Attitude Change

The Research work Submitted In The Partial Fulfilment Of The Course Organizational
Behaviour For Obtaining The Degree B.B.A. LL.B. During The Academic Year 2019-20

Submitted by:
Kaustuv, 2021

Submitted to:
Ms.Kirti

September 2019

Chanakya National Law University

Naya nagar, Mithapur, Patna - 800001

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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It is a fact that any research work prepared, compiled or formulated in isolation is
inexplicable to an extent. This research work, although prepared by me, is a culmination of
efforts of many people who remained in veil, who gave their intense support and helped me
in the completion of this project.
Firstly, I am very grateful to my subject teacher Ms Kirti, without the kind support and help
of whom the completion of this project was a herculean task. He donated his valuable time
from his busy schedule to help us complete this project. I would like to thank him for their
valuable suggestions towards the making of this project.
I am highly indebted to my parents and friends for their kind co-operation and
encouragement, which helped me in completion of this project. I am also thankful to the
library staff of my college, which assisted me in acquiring the sources necessary for the
compilation of my project.
Last but not the least; I would like to thank the Almighty who kept me mentally strong and
in good health to concentrate on my project and to complete it in time.

Kaustuv

Roll No. – 2021.

B.B.A., LL.B (Hons.)
Session –
2018- 2023.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the following project report Titled “Attitude Change ”
Submitted At Chanakya National Law University, Patna by Kaustuv roll 2021
B.B.A. LL.B.(hons) Carried Out Under The Guidance And Supervision Of Ms.
Kirti and has Not Been Submitted Anywhere For Any Purposes Whatsoever.

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 Kaustuv
ROLL NO. 2021

Preface
The Following project report deals with the process of attitude formation, change and its
overall impact on any organization structure, along with factors that influence or facilitate
the process of attitude change in an employee when introduced to the work environment in
an organization.

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Introduction

“A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a
catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.”
----Wade Boggs(American athlete)
Organizational Behaviour (OB) is the study of human behaviour in organizational settings,
the interface between human behaviour and the organization, and the organization itself.
One of the key aspects of OB is the study of individuals in their organizational roles, i.e. how
employees react or behave when facing different levels of stimuli, under pressure or under
the burden of responsibilities in order to improve upon their work conditions and increasing
overall job satisfaction of the employees.1[ CITATION Org19 \l 16393 ]

1
Organizational Behavior Explained: Definition, Importance, Nature, Model. (2019, September 02). Retrieved
from iEdunote.com: https://iedunote.com/organizational-behavior

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Study of OB is a multidisciplinary study and relies upon theories of different fields of studies
such as psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, social psychology, and political
science in order to understand the complex, uncertain and un-predictable beings i.e.
humans in order to promote what is desired and dissuade what is considered undesired
behaviour.
There are multiple layers to human consciousness, that influences their behaviour when
faced with certain situations such as their values, their background, their personality, and
when all of these multiple layers come together, they form what we know as the attitude of
an individual.
“Attitude is the enduring organization of motivational, emotional, and cognitive process
with respect to some aspect of individual’s world.”
--- Kerch and Crutch Field

It is how a person feels towards a certain stimuli, which determines their overall response,
i.e. behaviour. It is a well-known fact that attitude is something persistent and does not tend
to change easily however; this does not mean that it is something, which cannot change,
with proper conditioning and patience. For example, a smoker’s attitude towards smoking
changes if the person quits smoking. Similarly, in an organization, an employee is expected
to have a positive attitude towards their tasks and if one’s attitude is undesirable, steps are
taken in order to promote the desirable/expected attitude in them through compliance,
identification and internalization, which are the three major steps for attitude change.
Impact of attitude in an organization’s goal is eminent as attitude directly affects an
employee’s productivity, which in turn affects his/her efficiency, which ultimately influences
their productivity thus affecting the functioning of the organizational structure as well.

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Aims/ objective Of the Study

The research is conducted in order to understand the theory of attitude change and its
impact on organization
What causes/facilitates a change in attitude?
What is the role of Attitude and attitude change in an organization?

