UNIT 3: ATTITUDE

Meaning and Definition

Attitude is the mental disposition, which can be towards a person, an object or an idea. It is formed through personal or social
experiences over a period of time. Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way. This can
include evaluations of people, issues, objects, or events.

In social psychology, attitude can be defined as the “likes, dislikes of the individual, his positive or negative evaluation regarding
people, objects, surroundings, events, world etc.” Attitude is something which keeps on changing according to our experiences. The
more experiences we get, the more our attitude about certain things and events changes. For example, if you dislike someone but have
to work with him, you may come to know this person better when you work together and realize that he isn’t as bad as you thought he
was. Your attitude about this person may change from negative to positive.

Allport defined an attitude as "a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic
influence upon an individual's response to all objects and situations with which it is related"

Attitude Formation

An attitude is a general and lasting positive or negative opinion or feeling about some person, object, or issue. Attitude formation
occurs through either direct experience or the persuasion of others or the media. Attitudes are not inherited. They are learnt.

Emotional Foundations of Attitudes

A key part of an attitude is the affect or emotion associated with the attitude. At a very basic level, we know whether we like or dislike
something or find an idea pleasant or unpleasant. For instance, we may say that we know something “in our heart” or have a “gut
feeling.” In such cases our attitudes have been formed though our emotions rather than through logic or thinking. This can happen
through (a) sensory reactions, (b) values, (c) operant/instrumental conditioning, (d) classical conditioning, (e) semantic generalization,
(f) evaluative conditioning, or (g) mere exposure.

A. Sensory Reactions

Any direct experience with an object though seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching will lead to an immediate evaluative
reaction. We are experts at knowing whether we find a certain sensory experience pleasant or unpleasant. For example, immediately
upon tasting a new type of candy bar, you know whether you like it or not. This also applies to aesthetic experiences, such as admiring
the color or composition of an artwork. We form attitudes about objects immediately upon experiencing them.

B. Values

Some attitudes come from our larger belief system. We may come to hold certain attitudes because they validate our basic values.
Many attitudes come from religious or moral beliefs. For example, for many people their attitudes about abortion, birth control, same-
sex marriage, and the death penalty follow from their moral or religious beliefs and are highly emotional issues for them.

C. Operant Conditioning

We tend to repeat behaviours which give a positive consequence (eg: praise) or we tend to avoid or not repeat behaviours which give
an undesirable consequence. (Detention) Operant or instrumental conditioning is when an attitude forms because it has been
reinforced through reward or a pleasant experience or discouraged through punishment or an unpleasant experience. For example, a
parent might praise a teenager for helping out at an after-school program with little kids. As a result, the teen may develop a positive
attitude towards volunteer work. Similarly, many people find that broccoli has a terrible taste, and so they dislike broccoli because of
its punishing flavor. Eg: Mouse experiment PPT (B.F. Skinner).

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 response. The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov took dogs, which naturally salivate 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. 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. Another example could be the sound of an alarm
clock which we are conditioned to wake up to. When a patient’s life is saved by a particular hospital at critical moments, he will
develop a favourable attitude about that hospital.

E. Association and Evaluative conditioning

You might have seen that students often develop a liking for a particular subject because of the teacher. This is because they see many
positive qualities in that teacher. These positive qualities get linked to the subject that she/he teaches. And ultimately gets expressed in
the form of liking for the subject. In other words, a positive attitude towards the subject is learnt through the positive association
between a teacher and a student.

An object need not directly cause us to feel pleasant or unpleasant for us to form an attitude. Evaluative conditioning occurs when we
form attitudes toward an object or person because our exposure to them coincided with a positive or negative emotion. For example, a
couple may come to feel positive toward a particular song that was playing on the radio during their first date. Their positive attitude
to the song is a result of its association with the happy experience of a date.

F. Mere Exposure

Finally, when we see the same object or person over and over, we will generally form a positive attitude toward that object or person.
This is true for an object or person we feel neutral or positive about, so long as we are not overexposed to it. 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.

Behavioral Foundations of Attitudes

Sometimes we form attitudes from our actions. This can happen if we do something before we have an attitude (e.g., going to an art
opening of an unknown artist), when we are unsure of our attitudes (e.g., going with a friend to a political rally), or when we are not
thinking about what we are doing (mindlessly singing along with a random station on the radio). That is, there are times when just
going through the emotions can cause us to form an attitude consistent with those actions. In the previous examples, people may come
to hate the new artist, support free trade, or like classical music because their actions have led them to engage in these behaviors,
which then led to the formation of an attitude.

