2. MEANING
Attitude is a specific mental state of an
individual towards something according to
which his behavior towards it is molded.
Attitude is a way we perceive, think, feel and
react more or less permanently in relation to
something.
3. DEFINITIONS
An attitude can be defined, as an enduring
organization of motivational, emotional,
perceptual and cognitive processes with
respect to some aspect of the individual’s
world.
(Krech and Crutchfield—
1948)
4. An attitude may be defined as a learned and
more or less generalized and an effective
tendency or predisposition to respond in a
rather persistent and characteristic manner,
usually positively or negatively (for or against
in reference to some situation, idea, value,
material object or class) of such objects or
person or group of persons.
(Young K)
5. CHARACTERISTICS/NATURE
OF ATTITUDE
Attitudes are not innate–Attitudes are formed or
learnt by the individual
Attitudes are more or less lasting–Attitudes are
Enduring
Attitudes imply a subject-object relationship–
Attitudes are always formed in relation to certain
persons, groups or institutions
Attitudes are related to images, thoughts and
external objects–For example, upon hearing of the
Pakistan attack on Indian territory, every Indian
developed a negative attitude towards the Pakistan
aggressors
6. Attitudes guide the behavior of the individual
in one particular direction
Various kinds of affective experiences are
also attached to attitudes
Attitudes are related to the person’s needs
and problems.
The unconscious motive is an important
factor in the creation of attitudes.
7. FACTORS AFFECTING ATTITUDES
Social factors -social norms ,rules , belief , tradition
have a strong influence on their attitude
Personal experiences
Family
Self perception
Direct instruction –it given by other person toward a
thing , person or situation
Prejudices
Emotional and religious institution
Media
8. ATTITUDINAL CHANGE
It means a change in one’s belief or
behaviour towards a person , thing or
situation
it occur when an individual goes from
being positive to negative , from negative
to positive , from slightly negative to very
negative , from very positive to slightly
positive etc. towards person ,event or
object
10. Self-Perception- According to self-perception
theory, when people are unsure of their own
attitudes, one way to infer them is by looking
at their behaviors. The idea behind self-
perception theory is that we form attitudes
not due to exposure or associative learning,
but from observations of our own behavior.
11. Cognitive dissonance theory argues that
behaving in a way that contradicts existing
attitudes creates a feeling of discomfort. For
example, an animal lover may feel upset if he
accidentally run over a cat. So that, people
will be motivated to try to resolve this
dissonance
12. Persuasion –persuasion refers to attitude
change via an external message
Learning Theory: Classical conditioning,
operant conditioning, and observational
learning can be used to bring about attitude
change.
13. ABC MODEL( COMPONENT OF ATTITUDE )
ABC model, there are three components that
this model consists of; the effective
component, the behavioral component and
the cognitive component, all simply
representing your beliefs, feelings and
actions that will in the end make up and form
your attitude.
14. The Affective component involves your
feelings towards a topic or event
Affective= Emotions
The Behavioral component involves the
influence you have because of your attitude
toward something, triggering your behavior
or the way you act around the topic or event
Behavioral=Actions
15. The Cognitive component involves your
knowledge or belief on a topic or event which
can lead to you developing an attitude
towards an object. For example, “I am scared
of wasps because they hurt you.”
Cognitive=thoughts
16.
17. PSYCHOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF ATTITUDES
Measurement of Attitudes
Attitude is measured through attitude scales
like
the Likert scale, the semantic differential and
the
sociometry. These scales attempt to measure
how one person or a group feels about one
thing.
