.

ATTITUDE FORMATION AND

CHANGE

WHAT IS AN ATTITUDE?

An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an

individual's degree of like or dislike for something.
Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a
person, place, thing, or event
The attitude is the status-fixing behavior.
Social psychologists define an attitude as an enduring
evaluation, positive or negative, of people, objects, or ideas
Attitudes are relatively enduring.
Attitudes are situation-related.
Attitude is a mental position relative to a way of thinking
or being.

DEFINITION

Attitude denotes the sum total of mans inclinations

and feelings, prejudice, or bias, pre conceived notions,
ideas, fears, threats about any specific topic
Thurstone

An attitude is a mental or neutral set of readiness

exerting directive dynamic influence upon the
individuals response to all objects and situations with
which it is related
Allport

TERMINOLOGY

Favourability: the positive or negative

evaluation of the object or event
Intensity: the strength with which one can hold
an attitude
Confidence: the degree to which one believes
their attitude is right

NATURE

Attitudes are not inborn traits ,we acquire them through social
interactions. So attitudes are learned.
Family plays a major role in moulding our attitudes.
Attitudes are re-actively enduring states of readiness.
Attitudes have motivational affective characteristics.
Attitude have subject object relationship
Opinions are expressions of ones attitudes.
Attitude depends on knowledge.
Attitude always arouses ones feelings and sentiments.
Attitudes are multidimensional
They are susceptible to change or modifications.
Attitudes ranges from positive extremes to negative extremes
though a neutral zone.
Attitudes are numerous and varied as the stimuli to which they
respond.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDE

Object base
The

object of attitude may be anything including a person,

group, political or social event, issue or even an intimate
object

Specific direction
Attitude

guides the behavior of an individual in a

particular direction

Stability

Attitude

is something which persists over a period of time

CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDE

Motivational properties
It

denotes readiness to act in a particular manner

Learned
One

is not born with attitudes , these develops with our

experiences in dealing with people and objects

Manifest in behavior
It

operate at our sub conscious level i.e. people hold attitudes

without being aware of it

Bi-polar trait
It

is a position towards an object either positive or negative

CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDE
It is integrated with the organized system and cannot
be changed easily
It varies from culture to culture or society to society
It is overt or covert and based on individual
differences
A person forms positive attitudes towards the objects,
human groups, institutions, associations, etc. which
are instrumental in his achievement

CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDE

Attitudes are judgements. They develop on the ABC

model (affect, behavior, and cognition).
The ABC's of attitudes.
A: Affective (liking, feeling for)
B: Behavioral (how you behave toward object in
question)
C: Cognition (your beliefs/thoughts about object
in question)
All components are in harmony with each other
for eg. If you like (affective) a particular teacher
very much and hold him in respect (cognitive)
then you will try to attend all his
classes(behavioral)

Attitudes structure can be described in terms ofthree

components
Affective component: this involves a person's feelings /
emotions about the attitude object. For example :I like
public speaking
Behavioural component: the way the attitude we have
influences how we act or behave. For example I will grab
every opportunity to speak in public
Cognitive component : this involves a person's belief /
knowledge about an attitude object. For example I believe
public speaking is important for my career.

WHATS THE BIG DEAL ABOUT

ATTITUDES?
Attitudes
Guide

our thoughts (cognitive function)

Influence

function)

Affect

our feelings (affective

our behavior (connative function)

FEW BENEFITS OF POSITIVE

ATTITUDE

Constructive thinking

Creative thinking

Expecting success Optimism.

Improves quality

Makes a congenial environment

Breeds loyalty.

Believing in yourself and in

your abilities.

Displaying self- esteem and

confidence.

Looking for solutions.

Seeing opportunities.

Increase profits
Reduces stress
Helps a person become
contributing member of a family
& society. Becomes an asset to
their country.
Makes a pleasant personality
Motivation to accomplish your
goals.
Being inspired.
Choosing happiness
Not giving up.
Looking at failure and problems
as blessing in disguise

TIPS TO DEVELOP POSITIVE

ATTITUDE
Choose to be happy.
Look at the bright side of
life.
Choose to be and stay
optimistic.
Find reasons to smile more
often.
Repeat affirmations that
inspire and motivate you.
Learn concentrate and
meditation.
Associate yourself with
happy people

Have faith in yourself and

in the power of the
Universe.
Contemplate upon the
futility of negative
thinking and worries
Read inspiring quotes
Read inspiring stories.
Visualize only what you
want to happen.
Learn to master your
thoughts.

