Social attitudes of the individual - what is it in psychology: concept, examples

Social attitudes, one of the key concepts in social psychology , are a separate area of scientific research.

Active study of the phenomenon of the formation of social attitudes began in the first decades of the 20th century.

The phenomenon is based on the closest relationship between the individual and society , of which man is an integral part.

What is a person's social status? Find out about this from our article.

Concept of attitude

What is a social attitude?

As a person grows and matures and accumulates life experience, a stable view of people, objects and events in the surrounding world is formed in a person’s mind.

This setting of consciousness acts as a regulator of a person’s reactions and behavior in his interaction with life.

In psychology, the phenomenon is called attitude , or social setting.

Gordon Allport is used to determine a social attitude : a person’s past forms in him a predisposition to act in the present in a certain way. This psychological readiness is a social attitude.

In general, an attitude is formed not only on the basis of a person’s personal experience, but also through his perception of the experience of other people. Basically, people convey their views on life and experience in ordinary communication.

The personal attitude received by a person as a result of an experienced event is strengthened if he hears the conclusions and opinions of other people confirming his own observations (the concept of a generalized attitude in psychology).

A social attitude in psychology is called attitude from the English word “attitude”, which translated means “attitude”.

Types of social attitudes in modern social psychology

Chapter 1 Theoretical aspects of the study of social attitudes and comfort

The concept of social attitude in foreign and domestic literature

Social attitude is one of the important problems of personality cognition in psychology and sociology. They explore the concept of social attitude, as well as its types, functions and its components.

The concept of social attitude had different meanings and meanings when studied by various scientists.

The installation problem was the subject of research at the school of D. N. Uznadze.

According to Uznadze, an attitude is a holistic dynamic state of a subject, a state of readiness for a certain activity, a state that is determined by two factors: the need of the subject and the corresponding objective situation" (Uznadze, 1901)

The focus on behavior to satisfy a given need and in a given situation can be consolidated if the situation is repeated, then a fixed attitude arises, as opposed to a situational one.

The setting in the context of this concept concerns the issue of realizing the simplest physiological needs of a person. It is positioned as the unconscious, which makes it impossible to apply this concept to the study of the most complex, highest forms of human activity.

Research on social attitudes was continued by sociologists W. Thomas and F. Znaniecki. In 1918, they conducted a study of Polish peasants in Europe and America, the purpose of which was to study the adaptation of Polish peasants who immigrated from Europe. In the process of sociological research, it has been established that adaptation arises as a result of the close interdependence between the individual and the social organization.

Thus, they proposed to introduce the concepts of “social values” and “social attitude” to designate a social organization and to designate an individual, respectively.

According to Thomas and Zenetsky, a social attitude is an individual’s psychological experience of the value, meaning, meaning of social

object, the state of consciousness of the individual regarding some social value.

The discovery of the concept of social attitude created a resonance in psychological science. This period was marked by an active growth of controversy around the concept of social attitude; numerous attempts were made to formulate its clear definition.

Later, the American psychologist Gordon Willard Allport continued to formulate the concept of social attitude. He reviewed and analyzed all interpretations of social attitude proposed at that time and in 1935 proposed his own definition based on the review.

According to Allport, the state of psychological readiness of an individual to behave in a certain way in relation to an object, determined by its past experience. This concept is more often used in modern social psychology.

At the same time, a number of ideas about ways to study social attitudes. Various scales first proposed by L. Turnstone were used as the main method. The use of scales was necessary and possible because social attitudes represent a latent attitude towards social situations and objects,

characterized by modality. It turned out that the development of scales rests on the unresolved nature of some substantive problems of social attitudes, in particular regarding their structure; It remained unclear what the scale measures? In addition, since all measurements were based on verbal self-report, ambiguities arose with the distinction between the concept of “social attitude” and “opinion”

“knowledge”, “belief”, etc. The development of methodological tools stimulated further theoretical research. It was carried out in two main directions: as disclosure of functions

social psychology and how to analyze its structure.

4 functions have been identified

Adaptive

– contribute to the selection of objects that will help achieve goals.

Cognitive

– promotes the choice of behavior that is necessary in certain conditions

Expressing

– helps a person express himself and relax

Protective

– helps resolve internal conflicts

A social installation can perform all these functions because it has a complex structure.

