It all depends on how you look at things and not on how they are.
Attitudes are acquired rather than inborn, although many attitudes appear to 'run in families' and are obviously acquired through such contact from childhood.
Attitudes are thought to be acquired through the three major forms of learning:
1. Classical Conditioning Some attitudes may associate a particular sensory experience with an emotional reaction: the US-UR connection. Later the US may be associated with a new association, the attitude object. After repeated pairings of the US with this new CS, the attitude object alone will elicit the emotional reaction: the CS-CR connection.
For example, a person you care for treats you badly. You then associate bad feelings with this person, the US-UR association. He or she also wears a particular cologne all the time. Because encounters with him or her (an unpleasant experience) always involve perceiving the fragrance of the cologne (orighinally a neutral experience), over time you associate bad feelings with the smell of the cologne by itself, whether the other person is in the vicinity or not. Thus a negative attitude toward the cologne has been classically conditioned through associations from another experience.
2. Operant Conditioning While classical conditioning may explain quick, gut-level responses like emotions, it cannot explain more complex attitude formation. More complex attitudes are probably formed through operant conditioning, as an individual is reinforced for holding and voicing certain attitudes.
For example, a child whose parents are politically conservative may find that voicing liberal opinions is met with argument or rejection, while voicing conservative opinions is followed by praise and attention. After a time, the conservative opinions are voiced more than the liberal ones, and the child 'learns' that conservative attitudes 'pay off' in this particular environment.
One's social environment will include a variety of people and opinions. Some groups will shape our attitudes, as in the example above. Over time we will aslo choose and shape our groups -called reference groups, the social networks we consult for information and with whom we compare ourselves - in line with our developing attitudes. Disagreement within a reference group is rare, but when it occurs it has powerful effects on both belief systems and group structure.
3. Observational Learning Especially when we consult reference groups, we may come to rely on other kinds of learning besides operant conditioning. Your reference group may include people like celebrities whom you admire but whom you do not personally know. Nonetheless, you may observe these people's actions and learn attitudes from them.
The attitudinal influence of observational learning is the basis for an important factor in the process of persuasion. For this reason, opinion leaders like celebrities, athletes, and entertainers are often requested to endorse products being advertised or candidates running for office.
Winners think constantly of what they can and will do. Losers think constantly of what they cannot do and what they should have done.
Attitudes are acquired rather than inborn, although many attitudes appear to 'run in families' and are obviously acquired through such contact from childhood.
Attitudes are thought to be acquired through the three major forms of learning:
1. Classical Conditioning Some attitudes may associate a particular sensory experience with an emotional reaction: the US-UR connection. Later the US may be associated with a new association, the attitude object. After repeated pairings of the US with this new CS, the attitude object alone will elicit the emotional reaction: the CS-CR connection.
For example, a person you care for treats you badly. You then associate bad feelings with this person, the US-UR association. He or she also wears a particular cologne all the time. Because encounters with him or her (an unpleasant experience) always involve perceiving the fragrance of the cologne (orighinally a neutral experience), over time you associate bad feelings with the smell of the cologne by itself, whether the other person is in the vicinity or not. Thus a negative attitude toward the cologne has been classically conditioned through associations from another experience.
2. Operant Conditioning While classical conditioning may explain quick, gut-level responses like emotions, it cannot explain more complex attitude formation. More complex attitudes are probably formed through operant conditioning, as an individual is reinforced for holding and voicing certain attitudes.
For example, a child whose parents are politically conservative may find that voicing liberal opinions is met with argument or rejection, while voicing conservative opinions is followed by praise and attention. After a time, the conservative opinions are voiced more than the liberal ones, and the child 'learns' that conservative attitudes 'pay off' in this particular environment.
One's social environment will include a variety of people and opinions. Some groups will shape our attitudes, as in the example above. Over time we will aslo choose and shape our groups -called reference groups, the social networks we consult for information and with whom we compare ourselves - in line with our developing attitudes. Disagreement within a reference group is rare, but when it occurs it has powerful effects on both belief systems and group structure.
3. Observational Learning Especially when we consult reference groups, we may come to rely on other kinds of learning besides operant conditioning. Your reference group may include people like celebrities whom you admire but whom you do not personally know. Nonetheless, you may observe these people's actions and learn attitudes from them.
The attitudinal influence of observational learning is the basis for an important factor in the process of persuasion. For this reason, opinion leaders like celebrities, athletes, and entertainers are often requested to endorse products being advertised or candidates running for office.
Winners think constantly of what they can and will do. Losers think constantly of what they cannot do and what they should have done.
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