriers of an age subculture. But there are often cases when communication with significant persons in groups and organizations can have an influence on a person that is not identical to that which the group or organization itself has on him.

Structure and components of social attitude

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Scientist M. Smith in 1942 defined a three-component structure of a social attitude. It includes:

Cognitive component. It is characterized by the subject having knowledge about the area of life to which this or that attitude relates.
Affective component. Expressed in emotional assessments, feelings and experiences associated with events, objects or processes.
Behavioral component. It is characterized by real actions that a person can perform in relation to the object in question.

Behavioral component

Attitude components can either overlap or exist separately.

Important! If all components of the structure are not in conflict with each other, then the settings can be considered consistent.

For example, the presence of a favorable background, positive knowledge and positive actions indicates the presence of harmonious attitudes. When social attitudes are inconsistent, there will be a chaos of negative information, positive attitudes, and neutral actions.

To take consistent steps, a person requires consistent attitudes. Otherwise, the individual will be tormented by ambivalent feelings, and contradictory actions will begin to dominate his behavior.

Basic information about rigid installations

In psychology, rigidity is the inability of an individual to change the nature of behavior and thinking in certain situations.

Literally, this term means steadfastness and inflexibility. Previously, the term was used only in physiology and medicine to denote the response of organs and tissues to certain stimuli. In the psychological field, rigidity is used to describe a permanent type of personality that has difficulty acquiring new knowledge and skills.

Rigid people do not change their thinking and behavior tactics even in situations where such changes are necessary. This psychological feature can significantly worsen the quality of life.

In more detail, in psychology, rigidity is described as the inability to change point of view, give in in arguments, adapt behavior to certain situations and develop emotional intelligence.

If we talk about the emotional state of a rigid person, then it is necessary to pay attention to the person’s fixation on his own feelings. Such people usually have a low level of empathy, so the ability to empathize is undeveloped or completely absent.

Emotional rigidity may be a prerequisite for the development of narcissistic personality disorder. Milder forms of this psychological trait only slightly limit personal development.

A specific example of psychological (personal) constancy is fixation on already created models of behavior and thinking. Normally, throughout life, a person constantly gains new experiences that allow him to modify cognitive and emotional patterns.

Systematic research into this condition began in the field of Gestalt psychology. More than 100 years ago, scientists described the main characteristics of this personality type. Scientists such as Charles Spearman, Milton Roach, and Kurt Goldstein have studied rigidity in detail. Today, the problems of cognitive persistence are dealt with by psychologists and psychiatrists.

Manifestations of mental rigidity in humans

Rigidity can be an innate character trait or an acquired one. In both the first and second cases, this is not a deviation from the norm of mental development, if the rigidity has not acquired a pathological character. This problem is not so much a public problem as an individual one.

Nowadays, there are more and more people with pronounced manifestations of rigidity. People diagnosed with mental rigidity are not required to register with psychiatric hospitals. They exist calmly in society, but it is quite difficult for them to adapt to new living conditions, to a new team at work, to any acquaintances, etc.

Rigidity can be a congenital character trait or acquired

The first manifestations of rigidity in a person are aggression and a high level of anxiety. A person who is not able to quickly navigate non-standard life situations, who is not able to adequately perceive new circumstances, begins to enter a state of stress. At the same time, he experiences stress not because of his perception of the situation, but because this situation occurred in his life.

Formation of social attitudes in humans

The process of development of social attitudes, according to the research of J. Godefroy, occurs in 4 stages:

Up to 12 years of age, children experience the formation of attitudes that are identical to their parents’ models.
From 12 to 20 years old, girls and boys learn social roles. Against this background, attitudes begin to take on the most concrete forms.
In the period from 20 to 30 years, social values and worldview crystallize, on the basis of which stable mental formations are formed - a number of different beliefs.
At the age of 30 years and older, attitudes are characterized by stability and fixity. Therefore, it is much more difficult for a mature person to change attitudes than in his youth.

Thanks to knowledge about the stages of attitude formation, entire programs are built in pedagogy and social science to help guide young people along a comfortable and socially correct life path.

What approaches are used

The following approaches can influence the formation of social attitudes:

cognitive;
motivational;
structural;
behaviorist;
genetic.