In 1942, M. Smith defined the structure of a social attitude consisting of three components, in which

Cognitive component

(awareness of the object of social installation)

Affective component

(emotional assessment of an object, identifying feelings of sympathy or antipathy towards it);

Behavioral component

(consistent behavior towards an object)

All elements of the structure are closely interconnected, and a change in one of them entails a change in the others.

Now the social attitude was defined as awareness, evaluation, readiness to act. The problem that remained unsolved was whether the social attitude scales measured the whole or one of its components. Further, in experiments conducted in the laboratory, the research was carried out according to the simplest scheme - a social attitude towards one object was identified, and it was not clear what would happen if this social attitude was woven into the broader social structure of the individual’s actions.

Later, another problem arose regarding the connection between social attitudes and actual behavior. This difficulty was identified after the implementation of the famous experiment of R. Lapierre in 1934

The conclusion of the experiment was that there is a discrepancy between social attitudes and actual behavior. The introduction became known as Lapierre's paradox and gave rise to deep skepticism about the study of social attitudes. The decline of interest in social attitudes was largely due to the discovery of this problem.

In subsequent years, various measures were taken to overcome the emerging problems. M. Rokeach expressed the idea,

that a person has two social attitudes at the same time: on

objects to the situation. “One or another attitude may manifest itself.

In the proposal of D. Katz and E. Stotland, the idea of different

manifestation of some different aspects of social attitudes

acquired a different form: they suggested that in different situations one of the components of a social attitude may manifest itself, and the result will therefore be different

Subsequent study of social attitudes involves putting forward ideas that would overcome the difficulty

opinions encountered along the way of studying this phenomenon. One of them is that the moment of integrity of the social attitude was lost due to attempts to find more and more detailed descriptions of its properties and structure. A return to the interpretation of a social attitude as a holistic entity cannot be a simple repetition of early ideas expressed at the dawn of its research. In restoring the idea of the integrity of a social attitude, it is necessary to understand this integrity in a social context.

The problem of solving these problems is contained in the “dispositional concept of regulation of the social behavior of the individual” (Yadov, 1975, p. 89). The essence of this concept is that a person has a complex system of various dispositional formations that regulate his behavior and activities. These dispositions are organized hierarchically

Needs are classified on one single basis - from the point of view of the inclusion of the individual in various spheres of social activity, corresponding to the expansion of the individual's needs.

1 The sphere where human needs are realized is the immediate family environment,

2 Contact group within which the individual directly operates,

3 Field of activity related to a certain area of work, leisure, everyday life,

4 sphere of activity, understood as a certain social-class structure into which the individual is included through the development of ideological and cultural values of society.

Thus, 4 levels of needs are distinguished, according to the areas of activity in which they find their satisfaction.

Situations are structured according to the length of time during which the basic quality of these conditions is preserved.

The lowest level of situations are subject situations, rapidly changing, relatively short-term.

The next level is situations of group communication, characteristic of an individual’s activities in a small group.

More stable conditions of activity that take place in the spheres of work, leisure, and everyday life set the third level.

More long-term stable conditions of activity are characteristic of the broadest sphere of a person’s life activity - within a certain type of society, the broad economic, ideological, political structure of its functioning.

Thus, the structure of situations in which an individual acts can also be depicted by characterizing its stages.

From this, V. A. Yadov, in the system regulating the behavior of the individual, identified 4 levels of social attitude:

The simplest installations

, which arose to satisfy vital needs in simple situations. This level regulates the subject's immediate reactions to the situation.

Social fixed attitudes

arising in connection with the need for communication and satisfied by the activities of small groups. This level regulates people’s actions in ordinary, familiar situations.

Basic social attitudes

, formed in specific types of professional activity or leisure, is the direction of the interests of the individual. They regulate the behavior of the individual.

Value orientations of the individual

, manifested in the regulation of behavior in the most significant situations. This level already regulates the activity of the individual.

One of the main problems that arise when studying social attitudes is the problem of changing them.

Wash's research has shown that attitudes change as a result of the need to adapt to the conditions of a real situation. In these studies, it was revealed that attitudes are weaker than reality, and a person can largely refuse attitudes in areas of behavior that are significant to him. A large body of research is associated with various. installations.