Hypothesis
Attitude plays a vital role in achieving organizational objectives in an efficient manner by
promoting positive behaviour.
Attitude change is an indispensable element to study in order to improve Job satisfaction.

Research questions
1. What is attitude change?
2. what are the necessary elements for attitude formation?
3. How is does attitude change affect an organization and significance of a positive attitude
in the organizational structure?

Research methodology
Research methodology used in this project report was doctrinal research

Sources of data
Primary sources: None

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Secondary sources: Books, Published Articles, Newspapers, Judgements

Review of literature
For this research, the book of organizational behaviour by Stephen P. robins was studied
along with many relevant articles relating to importance of attitude and attitude change in
an organization in order to determine the important factors, which influence the process of
attitude change, and the impact it has on an organization.

Limitations of the Study

1. Researcher is a student
2. Time provided for research is extremely limited
3. Researcher does not have enough resources to conduct a thorough research work
4. The research work is conducted for academic purposes only

Scope of the study

This research work will include thorough explanation attitude change and its impact on
organization
What causes attitudes to get developed
What is the importance of desirable attitudes in an organization.

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 chapterisation

1. Attitude and its impact on behaviour..............................................................................................10

2. Attitude formation...........................................................................................................................12
3. Attitude change process..................................................................................................................16
04. Attitude change and organizations................................................................................................20
05. Conclusion suggestions and criticism.............................................................................................21
References...........................................................................................................................................22

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1. Attitude and its impact on behaviour

“Attitudes are learned predispositions towards aspects of our environment; they can be
directed positively or negatively towards certain people, services or institutions.”
----Munn
In other words, attitude is the emotional response generated inside the human mind with
respect to external stimuli, which induces one to behave in a certain way.
Typically, researchers have assumed that attitudes have three components: cognition,
affect, and behaviour.[ CITATION Ste19 \l 16393 ]2
Cognition is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding
through thought, experience, and the senses. When considered in the context of attitude,
the word is used for the various stimuli which are bombarded at the same time towards a
single entity and his/her process of filtering out what is necessary and what is not necessary.
In other words, it is the evaluation of stimuli
Affect or the affective component is the emotional response towards the stimuli that is
selected cognitively, which impacts the behavioural outcomes of the individual. E.g. To get
angry over Low pay scales, to feel startled when provided with some responsibility out of
nowhere etc.
The behavioural component of the attitude is allied quite meticulously to the affective
component of attitude (i.e. the emotions generated inside in response to the external
stimuli). In response to the affective component one tends to perform certain actions /
show a certain type of behaviour, which could be either negative or positive in nature
depending upon the emotional status of the individual. E.g. demotivated to perform the job
due to low wages, which subsequently births a thought of looking for a new job with better
pay scale.
It could be said that Behaviour is the reflection of one’s attitude towards a particular task
thus making attitude an extremely vital component to be regulated in order to promote
desired behaviour in the organization in order to meet the organizational goals.
Nevertheless, it is easier said than done, as attitude is something, which is birthed mostly
from one’s true personality and is very difficult to change for the better because of its
rigidity. In short, we can say that our behaviour follows our attitude and thus we act
accordingly.
However, is the statement actually true? Do we always behave the way we think? Do we
always follow what we say to others?

2
Stephen P. Robbins, T. A. (2019). Organizational behaviour. In T. A. Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational
behaviour (pp. 70-90). Pearson