With the cognitive approach, attitudes are formed as a result of the individual’s desire to resolve internal conflicts that arise due to cognitions and attitudes.

The genetic direction suggests that the development of all attitudes is inextricably linked with innate personality characteristics:

temperament;
intellectual abilities;
biochemical reactions.

Such “innate” attitudes are considered the most durable, in contrast to “acquired” ones.

Congenital and acquired forms of behavior

In the behaviorist approach, attitudes are understood as intermediate variables between the external world and objective stimuli. Therefore, the subject practically does not take part in the formation of attitudes. Development is carried out with the help of:

observing the behavior of other individuals and analyzing the consequences;
positive reinforcement;
formation of associative connections between existing attitudes and stimuli.

Within the framework of the structural approach, the development of attitudes is carried out through comparison with the attitudes of surrounding people. The individual begins to “adjust” his own worldview and value views in order to correspond to one or another social category of persons.

For the motivational approach, the basis for the development of social attitudes is a series of balanced arguments “for” and “against” a particular attitude.

Changing social attitudes

During a person’s life, not only social attitudes are formed, but also they change.

Additional Information. It is this feature that distinguishes attitudes from other psychological characteristics of a person.

Example, formation and change of character, abilities, temperament are carried out slowly and insignificantly throughout life, and the transformation of social attitudes can occur rapidly and repeatedly. Therefore, in order to predict an individual’s behavior, it is necessary, first of all, to pay attention to his attitudes, and not other personality traits.

The main goals of changing attitudes are:

adding knowledge;
adjustment of views;
improving relationships with other people.

The best way to change attitudes is through suggestion. It can be implemented through:

authoritative personalities;
parents' beliefs;
mass media.

To change attitudes, the psychological or social proximity of a particular source of information is of great importance.

Changing social outlook

Important! If a person does not have trust in the subject trying to correct his attitudes, there will be no positive result.

Also, the speed and quality of changes in beliefs are influenced by the order and content of incoming information. The first information has a stronger influence on attitudes than subsequent information. In the event that a person is warned that it is impossible to trust the initial materials, subsequently this primary information will not be taken seriously by the individual.

Additional Information. If a person first received information and then learned that it was unreliable, then in most cases this information will not be able to influence a change in attitudes.

The simplicity of the material presented is an important key to correcting attitudes. An individual will not want to understand complex and distorted information.

Psychological attitudes are an integral part of every individual. To learn how to use them for good, you need to not only be aware of their presence, but also engage in self-reflection. Deep work with your own emotions, feelings and beliefs will help you get rid of internal barriers and improve your life and relationships with society.

Story

The concept arose after a study by W. Thomas and F. Znaniecki was published in 1918.
Scientists analyzed letters from people who emigrated from Poland to the United States. It turned out that when emigrants went to a foreign country, having determined for themselves that this was a temporary need to earn money, the period of their adaptation passed slowly and, one might say, even painfully. They had a hard time learning the language and culture and for a long time they could not get along in the new place. But there were also those who moved with the idea of staying in the country forever and starting life anew. And such individuals adapted to unusual conditions much faster and more productively.

As a result of these observations, the researchers concluded that each individual consciously or subconsciously forms an internal attitude towards his own presence in the United States. And existence and motivation depend on it. This phenomenon is called “attitude”.

But this was only the beginning of studying this issue. In 1929, Lewis Thurstone created the first ways to measure installations. He began to assert the presence of an emotional factor in its structure.

There were also opposing opinions. For example, scientist V. Park believed that the state is not subject to direct observation. It is latent in nature and develops through life experience.

Besides this, there were many other theories. But the work of W. Thomas and F. Znaniecki gave impetus to their emergence and development and made the phenomenon central to psychology.

The concept of social attitude

Defining this term is not the easiest task. Discussing in Capital about such a phenomenon as the “commodity”, Karl Marx joked that it was not clear from which side to take it. The same is true with attitude. I'll go from the beginning.

From the very beginning, the concept represented the psychophysiological readiness of the human body to react to certain aspirations and stimuli. Researchers such as L. Lange, and later T. Schumann and G. Müller noticed that when an individual does the same thing, he develops a predisposition to react to a certain external event.

Around the beginning of the 20th century, the term began to be used in various branches of psychology, in particular depth. K. Jung considered this phenomenon fundamental in order to reveal the mental and mental state that influences specific types of his behavior.

