Attitudes, Emotions, Memory, and Learning: A Comprehensive Overview
Attitudes & Emotions
Introduction
The concept of attitude, used by social psychologists, reflects a person’s overall view about something. It is socially learned and can be changed (e.g., a person’s attitude towards politics or religion).
Components of Attitude
Attitudes have three main components:
- Cognitive: Information about something
- Affective: Positive and negative emotions
- Behavioral: Actual behavior
Attitude Formation
Attitudes can be formed through various ways:
- Direct experience: e.g., playing
Social Influence and Media Effects: Understanding Group Dynamics, Communication, and Knowledge Gaps
Social Influence and Group Dynamics
Social norms are shared rules or standards that guide behavior within a group or society. These norms can be categorized as:
- Descriptive norms: Specify what is typically done in a setting.
- Injunctive norms: Specify what is typically approved of in society.
Kurt Lewin’s research on group dynamics highlighted the power of group influence. His food habit study during World War II demonstrated that group discussions were more effective than lectures in changing behavior.
Read MoreEthnography and Symbolic Interactionism: A Comprehensive Overview
Evolution of Ethnography
Auguste Comte and the Comparative Method
Auguste Comte’s identification of three stages of development common to all cultures paved the way for early ethnographers. This framework, however, limited researchers to fitting their findings into pre-established phases.
Ethnography in the 20th Century
The post-World War II decolonization process triggered a shift in ethnographic perspectives. The previous focus on “primitive” and “underdeveloped” cultures, while suggesting common
Read MoreDimensions of Power and Community Empowerment in Social Work
1.1. Dimensions of Power: The Virtuous Circle of Empowerment
Human societies have an internal dynamic towards stratification and asymmetrical distribution of resources and opportunities. The momentum towards democracy, from the principle of citizenship, aims to alter such processes to build a societal model that recognizes us as free citizens with equal dignity.
Power and the capacity to exercise it are basic features of human life. We can distinguish four dimensions or types of power:
1. Power Over
This
Read MoreDimensions of Power and Community Social Work: A Guide to Empowerment
1.1. Dimensions of Power: The Virtuous Circle of Empowerment
Human societies have an internal dynamic towards stratification and asymmetrical distribution of resources and opportunities. The momentum towards democracy aims to alter such processes, starting from the principle of citizenship. It strives to build a societal model that recognizes us for what we truly are: free citizens with equal dignity as human beings.
Power, and the development of the capacity to exercise it, are basic features of
Read MoreCommunity Social Work: Methods, Techniques, and Challenges
Community Social Work
Research Methods and Techniques
We can differentiate five methods or means of access to social reality:
- The historical method (assuming the temporality of the present, shaped by a specific historical path).
- The comparative method (based on the degree of complexity and structural analogy between the phenomena being compared).
- The rational critical method (which deals with the consideration of social goals, and rationality that is their own).
- The quantitative method (for those aspects