they participate in, which are situational. Most people have certain expectations of behavior in certain social roles. Think of the roles of a teacher and student and determine what behaviors you would most likely expect from them. Social norms are related to social roles. Social norms are the behaviors that a group expects of itself. They describe what is acceptable and what isn t acceptable. Social norms differ according to the situation and are different, depending on where you are. Scripts are a person s individual knowledge of what to expect in a given situation and what order they are expected. These are different, depending on the circumstances and the culture.
ATTITUDES AND PERSUASION Social situations affect a person s attitudes and beliefs. An attitude is an evaluation of an idea, an object, or a person. Attitudes can be favorable or unfavorable. They involve feelings about a person, behaviors directed at something, and what is thought about something. You will have favorable or unfavorable thoughts, behaviors, and feelings toward something, which is your attitude toward it. The attitude is based on internal and external factors. Cognitive dissonance involves having a psychological discomfort that comes out of having more than one attitude, thought, or behavior about something. Having a positive self-esteem is a strong motivator of human behavior. Most people in the US have a positive self-esteem. Anytime a person has thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that differ from what they believe about themselves, this is cognitive dissonance. People will try to reduce this dissonance in one way or another. Methods to decrease cognitive dissonance include the following: •
Change the behavior that is dissonant.
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Rationalize and change the cognition. This can also involve denial.
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Add another thought or cognition to change the dissonance.
In the military, for example, the stress of boot camp can lead to cognitive dissonance. Surprisingly, in a situation where there is a difficult initiation into a group situation like 183