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The answer to all the above queries is a solid NO! Early researches over attitude (before
1950s) had yielded the same result that is behaviour is something which is causally related
to attitude and the logic behind their conclusions were that people tend to behave in a way
which satisfies their interests. E.g. A person will watch only those movies that he considers
to be worth wile, neglecting any other movies, which he/she considers not decent, or an
employee tends to avoid the assignments he/she finds to be tedious or distasteful.
Recent studies on the other hand conclude differently. In late 1960s a researcher named
Leon Festinger concluded and argued that ‘attitude follows behaviour’. His reasoning came
from the tendency of human beings to correct their statements to match their actions.
Festinger proposed that cases of attitude, following behaviour, illustrate the effects of
cognitive dissonance that is any incompatibility an individual might perceive between two or
more attitudes or between behaviour and attitudes. He argued that any form of
inconsistency in ones words and actions causes them discomfort and individuals therefore
tends to reduce it in search of a stable state with minimum dissonance.
It is now an established fact that people tend to dislike inconsistencies between their
behaviour and attitude and generally tend to alter their behaviour or attitude or when faced
with negative response develop a rationalization for the discrepancy. Alternatively, they can
quit their jobs because the dissonance is too great.
No individual, of course, can completely avoid dissonance. We know smoking cigarettes is
injurious to health yet we still see people who smoke day in and day out fully realising the
consequences of their actions. Festinger proposed that the desire to reduce dissonance
depends on moderating factors, including the importance of the elements creating it and
the degree of influence we believe we have over them. A third factor is the rewards of
dissonance; high rewards accompanying high dissonance tend to reduce the tension
inherent in the dissonance, in other words the motivating factor.

2. Attitude formation

The field of organizational behaviour, which deals with the study of attitude, is based upon
the concepts of attitude studied under the field Social Psychology whereby an attitude is
defined as the general and lasting impression/ opinion, either positive or negative, or a
feeling about a person object or issue.
We generally find that attitudes towards something are formed due to direct experiences,
persuasion by others or through media. Attitudes just like our personality have certain

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foundation, which they are built upon. There are three foundations of attitude formation;
affect or emotion, behaviour, and cognitions.3 [ CITATION Att19 \l 16393 ]
It is also found from recent studies that attitudes may develop out of psychological needs
(motivational foundations), social interactions (social foundations), and genetics (biological
foundations), although this last notion is rather new and controversial.

Emotional Foundations of Attitudes deals with the affects or the emotions that are linked
with our attitude, In such cases our attitudes have been formed though our emotions rather
than through logic or thinking. For instance, we may say that we know something “in our
heart” or have a “gut feeling” about it. The following could happen because of following
reasons being;
(a) Sensory reactions: Any direct exposure with an objects through seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting, or touching induces an evaluative response
in our mind and categorise that experience as either pleasant
or unpleasant. E.g. Upon tasting a dish for the first time we
immediately come to know whether we like it or not. This
principle also applies to aesthetic experiences, such as
admiring the colour or composition of an artwork. In other
words, we form attitudes about objects immediately upon
experiencing them.

(b) Values: Some attitudes, which form inside us, are based upon our
larger belief system. We may come to harbour certain
attitudes just because they satisfy our basic moral values or
religious believes. For example, for many people their
attitudes towards abortion, birth control, same-sex marriage,
and the death penalty follow from their moral or religious
beliefs and therefore are highly emotional issues for them.

(c) Operant/instrumental conditioning: It is a process whereby an attitude is formed

because it has been reinforced through reward or a pleasant
experience or discouraged through punishment or an
unpleasant experience

(d) Classical conditioning: Classical or Pavlovian conditioning happens when a new

stimulus comes to elicit an emotional reaction because of its
association with a stimulus that already elicits the emotional
3
Attitude Formation (SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY) - IResearchNet. (2019, September 02). Retrieved from
psychology.iresearchnet.com: https://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/attitudes/attitude-
formation/

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 response. A Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov took two dogs,
who naturally salivated to meat powder, and trained them to
salivate at the sound of a bell by continually ringing the bell as
the meat powder was presented to the two dogs day after
day. In humans, some of our attitudes have become
conditioned in much the same way. For example, some people
have a negative attitude towards “dirty” words. Just the
thought of a taboo word will cause some people to blush. The
words themselves have come to elicit an emotional reaction
because their use is frowned upon in our culture in most
contexts.

