Attitude And Social Cognition

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Prejudice is a pre-judgment, usually negative, towards a group of people based on their membership in that group. It develops through social and cognitive processes.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The main causes of prejudice are:
1. Learning: Like other attitudes, prejudice is learned through association, reward/punishment, and modeling parents or peers. Children often internalize the biases of their caregivers.
2. In-group Bias and Out-group Derogation: Humans tend to favor their own group ("us") and view other groups ("them") as inferior or threatening to maintain self-esteem.
3. Scapegoating: When a majority group faces economic or social problems, they may blame a minority group (the scapegoat) to vent their frustration and avoid taking responsibility.
4. Kernel of Truth: Sometimes, people maintain a stereotype because they believe it is based on a small amount of truth, ignoring the vast diversity within that group.
5. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The person holding the prejudice may behave toward the target group in a way that causes the target group to react in a way that confirms the original prejudice.
Step 3: Final Answer:
Prejudice develops from a combination of social learning, psychological defense mechanisms like scapegoating, and cognitive biases like in-group favoritism.

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Attitudes are not innate; they are learned through various psychological processes as we interact with our environment and social groups.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Two processes of attitude formation are:
1. Learning by Classical Conditioning:
This occurs when a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that naturally evokes a positive or negative response. Over time, the neutral stimulus begins to evoke the same attitude.
{Explanation:} If a child sees their parents always happy and excited (positive response) when meeting a particular relative (neutral stimulus), the child will eventually develop a positive attitude toward that relative.
2. Learning by Observation (Modeling):
We often form attitudes by observing the behavior and attitudes of "significant others" (parents, teachers, peers, or celebrities).
{Explanation:} If a child observes that their older sibling is very respectful and helpful towards elderly people, the child is likely to imitate that behavior and develop a positive attitude toward the elderly. No direct reward or punishment is needed for this learning.
Step 3: Final Answer:
Attitudes are formed through associative learning (Classical Conditioning) and social imitation (Observational Learning).

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Attitude change can be classified based on its direction relative to the original attitude.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Congruent change occurs when an existing attitude is strengthened in its current direction.
Example: A person who already likes a brand starts liking it even more after seeing an advertisement.
Incongruent change (C) occurs when the change is in the opposite direction of the existing attitude.
Example: A person who likes a brand starts disliking it.
Constancy (B) and Inconstancy (D) are not standard terms used to describe the direction of attitude change in this context.
Since the question specifies change in the "same direction," the term is Congruency.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The correct term is Congruency.

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Fritz Heider's Balance Theory represents relationships between a Person (P), another Person (O), and an Object/Issue (X) as a triangle.
A state is considered balanced if the product of the signs of the three relationships is positive (+).
A state is imbalanced if the product of the signs is negative (-).
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let's evaluate each condition by multiplying the signs:
(i) All three sides are negative: . Result is negative, so this is an imbalance.
(ii) Two sides negative, one positive: . Result is positive, so this is balanced.
(iii) Two sides positive, one negative: . Result is negative, so this is an imbalance.
(iv) All three sides positive: . Result is positive, so this is balanced.
Imbalance is found in cases (i) and (iii).
Step 3: Final Answer:
The imbalanced conditions are (i) and (iii), which corresponds to option (C).