ORIGINS OF ATTITUDES

One of our earliest agents of attitude formation are our parents, later
followed by our peers and the media
Four major sources of attitude formation are:
classical conditioning: associating behaviors and attitudes as
"good" or "bad" (i.e. it's good to tell the truth, it's bad to steal)
operant conditioning: being rewarded or punished for behavior
and attitudes (i.e. being praised for telling the truth or being
punished for stealing something)
cognitive appraisals: weighing logical arguments in determining
your attitude
observational learning: learning attitudes through peer behavior
and the media

HOW ARE ATTITUDES FORMED?

Conditioning
Learning

can occur from repeated exposure to stimuli

We are more likely to develop a positive attitude
towards behaviour that continually brings rewards

Modelling
Develop

respect

attitudes by watching others that we trust or

Cognitive Learning
Involves

problem solving or reaching logical

conclusions based on information

Theories of attitude formation

Mere Exposure
Associative Learning
Observational Learning of Attitudes
The Self-perception Theory
The Functional Theory of Attitude Formation

MERE EXPOSURE

The mere exposure effect postulates that people tend

to develop a liking for something if they are frequently
exposed to it. The more often a song is heard or the
more time is spent with a person, the more appealing
the song or person will appear to be.

ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING
The reinforcement theory seems to offer the most
logical explanation when explaining why our attitudes
are formed.
In short, when we respond to a stimulus in a certain
way and then get positive reinforcement for that
response, we tend to repeat that response and adopt
that as our attitude. The reverse is likewise true.
For example, if I said I like Senator Snort, but
always got criticized by family and friends for that
response, its likely I would change my attitude.

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING OF
ATTITUDES

In Social or Observational Learning, attitudes are formed as a

result of our everyday interaction with others. We observe the
behaviors and expressions of attitude of others and tend to learn
vicariously from the reinforcements which they receive.
The learning of attitudes through observation can be clearly
demonstrated as we watch television. Our attitudes toward
fashion, and certain minority groups, to name a few, can all be
influenced by what is portrayed in the television media.
The tendency to adjust our attitudes is greater when our
reference group consists of individuals whose opinions we value
and with whom we can identify.

THE FUNCTIONAL THEORY OF ATTITUDE

FORMATION

The functional theory states that attitudes are formed

in order to satisfy certain psychological needs. We
believe things not necessarily because they are true
but because they are useful to us.

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY

Cognitive dissonance happens when an individual
experiences two conflicting or inconsistent beliefs
which cause a state of discomfort and tension.
Dissonance is also created when a persons behaviour
is incompatible with his thoughts
The strength of the dissonance depends on how
important the subject is to us, how conflicting and
incompatible the beliefs and thoughts are, and our
ability to rationalize and justify our behaviour.

To illustrate further, someone who smokes but believes

that smoking is a danger to ones health, will experience
dissonance. The strength of the dissonance depends on how
much the individual likes to smoke and how dangerous he
believes smoking is. The greatest dissonance will occur if
both alternatives appear equally
In order to eliminate the dissonance, the individual can
stop smoking, which is usually the most difficult
alternative, or justify his behaviour by convincing himself
that he is not such a heavy smoker, or that life is short and
we all must die anyway.or the smoker could remind himself
that he is only human, with weaknesses like everyone else.

POSSIBLE WAYS OF CHANGING

ATTITUDES
Providing New Information. Sometimes a dramatic
change in attitude is possible only by providing relevant
and adequate information to the person concerned.
Scanty and incomplete information can be a major
reason for brewing negative feeling and attitudes.
Use of Fear. Attitudes can be changed through the use
of fear. People might resort to change their work habit
for the fear of fear of unpleasant consequences. However,
the degree of the arousal of fear will have to be taken
into consideration as well.

Resolving Discrepancies. Whenever people face a

dilemma or conflicting situation they feel confused in
choosing a particular course of action. Like in the case
where one is to choose from between two alternative
courses of action, it is often become difficult for him to
decide which is right for him. Even when he chooses
one over the other, he might still feel confused. If some
one helps him in pointing out the positive points in
favour of the chosen course of action, he person might
resolve the his dilemma.

Influence of friends and peers. A very effective

way of changing ones attitude is through his friends
and colleagues. Their opinion and recommendation for
something often proves to be more important.
If for example, they are all praise for a particular
policy introduced in the work place, chances are high
that an individual will slowly accept that even when
he had initial reservations for that.

Co-opting. If you want to change the attitude of some

body who belongs to a different group, it is often
becomes very effective if you can include him in your
own group. Like in the case of the union leader who
are all the time vehemently against any management
decision, can be the person who takes active initiative
in implementing a new policy when he had
participated in that decision making process himself.