Many different models have been put forward to explain the process of changing social attitudes. The largest are models of behaviorist and cognitivist orientations

In behaviorism

As an explanatory principle for understanding the fact of changes in social attitudes, the principle of learning is used: a person’s attitudes change depending on how the reinforcement of a particular social attitude is organized. By changing the system of punishments and rewards, you can change the nature of the social setting.

In cognitivist

traditions: a change in attitude always occurs when a discrepancy arises in the cognitive structure of the individual. The incentive to change the attitude is the need to restore conformity.

In modern psychology, Allport’s definition is used under the concept of social attitude.

The objects of social attitudes are

—a person and the people around him

-groups of people

-social processes

-events

-cultural items

Types of social attitudes in modern social psychology

-Social attitude toward an object, a type of attitude in which a person is ready to behave in a certain way

-Situational attitude - readiness to behave in a specific way in relation to the same object differently in different situations

-Perceptual attitude determines the readiness to see what a person wants to see.

A generalized attitude is an attitude towards a set of homogeneous objects.

Depending on the modality, settings are divided into

Positive

Negative

Neutral

ambivalent (ready to lead positively and negatively)

Structure

Back in the mid-20th century, American psychologist Manuel Smith identified three main components of a social attitude:

Formed conscious opinion . It exists in relation to objects, objects, phenomena and events, about what properties and qualities they possess (in the view of the bearer of a social attitude), about ways of effective and ineffective interaction with them.
Emotional attitude (affect). It is manifested by the experience of certain emotions, feelings, sensations in the form of a reaction to objects, people, incidents. There is a clear understanding of whether phenomena, incidents, subjects or objects are pleasant or repulsive (option: do not hurt, leave indifferent).
Behavior. A person is ready to act according to a certain pattern as a reaction to an event or a pattern of communication with people.

Thus, the social attitude includes cognitive, affective and behavioral levels.

What is attitude?

A social attitude is understood as a specific image of various actions that an individual implements or intends to implement in a specific situation. That is, attitude can be understood as the inclination (predisposition) of a subject to certain social behavior. This phenomenon has a complex structure that includes many components. Among them is the individual's predisposition to perceive and evaluate, realize and ultimately act in a certain way regarding some social subject.

How does official science interpret this concept? In social psychology, the term “social attitude” is used in relation to a certain disposition of a person that organizes his feelings, thoughts and possible actions taking into account the existing object.

Attitude is also understood as a special type of belief, which characterizes an individual’s already established assessment of a certain object.

When considering this concept, it is important to understand the differences between the terms “attitude” and “social attitude.” The last of them is considered the state of consciousness of the individual, while functioning at the level of social relations.

Attitude is considered a kind of hypothetical constructor. Being unobservable, it is determined based on the measured reactions of the individual, reflecting negative or positive assessments of the social object in question.

Kinds

When talking about the types of social attitudes, we mean their certain characteristics :

a person is ready to behave in accordance with the existing stereotype (object orientation),
an action caused by similar phenomena can manifest itself in different ways in different cases (situational),
differences in emotional color: evoking pleasant or unpleasant emotions, option, neutrally colored.

In psychology, the concepts of stereotype and socialization are highlighted.

Stereotypes

The concept of stereotype was highlighted in the 30s of the 20th century by the American publicist Walter Lippman.

The writer drew attention to a certain filter through which, obeying the formed life experience, a person recognizes and interprets information about the world around him.

The formed stereotype causes an attitude towards the phenomenon before the mind begins to work:

the stereotype already at the moment of perception of information imposes its “filter” on the presented facts,
the formed stereotype resists (or does not at all lend itself to) its critical assessment,
When a stereotype collides with new experience, the former often wins over new information: the person is convinced in advance that he has encountered only an exception, and is confident in advance that the information received is wrong if it refutes the existing stereotypical opinion.

Of course, if the ability to think, analyze and perceive new things is not lost by the individual , it is possible to change the picture of the world and even the existing stereotypical social attitude.

Socialization phenomenon

By contacting a certain society , a person gradually learns the inherent norms of behavior, values and beliefs of those around him.

