Developmental psychology.pdf

Social Behavior 489
Or you may have decided that the frosting technique is not harmful. Furthermore,
you are attracted to frosted hair. The behavioral result is that you use this
style in your personal grooming and perhaps urge others to do so.
These three components are also described as the cognitive, affective, and behavioral
components of an attitude, respectively. Each of them is related to one of the
fundamental ways in which attitudes apparently are formed and changed.
Developing Attitudes
Most of us have many different attitudes, but how are they formed? How do they
originate? The obvious answer is that they come initially from contacts with our parents,
early teachers, and other adults. Later in life peers and friends are to be highly
influential. But the basic question still stands. By what processes do attitudes develop?
Formation of Attitudes Sometimes attitudes are formed by direct instruction. A
small girl was told that she would have tapioca for lunch. She replied: "I don't like
that." Then she asked, "What is it?" Later it was discovered that she had been told
by her older sister that tapioca has a disagreeable taste. A person might develop attitudes
toward hair lotions and briefcases on the same basis. In short, direct instruction can
play a significant role in the formation of attitudes, but it is not the complete story.
Suppose that a mother who wears frosted hair is also kind and helpful to her
child. Through this pairing of frosted hair with being fed, helped, played with and so
forth, eventually the child develops a positive attitude toward frosted hair. Associated
with good outcomes, this event becomes favorable too. You may recognize this process
as classical conditioning, and let us assume, as the plot thickens, that the man with
the briefcase had a helpful, fun-loving mother who had frosted hair.
In one investigation the names for various nationalities—German, Swedish,
French, and Dutch—were paired with positive, negative, or neutral terms. For some
subjects "Dutch" was paired with "gift," "sacred," and "happy," whereas "Swedish"
was paired with "bitter," "ugly," and "failure." For other subjects the pairings were
reversed, and for still others these nationalities were paired with neutral terms. When
an attitude questionnaire was administered later, it was found that each nationality
was perceived as positive, negative, or neutral depending on its previous associations
(Staats & Staats, 1958). More recent investigations have supported this research, and
today there is abundant evidence of the role of classical conditioning in the formation
of attitudes and other emotional reactions (Staats, Minke, Martin, & Higa, 1972).
Suppose that the woman in the front row wears frosted hair one day, for whatever
reason. Her roommate is delighted and her friends make compliments about her
hair. This behavior of wearing frosted hair has been reinforced, and it is likely to reappear.
The process here, as you perhaps realize, is operant conditioning, for behaviors
that produce positive consequences tend to be repeated.
In all of these examples there is still another possibility. People we admire,
whether they are siblings, parents, friends, or public figures, can influence our attitudes
simply by acting as models. Children who observe elders happily eating grasshoppers
are inclined to look favorably on eating grasshoppers, too. Those who observe adults
seeking the company of strangers probably will have positive attitudes toward strangers.
In this process, called modeling, one person follows the example of another. Modeling
has been influential in developing attitudes toward a wide range of issues, from alcohol
to hypnosis (Bach & Bornstein, 1981; Smyth, 1981).*
When an attitude is formed largely on an emotional basis, without much
thought, we speak of a prejudice, for the topic in question has been prejudged. Such
attitudes may be formed through modeling, conditioning, and even direct instruction.
We can be prejudiced for or against people who wear Mexican ponchos or frosted hair,
judging them without adequate evidence.
"This summer, I spent time
watching swimming lessons with a
friend of mine. Her oldest boy,
George, wanted to learn how to go
off a diving board but was terribly
afraid. The first few times, the
teacher demonstrated and then the
children who could go off the board
would follow her. George stayed
back and watched. The teacher
would take special time with him at
the end of the class.
First, she just took his hand and
they walked to the board and
watched as the other kids had fun
jumping off. Her next step was to
have him get on the board with her.
They didn't walk to the end of the
board but walked until she saw that
George was getting anxious. As
each day went on, she took him
through the same steps (she would
jump, other children jumped, and
then together they would get on the
board) until eventually he felt
comfortable walking to the end of
the board with her.
Then, she had George go on the
board by himself as she walked
alongside. One day, she walked all
the way to the end of the board and
sat down. She had him follow her
and sit with her. They would both
just stare at the water and talk
about diving. Eventually, George
felt comfortable enough that he
wanted to go in from the sitting
position. First, she did it a few
times and he watched. Then, they
both did it together as she held his
hand. She used the same
procedure to get him to jump off
the board from a standing position.
The following day George was able
to jump off the board by himself.
During this whole process, the
teacher constantly talked to George
about what they were doing, what
was going to happen, how they
would go off, and so forth. George
also had a chance to watch two
other children learn to go off before
him.