(e) Semantic generalization: Semantic generalization could be defined as formation

attitudes about an object or idea without having direct contact
with it. In other words, Not only can we become conditioned
to a specific stimulus, but also this initial conditioning can
generalize or spread to similar stimuli. Examples of such
attitude formation could be prejudice, where people have
formed an attitude without having direct contact with the
object of that attitude.
(f) Evaluative conditioning: It occurs when we form attitudes toward an object or person
because our exposure to them coincided with a positive or
negative emotion. Therefore, an object need not directly cause
us to feel pleasant or unpleasant for us to form an attitude.
(g) Mere exposure: This occurs when a person is repeatedly exposed to the same
object or person repeatedly, which generally results in
formation of a positive attitude toward that object or person
For example, many popular styles of clothing seem bizarre at
first, but then as we see more of them we may come to accept
and even like them.

Behavioural Foundations of Attitudes deals with attitudes, which are formed due to our
actions, which occurs when we do something before we have an attitude, when we are
unsure of our attitude or when we are not thinking about what we are doing. That is, there
are times when just going through the events/motions can cause us to form an attitude
consistent with those actions There are at least four lines of evidences that justify for how
attitudes may form out of actions.
1. The self-perception theory: that we look to our behaviour, analyse it and then figure
out our attitude based on what we have done or are doing.

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 2. Cognitive dissonance theory: that an individual strives for consistency between our
attitudes and our actions and when the two do not match, we may formulate a new
attitude in order to coincide with our past actions.

3. Research evidence using the facial feedback hypothesis: that the way in which we
position our facial muscles leaves an impact on attitude formation as the way in
which our facial muscles are oriented forces us to experience that emotion.

4. And finally Role playing such as improvising persuasive arguments, giving personal
testimony, taking on another person’s perspective, or even play-acting, are all
additional ways that people may come to form attitudes based on their behaviours.
Cognitive Foundations of Attitudes deals with what we consider as believes that might
come from direct experiences or comprehension/ breakthroughs one achieves while
thinking about the world (imaginating, wondering, reflecting, reading, writing, listening,
talking. etc.).
e.g. if one considers bugs to be disgusting the one would probably have an attitude that
bugs are not food. However, if one reads that locusts and other insects are happily eaten in
some cultures, then he/she may come to believe that locusts may not be so bad. One’s
attitude here comes from thinking about the new facts they read.

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3. Attitude change process

Because of the functional value of attitudes, the processes that change them have been a
major focus throughout the history of social psychology. Attitudes are important aspects of
understanding one’s behaviour as they can guide an individual’s thought, behaviour, and
feelings. A change in attitude occurs anytime an attitude gets modified i.e. when a person
goes from being positive to negative, from slightly positive to very positive, or from having
no attitude at all to having one.
Different theories regarding the process of attitude change were formulated in order to
better explain the process. The most easy process/ approach, which defines the
phenomena, some of them are4 [ CITATION Att191 \l 16393 ]
Dual Process Approach
According to dual process models of attitude change, research on this topic can be
organized according to two general types of processes: (1) those that occur when one puts
forth relatively little cognitive effort, and (2) those that occur with relatively high cognitive
effort. The amount of effort put used is directed through many variables all of which have an
impact on one’s ability to think or on their motivational force
(A)Low-Effort Processes
When factors that affect attitude keep one’s motivation and/or ability to think ata a lower
level (such as when the issue is not personally relevant or there are many distractions
present), attitude change can be produced by a variety of low-effort processes. These
include some largely automatic associative processes as well as simple inferential processes.
(A.1) Associative Processes
1. Classical Conditioning: One of the methods to induce attitude change in
the absence of any effortful thought is to associate a neutral thought with
another stimuli having a positive or negative meaning. Thus, continually
associating an attitude object or message with something you already like
(e.g., an attractive source) can lead to positive attitudes or vice versa.
2. Affective Priming: This process also involves association of one stimuli with
other stimuli. In this process, a positive or negative stimulus is encountered
just prior to a new attitude object. When this happens, one’s reaction to the

4
Attitude Change (SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY) - IResearchNet. (2019, September 02). Retrieved from IResearchNet:
https://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/attitudes/attitude-change/