In order to successfully interact with people, an individual is forced to accumulate and systematize knowledge about the world, master communication skills that allow him to establish productive connections and achieve what he wants.

All this is included in the concept of socialization, which, in fact, begins from birth and continues throughout a person’s life . In psychology, the concept of socialization is considered in several aspects:

the formation of human individuality , character in contact with the environment of existence, adaptation to its norms and conditions of survival in society (the process of social adaptation),
the presence of a community of people (society), which is necessary for the development of a person in it as an individual with certain attitudes and character traits (a phenomenon as a condition),
a person’s reactions to society and what is happening in it , his personal perception of social phenomena, depending on the age group and social development (socialization as a manifestation),
the main characteristic of an individual as a full member of the human community, taking into account his age (socialization as a result).

Primary socialization affects small groups of a person’s immediate environment . These are his father, mother, relatives, friends and peers, teachers and educators in educational institutions, that is, the inner circle of real communication.

When they talk about secondary socialization in psychology, they mean processes that already occur in large social groups.

For example, the circle of secondary socialization includes administrative bodies, people who formulate laws and social communication guidelines at the level of a school, a higher educational institution, a city, a region, and the state as a whole.

Attitudes and role behavior

Part of the process of socialization of an individual is the mastery of social roles, which is a prerequisite for the individual to “grow into” society.

Definition 3

A social role is a way of behavior of people depending on the position they occupy, corresponding to accepted norms.

During his life, any person enters into one or another social group, where he occupies a certain position and certain expectations are placed on him. In each group, a person must behave in accordance with the requirements of the group, i.e. act in different roles.

Note 1

A social role is a kind of stable pattern of behavior for a certain status, which answers the question - who is this person, what rights and responsibilities does he have.

Position in society determines only one status - main or integral.

When a person learns his social role, he learns the social standard of behavior and, as if from the outside, learns to evaluate himself and exercise self-control. Each social role leaves its mark on a person’s self-awareness, on his personality, for the fulfillment of which a person mobilizes the resources of his body and psyche.

When performing a role that does not correspond to the individual “I,” an intrapersonal conflict may arise.

Intrapersonal conflicts can be the following:

the possibilities of one’s own “I” are lower than the possibilities of the social “role”;
the social role is below the capabilities of the “I” and is unworthy and humiliating for a person

A person is driven mainly by internal motives, needs, and desires to master a particular role.

The social roles performed by a person in real life may have conflicting requirements, and in order to maintain the integrity of his “I”, there is a need for some kind of mechanism.

This mechanism is a functional organ and the personality itself, which allows one to integrate one’s “I”, carry out a moral assessment of one’s actions, and refuse one thing in favor of another. A developed personality can use role behavior as a tool for adaptation to a particular social situation.

A social role is a manifestation of the external “I”, and there is also an internal “I”. External behavior can be exemplary, the person himself can be a law-abiding citizen, but in his inner world he can be a rebel.

Based on social status and its requirements, a person’s role behavior is determined mainly by the social “I”, the demonstrative “I”, also expected by others, the reflected “I” and the real “I” of the individual.

The social roles performed by a person reinforce the corresponding patterns of behavior, opinions, views, attitudes, attitudes, and have a great influence on the style of speech, clothing, and lifestyle.

When social roles change, a change in behavior, attitudes, values, and personal attitudes may occur.

Installation examples

Popular, frequently occurring examples of social attitudes:

A negative attitude towards a group of people based on race (racism), for example, contempt for blacks, dark-skinned people or any “colored” nationalities. Forming a public belief that people who do not belong to the “white race” are stupider, prone to immoral behavior, lazy, etc.
The manner of dressing only in a certain way , for example, the tradition in eastern countries of women wearing clothing that completely hides the body and face.
Generally accepted everyday rules, traditions characteristic of a social group: for example, to marry before a certain age, to work or not to work for women, etc.
Norms and standards, samples and rules of decency, etiquette , accepted in society.

All these factors are often perceived by a person who grew up in a certain society as the only true, correct ones, precisely because of the social attitudes formed from early childhood.

