Attitude
Attitude refers to a person's evaluation or feeling toward a particular object, person, event, or idea. It encompasses beliefs, emotions, and behaviors and can be positive, negative, or neutral. Attitudes can influence how individuals perceive and interact with the world around them, shaping their thoughts, decisions, and actions.
5 Key excerpts on "Attitude"
eBook - ePub- Miles Hewstone, Wolfgang Stroebe, Klaus Jonas, Miles Hewstone, Wolfgang Stroebe, Klaus Jonas(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- BPS Blackwell(Publisher)
...First, we define the term ‘Attitude’. We will show that expressing an Attitude involves making an evaluative judgement about an Attitude object. Second, we devote attention to the content of Attitudes. We will show that Attitudes have cognitive, affective and behavioural components: that is, Attitudes can be based on beliefs, feelings and behaviours, while also shaping beliefs, feelings and behaviours. In discussing the content of Attitudes, we focus on these components as antecedents of an Attitude. Third, we consider the structure of Attitudes. We will show that Attitudes can be organized and structured in different ways. Fourth, we consider the psychological functions or needs that are served by Attitudes. We will show that people hold Attitudes for a number of reasons. Fifth, we introduce how Attitudes are measured, concentrating on direct and indirect strategies that psychologists have developed to measure Attitudes. We will show that Attitudes can be measured in many ways. Finally, we review research that has addressed a key question for Attitude researchers: under what circumstances do Attitudes predict behaviour? We will show that our Attitudes and opinions are quite effective in predicting how we behave. Given the importance of Attitudes in understanding how we think, feel and behave, it is not surprising that there are numerous links between Attitudes and many of the other topics covered in this textbook. For example, self-esteem can be conceptualized as one’s Attitude toward the self (see Chapter 5), and Attitudes have obvious links to the study of persuasion and behaviour change, advertising (Chapter 7), social influence (Chapter 8), and the study of prejudice (Chapter 14). WHAT IS AN Attitude? How can we best define an Attitude? A logical starting point is to define what we mean by the term Attitude. We define an Attitude as ‘an overall evaluation of an object that is based on cognitive, affective and behavioural information’ (Maio & Haddock, 2010, p. 4)...
- Paul Seager(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Teach Yourself(Publisher)
...7 Attitudes and persuasion What do you think about the leader of your country? Should smoking be banned in all public places? Is global warming something you are concerned about? How do you feel about cricket or football? Would you buy a burger from a popular chain of fast-food outlets? Your answers to all of these questions reflect your Attitudes. Attitudes are important because they play a key role in how an individual views the world; therefore it is important to understand what an Attitude is and how they are formed. To answer these questions, it is first necessary to measure them, and this is not always as easy as it might seem. Once we know what a person’s Attitudes are, the problem is then whether or not we can change them in terms of an individual’s behaviour, either permanently (persuasion) or temporarily (compliance). This chapter aims to address these questions. What is an Attitude? A number of definitions abound with regards to what an Attitude is and isn’t (see Spotlight below), but most contain a reference to some form of evaluative judgement, that is, do we favour something or not. In essence an Attitude is how much we like or dislike something, and the ‘something’ (generally referred to as the attitudinal object) can be an object, a person or an idea. Attitudes are learned by an individual as opposed to them being innate. Spotlight: Defining Attitudes Two definitions that seem to capture the essence of what an Attitude is come from Eagly and Chaiken (1993): ‘a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor… psychological tendency refers to a state that is internal to the person, and evaluating refers to all classes of evaluative responding, whether overt or covert, cognitive, affective or behavioral’ (p. 1) and from Maio and Haddock (2010) who put it slightly more succinctly: ‘an overall evaluation of an object that is based on cognitive, affective and behavioral information’ (p...