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 positive or negative stimulus will have major impacts on the evaluation of the
new object, producing attitude change. Although this type of attitude may
change as one interacts with the attitude object, the initial positive
evaluation will make it more likely that one’s final attitude is also positive.
3. Mere Exposure: Repeated exposure to an object in the absence of
association can also change one’s attitudes. To put it simply this process
requires one repeatedly interacts with an attitude object.
(A.2) Inferential Processes
1. Balance: the word balance here refers to cognitive balance one must
maintain. This balance is achieved when people agree with those they like
and disagree with those they dislike. When this is not the case, one
experiences a state of unease, and attitudes are likely to shift in order to
bring the system into a state of a stable balance.
2. Attribution: At its most general level, attribution concerns the inferences
that people make about themselves and others after witnessing a behaviour
and the situation in which it occurred. Although this topic is highly studied in
and of itself, its research has also outlined a number of processes that can
create low-effort attitude change. One attributional process, which occurs
when people are not well attuned to their own beliefs, is self-perception. In
this process, people infer their own attitudes from their behaviours, just as
they would for someone else.
3. Heuristics: One final process through which low-effort attitude change can
occur is with heuristics, or simple decision rules based on prior experiences or
observations. Although there are countless heuristics, some examples are
“experts are usually correct” and “bigger is better.” When motivation and
ability to think are low, people can use simple rules like these to form
evaluations
(B) High-Effort Processes
There are also attitude changes, which require a greater degree of mental resources. It
generally occurs when people are highly motivated and could influence his/her attitude
through their own thoughts and involves,
1. Cognitive Responses When people’s attitudes change through the use of
high cognitive effort, some of the most important aspects to consider are
their actual thoughts (cognitive responses) toward the attitude object and
any persuasive message that is received on the topic. Although there are
a number of different aspects to consider, three components of thought
have proven especially important in producing change. The first, and most
obvious, is whether thoughts about the attitude object or message are
largely favourable or unfavourable. By examining the ratio of positive to
negative thoughts, the likely amount of attitude change produced can be
approximated. If there is a greater proportion of favourable than
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 unfavourable thoughts, your attitude will change in a positive direction.
The opposite is true if there is a greater proportion of negative thoughts.
A second important dimension concerns how much thinking is done. For
example, the more positive thoughts one has about an attitude object,
the more favourable the attitudes will be. The third, and final, aspect of
thought is related to confidence. When thinking about an attitude object
or persuasive message, people will have varying confidence in each of
their discrete thoughts. To the extent that they are highly confident in a
thought, it will have a great impact on their final attitude. Those thoughts
that are associated with low confidence, however, will play a relatively
minor role in any attitude change. Many things can affect one’s
confidence in a thought, such as how easily it comes to mind.

2. Expectancy-Value Processes: According to the reasoned action theory,

attitudes are created through an individual’s assessment of how likely it is
that a given attitude object will be associated with positive (or negative)
consequences or values. The more likely it is that an attitude object is
associated with a positive consequence or value, the more positive the
attitude will be. Although some researchers have argued that all attitudes
are determined in this manner, it is most likely that this process only
occurs when people put sufficient effort into considering all of the
possible consequences and values that may be tied to a given attitude
object. Interestingly, when people engage in this process of effortful
consideration of an object or message, they may actually change their
own attitude.
3. Dissonance Processes: According to cognitive dissonance theory, people
are motivated to hold consistent attitudes. Because of this motivation for
consistency, people experience unpleasant physiological arousal (an
increase in heart rate, sweaty palms, etc.) when they willingly engage in a
behavior that is counter to their beliefs or are made aware that they
possess two or more conflicting attitudes. This experience then motivates
them to change their attitudes so that the unpleasant feelings can be
eliminated. When people make a choice from among alternatives,
dissonance processes will often produce attitude change.
However the most important hurdle that remains in the process of attitude change is
Attitude Strength. Attitude strength is associated with an attitude’s persistence, resistance
to change, and ability to predict behaviour. The stronger an attitude, the more it exhibits
these characteristics. Attitudes produced by high-effort cognitive processes are stronger
than those produced by low-effort processes because they are the result of greater
cognitive effort, these attitudes are often based on more consistent information, are
supported by a more developed knowledge structure and are held with greater certainty
than are attitudes produced by a low-effort process.

