Attitude is a psychological construct and an emotional entity that characterizes a person. It refers to a person’s approach to something and their opinion of it. Attitude includes our feelings, mindset, and outlook. We use our attitude to influence our behavior and the behavior of others. It is a powerful tool for positive change.
Positive attitude
Having a positive attitude is a powerful tool in coping with stressful situations and rebounding after negative events. It enables you to see the positive side of life, and it helps you understand others. You become more compassionate and understand the thoughts and intentions behind other people’s actions. Positive attitude also teaches you to be thankful and appreciate everything in life.
When you wake up in the morning, try to keep a positive attitude. It will be easier to stay upbeat throughout the day, especially if you aren’t irritated by your alarm clock. Otherwise, you may find yourself in a negative mindset all day. Instead, make a resolution to be cheerful, no matter what the circumstances are.
Keeping a positive attitude may even protect you from the harmful effects of stress. Moreover, it will help you focus on your long-term goals. Studies have shown that positive emotions improve outcomes across a broad range of conditions. They can also improve your overall health. If you’re feeling down and overwhelmed by a situation, try to stay positive and focused on a solution.
Having a positive attitude will help you cope with stressful situations and improve your self-esteem. By being optimistic, you’ll find it easier to relate to others and be sociable with them. People with a positive attitude don’t dwell on mistakes or negative situations and look at life with confidence.
Political attitude
Political attitude is the foundation for forming and maintaining political cultures. This process is performed through the communication between political cultures. While political socialization does not always act in the favor of maintaining political culture, it is an important function. Political attitudes are formulated and maintained through a variety of channels, including schools, media, and other institutions.
Political attitude is often shaped by family values. In general, young people adopt similar political values to those of their parents. It can be difficult to discern political beliefs in families with varying generations, but children of politically active parents are likely to have more progressive attitudes. Age is also an important factor in political attitudes. Older people tend to hold conservative views than younger ones.
Ideological orientation is thought of as a set of interrelated attitudes reflecting an individual’s liberal or conservative preferences. These attitudes are often clustered along several ideological dimensions. Ideological attitudes emerge in an individual only after they become involved with the political environment. This is particularly true of young voters, who exhibit relatively weak political attitudes until their late twenties.
Genetic influences are also a key factor in political attitudes. The results of twin studies have indicated that the genetic basis of political attitudes is substantial. This finding is a challenge for the traditional model of causality based on personality traits.
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning describes how individuals acquire a particular attitude based on past experiences, rewards, and punishments. In early childhood, children develop attitudes similar to their parents’, learning that expressing the correct viewpoint will lead to rewards. As the child grows older, this pattern continues and becomes reinforced by peer influence and other social factors. By the time an individual reaches adulthood, he or she knows that expressing a particular attitude is associated with distinct social groups.
Behavioral scientists have found that operant conditioning is highly effective for a variety of purposes, including attitude training. For instance, an individual may be able to earn a reinforcement by emitting two different behaviors in a row. In addition, the person may be able to change the ratio of behaviors to reinforcers over time.
Operant conditioning works by using words like positive and negative to modify behavior. Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior while negative punishment deprives the subject of the desired behavior. It is a very effective method for teaching children how to behave by making it fun. For example, a program in Dallas paid second-grade students $2 per book they read and passed a quiz. This program increased reading comprehension among the students.
Although the effects of operant conditioning are widely recognized in clinical settings, it is also used in education. Although operant conditioning occurs naturally, it is often reinforced by parents and other social influencers without them knowing it. However, it’s important to be aware of how operants affect attitude and behavior because they can influence it radically.
Systematic persuasion
Systematic persuasion is a process of influencing others to adopt a particular opinion. It can be done in two basic ways: through heuristics and systematic processing. Systematic processing is a more elaborate process, involving careful thought and analysis of the facts presented. In addition, systematic processing requires a great deal of cognitive effort, which is difficult when people are limited in both time and capacity.
Cognitive theories are increasingly influencing attitudes research. Theories such as the elaboration likelihood model and the heuristic-systematic model have proved useful in analyzing the persuasive appeals. These models consider different aspects of the process, including the characteristics of the audience and the source of the persuasive message.
A logical approach based on facts and data can persuade people to adopt a new attitude. Ads in the car industry, for example, emphasize safety features and fuel efficiency. This approach can result in lasting changes in attitudes, but it requires a powerful argument.
An attitude is an internal representation of a particular belief or idea. An attitude can be expressed verbally, in writing, or even through physical actions. It helps people master their environment and make important connections with others. In the human brain, attitudes are composed of beliefs, feelings, and information about actions toward an object. In general, people weight negative information more than positive information and establish a strong association between the representation and the attitude.
Intrinsic vs. extroverted attitudes
In order to categorize behavior, scientists have used the dichotomous scale of introversion versus extroversion. Although this is a simplistic system, it does allow researchers to categorize a person’s behavior in more accurate ways. The two personality types are also seen as two ends of a spectrum, with many people showing characteristics of both.
The difference between the two attitudes is most visible in the way they perceive an object. For the introvert, the object is a foreign and abstract concept. The object always frustrates the introvert, while the extravert maintains a positive relation to the object.
Jung believed that extroversion and introversion are rooted in how an individual channels their general interests. While the former focuses on external objects and events, the latter focuses on internal matters. While both groups seek gratification from other people, they are motivated by internal factors.
The extraverted person’s ability to fit into the world is dependent on how much their needs are valued. The extravert has a tendency to put other people’s needs ahead of his own. This is his weakness. If he can accommodate himself to all the external circumstances without deviating from his self-preservation, he will be considered normal.
Relationships between introverts and extroverts are difficult, but can be very successful if understanding is shared. The primary cause of conflict between extroverts and introverts is a lack of understanding. If both sides can learn to understand each other better, they will be able to avoid the conflict.
Influence of attitudes on behavior
Attitudes are what we think about things and how we act. In fact, our attitude determines our actions even when there is no external influence. For example, Wyatt has an attitude that junk food is unhealthy. However, he occasionally eats it at parties. While our general attitudes do influence our behavior, they are often specific situations. For instance, Megan might have a general attitude of respect for seniors, but she may be rude to a senior citizen who cuts her off at a stop sign.
Although the effects of attitudes on behavior are highly variable, we can use some empirical evidence to identify the factors that influence stability. In particular, attitudes are related to the accessibility and one-sidedness of information. Repetitive expression of attitudes is correlated with attitudes that are stable and accessible. One-sidedness of information is also important.
Many decades of research have demonstrated the importance of attitudes in guiding behavior. Yet, there are no systematic meta-analyses that summarize the extent to which attitudes predict future behavior. As such, we know very little about the factors that moderate the relationship between attitude and behavior. However, the next section of this chapter will summarize the current knowledge.
To increase the impact of social interventions, agencies can use the results of meta-analysis to identify factors that are important to the success of the intervention. For example, if agencies want to increase the frequency of a new behavior in their target group, they should be aware of the motivations of the target population, the evaluative implications of the new behavior, and the situational factors.
