The chapter 13 of the book The Introduction to Psychology focuses on how people perceive other people and think about them. This is known as social cognition. The interaction of people in groups also determines their social behavior. If I apply this to my understanding, I believe that an attitude plays a significant role in this regard as this helps us in determining how we process information and perceive the situation. If the social situation is ambiguous of course, it will determine how an individual think and this thinking will be restricted to the situation one encounters.
If an individual is uncomfortable in the company of another person or in the group for example in team works, a state of cognitive dissonance arises where there is an comfort zone created due to differences in attitudes and beliefs of the others. Hence, it is imperative that this state of dissonance should be reduced by the other people who want to resolve this conflicting situation. This is accomplished through either direct strategy, for example, changing our own attitude; through indirect strategy, for example, trying to feel positive about our own self and third by prioritizing that this conflicting situation will bring more damage. Hence ignoring the behavior and continuing to work will result in reducing cognitive dissonance.
If the attitude and behavior do not alter, he can be persuaded to change the attitude. This can be performed through paying close attention to the main argument or through mere exposure which means that accepting and increasing the exposure of the conflicting situation which will require adjusting in the environment and overall accepting it for example a political campaign is the best example for this. People who have prejudice and hold stereotypes are never persuasive, and these kind of people are required to change their attitude and switch to a more positive mode of social interaction.
Reference
Chapter 13 “The Introduction to Psychology”
