Question

Kirti bought a birthday gift for her close friend, Soma. Soma did not like the gift but did not express this to Kirti. She thought that it would make Kirti feel bad. Instead, she told Kirti that it was very thoughtful of her to give her a gift.

1. Describe the process used by Soma to change her own attitude.    (2)
2. Outline any two ways by which Soma changed her attitude.     (2)

Answer 1

1. Soma used Cognitive dissonance to change her own attitude. It is an unpleasant internal state that arises when individuals notice inconsistency between two or more attitudes or between their attitude and behaviour.
2. Soma used the following ways of cognitive dissonance to change her own attitude:
   Indirect ways, her discrepancy in her attitude and behaviour is intact, but she tries to reduce the negative feelings generated by this dissonance.
   1. Soma changed her beliefs.
   2. She changed her actions.
   3. She changed how she perceived her actions. By altering the way she remembered what happened, she started believing that her actions were not in so much opposition to her beliefs.

Direct ways:

1. Soma changed her attitude by convincing herself that it was thoughtful of Kirti to get her a gift and made her attitude and behaviour more consistent with each other.
2. Secondly, she could acquire new information that supports her attitude or behaviour.
3. Third, she engaged in trivialization, which means that she concluded that her own attitudes or behaviours in question were not important.
4. Fourthly, she focused on the positive and good things about themselves, termed as self- affirmation and reduce her cognitive dissonance.