Cognitive Foundations of Attitudes

The cognitive foundation of attitudes, what might be called beliefs, comes from direct experience with the world or through thinking
about the world. Thinking about the world includes any kind of active information processing, such as deliberating, wondering,
imagining, and reflecting, as well as through activities such as reading, writing, listening, and talking.
If you believe that insects are dirty and disgusting, then you will probably have the attitude that insects are not food. However, if you
read that locusts and other insects are happily eaten in some cultures, then you may come to believe that locusts may not be so bad.
Your attitude here comes from thinking about the new facts you read.

Additionally, if the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that exposure to ultraviolet light is the most
important environmental factor involved in the formation of skin cancers, and you believe that the CDC is a trustworthy expert, then
you might logically reason that excessive sun exposure is not a healthy thing. Here your attitude comes from logically reasoning about
the world.

Suppose you didn’t know how you felt about a topic until you were forced to write an essay for a writing class. This also would be an
example of attitude formation through cognition, in this case, organizing your thoughts in preparation to write a coherent essay.

A few other factors responsible for the formation of Attitude are as follows:

a. Family: Family is the most powerful source for formation of attitudes. The parents, siblings provide information about various
things. Attitudes developed by an individual, whether positive or negative are the result of family influence, are very powerful and
difficult to undo.

b. Peers: As the individual develops, he comes in contact with the outer world and peers in the first place. Peers include same age
friends, neighbours, classmates, etc. The child tries to internalize the attitudes of these people.

c. Direct instruction: Sometimes direct instruction can influence attitude formation. For example, somebody gives information about
a hair dye or usefulness of some fruit, we develop an attitude about that product, may be positive or negative.
d. Modelling: This has been influential in developing attitudes towards a wide range of issues from alcohol to various kinds of dress,
shoes, etc.

e. Satisfaction of wants: Individual develops favourable attitudes towards those people and objects which satisfy his wants and
unfavourable attitudes towards those who do not satisfy.

f. Prejudices: Prejudices are preconceived ideas or judgments where one develops some attitudes on other people, objects, etc.,
without proper information. For example, disliking a doctor or a nurse without knowing their abilities, just because of their caste,
religion, region, nationality, etc.

Perception

The world in which we live is full of variety of objects, people, and events. When you look into a room, you might see several objects
around you for example, a table, a chair, books on the shelf, bag, watch and several other things. If you move from one room to
another you will notice several other things, events and situations.

A pertinent question arises as to how are we able to say that these things, events or situation exists or how are we able to experience
them? One might say that we see those things with our eyes and hear those things from our ears. In doing so, we are involving our
sensory organs. The sense organs register several kinds of information about various objects. However, in order to be registered, the
objects and their qualities (e.g., size, shape, colour) must be able to draw our attention. The registered information must also be sent to
the brain that constructs some meaning out of them. Thus, our knowledge of the world around us depends on three basic processes,
called sensation, attention and perception. These processes are highly interrelated to each other.

Perceptual Processes
As discussed above that the simulation of sensory organs leads us to experience something such as, a flash of light or a sound or a
smell. This process of simulation of sensory organs to have an experience is called sensation. However, sensation alone does not
provide us with any understanding of the stimulus that simulated the sense organ. For example, we might smell a fragrance that we
like but might not know the source of the fragrance. Thus, in order to make sense of the simulations provided by the sensory organs,
we process it further. In doing so, we are providing the stimuli a meaning by using our learning memory, motivation, emotions and
other psychological processes.

Meaning of Perception

The process by which we recognize, interpret or give meaning to the information provided by sense organs is called perception. In
interpreting the experience of the sensory organs, individuals construct their surroundings in their own way. Thus, perception is not
merely an interpretation of objects or events of the external or internal world as they exist, it is also a construction of those objects and
events from one’s own point of view.

The process of meaning making involves certain sub-processes. These are

 CNS, Learning
memory and
Sensory
Stimulus other Perception
receptors
psychological
processes

When attention is given by the sensory receptors then only complete involvement of CNS takes place.

Bottom down Processing- The idea that recognition process begins from the parts, which serve as the basis for the recognition of the
whole. Lays emphasis on the features of stimuli in perception as a process of mental construction.

Top-down processing- The notion that recognition process begins from the whole, which leads to identification of its various
components is known as top-down processing. It lays emphasis on the perceiver, considers perception as a process of recognition or
identification of stimuli.

