Relationship between communication and attitudes

RITU RAJ ROY, BBA

“People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.” - John C. Maxwell

Communicationis the act of conveying meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually
understood signs, symbols, and semiotic rules.

Attitude is a psychological construct, a mental and emotional entity that inheres in, or characterizes a person. They are complex and are
an acquired state through experiences. It is an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value and it is precipitated through a
responsive expression towards oneself, a person, place, thing, or event (the attitude object) which in turn influences the individual's
thought and action. 

An action of an individual whether positive or negative is considered as the attitude of that person. It is a response of a person towards
any situation, condition, object, and a person.

An attitude plays a big role in communication. A positive attitude of a person leads to good and positive communication whereas a
negative one hostile the environment through its negative attitude.

Positive communication can be a reason of the long-term relationship, whereas a person with a negative attitude spoils every relation
with his bad communication power.

The prevailing attitudes in my culture and society regarding women's place in society are intense and vary. Though it is the 21st century,
there are many people, male and female that have conservative and traditional views regarding the role and place of women in society.
There are as well a number of public figures, examples, and statistics of women that do not follow traditional roles in society. There are
more female high ranking government officials than in any other point in history and there are more women enrolled at the undergraduate
and graduate levels than in history and in some cases vastly outnumbering male counterparts. Therefore, like many issues in American
society, the attitudes regarding this issue may seem paradoxical or conflicting. One attitude that many people share within the culture is
that women have the right to choose what kind of lifestyle they wish to lead and should be unduly hindered to do so. If a woman chooses
her life's focus to be her spouse, offspring, and home that is her choice. It is equally her choice to have lovers, focus on her professional
development, and seek advanced formal education. Whatever the attitudes, women certainly have more social and economic mobility than
in previous decades and even centuries. The prevailing attitude is that women will article their needs and make their own choices whether
traditional or alternative.

Attitude and perception can affect business communication in both positive and negative ways. Pleasant, respectful, upbeat attitudes
throughout an office improve upward and downward communication, which increases morale, productivity and sales. Poor
communication behavioron the other hand, must be dealt with before it impacts the company culture or collapses the company itself.
Colleagues with extreme points of view may find it hard to see one another’s perspective because each has the attitude that the other
must be wrong without taking time to analyze the situation. Likewise, employees with similar attitudes may inadvertently overlook
instances of miscommunication because they believe they are always in agreement with one another. Turn poor communication
habits around, first by recognizing them, and then by setting productive examples.
The role of Attitude in Communication is very big. Two people communicating with each other carry a certain attitude which affects the
outcome and their long term relationship.

There are basically three types of attitude –

Positive Attitude – A person carrying positive attitude looks at the brighter side, concentrates on solutions and avoid conflicts. They are
happy workers and cooperative individuals who look for overall growth not just personal growth.

A person having a positive frame of mind rise up the success ladder as they know the benefits of positive communication and implement
the same in their work. They work hard and communicate the same to their boss. They seek solutions and are ready to experiment and
take risks and accept changes in life.

Communicating with others becomes easy when we are in a happy mood than in a sad state. We feel more free to communicate our
thoughts and share our feelings with someone who talks positively rather than negatively. A positive attitude leads to open
communication and the outcomes are always better than a closed communication.

Negative Attitude leads to negative communication and the outcome is never fruitful. Communicating negative about our friends or
employers creates a hostile environment. The comfort level degrades when negative communication starts with seniors or fellow co-
workers. Negative communication hampers the work and leads to negative mental state and the personal and professional life suffers
which leads to a strained relationship. People associate with us when we are positive and dissociate when we turn negative. Negative
communication leads to the grapevine and can cause firing of the employee in the long run if not controlled. A student carrying negative
emotions about a particular teacher talks fowl and thus hamper his relations which lead to more and more problems.
Negative communication never leads to solutions but drowns a person in more and more problems from where there is no looking
back. If you do not like a person do not spread false information’s. Adjust to the situation or look for a change when you are getting
trapped in negative emotions.

Neutral Attitude – The person carrying neutral attitude will take the middle path and not take a stand in communication. These type of
people are better to deal with than negative ones. They always remain diplomatic which work in their favour. These type of people do
not take a stand in communication and are hard to predict as to what they will do next.

CONCLUSION

Positive attitude holds a key role in effective communication. This is because it helps and proves to be more emphatic. Negative and laid-
back attitude does not have a good impact on the audience as they feel that the orator looks at only the bad side of things and is
the complainant. Looking at the brighter side of things and coming up with solutions or suggestions has a positive impact on
the audience and help them convince better.