Social Judgement Theory

Social Judgment Theory

Everyone should be able to own a gun. Only someone who demonstrates mental stability should be able to own a gun. Only law enforcement officials should be able to own a gun. No one should be able to own a gun. These ranges of possible stances on the issue of gun control represents the various positions there are regarding any issue that triggers a specific judgment or opinion. When someone is given a choice between different possible solutions to a question or issue, the opinions one forms about each statement can be explained by the Social Judgment Theory. This paper will attempt to describe the importance and presence of the social judgment theory in everyone’s daily life. This presence of this theory is important because it is relevant in many types of situations from worldwide controversies to American movies to an individual’s personal life. Throughout this paper, the social judgment theory will be defined, applied to a situation any audience can relate to and finally analyzed for affects present within that situation.

Explanation of Theory

The Social judgment theory, first proposed by Carolyn Sherif, Muzafer Sherif, and Carl Hovland, stemmed from Egon Brunswik’s socio-psychological theory of Probabilistic Functionalism. This theory attempts to explain the process an individual experiences when providing judgment in relation to both verbal and non-verbal communication. According to Mishina, Block, & Mannor (2012) “First, social judgments appear to be path-dependent, where prior beliefs determine both what is noticed and how a particular cue might be interpreted. Second, the diagnosticity of the cue determines how it will be incorporated to adjust the evaluation, depending on whether the cue is positively or negatively discrepant with respect to prior beliefs.” This simply means that judgments made on certain statement are influenced both by beliefs held prior to hearing the statement and by the helpfulness or informational that...