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04. Attitude change and organizations

In the field of organizational behaviour attitude in general is the reflection of an employee’s

satisfaction and motivational levels when given a task or during its performance. In an
organization, structure there exists hierarchy, which is to be respected and acknowledged. If
an employee disregards his/her position in the hierarchy and disobeys their superiors, it
denotes that the employee does not have a right attitude towards the organizational
hierarchy and needs to undergo attitude change.
Study of attitude change is important for a manager in order to promote desirable attitude
in their subordinates by utilising various tools like cognitive responses, Values, Classical
conditioning, Mere exposure etc. to ensure every employee is satisfied and are working in a
desired manner with positive attitudes and high motivation.
If an employee is unsatisfied with his job, this may lead to formation of negative attitude
towards the company and the employee may start to consider switching companies in order
to achieve minimum dissonance. Similarly, if a deserving employee is not promoted they
may harbour negativity towards his/her superiors and develop a negative attitude towards
their co-workers, which would result in lack of productivity and subsequent delay in meeting
of organizational objectives.
Companies through bonuses, promotions, and punishments/fines regulates the attitude
formation / change in its employees, which is actually classic conditioning with a mix of
Cognitive responses. Cognitive attitude change also enables newly promoted employees to
understand their new standing in the organizational structure and to act accordingly.

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With the help of attitude change, an organization is able to re-shape its employees into
perfect disciplined workers with a common objective and in sieving out any
incompatible/unreliable employee from the organization structure who may affect the
overall productivity of the firm.

05. Conclusion suggestions and criticism

Attitude is something, which starts to develop alongside your personality at a very young
age and plays a vital role in shaping one’s behaviour. In the field of OB attitude is studied in
order to understand the nature of our employees and how to deal with any undesirable
behaviour by their side, its suppression and changing such attitudes into ones that are
desirable and of benefit to the organization. Many factors influence the attitude formation
process but are mainly based upon three grounds affect or emotion, behaviour, and
cognitions. Attitude change however is based upon mainly two categories when it comes to
Dual Process Approach : (1) those that occur when one puts forth relatively little cognitive
effort, and (2) those that occur with relatively high cognitive effort.
It is important, as attitude is also an internal reflection of one’s behaviour thus helping
managers or higher management to understands the needs and wants of its employees
through attitude measurement process. However, to better understand the process of
attitude change a firm should regularly conduct workshops and group activities, as those will
deepen the bonding between the employees and promote positive attitude formation
between the co-workers in the organization.
The researcher initially had the hypothesis that; 1. Attitude plays a vital role in achieving
organizational objectives in an efficient manner by promoting positive behaviour & 2.
Attitude change is an indispensable element to study in order to improve Job satisfaction.
Both of which were proved true as attitude change or attitude by itself is how one perceive
the stimuli surrounding him, which in turn determines their behavioural pattern. In an
organization, these stimuli could be colleagues, work environment, salary etc. all of which
can influence an employee’s job satisfaction and no body wants a demotivated employee in
their firm as it would lead to them not working in an efficient manner, causing losses to the
firm. Through study of Attitude change in OB one can understand their employee’s wants
and needs in order to improve upon their job satisfaction levels.

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References
Attitude Change (SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY) - IResearchNet. (2019, September 02). Retrieved
from IResearchNet: https://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-
psychology/attitudes/attitude-change/
Attitude Formation (SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY) - IResearchNet. (2019, sepetember 02). Retrieved
from psychology.iresearchnet.com: https://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-
psychology/attitudes/attitude-formation/
Organizational Behavior Explained: Definition, Importance, Nature, Model. (2019,
september 02). Retrieved from iEdunote.com: https://iedunote.com/organizational-
behavior
Stephen P. Robbins, T. A. (2019). Organizational behaviour. In T. A. Stephen P. Robbins,
Organizational behaviour (pp. 70-90). Pearson.

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