Functions

Any formed social setting has a number of important functions (usually not realized by the person himself). There are four main purposes of social installations:

Resolution of internal doubts , conflicts, freeing the ego from the perception of information that is unpleasant to it. Subconsciously, a person strives to have a high opinion of himself and the social group to which he belongs and whose social attitudes he shares. According to this principle, the traditions and foundations of “one’s own” society are recognized as worthy and significant, “good”, and those that contradict the traditions of another group are often recognized as dangerous delusions, negative “bad” phenomena.
, systematization and ordering of knowledge about the world around us occurs . Attitude makes it possible to quickly analyze and evaluate the information received: whether it is important or not, whether it corresponds to a person’s values and life interests. The existing stereotype greatly simplifies the study and processing of information.
Adaptation to people, events, phenomena . Social settings help an individual find those people and those objects that contribute to the achievement of his personal goals, with less losses, as efficiently as possible. A person realizes that by supporting certain canons (social attitudes) accepted by society, he will be accepted and receive the approval of the social group. But an attitude can also pit a person against society (if existing attitudes do not coincide).
Help in self-realization, expression of your values and outlook on life. Social settings help a person act according to a ready-made scheme and realize himself in society. They also become an element of self-determination: a person understands “who he is,” how he relates to different events, objects, and people.

Thus, attitude is a powerful construction of consciousness, which simultaneously serves to automate and simplify life processes, mental self-defense and stabilization of a person in life.

Formation of social attitudes

There are several different approaches to studying this issue:

Behavioral. He views the social attitude as an intervening variable that occurs between the appearance of an objective stimulus and the external response. This attitude is virtually inaccessible for visual description. It serves simultaneously as a reaction that has arisen to a particular stimulus, as well as the stimulus itself for the reaction taking place. With this approach, attitude is a kind of connecting mechanism located between the external environment and an objective stimulus. The formation of a social attitude occurs without human participation due to his observation of the behavior of people around him and its consequences, as well as through positive reinforcement of connections between existing attitudes.
Motivational. With this approach to the formation of social attitudes, this process is seen as a person carefully weighing the pros and cons. In this case, the individual can adopt a new attitude or determine the consequences of its adoption. Two theories are considered as a motivational approach to the formation of social attitudes. According to the first of them, called the “Cognitive Response Theory,” the formation of attitudes occurs when an individual reacts negatively or positively to a new position. In the second case, the social attitude is the result of a person’s assessment of the benefits that his acceptance or non-acceptance of a new attitude can bring. This hypothesis is called “Expected Benefit Theory.” In this regard, the main factors influencing the formation of attitudes in the motivational approach are the cost of the upcoming choice and the benefit from its consequences.
Cognitive. In this approach, there are several theories that have certain similarities. One of them was proposed by F. Haider. This is the "Structural Balance Theory". There are two other accepted hypotheses. One of them is congruence (P. Tannebaum and Ch. Ostud), and the second is cognitive dissonance (P. Festinger). They are based on the idea that a person always strives for internal consistency. Thanks to this, the formation of attitudes becomes the result of the individual’s desire to resolve the existing internal contradictions that have arisen due to the inconsistency of cognitions and social attitudes.
Structural. This approach was developed by researchers at the Chicago School in the 20s of the last century. It is based on the ideas of J. Mead. His key hypothesis is that people develop their attitudes by accepting the attitudes of “others.” These friends, relatives and acquaintances are significant for a person, and therefore are a decisive factor in the formation of an attitude.
Genetic. Proponents of this approach believe that attitudes may not be direct, but indirect factors, such as, for example, innate differences in temperament, naturally occurring biochemical reactions and intellectual abilities. Genetically determined social attitudes are more accessible and stronger than acquired ones. At the same time, they are more stable, less changeable, and also have greater significance for their bearers.

Researcher J. Godefroy identified three stages, during which the individual undergoes a process of socialization and develops an attitude.

The first of these lasts from birth to 12 years. During this period, all social attitudes, norms and values in a person are formed in full accordance with parental models. The next stage lasts from 12 years and ends at 20 years. This is the time when a person's social attitudes and values become more concrete. Their formation is associated with the individual’s assimilation of roles in society. The third stage continues over the next decade. It covers the period from 20 to 30 years. At this time, a person experiences a kind of crystallization of his attitude, on the basis of which a stable system of beliefs begins to form. By the age of 30, social attitudes are characterized by significant stability, and it is very difficult to change them.