eBook - ePub- Philip Erwin(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...The first emphasised that cognition was central to the concept of Attitude; the second placed emphasis on the emotional or affective component of Attitudes; and the third emphasised behaviour. Many definitions have been based on the idea that Attitudes are in fact a combination of all three of these elements. This approach has been called the classical or triadic model of Attitudes. It sees Attitudes as having three interconnected components (which are conveniently easy to remember because they begin with the first three letters of the alphabet): A ffect B ehaviour C ognition Affect, the emotional content of Attitudes, can, of course, simply be seen as positive or negative, although it is also commonly scaled for significance, for degrees of affect. Cognitions are the perceived relationships between aspects of objects of psychological significance. For example, the cognitive element of our Attitude towards a university education may be centred around our perception of a relationship between higher education and future occupational success. The behavioural element is simply the acting in accordance with our Attitudes. If we like chocolate we probably also tend to buy it and eat it! Unfortunately we don’t always act in accordance with our Attitudes. Many factors may potentially inhibit the overt expression of an Attitude. For example, prejudicial Attitudes may not be expressed in some circumstances because the individual fears social disapproval and censure. Many modern theorists prefer to see the behavioural component as a predisposition, tendency or intention to behave in a certain way rather than as an overt act. By now you are probably thinking that this model looks rather complicated – three components all supposedly being combined to produce this thing called an Attitude. And you are probably wondering if these components are always in agreement...
eBook - ePub- John D. DeLamater, Jessica L. Collett(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...If Attitudes influence behavior, is it possible to change behavior by changing Attitudes? Politicians, auto manufacturers, restaurants, and others spend billions of dollars every year trying to create favorable Attitudes. If they succeed, do these Attitudes affect our behavior? What about when your parents or friends try to influence your Attitudes? Are you less likely to smoke if your parents tell you it is a dirty and dangerous habit, or perhaps more inclined to become vegetarian if your friends tell you about the documentary they watched on industrial animal farming? The Nature of Attitudes An Attitude exists in a person’s mind; it is a mental state. Every Attitude is about something, the “object” of the Attitude. This section introduces the components, sources, and functions of Attitudes. The Components of an Attitude Consider the statement: “My human sexuality class is incredibly boring.” This Attitude has three components: (1) beliefs or cognitions, (2) an affective evaluation, and (3) a behavioral predisposition. Cognition. An Attitude is based on a set of cognitions, knowledge structures or beliefs associated with the Attitude object (Pratkanis & Greenwald, 1989). The student who doesn’t like their human sexuality class perceives it as involving certain content, taught by a particular person, using a particular method of instruction. Often we cannot prove whether particular beliefs are true or false, as many are opinions. For example, economists, politicians, and constituents disagree on whether the nation’s debt is too high, with people on both sides equally convinced they are right. Affective Evaluation. An Attitude is also based on how someone feels about an object. This is the Attitude’s affective or evaluative component. “It’s incredibly boring” indicates that the course arouses an unpleasant emotion in the student...
eBook - ePub- Anthony R. Pratkanis, Steven J. Breckler, Anthony G. Greenwald, Anthony R. Pratkanis, Steven J. Breckler, Anthony G. Greenwald(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...Such theoretical ambiguity undermines the achievement of consensus on conceptual analysis. The present chapter sought to overcome these recurrent difficulties through its formulations of Attitude structure and function. Attitude was defined as the association of a mental representation (i.e., an object, category, proposition, or schema) with affect, and Attitude function was analyzed in terms of a single major function, object appraisal (a synthesis of Smith, Bruner, & White’s [1956] function of that name and Katz’s [1960] adjustive and knowledge functions). The implications of this analysis can be summarized as a set of three propositions that specify conditions under which Attitudes play a powerful role in determining social behavior. 1. Attitude toward the self (self-esteem) is a powerful determinant of social behavior. The self is for many people the most important Attitude object. Behavior that is interpreted in terms of evaluation apprehension and impression management is esteem-related, and self-esteem has sometimes been credited as the effective basis for the broad range of phenomena studied in investigations of cognitive dissonance (see Aronson, 1969; Greenwald & Ronis, 1978). Additionally, the powerful phenomena of attraction to similar others (Byrne, 1969) or repulsion from dissimilar others (Rosenbaum, 1986) can be understood in terms of the self-esteem implications of these responses. 2. Attitude is a powerful determinant of evaluative responses to the source and content of influence attempts. The person with a favorable Attitude toward some mental object can be counted on to respond favorably to statements that place that object in a favorable light, or to oppose communications that evaluate the object negatively. The sources of such communications will be evaluated in correspondingly positive or negative fashion. 3. Attitude is a powerful determinant of behavior in relation to novel (ordinary) objects with which the person has had direct experience...
