A CRITIQUE OF SOCIAL

JUDGEMENT THEORY

By: Samantha Orban

Muzafer Sherif's Social Judgement Theory can be a good tool for the persuasion process. I, however, don't think that it is very practical in the real world. The idea of a person placing every bit of information received onto an "attitude scale" is, I guess, conceivable. However, finding a person's latitude of acceptance or rejection is not always possible. In a spontaneous conversation with a person it would be very difficult to determine their latitude ranges. Since this is the stepping stone for social judgement theory, I do not see how it can be applied in most instances.

I do see a lot of truth to the discussion on discrepancy and attitude change. I believe that we all automatically judge information that we hear. I also accept the idea that our attitude changes according to our anchored position. I, however, still find most of the process to be irrelevant in my daily life. The information itself is useful to better understand the process that may occur within myself. As a persuasion tool I find it rather difficult to put to use.

If a person were writing a persuasive paper or had ample time to spend on getting to know a person, then social judgement theory would provide an excellent way to present a case. The fact is, though, that most people don't really know the person that they are trying to persuade. This makes the process useless. In the text book the theory works out nicely. In the real world I don't know too many people that are going to take the time to figure out someone's attitude latitude scale.

Now, if a person were looking at it as a subconscious decision, that would be a whole different thing. Everyday we do use social judgement theory as a means of making subconsious decisions. For instance, a person knows the latitude of acceptance for their parents. If someone were to ask their parents for money, then they would know exactly how far to take the request. Maybe the parent is generous with money, but maybe it is better to start with a low number. Perhaps ask for $10 at first, then work your way up according to the parent's latitude. Knowing your parents' latitude ranges is an example of subconsiously using the social judgement theory. This is one example of an everyday situation were social judgement could be used.

That's my evaluation of Social Judgement Theory. I found the theory to be insightful, but I found it difficult to apply to everyday decision making. Subconsiously, however, we use the theory in many situations.

Check out the link listed below to view more information on the theory.

Click here to view an article on Social Judgement Theory from the journal Thinking and Reasoning

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