Attitude Formation and it's different types
- 2. Introduction What is Attitude? An attitude refers to a set of emotions,beliefs and behavior towards a particular object,person,thing or event. For example A student having a negative outlook towards math class.A behavior is how someone acts in response to their feelings. What is Attitude Formation? The study of how people form evaluations of persons,places or things. For example Some people have a negative attitude towards ‘dirty’ words.
- 3. Factors influence Attitude Several factors can influenced how and why attitudes form,including: .EXPERIENCE Attitudes form directly as a result of experience.They may emerge due to direct personal experience or they may result from observation. .Social Factors Social role and social norms can have a strong influence on attitudes.Social roles relate to how people are expected to behave in a particular role or context.Social norms involve society’s rules for what behaviors are considered appropriate. . LEARNING Attitudes can be learned in a variety of ways.Consider how advertisers use classical conditioning to influence your attitudetowards a particular product.In a television commercial, you see young, beautiful people having fun on a tropical beach while
- 4. This attractive and appealing imagery causes you to develop a positive association with this particular beverage.
- 5. C om ponents of Attitude Psychologists such as Rosenberg,Eagely and H ovland have given a three component model of attitude.According to this model,an attitude has the following three components. 1.Cognitive component: Cognitive component is the set of information,ideas,facts and knowledge about an object. 2.Affective component: This component consists of emotions and feelings towards an object.It can be emotions of liking or disliking,favoring or disfavoring,positive or negative evaluation towards the object. 3.B ehavirol components: It is the tendency to behave towards the object. e.g how the individuals act towards the object depending upon cognitive(facts about the object) and affective(emotions towards the object) components.
- 6. C haracterstics The characteristics of attitude are as follows 1.Attitude has an object: An attitude has an object which is liked or disliked,favored or disfavored or evaluated as positive or negative.The object can be a thing, an idea,a person or a situation. 2.Attitudes are learnt: Attitudes is not an inborn phenomenon.Attitude are learnt through social interactions and experiences.We interact with others,experience many things and acquire information about things. 3.Attitudes are predispositions: A prior determined or learnt view of thing or tendency to act in a specific way toward a things.
- 7. 4.Attitudes are relatively stable phenomena: An attitude is not a momentary feeling but a long held view of something.Though attitude changes from time to time but it is relatively a stable phenomena. 5.Attitude has an emotional component: It has emotional aspect of liking or disliking in relation to an object.
- 8. H ow w e m easure attitude? <<To check individuals positive or negative attitude towards anything. 1. Self report technique 2.Thurston attitude scale (equal appearing interval scale) 3.Likert scale (also known as summated rating scale) Agree, strongly agree,disagree,strongly disagree,neutral. 4. O PINIO N SU RV EY 5. Critical incident technique 6. Interview— face to face
- 9. Attitude C hanges Attitude changes can take place by following methods. . Self-perception It is conclusions that people create about their attitude and feelings based on their behaviors. e.g a person can conclude that they really like rice because it’s the main starch they always order at lunch. .Learning Theory Classical conditioning,operant conditioning and observational learning can be used to bring about attitude change.Classical conditioning can be used to create positive emotional reaction to an object,person or event.
- 10. . Cognitive D issonance It argues that behaving in a way that contradicts existing attitudes create a feeling of discomfort. e.g an animal lover may feel upset if he accidently run over a cat. . Persuasion It refers to attitude change via an external message.H ow do people think about and incorporate information they receive in T.V that is counter to their current point of view.
- 11. S ociety effects on attitude There are the factors influencing attitude 1. D irect instructions Sometimes direct instruction can influence attitude formation 2. Family The family is the most powerful source for the formation of attitude.The parents,elder brothers and sisters provide information about various things. 3. Personal experience In order to be the basis of attitude,personal erperience have left a strong impression. 4. M edia As a mean of communication mass media such as televisions,radio has major influence in shaping people’s opinion and beliefs.
- 12. 4. Educational and Religious institutions As a system, educational and religious institutions have a strong influence in shaping attitudes. 5. Economic status or occupations O ur economic or occupational statuses are “good” or “bad”.O ur socio-economic background influences our present or future attitude.
- 13. Attitude in consum er behaviour D efinition Consumer attitude may be defined as a feeling of favorableness and unfavorableness that an individual has towards an object.As we all know that an individual with a positive attitude is more likely to buy a product and this result in the possibility of liking or disliking a product. For example Your attitude towards chocolate ice cream is probably determined in large part by affect_although you can describe its taste,mostly you may just like it.
- 14. C onclusion Attitude are not fixed but rather formed through various influences. 1. D irect experience Attitude formed through direct behavioral experience with an attitude have been found to better predict later behavior than attitudes formed through indirect experience. Example Participating in a cooking class with its smell,sight,taste and temperature as a opposed to watching in an instructional video. 2. Social learning It is the study of learned behaviors the observations,modeling and imitating of new behaviors that are reinforced by other people or “models”. Example Children are more likely to believe in a certain religion if their parents believe in that religion.
- 15. 3. M edia exposure M edia exposure refers to the amount and type of media content an individual can exposed to directly and indirectly. O R The media can shape individual’s perception of reality,influence their behaviors and provide information and entertainment which can have a major impact on their daily lives. Example Television shows,New articles,M ovies,Social media,Advertisment etc.