The Perceiver

Human beings are not just mechanical and passive recipient of stimuli from the external world. They are creative beings. They process
the stimuli provided by the external world in their own ways. In this process their motivations and expectations, cultural knowledge,
past experiences, and memories as well as values, beliefs, and attitudes play an important role in providing a meaning to the external
world.
Factors

1. Motivation: The needs and desires of a perceiver strongly influence her/his perception. People want to fulfil their needs and
desires through various means. One way to do this is to perceive objects in a picture as something that will satisfy their need.
Experiments were conducted to examine the influence of hunger on perception. When hungry persons were shown ambiguous
pictures, they were found to perceive them as pictures of food objects more than non-hungry persons.
2. Expectation: The expectations about what we might perceive in a given situation also influence our perception. This
phenomenon of perceptual familiarisation or perceptual generalisation reflects a strong tendency to see what we expect to see
even when the results do not accurately reflect external reality. For example, if your milkman delivers you milk daily at about
5:30 AM, any knocking at the door around the same time is likely to be perceived as the presence of the milkman even if it is
someone else.
3. Cognitive styles: Cognitive style refers to a consistent way of dealing with our environment. It significantly affects the way
we perceive the environment. There are several cognitive styles that people use in perceiving their environment. One most
extensively used in studies is the “field dependent and field independent” cognitive style. Field dependent people perceive the
external world in its totality, i.e. in a global or holistic manner. On the other hand, field independent people perceive the
external world by breaking it into smaller units, i.e. in an analytic or differentiated manner.
4. Cultural background and Experiences: Different experiences and learning opportunities available to people in different
cultural settings also influence their perception. People coming from a pictureless environment fails to recognise objects in
pictures. Hudson studied the perception of pictures by African subjects, and noted several difficulties. Many of them were
unable to identify objects depicted in pictures (e.g.,antelope, spear). They also failed to perceive distance in pictures, and
interpreted pictures incorrectly. Eskimos have been found to make fine distinction among a variety of snow that we may be
unable to notice. Some aboriginal groups of Siberian region have been found to differentiate among a variety of snow that we
 may be unable to notice. Some aboriginal groups of Siberian region have been found to differentiate among dozens of skin
colours of reindeers, which we would not be able to do.

These studies indicate that the perceiver plays a key role in the process of perception. Due to these factors our perceptions are not only
finely tuned, but also modified.

Difference between attitude and perception

Attitude: “a mental position with regard to a fact or state; a feeling or emotion toward a fact or state; a position assumed for a specific
purpose (e.g. threatening)”. Perception: “a mental image, concept; physical sensation interpreted in the light of experience;
consciousness”. Perception leads to attitude which effects behavior which creates either a joyful life or a life of misery. Again, we are
at choice.
Different Kinds of Attitude
People react differently when confronted with different situations. For example, a person who reacts cheerfully when it comes to
watching a movie may not react cheerfully when it comes to going out to the mall. That doesn’t mean that this person is not cheerful,
but only justifies the first statement of this paragraph. Here’s a list of few of the attitude types of what people’s actions and
perceptions are:

• Optimism ,Pessimism ,Confident ,Interested ,Independent ,

• Jealous ,Courteous ,Cooperative ,Considerate ,Inferior ,
• Happy ,Frank ,Respectful, Authoritative ,Sincere ,
• Persistent ,Honest ,Sympathetic ,Realistic ,Faithful ,
• Flexible ,Decisive ,Trusting ,Thoughtful ,Determined ,
• Loving ,Hostile ,Modest, Reliable ,Tolerant ,
• Humble,Cautious ,Sarcastic, Helping ,Hard Working
Summarizing everything said above, what we think, what we do, and what we feel is what forms our attitude. While sometimes
knowledge and experience form our attitude, on other occasions it is based on our assumptions and beliefs.
Types of Positive Attitude
Individuals who have a positive attitude will pay attention to the good, rather than bad in people, situations, events, etc. They will not
consider a mistake or failure as a hurdle, but as an opportunity. They learn from mistakes, and move forward in life.

Confidence
Optimism
Cheerfulness/Happiness
Sincerity
Sense of responsibilty
Flexibility
Determination
Reliability
Tolerance
Willingnesstoadapt
Humility
Diligence

Negative Attitude
People with a negative attitude ignore the good, and pay attention to the bad in people, situations, events, etc. Also, they are likely to
complain about changes, rather than adapting to the changing environment. Also, they might blame their failure on others.

Anger
~ Hatred
~ Pessimism
~ Frustration
~ Doubt
~ Resentment
~ Jealousy
~ Inferiority

Neutral Attitude

People with a neutral attitude don't give enough importance to situations or events. They ignore the problem, leaving it for someone
else to solve. Also, they don't feel the need to change. Their traits include:

~ Complacence
~ Indifference
~ Detachment
~ Feeling of being disconnected
~ Unemotional

Attitudes are formed over the years by various means. Sometimes, they are based on our experiences. At times, they might be acquired
from other people. Our attitude might be based on the truth, or what we might consider to be the truth. It is possible for people to
change their attitude. For that, one would need to change the way he/she thinks, feels, or behaves. However, changing the way one
feels is not that easy. The affective component of attitude is powerful and difficult to control. Hence, one should first make an effort to
change the cognitive (thinking) and behavioral component.