Psychology · Class 12

Active learning ideas

Attitude Formation and Change

Explore the powerful forces that shape our likes and dislikes, from our favourite foods to our political beliefs. This topic uncovers the psychology behind how our attitudes are formed and the surprising ways they can be changed.

• CBSE Learning Outcomes
• NCERT: Class XII Psychology - Chapter 6

• 25–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Carousel Brainstorm
• 45 min · Small Groups

Advertisement Deconstruction

Students bring in print or video advertisements and analyse them using the Elaboration Likelihood Model. They identify the source, message, and target audience, and determine if the ad uses a central or peripheral route to persuasion.

Analyse the process of persuasion and the factors that make it effective.

Facilitation Tip

Encourage students to look for subtle cues like celebrity endorsers, emotional music, or statistical claims.

What to look for

An exit ticket where students have to write down one example of the central route and one example of the peripheral route of persuasion they encountered in the last 24 hours.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Carousel Brainstorm
• 30 min · Pairs

Cognitive Dissonance Role-Play

Create scenarios where a character's actions conflict with their stated beliefs (e.g., an environmental activist buying a petrol-guzzling car). Students role-play how the character might rationalise their behaviour to reduce the resulting dissonance.

Explain the concept of cognitive dissonance and how it leads to attitude change.

Facilitation Tip

Prompt students to think of different dissonance reduction strategies like changing their belief, changing their behaviour, or adding new cognitions.

What to look for

A case study analysis of a social movement (e.g., Chipko movement). Students must write a report explaining the attitude formation and change processes that contributed to its success.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Carousel Brainstorm
• 25 min · Individual

Balance Theory in Social Circles

Students draw a P-O-X triad representing a real or hypothetical social situation (e.g., You (P), your best friend (O), and their new partner (X) whom you dislike). They then brainstorm ways to restore balance to the relationship triad.

Compare the balance theory with the cognitive dissonance theory.

Facilitation Tip

Use this as a think-pair-share activity to help students articulate the psychological tension in unbalanced states.

What to look for

Students complete a K-W-L (Know, Want to know, Learned) chart for the topic, reflecting on their understanding before and after the lessons.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Begin by grounding the concept of 'attitude' in students' own experiences. Use a variety of Indian advertisements, public service announcements, and news clips to make theories like the ELM and cognitive dissonance tangible. Facilitate class debates on controversial topics to observe attitude expression and persuasion in action, ensuring a respectful environment.

Students will gain the ability to critically analyse persuasive messages in media and everyday life, and explain why people (including themselves) sometimes change their minds or act against their own beliefs.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• Attitudes are the same as opinions or beliefs.

  An opinion or belief is primarily a cognitive component, an idea you hold. An attitude is much broader and includes an emotional or feeling component (affect) and a predisposition to act (behaviour) along with the belief.

• If you persuade someone, their attitude has changed permanently.

  Attitude change can be temporary. Changes resulting from the peripheral route of persuasion (based on superficial cues) are often less stable and more susceptible to counter-arguments than changes achieved through the central route (based on deep, logical thinking).

• Cognitive dissonance is just being a hypocrite.

  While hypocrisy involves a contradiction between actions and stated beliefs, cognitive dissonance is the specific psychological discomfort or mental stress that this contradiction causes. The theory focuses on our motivation to resolve this discomfort, which can lead to genuine attitude change.

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Methods used in this brief

• Carousel Brainstorm