Social Psychology Role: Self-Esteem and Human Development Essay

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Attitudes and behaviors

Attitudes and behaviors are extremely important in daily life. It is of particular interest to social psychologists because it provides answers as to why people behave exactly the way they do. The theory provides insight into people’s attitudes, and what are the most prioritized actions and thoughts that one carries out. Several learning processes are used to acquire knowledge and our leading attitude or behavior. Some of the theories are social learning, classical and subliminal conditioning, instrumental and observational learning.

Attitudes of a person play an important role in self-esteem and further development of a person. The relation between the concepts and the response is closely analyzed to determine the most important criteria people’s actions can be judged by. Persuasion is explained and key points are mentioned. This is an important concept in the modern world, and the numerous techniques lead to new ways and abilities people have about others. An example of the interaction between attitude and behavior can be seen in the views on abortion. People might have thoughts against it, but society continues with the process. Even a person being in such a situation themselves might want to change behavior, even though the attitude is much different.

Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance supposes that people who have chosen a specific behavior will align their attitudes according to such behavior. In case the behavior is realized to be unwanted or negative later, the individual will be even more inclined to repeat the behavior and support it by changing their attitude to fit that behavior. As the opinions of individuals greatly vary, learning about cognition allows for a more specific determination of opinions towards certain people or social aspects. Some of the theories are induced-compliance paradigm, free-choice, and effort justification.

Moral or immoral behavior is cited as a key determinant of human actions. Many psychological problems of an individual, including mental disorders have been inevitably linked to cognition and action. The big question is whether a person is capable of understanding their behavior or they have no or little control over their actions and act without thinking, basing it on emotion? Self-persuasion about behavior is an important point to consider because sometimes, people will be able to convince themselves that even though the circumstances point to one outcome, their wishful thinking will determine a different result. An example of cognitive dissonance would be walking by someone who needs help, contemplating whether it is better to help or get into a situation where mistakes can be made, and walking away. Later, the person would re-decide that they did the right thing and support it with dissonance.

Attitudes

Attitudes come from an individual’s personality which is contained in the brain. The brain itself is a physical matter, an organ that regulates the functions of the body. It determines the most needed actions and sends signals that are responsible for the human organism to stay alive. Through classical and instrumental conditioning theories psychologists were able to look closer into the matter of people’s functioning within a social setting or a private situation. Theories are cognitive appraisal, the Cannon-Bard theory, and the James-Lange theory.

People often wonder if the source of emotion in the human brain or any other organ. Most refer to the heart, as it feels pain when something bad happens. Biologically, the brain realizes that the situation taking place is negative or depressing, and the heart reacts to the external environment, as well as internal understanding that the situation is stressful. Mentally, the person does not agree with whatever is happening, and the natural reaction is to be displeased or the opposite, pleased with that which is taking place. Human emotion is anything that a person feels and which does not happen logically. Reasoning does not get involved until after someone has felt or experienced something emotionally. An example would relate to a person redirecting thinking to their attitudes and the social requirements or norms. The internal discussion people engage in every day is a much needed cognitive process.

The outside environment

The chapter talks about schemas in thinking and behavior. Prejudice and discrimination are looked at to determine the difference in definition and behavior. Prejudice is a “pre-formed” attitude that is based on external information. A person is stereotyped and the thinking leads to over-generalize towards others. Discrimination manifests itself in actions and a common attitude towards a great number of people.

The outside environment is what causes a response and change in a person’s brain. It has been established that the surrounding conditions greatly shape the way a person behaves and thinks. Developmental psychology has explained that when children are being raised, every detail matters, so they would form schemas and attitudes early on. Psychological components play a crucial role in cognition and behavior, so a person must relate the situation to their character and come up with the best course of action. An example is the routine thinking of the daily activities that are carried out without hesitation. A person gets used to acting a certain way and does it automatically, which is the way the brain makes cognition faster and more efficient (Aronson, Wilson and Akert, 2013).

Reference

Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Akert, R. M. (2013). Social Psychology (8th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice.

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