But the simplest and most understandable definition was given by the same Thomas and Znaniecki. In their opinion, the social attitude of an individual is the assimilation of a certain social value, which, in essence, is its subjective awareness. In other words, it is a generally accepted norm in the form of individual existence.

Let's take freedom, for example. Each individual perceives and follows it in his own way. Therefore, a person’s attitudinal state in relation to this phenomenon will be personal.

Therefore, we can say that this is a unique form of relationship between the individual and society. At the same time, it represents both a detail of the mental structure of an individual participant and an element of a system of generally accepted values.

What is the psychological attitude of the individual?

Every thought that flashes through our heads, every phrase that we mentally repeat to ourselves, every statement or judgment we make about ourselves is our psychological attitudes.

Psychological attitudes can be long-term or short-term.

Attitudes depend on our mood, well-being, attitude towards ourselves or something, our beliefs, principles, worldview and even our desires. So, if you want to change your life today, then you can use one or another psychological attitude.

There are also psychological attitudes of the individual that contribute to its self-development.

Every psychological attitude is a command given to your brain

Psychological attitudes influence your way of thinking and focus your attention on the fulfillment of a particular desire. Setting up for success

Psychological attitudes are formed both unconsciously and consciously

When you have formed any idea about yourself, you strive - completely unconsciously - to communicate with those people, read those books, watch those films that confirm your beliefs. You can consciously use the possibilities of psychological attitudes to change your way of thinking. Change minus to plus

Formation of the psychological attitude of the individual

This process involves speaking out your desired ideas about yourself. Almost like in the movie “The Most Charming and Attractive.”

Wanting to become charming and attractive, you seem to convince yourself that this is so through regular repetitions of a certain phrase. These phrases are called affirmations, or psychological attitudes. You give a certain task to yourself and your brain to become what you want to become. Or the way you imagine yourself

When forming psychological attitudes, it is important that they do not contain tasks that you are not able to complete. Or those that, by your nature, do not correspond to you at all. One of the functions of psychological attitudes is the development of a harmonious personality, which is why it is so important to choose affirmations that do not contradict your inner self.

Make sure you are in a good mood when you say this or that affirmation. If you are tired or in a bad mood, use the setting that best suits your condition.

When speaking affirmations, it is very important what you feel at that moment. Each attitude that you pronounce should evoke a pleasant feeling in your soul. And after saying the installation, you should feel better.

Choose one or two settings. Don't use the same ones all the time, but change them regularly so that you can feel which affirmations make you feel good and are most consistent with your goals.

You can create your own personal psychological attitude, or you can use the general ones.

Approximate psychological attitudes of the individual

"My actions are consistent with my thoughts"
“I live in harmony with nature and myself”
“I am full of creative ideas that bring joy and happiness to people.”

• I am full of self-confidence and believe in my abilities. • All events that happen in my life are for my benefit. • I am full of strength and energy.

• I will definitely achieve all my goals. • My inner strength and self-confidence are growing every day. • I am successful in everything. • I enjoy all events that can teach me something new.

Other psychological attitudes

I remember the values that are important to me.
I know what I want and how to achieve it.
I make decisions with confidence.
I am happy and successful in work and personal life.
I myself create positive events in my life.

• I hear my inner voice clearly and distinctly. • I am grateful to fate and happy to be alive.

When choosing a setup, use your intuition. After all, the affirmation that causes a pleasant feeling is correct for you.

Recite the mental attitude for five minutes over and over again. Feel its positive impact on your personality, how it contributes to the realization of your potential.

Talk about a setting that suits you throughout the day as often as possible. Repeat it before going to bed and in the morning immediately after waking up. Just smile and mentally say one of the psychological attitudes several times.

Psychological attitudes or affirmations?

Affirmations are one of the best and most effective methods of combating indecision and doubt. Use attitudes especially when negative thoughts begin to overwhelm you.

Doubts are also just thoughts. Doubts gain strength and power over you only when you focus on them. So are affirmations.

There is no need to fight doubts. It’s better to cast doubt aside as if it has nothing to do with you. Instead of doubting, say your favorite psychological attitude several times and smile.

A person decides for himself which thoughts to allow and which to discard. With the help of a psychological attitude, you essentially control your life.